a night of Praise & Worship with Emma

I have some really amazing and creative friends...Emma is one of them.  She sent me this unique text message last week, being very creative in how she asked to spend time together and to let me know that she has been missing me.  She knows I have been a little preoccupied lately with some other stuff and she wanted me to know that she wanted to spend time together...having friends like that is sweet!
  

text message from  Emma

Emma & Misty

Converge at The Edge Coffeehouse

Converge at  The Edge Coffeehouse

We had a lovely evening of Praise & Worship and Prayer!!! It was absolutely amazing...the nuggets I took away from our time were these:

God will sustain you.  Yes, cast all your cares on him, FOR HE WILL sustain you.  

At church this morning they reminded us that God paid the HIGHEST price for you...tonight, they asked us to remember this.  I want to reflect on what message this has for me in my life right now.

Every person is unique and special.  Grab a hand and hold on for LIFE!

a double rainbow as we were leaving...

two month break from blogging

I took a two month break from blogging.  Was it intentional or unintentional?  In many ways, it was both.

After I returned from my 2nd LiveBIG Conference the end of March 2014, I was overwhelmed with the developments from that event, the work I did during that time frame and I felt a need for quiet.  Deep quiet.  I decided to take a few weeks break from blogging.  I felt the time needed to be spent in doing my coaching, working through the questions that had developed in my heart and mind, focus on addressing some issues with clients and my business at a time when I had let habits become patterns and boundaries needed to be put back into place, make space for opening myself up to the online dating scene, and quiet my world that became hectic and chaotic.  

In order to just survive, I eliminated anything and everything that could go.  This meant blogging was not one of these things and could not continue to not happen.

I know some of you missed me.  You reached out to make sure I was okay.  You understood when I simply explained I couldn't at that time.

Do I feel taking this break from blogging was the best thing for me?  Yes and no. I feel the time away was good because it forced me to realize that some things in life are not that important.  However, writing is very therapeutic for me.  I find it something I enjoy and a way to connect with the world and encourage and inspire you.  I find the deep therapy of writing something that I need desperately.  I believe that if I had continued it during this two month spell it would have helped me dramatically with some of the issues I have been experiencing and working through instead of me just shutting down completely in order to survive.  However, God knows this too and I believe that the break was used to have me understand myself to a degree that needed to happen as I move onward to a new level in my courageous journey and growth process.

I must be honest and tell you that part of one of the reasons I couldn't write and share with you during this time frame was I wasn't able to form all my own thoughts.  For the thoughts I could formulate, I simply wasn't wanting to let everyone into them for many various reasons.  So between this mix, a break from the blog is what transpired. 

It is my goal to catch up my blogging with some posts that need to happen to bridge the gap and then resume my blogging routine.  

I pray that I may continue to impact your world as God would have me to to love, support and encourage you.  This is my daily goal as I live life and I want to pursue that with even more purpose. 

prayers for me in dating...

Those of you who are my friends and know me, know that I live authentically and live courageously with a determined spirit. Today, I am gonna be very vulnerable and share with you what I am facing in my life: 

Dating is making me learn more, a bunch more, about me. It is making me ask some really hard questions, of myself. It is making me dig deep for answers that are difficult. It is forcing me to communicate with men on a different level and learn to understand their language outside of a business zone. It is triggering things in me and making me face my walls, the pain and trauma of my childhood, it is making me feel vulnerable, it is bringing up my fears, allowing me to face feelings I have kept guarded, it is triggering emotions and memories. Dating is teaching me lessons. In doing so, I have reached out for help so that I can process and heal and allow growth in me to happen. Dating is scary and at the same time can be a whole bunch of fun. I only pray that with each guy that has come into my world, that I have made an impact in his life that is positive and helpful to him on his journey, even if we can't be friends and even if we aren't meant to pursue a deeper relationship with each other. My heart wants you to see God in me and to love and support everyone my life touches, no matter who you are!

I request your ongoing fervent prayers for me! Prayers that through all of this I can not lose heart to be who God wants me to be and continue on my courageous journey to #BeCourageous, #BeGenerous, #BeLoving, and#LiveBIG. Thank YOU to each of you who are supporting me in this endeavor. Your friendship, love and support mean the absolute world to me!!!

Quotes

Giving opens the way for receiving. 
- Florence Scovel Shinn

3rd Texas Ranger Game

I got 4 free tickets to the game and this is the view from my seat...

Kara & Me...

with more friends...

Jennifer & Brent...

a wknd w/family

a 4 Day Trip to Southern California to spend time with Uncle Dana & Aunt Donna...

sushi dinner with Aunt Donna & Uncle Dana

the cousins with their daughters
Shae, Trisha, Misty, Carrie, Morgan

getting a walk in on the hills of sunny California

a short visit with an old girlfriend...Veronica & Misty

Quotes

Perfectionism is a self-destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame.
-  Brené Brown 

if a man's relationship with God & You

I want a MAN like this...nothing less!

an evening out with friends...

Misty, Michelle, and Dave

Quotes

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
 -Zora Neale Hurston 

completed LiveBIG Mastery Coaching Program

My gift to myself for completing my 90 Day LiveBIG Mastery Coaching Program!

Quotes

song ~ Good Morning Beautiful

Good Morning Beautiful
by Luke McMaster

I hear the alarm go off at 6
Used to be I'd wanna call in sick
I always dreaded this time of day
But not anymore ’cause of you
Smiling you, perfect you

Good morning beautiful
I know it’s gonna be a good morning beautiful
When you’re waking up with me
It’s gonna be a good morning beautiful
Lalalala, lalalala
Lalalala, lalalala

As I’m going through my day
Nothing can take this smile from face
Whether sunshine whether the rain
I can weather any weather with you
Smiling you, perfect you babe

Good morning beautiful
I know it’s gonna be a good morning beautiful
When you’re waking up with me
It’s gonna be a good morning beautiful

This feeling
Like I’m dreaming
It’s a dream come true
When I wake up with you
Lalalala, lalalala
Lalalala, lalalala

Sometimes this world is such a crazy place
But all I need is just to see your face
Whether sunshine whether the rain
I can weather any weather with you
Smiling you, perfect you babe

Good morning beautiful
I know it’s gonna be a good morning beautiful
When you’re waking up with me
It’s gonna be a good morning beautiful

This feeling
Like I’m dreaming
It’s a dream come true
When I wake up with you


Woah oh!
Woah oh!


Lalalala, lalalala
Lalalala, lalalala


Good morning beautiful
I know it’s gonna be a good morning beautiful
When you’re waking up with me
It’s gonna be a good morning beautiful


Lalalala, lalalala (I know it’s gonna, I know it’s gonna be)
Good morning beautiful
Lalalala, lalalala (I know it’s gonna, I know it’s gonna be)
Good morning beautiful
(I know it’s gonna, I know it’s gonna be)
Good morning beautiful

Good Morning Beautiful!

Getting a text that says: Good Morning Beautiful! ...truly makes my day and makes me feel pretty special!!!

psalm 143:10

make sure and look at the big picture

Sometimes you have to step back and look at the big picture and quit focusing so intently on the details. Even a work in progress shows results! Be grateful for the presentation where things stand now, even when its not complete or even if there is still lots of work yet to be done, because it truly shows you the work that you have done thus far. This is my reminder today as I take a deep breath and refocus.

Quotes

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.
 - John Maxwell

Quotes

Quotes

relationship status: Single open to Dating

I went on my very first ever date March 30th, 2014.  It was an amazing 11 hour experience.  The encounter was not something I saw coming and the relationship didn't last, but I believe it was used by God to get me moving into an area I need in my life and for me to be open to receiving love, something I have kept out of my world for many reasons.

In working with my coach through some personal issues, triggers and flashbacks for me, he encouraged me to do online dating.  I resisted.  I haven't heard good things about this.  I wasn't sure I have changed in the fact that I am content and happy being single and didn't know if I really even wanted a man.  He encouraged me to break down my walls and to learn to enjoy having men as guy friends and to be relaxed in the experience of going out on a date, not feeling pressure or stressed that this has to turn into a guy I will marry, to create new beliefs about men and dating, to be open to receiving love, and to break down lies about guys.

Today, I took his advice and created an account on Christian Mingle and Tinder (an app).  I have decided if I do not like the process and it doesn't bring the results I am trying to achieve in my life (whatever those are as I feel that is still being defined), I can quit.  I am not obligated to this.

I have been single for 37 years.  I am used to living alone.  I, infact, actually like my quiet time.  Really like my quiet time.  Yes, I love having friends in my world and being part of them, but I also feed off of quiet alone time, more than is obvious to some people and contradictory to some people who think I am a complete extrovert.  I am not.  I have mastered skills of relationships very well and enjoy connecting with people, but without my quiet time, I become frazzled and my mood seriously suffers.  

By opening myself up to the dating scene, I want to make it very clear:  I am not desperate or in a hurry to find a man or should I say, my man.  

I want to learn more about me.  I want to want to learn more about men.  I want to get comfortable being alone with a man.  I want to find guys that I can be friends with, hopefully that is possible.  I want to understand men better.  I want live down my fears.  I want to work through the trash that comes up from interacting with men.  I want to create a new belief about men.  I want to heal.

...and then, I may just want to find someone to love to pieces after I do this work in me.

Quotes

Know your strengths, grow your strengths, and live in your strengths. Then, search and find the weaknesses that hijack your strengths and relentlessly improve them.

 - Dr. Walid Saade