All posts tagged: encouragement

Be Brave

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Updated from August 26, 2016 “Promise me you’ll always remember–you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” ~Christopher Robin to Pooh Being discouraged by circumstances or challenges is easy. It’s deciding to overcome them and be victorious that takes courage and strength. The beauty is, just like with any muscle, whenever there is resistance applied and a pushback given in the face of resistance, do we see strength and growth occur. Our courage, our hearts, require healthy doses of resistance in order to grow strong. Whatever you’ve set your heart to do, be brave in your doing. Discouragement can always be turned on its head and be the stepping stone to CATAPULT you to your goal. If the dream is in you, it only means you were meant to see it as a reality. Be Brave and keep creating! ~Dream. Imagine. Believe. Do. CONQUER! *Photo by Simon John-McHaffie on Unsplash

Why The Bird Sings: Faith for Creatives

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*Revised from August 3, 2015 “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” ~Maya Angelou We, as the artist and writers, the dreamers of the world, creative beings, fashioned in the likeness of our loving God and Father, share a beautiful thread of comradery with the birds who so sweetly sing. We write because we have a story to tell. We create because we have a vision. We dream because we have been blessed with a hope so gloriously written by Christ’s hands that we know it will not disappoint (ROM. 5:5). We don’t need to have the answers for every step we are led to take or the exact ins and outs that lead to our future goals in order to share something beautiful. We just need willing hearts to follow His lead and our voices ready to sing in the symphony of song that He has orchestrated for us! Lift up your voice, lift up your faith, and sing. “He has given me a new …

What It Takes: A Message For Success

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“It takes time to be a success, but time is all it takes.” ~UNKNOWN What we desire in this life, what we aim to achieve if it is truly a worthy and honest endeavor it is worth the time it will take to make it manifest. Don’t allow the progress of others to discourage you in your journey. You are in a race against only one person; yourself. The prize at the end of this race is having achieved your highest potential. This crown only fits your head. The choice is yours. Time is in your hands. Determine to take one step at a time. *Revised from November 6, 2015 *Photo by Leon Macapagal on Unsplash

Team Up! :How to Achieve Your Dream Pt 3

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“Teamwork makes the dream work.” ~John C. Maxwell Everything God created was created to be most fruitful when it is connected with another. Why? Because there is such beauty and satisfaction to be had when triumph and victory are born from cooperation. When a man takes a wife, children are born. When a bee meets a flower, more flowers, bees, and honey are born as well as food for the world. When seed meets soil and is saturated with rain, new life is produced. Joy and appreciation from the works and gifts of others bless us with gratitude and cultivate a culture of encouragement. When we, dreamers and visionaries becoming creators, have taken the steps to: 1. Believe: Believe that we can achieve the dream that is inside of us. (See Believe You Can). 2. Simplify: Take your processes one step at a time without over-complicating each move you make. (See Keep it Simple). … we are on the path to productively multiplying our success which is found in our ability to properly align ourselves to achieve our …

Keep it Simple: How to Achieve Your Dream Part 2

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“Everything in life should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.” ~ALBERT EINSTEIN When it comes to doing anything, especially taking a dream and birthing it into the tangible, keeping things simple is a very crucial admonition to keep in mind. For most of us, our knee-jerk reaction to anything new is to overthink it. We begin to compare our ‘pearl’ with oyster farms of others who have similar dreams already up and running. We begin to add extra bells and whistles to our end products and we haven’t even actually ‘made’ them yet. We take precious ideas, born in a moment of genius, and think it from the mustard seed it began as, and transform it into craggy, dark mountains that we feel ill-equipped to climb. Yes, most dreams, especially those that will involve creative income, do come with seeming miles of information that needs to be learned. All of it is important, but none of it is necessary at the very beginning of the dream. What is important is to take the first step. …

Believe You Can: How to Achieve Your Dream Part 1

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Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” ~Theodre Roosevelt One of the most glorious things about life is that even though it can be considered a canvas, it certainly is not a ‘paint by numbers.’ Life is not a one-size-fits-all even if certain ideas and concepts may mirror that of another’s. There still, and always, remains the glory of uniqueness in each person’s life and creation. I believe that Christ Jesus has a plan for each of us, a perfect design that He wants us to be co-workers with Him upon. He gives us dreams for a reason. Some dreams we take hold of and bring to manifestation, while sadly, others, we leave to float away like feathers in the wind. Many times, the dreams that get away from us are the dreams that we can’t seem to muster the faith for or we allow our faith to be choked out of us in the struggle. BUT HOW DO WE CEASE TO DO THIS? We have to make a connection with faith and hold on …

Encourage Yourself in the Lord by Bri Lassiter

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In 1 Samuel 30:6 we read about a dire situation David finds himself in. He comes home from doing something the Lord told him to do, and he finds his family had just been taken captive and their home burned and his people are so enraged that they blame him and want to kill him for it. Intense right? I can think of a ton of knee jerk reactions I might have if that were me, but what do we see David do? He doesn’t believe the lies that it’s all his fault, nor does he believe the lie that the Lord can’t or won’t intervene. Instead, he immediately encourages himself in the Lord, which in turn enables him to go to the Lord and ask, what now God? What do you say I should do next? It is so important to strengthen yourself in might in the inner man like David did and to trade your old habits for better ones so you have the courage to act on what the Lord tells you …

Gaining Status: Faith for Creatives

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“If you are always seeking a certain status to validate who you are, you’re never going to have peace. You can’t climb up to find yourself. You have to find yourself so (that) you can climb up! You have to know who you are so you can climb to status.” ~ Bishop T.D Jakes In all that we do, in every attempt to succeed, we are inherently challenged with the idea of “Status.” Even with something as simple as social media postings, we find ourselves judging our positions, condemning ourselves for not having X amount of followers or X amount of likes or views. “The proof is in the pudding, the validation is in the numbers“, we tell ourselves. We allow this wrong mindset to convince us that we are not worthy of what we are doing. This becomes our sad gospel when in reality these things are not completely relevant. Consider King David. He was a youth between the ages of twelve and fifteen when he was anointed by the Prophet Samuel as King of Israel (I Samuel 16). …

The Wisdom of Pursuit: Pursuit of Passion Pt 3

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*Revised from the “Postures” Series from July 2016 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” ~JAMES 1:5-6 Our passions are as vast as the sand of the sea. Even so, the way in which we are to pursue those passions are equally as vast and require wisdom, the wisdom of God if we are truly to hit our marks and be successful in a way that not only pleases God but allows us to be blessed and be a blessing to others. The Word of God tells us in that if any of us lack wisdom we should as God who gives unto us abundantly. To approach and pray to Savior in Faith and Wisdom is to approach Him with focused confidence in Who He is and who we are in Him as …

Faith & The Fast Lane: Faith for Creatives

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“But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.  For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.  And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” ~HEBREWS 6:9-12 Sometimes in the pursuit of our passion, the vision that the Lord has set ablaze in our souls, we find ourselves slowing down to a productive pace that does not match the zeal that is burning on the inside of us.  We look around us and see others seemingly tackling goals and gaining momentum with neck-break speed while we putter along. We wonder if our faith is enough.  The answer is yes, yes your faith is enough!  Your journey in pursuit of your creative passion and the calling that the Lord has placed upon your life …