I meet too many people who have desires but are waiting for the right time, the right moment, the right person, the right opportunity.   In Ecclesiastes in the Amplified Bible Version, it says He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.  I think that says it all.

I meet too many people who have desires but are waiting for the right time, the right moment, the right person, the right opportunity.   In Ecclesiastes in the Amplified Bible Version, it says He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.  I think that says it all.

In other words, stop looking at all the problems and challenges around you as a hindrance.  You are ALWAYS going to have problems and challenges.  Look at them as an opportunity to grow.  God has placed some of them there and allowed the others.   With the clouds comes rain to water the seeds that were planted!

Successful achievement is in direct relation to what you believe.  If you believe that you can, then don’t wait for the will of someone else or wait for the opportunity to come to you on a silver platter.  Pray for the will to make it happen.  Yes, God is in control of this universe and your life, but there are times when He won’t [not can't--there is a difference] do anything until we start to move forward.  I like how Joyce Meyer says it, “You can’t drive a parked car!”

In today’s society, we can sit at our desk and make a purchase via the internet or phone, communicate to a friend, conduct research on a topic, order a meal, perform a bank transaction and more.  We can do almost everything via phone or the internet.  It is almost as if we are sub-consciously programming our will to remain in the ready position but never get to the get set or go position!  Our minds may be active but there is no connection between the thoughts and action.

Will is the mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses a course of action.  Can is the mental ability or possession of a power, right or privilege. (The word is also defined as a metal container).   Many of us are operating in a state of ‘can’.  When we say I can we are saying we have the ability and often times end up containing our abilities.  We take the seeds of our ideas and allow them to shrivel up and die.  However, when we say we will, we are saying that we are choosing to take action.  The word ‘will’ holds you accountable to do something. Now isn’t that more powerful?!

God has blessed us with the power to achieve but many of us have the ability within us contained.  We think about it.  We talk about it.  We write about it. We discuss it, but then we don’t do it!  The clouds or challenges around you are designed to help the seeds of greatness within you to grow.  If you had to have major surgery, which would you prefer to have?  A surgeon who had successfully persevered through the challenges of separating siamese twins or a surgeon who has successfully performed several simple and easy routine operations.   The first I’m sure.

Make a decision today that you are going to turn your can into will.  Take action!  Turn your thoughts into actions.  Turn your desires into achievements. Decide that you will struggle through the challenges to help you develop your willpower.

You should know me enough by now that I’m not going to leave you there.  I like to provide you with strategic actions or cognitive tools to help you transform.  I want you to join me this year in Reaching Beyond Your Limits.  Bypass your mental limits and visualize the possibilities.

Here are a few tips you can use to create your own opportunity instead of waiting for it to come along. Stop looking at the clouds as a problem and start looking at them as the challenge that will help you to grow.

1. Don’t wait any longer. This is for those of you who have evaluated and re-evaluated. Contemplated and discussed for weeks, months or years.  Stop looking for someone to come along and pull you up out of your ‘can’.  There IS a time for waiting [See Psalm 46:10; Psalm 4:4], but you may have been feeling a nudge lately.  Start looking on the internet, the news, a book or magazine for ideas that you could use to create your own opportunity.  Better yet we often have ideas that pop in our heads that we dismiss. Write these ideas down and run with it. (Check with wise counsel and like-minded people to make sure your idea is feasible. But then again all things are possible to him who believes!)

2. Breath life into it. Have you listed all of your options?  Have you recorded your vision and created a plan?   Consider with whom you can share your vision?  Don’t leave your thought, purpose or opportunity contained in your ‘can’.  Release it to your will to take action.  Is it different?  Creative? What will make you stand out from the crowd? Think about these questions as you plan for your pursuit.

3. Know the value. Whether it is a product or service, a job pursuit or whether you are creating a new habit you need to know the value.  Know why you are doing this.  Make sure your  WHY is strong enough.  If your why is strong enough, you will creatively discover ways to press forward and reach beyond your limits to success. If you don’t believe what you have to offer is valuable (or that you are valuable), then how will anyone else.  Moreover, I might add if you don’t believe it is valuable then might I suggest that you may want to reconsider what you’re doing or do what you must to build up your thoughts of yourself.

4. Do it Afraid! My favorite one.  If you wait for fear to go away, you won’t do much.  Once you know that what you’re doing is what you are supposed to do, do it regardless of the fear that is rising in you.  REMEMBER, “For God has not given us a spirit of [FEAR] but of power and love and discipline.” II Timothy 1:7 NASB .  Doing something new can always create the emotion of fear but do it anyway.  Most often than not, you’ll be glad that you did.

5. Get others excited.  Is there someone that will encourage you and get excited with you?  Once you have done your research and you have mapped out a plan.  Create a story.  It doesn’t have to start out with the local news station.  It can be with a few friends that believe in you and are willing to help you ‘test’ your theory, try your product or prepare for whatever it is you need to do.  It could be rehearsing for a job interview, or doing a mock run for a program you are developing.   Whatever the case may be, their excitement will encourage you to press forward.

6. Create incentive. Create a reason for people to collaborate with you, try your product, participate in your program or support you. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.  “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thyneighbour as thyself.”  Galatians 5:14 If you love yourself and value yourself enough to do this, then love your neighbor enough to help them do there thing also.  Give back.  Help them out.  Support them in their healthy pursuits.  Later on down the road it may help to create another opportunity for you.

7. Be prepared to work hard. Whenever you try something new or do something different it is going to take a lot more energy than your normal routine.  Why?  You have to deal with the naysayers.  You may even have to fight with your negative thoughts.  You are creating something so that means possibly starting with nothing.  That is hard. Rome wasn’t built in a day and God took 6 days to create the earth, so why should your project or achievement happen quickly?  REMEMBER: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9 KJV

Don’t let another day pass you by without creating your opportunity to achieve your goal.  Get excited.  Get creative. Get going!

Are You Listening to Your Life?

It’s a funny thing about God, He gives us all the bells and whistles that we need to make it through. Are you so busy that you are not paying attention to your own life? Let’s take a closer look at this…

The Nudge When was the last time you felt that inner nudge? When we don’t listen to that inner nudge we tend to regret the decisions that were made. Here’s an example. A woman got up to go for a drink in the middle of the night and she felt that inner nudge. She felt a great need to take her baby out of the crib. She took a baby out of the crib and seconds later there was an earthquake. Where the baby’s crib once stood was now a pile of debris from the roof. She felt and paid attention to the inner nudge. The Holy Spirit often nudges me to do things or not to do things. When I listen I am grateful. When I don’t, I often regret it now or later.

Repeating Circumstances Are you experiencing patterns in your relationships or career? We often inadvertently get ourselves into patterns that we may or may not want to be in. Choosing the same type of people, experiencing the same situations in our career, are things that should trigger us to stop and take a look. If patterns have been reoccurring in your life or over the last few months, is it possible that you are creating or attracting these situations. Is it possible that you need to learn something from these situations to help you get out of your comfort zone?

The Heart Prick Have you ever been in a conversation when somebody says something that pricks your heart or makes your heart jump? Or some people say it’s as if a light bulb went off. I call that the prick of your heart. When this happens it probably means that you have to pay attention to what is being said and find out what it means to you.

All three of these life signals are just ways set up by God to help guide us or to provide us with the help or information that we need to make a decision in a certain area of our life. These signals could come close together or months apart. Or some people only get one signal and get the message.

Whether you are a corporate executive, a house wife, an entrepreneur or a student, learning to listen to your life can help guide you to make better decisions in life.

There are many fads and fashions out there. And let’s not talk about the rapid speed that new gadgets are being released. IPOD, iphone…can anyone keep up? By the way, I don’t have either. I don’t feel behind the times or left out. Why? Because I am very comfortable with who I am and where I am financially, etc. At some point I’ll get one, but right now I’m OK not having one. Having an ipod or iphone does not mean that you are not comfortable with yourself, so lets make sure that is clear. However, there are so many people that are trying to satisfy inner desires or define themselves with things. However, the joy lasts for a short time.

Recently the toy industry has had to recall countless toys from the toy store shelves due to lead paint. Sixty Minutes had what I thought was a great commentary a few months ago that went something like this, How many children play with the toys endlessly anyway? When I thought about it, I realized that was true. When my niece and nephew were small, they were so excited when they received new toys. They would run off and start to play with these toys. Then give them a month or sometimes a week and the novelty wore off. Before you knew it they had a very large (no extremely large) box of toys that they no longer played with. Not because they had out grown them intellectually, but because they had lost the interest. It was no longer satisfying them. However, they always found an interest in dragging my dining room chairs in the middle of my great room, maybe an old box and a blanket and creating a pretend house. That never lost its interest and it helped them to exercise their creative juices. (And yes, auntie was often solicited to be one of the members of the cast!)

I want you to ask yourself a question. Are you comfortable with who you are? Too many adults are still not comfortable or sure who they are? And if you don’t know who you are, then you can’t show up as the authentic “you” wherever you go. Can the real Jane please stand up?!

Have you ever seen the movie, Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere? Julia Roberts plays a woman who on the outside is confident and loving life but on the inside is unsure of who she is. She comes to that realization when a reporter (Richard Gere) asks her what type of eggs she likes. She is unable to answer that question because for each fiancé that she had (I believe it was four) she would adapt to what they liked so they would like her; only to be afraid at the altar and run (thus the title). She realized she had no clue as to what type of eggs she liked. She had lost herself in trying to be like someone else.

What about you? There may be one area in your life that you are sure and comfortable. You know the career that you are pursuing is your passion, but you have never thought about what style of clothes or hair you really like. You have somehow adapted to what your parents said, or corporate America said or society is saying at that time. Or maybe you are comfortable with your fashion statement, but are realizing that the career that you are pursuing is not your passion and you are unsure what your purpose is.

Don’t despair. Let’s look at 3 areas (there are more) that you should consider to find out who you are.

1. Be honest with yourself. In my book, Knuggets of Knowledge to Get Unstuck, Knugget #7 is Be Honest with Yourself. I discuss how we often do a good job of excusing our weaknesses or negative character. I go on to say that we should not justify but rectify. Be honest with yourself and God. Go in the bathroom, stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself the areas that you need improvement. That does not make you a bad or lost person. What it does is brings things to the surface so that you know what needs to be worked on. We all have areas that we need to work on. That is life. That is growth. You and God can work them out.

2. Discover your passion. In discovering my passion, it helped me to find my purpose and also find myself. I discovered that I love encouraging others. I discovered that I am free spirited, creative and that I am not conservative. I discovered that I have a zest for life and that I am an extrovert. In other words, I get energized around people. This helps because I am a speaker. See how everything ties in together? In my book, in the section Getting Unstuck; Making It Personal, at the end of Knugget #8: Discover your purpose. Know your gifts, I ask some key questions. For example, ‘If you were told you were going to receive one million dollars each year for the rest of your life, what would you do with that money?’ Another question, ‘what games did you play as a child?’ How about, ‘List something people tell you that you are good at doing or that comes naturally to you.’ These are a few questions or commands that get you thinking about who you really are.

3. Ask the Designer. One day I was having problems with a software program that I was using. My technical friends couldn’t help me. I asked around but no one was able to help. I tried figuring it out also (that’s the analytical side of me), but to no avail. So I eventually decided to contact the software design company. After sometime, they were able to assist me with the troubleshooting to figure out the problem.

Your creator knows who you are. He is the one that designed you. So if you are stumped, ask the designer. Over time, and step by step, you’ll start to see, hear and discover things about yourself. Look at it as a fun discovery project.

Enjoy evolving and discovering. Age doesn’t matter. You’ll be surprised how many senior citizens have come to me saying that they are lost and not sure who they are or what they should be doing next. Try the three things above for starters and enjoy what you discover.

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I put my hope.” Psalm 130:5 NIV

How many times have you dialed a business only to hear, “Please hold, your estimated time to wait is…?” I wonder how many times you have waited, then decided you can’t wait any longer and prematurely hung up the phone just before the operator or attendant is coming on the line. Probably more times than you know.

Waiting is something that is almost a curse word to many of us. We’ve made it offensive to our soul. We are surrounded by things, systems and people telling us to do it quickly or else you will miss out. Everything seems to be moving at light speed. Fast food. The internet. The microwave. Instant food. Because everything else is getting faster, we expect God to lower His standards and rush through everything as well. Not so. He does things perfectly and He has His timing. The truth is, if we don’t wait on God, we may end up with a business, church or ministry that is thriving because of our persistence and God –given gifts, but not because of the perfect plan and timing that God has for us. And I might add, they won’t last. There is a time to do and a time to wait.

Many of us intellectually understand that there is often a waiting period between a dream and the fulfillment of the dream.  Between receiving God’s promise or command and walking in the fulfillment of that promise, but it is not emotionally received or spiritually understood. Thus, our actions begin to display what we really believe. We tell ourselves, ‘God can’t possibly want me to be out of work right now, while the bills are piling up’, or “He couldn’t possibly want me to wait and keep silent while they are speaking untruths about me and my business.” Abraham, David and Joseph provide us great yet different examples of waiting. God speaks His purpose then it appears as if He forgets about the promise He made. Their examples show us the molding that we have to go through during this time and that though waiting may appear too long (see II Peter 3:9) , the rewards are exponential.

Do things appear to be going south?  Bills piling up? Clients diminishing? Problems with colleagues? Congregation dwindling? Family issues? I could go on about what our challenges look like and what you could experience, but I want to share three (3) ways to walk through your waiting period. Notice I said, walk not run.

Stop! (See Psalm 46:10) Stop “doing”. Stop trying to figure things out. Stop trying to do something to get out of this situation. Stop listening to everyone else. Stop worrying (See Jeremiah 17:8) Know what season you are in. Just stop. There is a time when God wants us to act or “do”. He’s quite capable of telling you when it’s time to act. Right now it’s time to wait.

Trust God (See Romans 10:11) . He created this universe. He created you. He allowed your situation. He designed your destiny. Trust Him. This may take every fiber of your being, but develop a new habit, by saying each moment, “Lord, I’m going to trust you even though this doesn’t make sense and even though my flesh does not want to. I’m going to trust you. Help me Lord” If you don’t know what it means to trust God that’s good, because now you can spend time getting to know Him, so you know what it means to trust Him. Your waiting period is a time to get to know Him on a different level.

Prepare (See Psalm 1 & Luke 2:52). This is your preparation period. This is where God purges you and curtails your character so that you don’t embarrass Him or the body of Christ in the next level. Learn all that you can during this time. Write, study, listen and observe during your waiting period. Glean as much wisdom as you can. Just don’t start “doing” because clearly God doesn’t think you are ready yet!

Many of us get STUCK in our habits or thinking thus making it harder to wait. In my book, Knuggets of Knowledge to Get Unstuck, I share 16 nuggets to help one GET UNSTUCK in their thinking and beliefs, so you can walk into what God has for you with the right attitude and habits. Our waiting period is designed to RENEW OUR MINDS and develop the Godly habits [wisdom, peace, power, love, patient, joy, etc.] we need for our next level. I encourage you to wait patiently and with expectation so that He can fashion you for the perfect destiny that He has designed for you. Whether it is starting a business, creating a new ministry, or taking your church to the next level be patient during this time. He is doing necessary work in you. Don’t abort the wonderful experiences that He has for you. Be patient and just wait a minute!

Ask Yourself the right Question!

If you don’t ask yourself the right questions then how can you consciously get the answer? Many of us are asking questions but the questions are not leading us to where we need to go. Sometimes we ask a good question but not at the right time or in the right order. Let me explain what I mean.

Imagine you are a business woman who is considered to be successful in many peoples eyes, yet you are feeling unfulfilled. You feel as if you are living someone else’s life. When you started on your career path you knew you were multi-talented and you wanted to be successful. However, you didn’t ask yourself the right question, so every so often, like a weed the results of the unanswered question show up in your life over and over again– in different areas of your life. You jump from job to job, never quite climbing as far as you desire. Or maybe you are a woman who is in a relationship that is unhealthy, yet you continue to be in this relationship.

Both women probably both failed to ask the important question. “What don’t I want?” This question helps you to bring your fears to the surface.  We often acknowledge where we want to go. We create goals and discuss them, but we don’t often talk about what we don’t want. Our fears are always lurking behind the scene, or below the surface. If we don’t acknowledge our fears, then they will continue to show up in our lives, in different ways. You have to give your fears to God. Tell Him about them. Then trust Him to guide you through it. Our fears will anchor us to where they showed up. Many remain stuck there for years and years.

You don’t have to stay stuck. Sit down and ask yourself the right questions. Pray and ask for guidance. Be open and honest with yourself. Don’t blame and don’t make excuses. Get quiet and listen for the answers to your questions. Pay attention to people and things around you to listen for your answer. Listen for that still small voice.

Be open to receive and act on what you here. If you have to let go of a mindset, then let go. If you need to embrace something new, then embrace it. Be willing to receive the answer and then act on the answer.

As a life coach, I find join in supporting others to find the right questions, then answer your questions so you can move forward in your life.

Don’t delay anymore. Get support from your friends or a life coach to answer those questions and get unstuck.

Most people allow their thoughts –I should say negative thoughts – to dictate the type of day they are going to have. I Corinthians 2:16 says “…but we have the mind of Christ.” Therefore we have the ability to think more positive [see Philippians 4:8]

You can change your thoughts to dictate the type of day you would like to have. When most people wake up miserable, they automatically believe that they have to be miserable and that the day is going to be miserable.

They get stuck in that misery. You can change the direction of your day by simply making a decision that you are going to have a good day no matter what. Let me be clear. Speaking positive things will not change negative circumstances to positive, but it can change your response to those negative situations.