Inspiration...
Come get you some!

If you would have asked me a couple of months ago what I thought success was I could have explained to you all the accomplishments I plan to make and, the lifestyle I will gain as a direct result of my accomplishments. However, recently, I’ve discovered that what I figured success to be and what my desires are didn’t line up. I had created myself again, and this creation was based on what society says success is. I, like many of you, re-created myself according to what I thought success was with society being the platform. For instance, we make a mad dash for jobs offering a certain amount of money to make sure we can keep up with the nice car and home that society can smile down on. We also make sure we can put name brand clothes on our back and the most expensive purse on our shoulder. While in the process of working to keep up, we slowly let our true desires fade away. I for one am very guilty of doing just that. I had started a job in April of 2007 as a way to gain extra income. Well the more money they offered me the more responsibility I had. By 2008, I was making a pretty penny, and I slowly started to settle and get comfortable there. The job consumed my every day. I was stressed out often, and I had less time to spend with my family, and less time to work with my own business. However, I was able to buy all the things I needed and wanted, but in lots of ways I had to sacrifice my peace. My manager was hard to deal with, I started stress over the fact that my manager and I were having problems and; I knew she had to authority to do as she wanted, including in some ways controlling my money. She understood her power and would use it to belittle many of my co-workers. That was stressful because my co-workers were all great people that needed to work in order to pay bills – and many of them were single mothers. The job became less than a means to pay bills, and more of a headache. I continued to put my best foot forward until I realized I was allowing this job to change me and most of disturb my peace.

At the end of 2008 I realized that many of my goals had changed. I was looking for more money, more promotions and more responsibility. One of my managers even started to talk to me about a manager’s position and I was strongly considering it. I started to create the manager type of person in myself. I neglected the real me to take on a person that was more suited for the “manager” type world. With every passing day the real me faded more and more; and before long I had almost forgotten the reason I had taken the job in the first place. Although a manager’s position promises more money, and many would see that position as a great move –  it didn’t align with the desires of my heart, but most of all I was no longer willing to sacrifice my peace.  I’m a writer and photographer and most of all I’m a business owner. I took the job as extra income during a slow period – not to start a career. One day I realized it was time to go, and I had to walk out on faith, and I was willing to do that in order to regain my peace and step back into the Will of God. So I left.

While many will disagree, I believe that when we know and understand our desires we have to stay faithful to them and God will bless us along the way. I believe many of us will step outside the person God says we are to take on the person that society says we should be. We take on that person and we spend a life time nourishing that person and trying to make that person successful. In the meanwhile,  God is holding blessings for the person he created us to be. So we pray and cry and get angry with the Lord because we are expecting blessings and we never see them because we have put ourselves in a tiny box and; we ask God to bless what we have created and he doesn’t move. As long as we are in this tiny box we’ve created, we are outside of God’s will. We’re not aligned with our God giving assignment and in most cases - we miss out.

I’ve learned that I had to do what I like to call “step outside of self” and get back in to God’s image of me. The image I created was nothing like what I saw for myself years ago, and I missed that person. I missed how easily doors would open for me then, and how effortless things were then. This new person struggled almost everyday trying to keep up, and the funny thing is – that’s impossible. Society is not faithful, and what we have is never enough to please everyone, so in reality, we never catch up.

Reading Oprah’s Magazine made me take a good look at what I thought success was to me. Unfortunately success is distorted in many ways. The media portrays success as having lots of money, the nicest cars, the biggest homes and all the things our little hearts desire, but that’s not so. Oprah is one of the richest and most influential icons today, and she still desires more.

What really do we desire? If we had all the money we ever wanted and the job that supports our lavish lifestyle – would we be willing to give up the things we have now?  I think not. I’m not denying that I want to live a comfortable life and have nice things, but I want to make sure that I still have time to share laughs with my family, and time to catch some “me time” every now and again. Oprah mentioned several times how she would enjoy a close family and some time to herself – but because of her success, she doesn’t have either. Oprah has gained weight over the last year, and she said she hated to stand before her audience but she didn’t have a choice. With over 300 viewers she couldn’t call in to work, so she had to do the best she could. Oprah has all she ever wanted but she had to sacrifice her time and most of all her peace. So while her success is worth millions, her time and peace are priceless.  She says in 2009 she is stepping out of Oprah and putting her true self back on the top of her priority list, and I would encourage us all to do the same.

Like Oprah, we have all created an image for society and we neglect the things that really matter. We can’t slow down enough to spent quality time with family, or to just get to know self. We can’t slow down now because we have a lifestyle that requires most of our time. Jobs that require mandatory overtime or jobs that have us so bogged down with work that we are exhausted at the end of the day.

If you take a moment to reflect back to the person you were about five years ago, I’m almost positive that person’s desires back then and what you are currently are as different as death and life  – and who are you really at the moment? If you find you have created someone else other than who God told you, you were – then take a moment to remember what the desires of your heart were. If you wanted to go back to school, but you are a single parent - start seeking ways in which you can make that happen. If you thought of being a motivational speaker but your current situation makes you think you can’t motivate anyone – then stop trying to please society and focus on the positive things God has already done in your life. Most of all if you have been praying for God to increase you in some areas, then step outside of self and get back into the image of God and watch how fast God will increase the real you.

Today my picture of success is drastically different than what it was last year. After stepping out of self, I realized that I have been very successful for a while now. I didn’t see certain things as success because I was into self, and I was judging success the same way society does. I can now write down what I know success to truly be. It’s no longer having the biggest home or the nicest car or even having the most profitable business. The desires of my heart is doing exactly what I’m doing now – I desire to inspire and motive though my God given talents.  When I receive emails from women expressing their gratitude because of the beautiful way I captured them or because of something we talked about, or maybe because of something they’ve read then – I now I’m being successful.

I’m convinced that if we step outside of the person we have created, and step back into the Will of God that we will be more blessed than we ever have.

I can’t say that it’s easy going after the desires of my heart, but it’s so much more comforting knowing that God is in control. The person I created has been in control for a while now and I’m beginning to realize she has no idea what she’s doing.

My mission this year is to really concentrate on my desires and ask God to show me the way in which I need to go. In 2010 when I look back on this year, I want the desires of my heart and the person I am then to be identical. I want to be aligned with my assignment because missing out on my true blessing is no longer an option. I want to walk in the Will God in order to reach my full destiny. I want protect my peace because along with peace comes joy and confidence to do all things. Most of all I want to step outside of me, the me that I created, and make myself available for the blessings God promised the real me -so long ago.