All posts tagged: Motivation

Faith by Hearing: You Are What You Eat pt 1

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“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” ~PROVERBS 23:7a  You’ve probably heard that verse before, maybe pondered its truth a time or two, or maybe this is your very first time encountering it. Either way, the truth of it remains; how a person thinks that is what they are or will become. The thing is what we think is contingent upon many factors and most, dare I say all, are choice-based. What we think is a result of what we: Hear Read Watch Speak As Creatives in Christ, commissioned for a designated mission to advance the Kingdom and to live the abundant life He died for us to have, we have to guard our hearts by censoring what we read, watch, and hear. Some may be turned off by the word ‘censor,’ but hear me out. How many of us have read articles about some sickness or symptom but then suddenly began to feel them in our bodies? How many of us have watched and thusly, heard a television ad or …

You Are What You Eat: Fuel for Faith Moves Series

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I (Candice) was having a conversation the other day with a  co-worker of mine. She was telling me how she loved milk but how it hurt her stomach so she had to limit the amount of dairy milk she consumed. We began to discuss the science behind a1 and a2 milk and how a mutation in cows around 1200 years ago changed their milk from a2, which is much like human breast milk, to a1 which tends to be undigestable in many adults today. She then informed me that when many adults, women especially, reach the age of twenty-five, their bodies no longer need milk and cease to produce the enzymes necessary to break it down and digest it. Wow! Here is the truth of that last statement from a spiritual standpoint; we as Creatives in Christ are like the adults who at a more mature age, are no longer able to digest milk, or better put, have no need for it. There comes a point in our faith walks that we as Creatives must …

What They Say: Fiction by Candice Coates

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“The only time I want to see a whole lot of red inky letters on paper is when Jesus is talking in my Bible, not when I have to hand you back your manuscript!” Mr. Hopeheld drummed his fingers on his desk, the frustration in his eyes melting into compassion. “Don’t look so chewed up. You and I both know you can do better than this. This,” He stabbed his pointer finger into the tome upon his shiny desktop. “This was a distracted effort of lifeless words and that just isn’t who you are.” The tempered rebuke from Lloyd’s publisher a week ago had nearly given him an ulcer. The sad thing was Mr. Hopeheld was right in all he said. The only problem was that him being right had not helped Lloyd one iota. He’d only told him what he’d already known. Lloyd didn’t believe in writer’s block. The truth was he always had something to say, always had some character whispering in his ears, flashing pictures of their questionable misadventures before his eyes. But …

Breathe: Patiently Pursue the Promise

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Breathe: Breathe in the Rhema word of truth daily and let your soul be at peace. “The definition for Rhema refers to a spoken word that is active or activated for your personal situation, a word that comes to life for you by the Spirit.” See Numbers 13-14:38 When we meet Caleb of the Tribe of Judah, he is a man in his forties, recently delivered from the yokes of slavery in Egypt, on fire with faith in the God of Israel, and ready to take hold of what God has promised-the Promised land of Canaan that will be renamed Israel. Caleb along with eleven other men, is commissioned to go and spy out the Promised Land, to bring back a report to the people what it is that they are preparing to walk into. If you are familiar with the story, you know that out of the twelve, Caleb along with Joshua are the only two that returned from the spying mission with even greater faith than before they had seen the land. BREATHE: ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR …

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 the cultivation of 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 …

The Art of Tireless Pursuit: The Expression of Faith in Creativity pt 3

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Faith is not only defined by giant leaps but is often reflected in the tiny steps.” ~Candice Coates A few years back, I was sitting in front of my television, watching some show on HGTV, eating a plate full of room temperature leftovers (good leftovers nonetheless,) when a thought popped in my head: You will never know where you are going if you never take a step.” ~Candice Coates The thought seemed simple enough, for, as I was watching HGTV, eating room temperature leftovers, I was also thinking about this creative platform, my writing career,  my art, and all the other things I had planned to do in that year which seemed to have been getting derailed from every angle. Truth be told, I am still thinking about all of these things. But when I first had these thoughts, I was thinking about my serial-blog-novel, ASCENSION GRAVEYARD. I will be honest, AG (for those of you who are just now tuning in, AG is my blog novel that I started writing in June of 2014…it …

The Art of Being Curious: The Expression of Faith in Creativity pt 2

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We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. ~Walt Disney Question. Wonder. Think. Discover. All of these words have one specific thing or root, in common, and that is curiosity. I don’t know exactly what comes to mind for you when you think of the word, curiosity, but for me, the image of a child appears. Why? Because children have this uncanny, unwavering courage or faith to seek with the expectation to discover. They have a unique boldness that enables them to try new things in order to arrive at an intended result. As a result, they grow and develop beyond their previous state only to repeat the creative cycle of curiosity again. Children embody the purity of grace to use their curiosity to be exceptionally creative, and thusly, successful. (I mean, have you seen videos of toddlers using the family dog as a ladder to open the fridge to get snacks? If that isn’t a success, I don’t know what …

The Art of Being Happy: The Expression of Faith in Creativity pt 1

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A child can teach an adult three things: To be happy for no reason, to always be curious, and to fight tirelessly for something.” ~Paulo Coelho THE HAPPY WISDOM OF CHILDREN… Author, Paulo Coelho, hit the nail on the head with this simple yet powerful description of the wisdom of children. It puts me in the mind of what our Savior, King Jesus said to His disciples, in regard to children and faith, in Matthew 18:3, “…and [Jesus] said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Here, the Lord is telling adults what it would take to walk in the fullness of His redemption, to not just be redeemed, but to take hold of the authority and power redemption brings, and that would require the faith of a child. Children have the ability to place unmerited trust in their parents. They believe when dad says he is taking them to Disney World. They believe that when mom says there …

The Call to Create: Taking the Steps to Walk in Your Vision

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*Although this article was written at the start of 2018, the points and wisdom here still hold merit for today, especially for those of us who use the Fall or Autumn months as our starting points for new projects and plans for the year to come. -Revised from February 5, 2018 I had the pleasure last month of seeing a meme on social media that said something like, “My 2018 begins in February. January was just the free-trial month.” I, like you, I am sure, smiled at the sentiment. No, we don’t really get to have free-trial periods for our civil new years, but we do get to take some time to plan out what we want to see in the months to come. For many around me, January came with a punch that was comparable to galeforce winds. Many had continuous battles with sicknesses passed from family member to family member as if they were sharing trading cards. Some felt defeated by the reminder of failed goals that seemed to follow behind them like …

The Beauty of Blinders: Taking Sight of Your Own Creativity

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BLINDERS: something that obscures vision: something that prevents clear vision or understanding eye covers for horse: a pair of flaps attached to a horse’s bridle, one beside each eye, to keep the horse looking straight ahead.Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. In terms of creativity, the first definition of the word for Blinders is very negative. Being creative after all is about giving vision and making the obscure more understandable. But as creative people, there are times where Blinders are a necessary tool that we should employ within our journeys. “True creativity is not about competition it is about the newness of authenticity. Authentic creativity speaks not only for the artist, but to the artist as well as the audience, and comes from a place within.” Blinders that cover our eyes from distractions, things that keep us from our vision, and looking ahead, staying on the path, are very beautiful and worthwhile. When you start creating, developing your motion, the thing that you do not want to do is …