The last few emails and conversations I have received from people are them hearing instructions from God and them deciding whether they will be obedient or not. It is sort of a shame that He even gives us a choice and worse that we have to think about if we will obey or not.
He has been speaking to me on forgiveness and compassion. I thought I had forgiven a certain person only for me to be angered everything they open their mouth to speak. I begin to have horrible thoughts of them not existing any longer and thought that was just too selfish so I started praying for them instead. It made me feel good for the moment - until I heard their voice again then the vicious thoughts came back. Upon battling it for a few months- yes months not days- God woke me up at 3am this week and dropped this verse in my spirit: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. I thought I have already forgiven this person and that person, what does this mean Lord? I tried to go back to sleep to get the answer like you do when you wake up in the middle of a good dream and try to go back to sleep to finish it. No such luck! As the morning went on, the answer was slowly being revealed.
Instead of listening to Creflo Dollar while I was getting dressed, Taffi was on. I do not care for her teaching style but I kept her on for background noise. Why was she talking about compassion? She taught that since we are the fullness of God and God is compassionate, loving and forgiving, that means we are the same. We do not have to try to be these things, we already possess these qualities because He lives in us. I thought "compassion, forgiveness,..." okay, Lord, I hear you.
The message was a boomerang: by saying out loud, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do.", it was going out and coming right back to me. I needed to forgive myself for all the bad decisions and things I did in the past- yesterday and beyond. For me to have compassion toward myself for the major mistakes I made affecting my friends, family and kids. To pull my head off the chopping block because God never sat it there for anything I did and that He wiped my slate clean with every stripe upon Jesus's back. I need to forgive myself.
I will not say I have fully forgiven myself at the time of this post but I will admit I am saying it out loud several times a day until it the boomerange pierce my heart. It has bonked me in the head several times but the heart is where it will live. So for now it has to travel from my head to my heart and right now it is lodged in my throat.
Self talk: I am made in the image and likeness of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore I am worthy of forgiveness and compassion. Forgive Kim, for I knew not what I was doing.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
What Makes You Unique?
After attending an Entrepreneur Expo, this question constantly rings in my head: what makes me unique? I know things I can do, talents I can share, knowledge I have obtained, BUT are these things that no one else posses? Better yet, can I sell my uniqueness so people will be drawn to our business?
One of the seminars I attended involved four women entrepreneurs who have chosen careers based on their lifestyles. Or did their lifestyles become their careers? Either way, three of the four shared a consistent message, each day you wake up with fear of your business not being profitable but you use that fear as motivation to approach a client, do follow-up, educate yourself on your competition and just keep pressing on so you can fulfill your dream of being a success entrepreneur. The one woman who did not mention this, did share that her pyramid-type business is for her and her husband to build their retirement fund. She works a full-time job because she likes the security and interaction with people. What she did share that hit home for me was that her business gives them tax breaks and is portable.
That's important: portable. Are your talents portable? Are you portable or stuck where you are never welcoming change or adjustment? You cannot answer this question "part of you" or "sometimes" because either your are flexible and willing to change with your environment and the times or you are not. You would think this is critical to our existence but there are several people who have survived living in the same town they were born, working the same job since high school, attending the same church and probably still wearing the same hairstyle and driving the same car. If this is you, I am sorry only because I believe God requires us to be portable in order to use us. We may not move from our hometown permanently but I believe He calls us to leave home every now and then to prove we trust Him to take care of us and to bless others with what we know, love and have experienced. He wants us to share our uniqueness with others who have no clue or appreciation for why He made us unique.
So in addition to gaining confidence and encouragement for pursuing our business, I learned from these women to ask for help. Ask potential clients, non-potential clients, strangers, friends and businesses. Although the media gives a different impression, people want to help those who are trying to help others by offering a service and filling a need. I Deserve Better... NOW! is fulfilling a need and empowering people to do what they did not know prior to using our services, they have power inside of them to control their finances.
All of our dreams can become goals and our goals can become reality. It requires us making up in our minds that we want it bad enough and allowing those with the information to give it to us. We have operated like this since we started school at a very young age. As adults we operate the same but our questions are different. Our goals determine our questions. Depending on what we do with the answers is what makes us unique.
One of the seminars I attended involved four women entrepreneurs who have chosen careers based on their lifestyles. Or did their lifestyles become their careers? Either way, three of the four shared a consistent message, each day you wake up with fear of your business not being profitable but you use that fear as motivation to approach a client, do follow-up, educate yourself on your competition and just keep pressing on so you can fulfill your dream of being a success entrepreneur. The one woman who did not mention this, did share that her pyramid-type business is for her and her husband to build their retirement fund. She works a full-time job because she likes the security and interaction with people. What she did share that hit home for me was that her business gives them tax breaks and is portable.
That's important: portable. Are your talents portable? Are you portable or stuck where you are never welcoming change or adjustment? You cannot answer this question "part of you" or "sometimes" because either your are flexible and willing to change with your environment and the times or you are not. You would think this is critical to our existence but there are several people who have survived living in the same town they were born, working the same job since high school, attending the same church and probably still wearing the same hairstyle and driving the same car. If this is you, I am sorry only because I believe God requires us to be portable in order to use us. We may not move from our hometown permanently but I believe He calls us to leave home every now and then to prove we trust Him to take care of us and to bless others with what we know, love and have experienced. He wants us to share our uniqueness with others who have no clue or appreciation for why He made us unique.
So in addition to gaining confidence and encouragement for pursuing our business, I learned from these women to ask for help. Ask potential clients, non-potential clients, strangers, friends and businesses. Although the media gives a different impression, people want to help those who are trying to help others by offering a service and filling a need. I Deserve Better... NOW! is fulfilling a need and empowering people to do what they did not know prior to using our services, they have power inside of them to control their finances.
All of our dreams can become goals and our goals can become reality. It requires us making up in our minds that we want it bad enough and allowing those with the information to give it to us. We have operated like this since we started school at a very young age. As adults we operate the same but our questions are different. Our goals determine our questions. Depending on what we do with the answers is what makes us unique.
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