Tag: #followgod

Once is Enough

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Last week, I deleted my Facebook account.

It’s been on my heart to do so all year. One of those last things to ‘let go’ of. The key to doing something like this, and be filled with peace afterwards, is to do it a non emotional state. Sitting calmly in front of my laptop, staring at the number of followers, I let go, and clicked deactivate.

Two weeks ago, I almost got myself fired from my job.

One of my virtual assistant employers asked if I would receive their incoming calls, and I agreed. They were forwarded to a cell phone, and it took a couple of weeks to discover why they wanted them forwarded. It was like politely fencing with a sales person every time the phone would ring. By week three I was done taking those calls.

My salary might decrease, but my joy will increase!

13-Motivational-QUotes

It’s okay to let go of things that are no longer fulfilling.

What do I want to do to bring in income? I’m not sure, but I’m staying open to whatever God has in store. He’s good at signs, and sometimes he has them printed out on neon paper, and hangs it on a door. That occurred last week.

There was a ‘help wanted’ sign on the door of a local drugstore I walked into. I’ve never thought about working at a drugstore before, but it makes sense. The people coming in there want to feel better. Maybe they are going through a Cancer journey of their own, and I can relate.

I don’t know the reason, but I responded to the sign.

I filled out an application, and they called the next day for an interview. The only real experience I have is customer service, and I care about people. It’s been 30 years since I ran a cash register, and they look a tad bit different today!

I’m excited about doing a job I’ve never done, and plugging into community! The application process has been lengthy, but God keeps nudging me along. I’m encouraged that it hasn’t been easy, but it’s moving quick. I’m just waiting for the papers to go through, and they will give me a start date.

I told my daughter this morning, “Here I am again, living in the unknown.” The unknown is beginning to feel normal.

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

 

Update-I didn’t take the job. Sometimes God just wants us to walk through the door in obedience.  I’m willing to walk through every door, but it doesn’t mean I have to stay.

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This Is Normal

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The life my daughter and I share is not normal. We care for one another at a very high level. We watch each other, and learn how to do so. We are now down to the details.

I bought a new toothbrush holder, and noticed the openings are large enough to hold more than a toothbrush, so I put my razor in it. I recently noticed she had followed suit. Her razor now stands beside her toothbrush too.

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To love one another like God loves us. Unconditionally.

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Fresh flowers in the house as often as possible is normal.

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She makes her famous crepes when I need some extra care.

At a young age I told her, “Everything has it’s place. When you take something from it’s place, you need to put it back when you’re done using it.” We know where things are.

When my daughter visits her Dad for the weekend, I want it to feel like home when she returns. Her room is never messy, but I go in and change her sheets, open the blinds, add fresh flowers if we have them, and light a candle.

I don’t have to ask her to do things. She knows when she’s away from home, this feels good to come home to. She has been shown to uncover the beauty.

When I am gone for the day, she goes in my room and makes the bed, opens the blinds, and lights my candle. Not because I asked, she just knows what that feels like.

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She surpasses me. I didn’t take time to make cookies throughout her life, but she knows I love them. After a long day on Thursday, I walked into the house to these.

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And yes, I made a coffee pour over to go with them!

Our kids are watching. What are we showing them?

My daughter is now watching me stretch and grow myself. This year, I’ve been doing the hard stuff. Cleaning house in more ways than one.

My daughter has gifts and talents to make this world a better place. We are called to use everything God has given us, so I am walking through every door He is opening.

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All of the notes I left for her when she was a child have come full circle. She left this on the fridge for me last week.

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I told her, “I am happy for us, that this is normal.”

Change Your Life

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You have the power to change your life. God doesn’t want us to have a mediocre life. Our lives should reflect His goodness and plan for us. Every word that falls out of our mouths serves as a compass.

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Pay attention to your thoughts and words.

I have seen it continuously in my life where words became reality. When my ex husband told me. “We are going to have a marriage just like our parents did,” something inside me rose up and said, “Not gonna happen.”

I saw our lives flash before my eyes where we would spend ten more years together only to walk away complete strangers.

When I refused to settle for that life, a space opened for God to move. He had everything lined up, I just had to look. The right house and location, everything fell into place without much effort from me. It was there waiting for me to become willing to step out and trust. My life is completely different today and is still changing.

Everyday my life is new. Each day is different because I am willing to follow God and continue to change. Yesterday, on my drive, I was listening to Joel Osteen. After listening to a couple of teaching CD’s, there was one more calling my name. Pushing the buttons on the CD player, prompting it to queue and load, it gave me an error message.

I tried some more buttons and continued getting error messages with every button pressed. I spoke out-loud rather loudly, “All I want, right now, is for this CD player to work,” determined to listen to the last CD. Suddenly, the screen read, ‘Load’, queued up and began working perfectly.

The teaching was about the power of words, which is what I’m sharing today. When we speak out-loud, the words gain power in your life.

God heard my cry, He knew my heart, the CD player started working. Power is in positive and negative, so it depends on what you say. If your life is a mess, be mindful of your words, and your life will follow. Everyday, speak out-loud the life you want to have, so God can hear, and line things up for your good.

They Just Did

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I have a job assisting a friend in California three and a half days a week. It is done virtually, which gives me the flexibility in schedule and the joy of working from home. I get to write, encourage people and work.

My first job, after I left the workforce, was to take care of my daughter during the separation between her father and me. To be perfectly honest, I think we took care of one another that year.

God promises beauty from ashes and here it was.

I was living it. Friends started referring to my life as ‘Inbarbsworld.’ I wanted people to see that life after divorce can be beautiful. It’s a balance of letting go and letting God.

Last year was the year of learning how to live. This year I’m refining it, or it’s refining me. I am grateful to follow God and be sober.

In 2014 this Blog began. It encourages me to see it has reached twice as many people already this year alone, compared to the entire first year. The job I love is paying off! Thank you for reading what I love to write.

That is what I do. I love on people until they can love themselves. Most of it is done virtually, but I do enjoy going out into the real world. The trip to Colorado was an eye opener for me with the loss of technology. If you missed it, you can read it here I got better as the week went on, but it made me ponder if I was addicted to my phone. The notifications make life easy.

My phone also makes life noisy. It’s fun to push myself and see what I can live without. Does the phone make my life that much better? When my phone bill came due, I decided not to pay it. To just skip a week and see what happens. To think of it as a phone fast is what worked for me. The weekend was a fail. It would automatically connect to WiFi if I was visiting a place I had been before and everything would start rolling in. Today, I had to turn it off completely.

My life is quieter. Through my laptop, I can still encourage people virtually, it just may not be so immediate. Without the notifications, I have to remind myself to go in and check email, banking, social media and everything that used to notify me of activity.

My time feels like mine now. The beauty that surrounds me in more noticeable because I’m not staring at a screen in my hand.

Maybe you gave up your phone a long time ago. I didn’t think I could. If this keeps going like it has today, I’ll be on a new level of simplicity. Dejan Stojanovic says it best, “They blossomed, they did not talk about blossoming.” They just did.