Its a Celebration!

5 Years-This year My Dear and I celebrate five years of marriage. I don’t like to say we’ve been married five years, because many have been married five years-that would be putting it lightly and I don’t take this celebration lightly. I’ve been in a relationship for over 10 years with My Dear and I would’ve never in a million years thought this would be the beautiful outcome of the friendship we’ve shared. We have grown in so many ways. We have developed a strong bond that will not be broken due to the relationship we share with God. He is what keeps this bond strong and everlasting. I look forward to many more years and milestones of the union we share. In celebration, I dedicate this song:


Stay With You by John Legend

We've been together for awhile now

We're growin stronger every day now

It feels so good and there is no doubt

I will stay with you

As each morning brings the sunrise

And the flowers bloom in springtime

On my lovin', you can rely

And I'll will stay with you



Oh, I will stay with you, through the ups and the downs

Oh, I will stay with you, when no one else is around

And when the dark clouds arise, I will stay by your side

And I know we'll be alright, I will stay with you



Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh



Though relationships can get old

They have the tendency to grow cold

We have something like a miracle, yeah

And I'll stay with you



Oh, I will stay you, through the ups and the downs

Yes, I will stay with you, when no one else is around

And when the dark clouds arise, I will stay by your side

And I know we'll be alright, I will stay with you



And there'll be heartaches and pain, yes it will

But through it all we will remain, hey

In this life, we all know friends may come and they may go

But through the years I know, I will stay



And in the end I know that we'll find

A love so beautiful and divine

And we'll be lovers for a lifetime

And I'll stay with you



Whoa, I will stay with you, through the ups the downs

Yes, I will stay with you, when no one else is around

And when the dark clouds arise, I will stay by your side

And I know we'll be alright, I will stay with you

Yea everything will be fine, yea and I'll stay with you

Through the end of all time, I will stay with you



Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

The storm is almost over.....

As I write this post today, I sit in complete exhaustion. My heart is troubled, my body is exhausted and my soul is completely worn out. I struggled over the past few weeks trying to cherish and appreciate happy times, good feelings and moments of enjoyment. It becomes harder and harder every day. Its seems impossible to be in a good mood and not a day goes by where I don’t want to go somewhere and cry my heart out, cry out all the sickness from my body and rid myself of the daily dr. visits and calls. I don’t want to be around or participate in activities with my family let alone my friends. Not due to any fault of theirs but just because of my own feelings of hopelessness. I pray sometimes with tears that my health, mind, body and soul be restored. That this storm will end and the sunshine will break though. I don’t want to work, but then again I don’t want to be home. I don’t want to talk or laugh. All motivation and inspiration has been drained from my thoughts. It’s times like this that I wish this was a bad dream and I could awaken from it.
On the other side of the fence, one thing I do have throughout this storm are many people praying for me. I welcome every prayer, every moment of the day. I welcome every person that can encourage me to assist in bringing me through. I am oh so thankful for my family as they have been so understanding throughout the process. Being able to hold me up and together, handle my laziness, understand why I walk with my head hung low, and my un-commitment to family time and activities together. I thank My Dear also for praying with me and for me. I never thought I would feel this way, if I would’ve known, I wouldn’t have went for testing. I would’ve ignored it, pushed it off to a better time that suites me. But my God knew what he was doing and how he wanted to move in my life. See if we didn’t have storms in our life, we wouldn’t appreciate the sunshine. God has blessed me and my household and family so much that he needs me to sit back and appreciate it. And if this is his way to getting me to that state of mind, well then I’ll take it. Though it seems unbearable at times I know past it all is a special blessing meant for me. So through my feelings of hopelessness and non-encouragement, I pray for you as you pray for me, that we’ll all make it through the storms in our life. That behind it all we’ll be able to enjoy and appreciate the sunshine(blessings) in our lives. That we will humble ourselves to accept the love of Jesus in our lives so that he can move in ways we never thought possible. So that he could pour out blessings we’ve never thought we’d have room enough to receive. If we can just trust him today- that he will bring us through our trials and tribulations, throughout the sickness of our bodies, our feelings of hopelessness, and throughout the difficulties of losing a loved one. I will wait on him, I will allow him to guide me through my storm.

Lord Give me Strength.....

What most people don’t understand is when you pray to the lord for strength or to make you stronger, He will not literally give you more physical strength, He will not add more hours to your day to complete unmanageable tasks and He will probably not just make a difficult situation disappear as if it never existed, but what He will do is put you through situations to make you stronger. See this was a ah-ha moment for me just recently. In many different situations and daily- I asked God for strength because I knew that I could not bear my burdens alone. I knew I needed guidance, understanding and strength to make it through. See I am not an expert at interpretation or speaking upon the word of God, but I am wise enough to know what God is doing in my life. At some points when I prayed my hardest, I would see situations appear right upon my life, but these weren’t necessarily blessings but more like tests,  sometimes they were more obstacles or road blocks, &  more difficult times. So many of days, I thought to myself-why is it the harder I pray, the harder situations become, the less understanding I have? But through the guidance of Him and consistency of seeking Him, I realized that He was not giving me physical strength, He would not simply just remove my roadblocks, He would not just completely change my mind, He would not just make things easier or perfect because we always need to be working in and through Christ and if we’re perfect then what would His purpose be? But what He would do was test me and put me through situations to see if I could endure or withstand what His ultimate goal was for my life.  Examples such as making me work harder on the job. Why for over a month now, have I felt an increase of stress at work with mandating of work six days per week? What is He getting ready to do in my life with a sign of building my endurance to work through tight deadlines, is it my inspiration of having a family business in my future that He’s preparing me for?? And how about my health, I wonder why am I feeling an increase in pain and sickness over the last few months? What’s the answer to why he’s building my endurance with being able to handle pain and sickness, what is getting ready to happen with me or someone close to me where I would need to be stronger in this area? As far as results in which I’m sure a majority of us want to make sure we get the right outcomes of what people around us do or deserve along with the right outcomes for our own actions. But sometimes I don’t see the results I want, I don’t see people reaping what the sow, I don’t see fairness or understanding. Why is there a need for the results to seem unfair or that the harder I push for the good outcome, sometimes it’s not always to my understanding?, is He preparing me to be more understanding and patient, is He preparing me for a major blessing (outcome) that I’ve been searching for? All these questions I ponder, but what I do know is that the Lord is my leader and while He is testing me, building my endurance, making me stronger and giving me patience. He has an ultimate goal for my life, and whatever it may be I welcome it with open arms. Lord continue to give me Strength, so that I could move in the ways that you would have me to go!
Sarah

1 Year of Blogging!!

So I’ve been blogging for a year now and my how fun it has been! You’ve had the opportunities to see my highs and lows, my ups and downs, my successes and failures in many areas of my life. I have to say I’m truly proud of myself. I started on this journey in an effort to lead an life of excellence. I started efforts to take action and responsibility for my dreams, opportunities and goals in life. I wanted to motivate and inspire people I know closely and those I’ve reached unknowingly. I wanted to touch many lives in many ways. I wanted to give hope for the unhopeful and love for the unloved. I need this all back in return which I got just from the views and visits and comments on my site. I knew that somehow someway I was making a difference. I wanted something to do in my spare time, I wanted to release thoughts and feeling I never thought I could tell the world. I wanted my blessing to be another’s blessings. I wanted to be different but special. I wanted this all to lead to my ultimate goal of excellence, of realizing what life was all about and how to live the prosperous life that many of us dream of.



Well I have to say that I believe deep in my heart that I have accomplished this and so much more. Throughout my days and/or weeks of non-posting, sometimes I felt bad or guilty that someone special might miss out on a choice of words they really needed to hear. This always gave me a push to want to keep going and to never give up. Somehow, I helped another that helped me back in return, just by being helped. Well the journey is not over, I have so much more to dream and say. This year has brought about a great positive impact and change in life and my goal still stands. So join me this year as I continue on my journey of excellence. Continue to be motivated and inspired, help and guide me on my journey, visit often and send you responses and comments my way. And yes I will actually be celebrating with my favorite Ice-cream this weekend!!!

Consistency is the Key

Now a days if you haven’t already noticed, many people have a major problem with being consistent in many sometimes all areas of our lives. We think we only accomplish this much or that much or only go so far. We hold ourselves back and set limits. We have to have a mindset where we move those limits. If your mindset is limited, your life can be limited. You may wonder well what are those limits and why do we have them? In my opinion the 4 major reason we have or set limits are ignorance-something causing you to ignore the problem or situation or pretend it doesn’t exist. Distraction-something or someone distracting your consistency, causing you to get caught up in other things or situations, Deception- being deceived by someone or something  and The Truth- the most major limit of all- most people think well I know the truth, I’m educated with this and I’ve been taught that. I go to church or I go to school and I’m the best employee on my job. How about I got the right answers to everything. In order to be consistent you have to really live it day in and day out. We don’t do things long enough to gain consistency. We think if we do something every once in awhile, holidays, birthdays or going to church on Sundays is going to get us to  a breakthrough, then you got another thing coming. You have to be consistent and intensify your consistency or else you will not reap the outcome you want. Consistency is the key and is the gateway to living your dream.

Through the Fire

Oh my, oh my, oh my- I’ve had my share of struggles lately. Some things I can validate, some I simply cannot figure out why these had to be my situations. I admit today that I’ve been in no way perfect, I’ve made my mistakes, I’ve lost my strength at times, my character has been compromised, I’ve been heavily wounded and worried, and I’ve just about given up hope. I have indeed felt the heat of the fire. Throughout this fire, I have increasingly and abundantly grown in my faith. I’ve had no choice but to lean on the will of God. My faith has been tested causing my endurance to grow and develop. To some it appears on the outside that I’ve given up on Him-not attending church regularly and steering away from certain functions, but I’m here to tell you today that deep down inside my heart, God had worked day and night through good times and bad to mold me into his servant. He has showed me how to show love, compassion and obedience in times of trials and confusion. I’ve lost a lot of people in my life throughout this time. Some I can do no more for but Pray that God conditions their hearts and handles them accordingly. Some because I’ve asked that any negativity or souls that don’t fall in line with his will for my life be removed. Some unintentional, but ultimately for the sake of Him. At times I’ve been concerned of what people will think of these changes, how they’ll feel about my actions and my future opportunities, but I’ve learned that my focus cannot be on their feelings, but on his guide for my life. It’s a known fact that when God is preparing you for something big that you’ll have to go through some trials, some obstacles, you’ll have to defeat the devil. See when the devil sees you growing in Christ he’ll take a difficult situation and try to steer you in a negative direction, make you think that there’s no way out and start questioning your faith. If your heart, mind or soul had the proper foundation, then that one ounce of faith left can put you back on track, the righteous will not be forsaken. Throughout this fire, I have became transformed. I am a mature follower of Christ and I’ve grown within him through my times of struggles as he strengthens and delivers me.

Isaiah 40:31 NIV
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint

Roles

What role(s) do you play? What role is most important? How do you play your role(s)? Do you know when your role is needed most? Have you forgotten about certain roles?


I ask these questions because sometimes I don’t think people realize what it is to be a role model for many different situations, many different causes and for many different people. I hope this stirs in you to start focusing more on the answers. Most people can be quick to say I’m an employee or business owner, a wife or husband, and mother or father. But do you realize that those are all basic roles those most people have regardless? Do you realize that you are so much more than that? Do you realize that people look up to you or reach out to you outside of those roles? Before you start thinking more on what roles you play, let me tell you what roles I play. I am a wife, a mother, a child of god, an employee, a taxpayer, a daughter, a sister, an Aunt, a niece, a cousin, a best friend, a friend, an associate, a responsible citizen, a beautiful woman, a role model, an enemy to some. I think there are many other minor roles, but I think I’ve gotten my point across. Many don’t realize that you’ve got to extend beyond your normal box and make sure you realize your roles in the other areas. Outside of making sure you’re not neglecting your other roles, many may think well yeah I know that I this and I’m that, but the question is are you fulfilling those roles? If you say you’re a sister are you really doing your sisterly duties? Are you calling him or her up and reminding them you love them? You say you’re a Aunt, but are your really making sure you’re setting an example for your nieces or nephews? Or are they just another one of those kids that your sister had? You say you’re a wife, but are you always complaining about doing this and doing that and you don’t have time or this or time for that? Some say they are best friends or friends, but are you showing your friends how much you appreciate them regardless of what you expect from them? Are you expectations set to high? Do you want something from a friend that you’re not willing to give? Take a deep look into your roles and start to realize just how important you are to yourself, your family, and many others that are an active part of your life. Start fulfilling those roles to the fullest, don’t just give a little piece, give what you would expect to receive in that role. I hope that I have motivated you to answers these questions and get moving on taking responsibilities for your roles. Live your dream, do what it takes to get there!