I wanted to take a little detour from my usual posts. I would like to think one of my gifts is the written word. I can write my feelings much better than I can express them verbally.
WARNING: I love quotes, they inspire me and motivate me. So I use them a lot.
Some days it is really hard to find the desire to take a deep breath, count to ten, and remind myself it's just a bad day.....not a bad life. It becomes very easy to think you have the worlds biggest problems without considering that someone else might be way worse off.
Without going into details of my personal life. I had a lot of things that happened in one weekend that really upset me.
It seemed as though nothing in my life was going the way I wanted it to. Thats right, I said it, the way I wanted it to. I went to Facebook, which I rarely try to do, to ask people to send me good vibes as well as their favorite Bible verses.
Suddenly my inbox, text messages, and Facebook were blown up with people sending me Bible verses, praying for me, and encouraging me without even knowing what was going on in my life.
I began to cry. Tears streamed down my face as I felt this outpouring of love from people I am close to and people I haven't spoken to in years. That is LOVE, people. Why?
BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE.
Let that sink in. God, our creator, loves us. He put us on this Earth to love one another. In a moment of great weakness for me, I was surrounded by love.
I came to realize, very quickly, that my problems are so minuscule. Where my heart is definitely hurting, I have a wonderful creator who wraps me in love daily. No matter how much I fail, no matter how many times I stumble, he loves me.
So the wheels in my brain started turning, shocker, right? I started journaling my thoughts and processing them. Erasing the things I felt weren't important to share with anyone.
I wrote something that I write with all of my ramblings.
If I can make a difference in one persons life, my mission is complete.
Henry Ford said it best, "When everything seems to be going against you, remember that an airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." So what can I do with that statement?
Encourage. Empower. Enlighten.
We all struggle; some of us in different ways, and some of us similarly. If my words help you through whatever it is you're struggling with, wonderful! If they simply annoy....well move along with your day! Positivity is contagious. So long as we continue to tear each other apart, we will never move forward to a better place. The same thing goes for ourselves. If we continually tear ourselves down, we will never be who we want to be.
Self-love is real. You have to take care of yourself before you take care of someone else. I used to think that was the most selfish thing in the world. Like on an airplane when they tell you to put your mask on before you help someone else.
You can't pour from an empty cup. Take Care of yourself first.
My Papa was a very wise man. He always gave me the best advice. He told me "All of the people won't like you all of the time and some of the people will like you some of the time." That has stuck with me throughout my entire life.
Don't be afraid to be your own person, even if that means not doing what everyone else is doing. Here is another saying I like. "Comparison isn't just the thief of joy. It's the thief of everything. Keep your eyes on your purposeful path. Celebrate others. Celebrate progress, not perfection. Cultivate gratitude over comparison. Gratitude turns what we have into more than enough."
You will get to where you want to be when are meant to get there, not one moment sooner...so relax, breathe, be patient, and trust in God and his timing.
One last thing, when we spew hatred towards others, we become smaller. You accomplish nothing when you are hateful. Martin Luther King, Jr. has a quote that is my absolute favorite when I am feeling angry towards someone "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only LOVE can do that."
When the struggle is real, just remember, GOD IS BIGGER.
Xoxo,
Sarah Jo