No Resolutions, Just New Goals

Resolutions are difficult. One of the most challenging things about resolutions is that a person ends up feeling like a failure if he or she does does not accomplish them.

Whenever we set goals, we have to accept our reality for what it is. In my example, being a certain weight and in a certain size by the end of 2015 was a goal that I set for myself. The reality is that I experienced several health challenges made that goal somewhat difficult. My workouts were put on hold once my doctor determined that I needed to have a surgery to correct a major issue affecting my breathing.

I can focus on the fact that I’m not a certain size or weight or I can understand the reality that, despite the setbacks I’ve experienced, I still feel better I can still walk longer distances, I can breathe SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better, and I’m in nowhere near as much pain as I was previously.

If I focus on the negative, I completely miss every good thing that I gained by setting the goal for myself and working towards it, even if I didn’t fully accomplish it.

A resolution is a THING. A SINGLE point. It’s almost dead and inactive but a goal is ALIVE. A goal is PROGRESSING! Even if you don’t make it to the point that you are striving for, just the act of beginning the PROCESS puts you so much further off than where you were when you started.

So I encourage you today. Instead of setting another resolution, set a GOAL and understand that if you don’t ACCOMPLISH that goal this year it’s a goal that you can carry into the next year.

The reality is, many of us have things that we need to ACCOMPLISH more so than things that totally need to CHANGE.

We have things we need to ACHIEVE. NEW LEVELS we need to reach.

Don’t focus on the negative! Instead, set your sights on those new heights you desire for yourself and try to accomplish those goals.

Commit yourself to the “Art of The PRESS!”

Scripture to meditate on:

Philippians 3:12-14

Pressing Toward the Goal
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Testimony Tuesday: I’m Walking

I just finished my morning mile and tears started streaming down my face.

Tears, because I realized that I was walking without pain and I remembered the many days that I dealt with chronic pain in my hip. Walking was painful, sitting was even more painful. Other than my husband, no one really knew just how much pain I was in. On top of that, I had several doctors tell me that I would always be in pain and their insistence made me believe that the pain was just a normal part of my life.

BUT GOD. I understand that there are many conditions in life that we must deal with, but I decided to cling to my faith. I prayed that God would do what ONLY he could do in the supernatural and that I would do my part in the natural. I spent the last year going to physical therapy, sometimes two and three times a week. This month, my husband and I joined a new gym and have been consistently working out 4 to 5 times a week.

I may have slight pain some days, but it’s NOTHING compared to what it used to be. My therapists don’t understand it. My doctor initially thought I would need surgery, BUT GOD.

Last year, I posted a photo of my handicap placard. I got it in 2008 upon my until diagnosis. That was my registered placard, not my mom/dad/auntie/grandma’s. MINE. And I declared that this time next year I wouldn’t need it. I’m happy to report, not only do I NOT need the placard, I now park at the furthest parking space in most parking lots. God IS faithful!

I’m sharing this testimony this morning, praying that it encourages you to KEEP GOING! Believe God for his best for your life and refuse to settle for anything less.

Matthew 19:26 New Living Translation Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”

Walking: Mary Mary

Press Through the Dark Place

This week, I was able to reconnect with a friend from grad school that I hadn’t seen in over 4 years. As we laughed and caught up, she said, “Fran, you ALWAYS made the most out of whatever season you were in.”

That touched me to the core. Grad school was a hard time in my life. My scholarship program’s funding got cut (I went from having a full tuition scholarship with a stipend to NOTHING), I was pursuing my passion of working with kids only to have a gun drawn on me at work, and I worked 5 different jobs while being a student full time and pursuing two degrees.

Not many people know those parts of my story, but it’s sooooooooooooo AMAZING how God will use people in your life to remind you of everything you’ve overcome and to speak even the smallest words of encouragement at the right time.

I never thought that about myself, but I see how the description is fitting. It’s easy to lean to the flesh when times are hard. To become discouraged and feel overwhelmed. But when I stand in faith, I truly adopt a resolve that “if this is where God has me during this point in my life, this is where I’m supposed to be to learn/experience something for the next part of my journey.”

I’m by no means perfect, and sometimes I’m slow to take on that mindset, but it NEVER fails me.

I started this post because I saw this image and felt overwhelmingly thankful, but I pray it encourages you as well. Even in the darkest hours, God will send those small reminders. I pray that you press through, understanding that the dark hours are not meant to destroy you. Rather they are intended to strengthen you and accomplish a greater purpose.

I also encourage you to thank those people that have been lights in your life. I like that phrase, “Give people flowers while they are living.” You may have thanked them in your heart, but thank them with your words. Let them know they made a difference. Sometimes, that in itself is a light that can help to keep them going too.

Seeds of Faith:

Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

Philippians 3:12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8
(Emphasis on verses 18-19; 37-39)
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Isaiah 41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Blessed, Broken and Given

Sometimes you do the right thing and end up getting hurt.

Tonight, I went to the bathroom, used the last of the tissue and thought I was doing the right thing by going to replace the roll (instead of being lazy and doing it later).

I grab a roll. Realize it’s the last one in the package and then I tell myself to do the “right thing” again….only to bump my tooth on the countertop while trying to reach the empty wrapper. It’s slightly chipped, but thankfully I’m not in any pain!

Initially, I was in shock. I cried a little. Started to think that doing the “right thing” isn’t all it was cracked up to be (unintended pun there). I was tempted to feel as if my efforts were in vain. I was trying, in the smallest way, to be a good wife. I didn’t want my husband to wake up and not have any tissue to use. ESPECIALLY since I always ask him to remember to replace the roll–what would I look like if I don’t practice what I preach!?!?

BUT THEN I REMEMBERED–ALL THINGS work TOGETHER for MY GOOD. Clearly God has somewhere I need to be tomorrow morning and it’s not at my desk.

We’re often tempted to see a problem, where God sees a possibility/protection.

Challenge yourself to shift your thinking. The next time something catches you off guard, instead of asking “Why me?” or “Why this?,” Let Romans 8 COME ALIVE in your spirit and say to God, “I’m EXCITED to see what you’re about to do with this!”

My tooth may be “broken,” but my spirit is not. This experience made me think back to a devotional I shared with my praise club group. I pray it blesses you this morning….

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Alright ladies,

I hope you are all doing well this morning. I’ll be my usual transparent self and share with you all that this was a VERY hard post for me to write. This took me down memory lane and challenged me to really look deeper into myself and try to unpack what this 2 year phase in Mississippi has taught me. I was actually asked to appear on a blog hosted by one of my friends and this post was created for that.

I began writing this weeks ago and I sat on it– trying to collect my thoughts and wanting to make sure that the overall message made sense. All that being said, I share my testimony with you with the hope that it will encourage you and strengthen you on this journey.

Blessed, Broken, and Given

Back in 2010, I prayed that God would use me in a mighty way and that my next career move would not be one based on money or prestige, but that God would send me to the place where I could do a good work and walk in my purpose. I prayed one day, and heard the Holy Spirit so clearly say, “What if you have to go to Utah?” and I thought—“Oh, that’s weird, but ok.”

I didn’t end up in Utah—instead I finished Grad School and was selected for a Policy Fellowship that placed me in Jackson, Mississippi—a place where I knew nothing and no one. I stepped out on faith and left my family and friends and everything that “made sense” in NC and went where God was taking me. The first week here my car was flooded, the movers disappeared somewhere between NC and Mississippi with my belongings and I was in the middle of my biggest blessing but feeling the lowest I’d ever felt in life.

I made up my mind that I was going to speak life and faith over my situations and time and time again, I’ve seen God move—random checks coming in the mail, family/friends sending me a note or gift that came right on time to lift my spirits. The trials continued, but I embraced this phase of my life as my “Job (the person, not the thing) experience”—It hurt, but I learned to stop questioning God and to focus on being obedient and continuing to pursue Him above ALL ELSE!

What I never expected, was the way my story would move others and inspire them in their walk with God. At one point, I refused to post anything negative about my life, because it was already enough to live it—I didn’t need it all over social media. I had an associate (now turned close friend) who was so inspired by my posts that I became a part of her decision to give her life to Christ. Another one of my friends became one of my biggest encouragers. Even more mind-blowing was seeing my baby sister and other friends/associates become BOLD in their walk with Christ and sharing their faith on social media – only to hear them say that I was their inspiration. What the devil meant for bad was turning out for good and lives were being saved (Genesis 50:20)!

The key takeaway from this is that in life there is a “blessing” and there is a “breaking”—but in the breaking our power and anointing comes. Our greatest example of this is Jesus in his suffering and trials leading up to his crucifixion – but HE ROSE with all POWER in his hands because He was obedient to God’s will for His life. Don’t let yourself become so overwhelmed by what you are going through that you miss the place that God is trying to take you to. Your sufferings work toward a greater glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). Jesus picked up his cross and carried it, and as believers we have to do the same (Matthew 16:24).

I’ve embraced the breaking—but I don’t say that lightly, because it was and continues to be a PROCESS. But I press (Philippians 3:14) – And I encourage you to embrace “the press” as well!

The lyrics below inspired me and led to this post. I encourage you to listen to the song yourself and meditate on the lyrics as well.

Blessed, Broken and Given (CeCe Winans)

My life has been BLESSED far more than I could ever imagine.

I’ve been touched by God’s grace more than I’ll ever know!

So let me be BROKEN through the suffering and the sorrow,

Let me feel what you felt when you were broken for me.

After my blessing, and after my breaking

Let me be GIVEN to bring sight to all men.

When I’ve been blessed and

When I’ve been broken

Then after I’ve been given–

Lord bless me, Lord break me, again and again”

Scriptures to meditate on:

John 15:2

He CUTS OFF every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he PRUNES so that it will be EVEN MORE fruitful.

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME. And the life I now live in the flesh I live BY FAITH in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 16:24-26 (ESV) Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?