One Bad Apple

We have all heard of the saying "one bad apple spoils the bunch".  I wanted to know if one apple really spoiled the rest of the apples that surround it.  What I found is that apples give off a hormone called ethylene which is a ripening agent.  The riper the apple is, the more of this hormone it will give off.  Eventually it will lead to a concentration of the gas that is enough to overripen all of the apples.  So one fruit that is riper than the others can cause the other ones to get ripe prematurely! 

Think about the people you have in your life.  Do these people assist you in your walk with Christ? Do these people pray for you? Can you count on these people's faith when you can't seem to find your own? Or do these people look at you crazy when you say you aren't interested in doing the things you used to do? Are these people always complaining? Always trying to find something negative? That one seed of negativity can throw you off.  You may be thinking you have it all together, but get around those bad apples and they make you feel as though other people have it better than you do and you start to doubt God and yourself.  You may start thinking you should be further in life than you are currently, instead of being thankful for where God pulled you out of.  When you sit back and think about it, why would you even want to be around people who aren't on the same mission as you? There will come a time when you approach a fork in the road and some of the people you thought were your "ride or die" friends will look at you crazy because your destiny is to the left and theirs is not.  It is ok to love and pray for people from a distance.  God will start to confuse your languages, what was once familiar about a person becomes unfamiliar.  Things you use to do with those people or that person will now feel uncomfortable and you will have no interest in doing them.  God has to separate you from bad company so He can position, then propel you! Thank God for the people He took out of your life, don't grieve or wish them back, He removed them for a reason.  I am so thankful for the people I have in my life.  When things start to get uncomfortable and people start being removed from your life get ready for the breakthrough that God has for you!

The Journey To Becoming Me

Your journey is not like anyone else's journey and the moment you realize that you are able to live peacefully.  You aren't competing with anyone else because you understand that your journey is yours alone.  You don't wake up one morning and just realize this though, especially living in the day and age of social media.  You have to be intentional about your journey.  Social media can clog your vision because you see other people on their journey and may feel lost in yours or feel as though something they have was meant for you...it wasn't! How awesome is it to know that God gave you your own lane to stay in, your own blessings, your own vision and a mission for your life? 

My Moment Of Truth

I asked God what I was suppose to be doing with my life, what was my purpose, what vision did He have for me...it was one of the first times I heard Him speak clearly to me.  He told me that my vision was to challenge, motivate and encourage others, to be transparent with my story as it will help others who feel as though there is no light at the end of the tunnel.  The issue I had with what God told me to do was my introverted nature.  I am a true introvert and I am a very private person, I do not like to give information to people that I don't deem necessary, so this was a direct conflict with what God told me.  To motivate and encourage people you have to speak to them...obviously, you have to be transparent with them and you have to be approachable.  I read all of the cliche posts about needing to be pushed out of your comfort zone to grow...I may have even posted a few myself, but who really wants to be taken out of their comfort zone? Not me! I kept asking God what I was supposed to do and continued getting the same answer, in my head I was thinking the answer would change if I continued to ask.  So when the answer didn't change, I asked the follow up questions how was I supposed to motivate and encourage people? What encouraging or motivating words could I say and why would people listen to me anyway? God then said start a blog...a blog God, really? Reading and writing has always been a passion of mine, but it's always been personal, I hide my writings to make sure they are not found and read by anyone, so why would I want to publicly display my writings? I was then directed to this Bible verse: 

For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 

John 12:49

I'll be honest, starting a new blog alone is scary, what if its not well received, what if I don't know what to say, what if...there are a lot of "what ifs" that I could put on here, but the one that matters is what if I touch someone with what I share on this blog? 

This is my journey, I understand that not all will make it on the journey with me and I am learning to understand that my journey is my own.  My obedience to the Lord is that of my own as well.  Since He told me to write the blog, He will guide me and direct me on the things I need to say.  

I am super excited to be on this journey with God, I pray that through my blog you are able to continue on your own journey and be comfortable and confident in doing so knowing that you OWN it!! I'm not perfect, I slip, fall and stumble, there are days I just want to sit there and dwell in my disappointments, but that is not the calling over my life. The best part about being down is the fact that you can only go up!! I hope to inspire, motivate, encourage and challenge anyone who crosses my path! 

Love you all and welcome to my journey