Author: Author, Nicole L. Ross

It’s Time To Empower Your Self

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It’s time for us to start empowering our self.  Stop sitting around looking for other people do stuff for you.  As the song says, get up, get out, and get something.  There was a time in my life where I wanted to take the easy way out.  If there was a shortcut or alternative way to accomplishing something that was easier for me, I took it.  Why? Because truth be told I was just trying to get what I wanted quickly and not really put in the work.  If I could let someone else do the work for me and I still get what I want, then so be it.  This may still be the work ethic of some, but by doing this you will never fully learn how to appreciate what you have when you get it.

What does it mean to empower your self?  It means putting in the work.  Work could mean studying, doing research or it could mean simply coming up with a strategy to accomplish a goal and doing it.  To put in the work however, you must have goals.  There has to be an objective that you are trying to reach.  So the first step to becoming empowered is figuring out what your objective is.  What are your goals? Long term? Short term? Immediate?  A lot of times we get so caught up in the day-to-day activities of life that we don’t really think about goals.  We should have family goals, financial goals, career goals, personal goals and the list could go on and on depending on your individual activities.  Set goals for every area of your life.  Anything that you commit your time to should have a goal.  For instance, if you work out three times a week, set a goal that you are trying to achieve while working out.

When you set goals, you empower yourself because now you are looking to no one other than yourself to accomplish these goals.  When you have a goal, it should help you stay focused.  When life happens, as it so often does, you can so easily be distracted.  When you have goals, it helps brings things back into perspective for you and helps you get your mind right.  When you get your mind right, you are then able to operate in the power that God has placed on the inside of you, which will push you to work hard to accomplish your goal, even when you don’t feel like it.

As Christians, we can apply the principle of being empowered spiritually by knowing your word.  The word of God is what gives us the focus and discipline we need to live a life that is pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God.  A life that is righteous and holy.  The word is what gives us not only power, but strength to overcome the enemy.  Having the word of God inside of you gives you confidence; it is the blueprint for life.  It will revolutionize your entire perspective on life.

Empower yourself.  Use the tools given to you and do something with them.  As children of the Most High God, defeat is not an option.  Get up, get out, and get something.  Go get what God has for you! #iDeclare #EmpowerYourSelf

 

 

Scripture Reference:

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 NLT “So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Decisions = Consequences

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Decisions = Consequences

As I reflect upon where I am today in life, I can honestly see the reality of consequences.  Yes, I’ve made a lot of mistakes and done some stupid stuff, but there are also some things that I got right.  Looking into the big beautiful eyes of my two little girls reminds me of that each and every day.  Typically, when we think of consequences, we think of negative results based on decisions that are made.  In fact, when I looked up words that are synonymous with ‘consequences’ there are words like penalty or cost included in the list.  The result or effect of an action is how we define consequence, and nowhere does it say that result or effect has to be negative.

So what, you’ve made some bad decisions, but don’t beat yourself up over it.  What about those decisions you made that were right?  So seldom we fail to give our self credit for the things we actually did right.  These right decisions have consequences as well.  Say you decide to stop and give a homeless man on the street a meal to eat, you better believe there is no penalty in that.  This is where the law of reciprocity comes into play.  Simply put, you are blessed to be a blessing, so in order to stay blessed you have to keep blessing others.

The place we need to avoid is being in the valley of indecision.  Yes, we make bad decisions and we make good ones both of which, in my opinion, are required to move forward in life.  However, when we are stuck in a valley of indecision there are consequences for that also.  There is such an unsettling that comes behind not making a decision or even worse, letting someone else make the decision for you.  Decide what you are going to do and never let anyone else make life-changing decisions for you.

I truly believe that decisions have a tremendous impact on our life and maintaining the ability to reach our destiny.  We can face some tough situations in life, making it very difficult to make decisions on our own.  Which is why it is also important that we stand on the word of God.  The word says that in all of our ways we are to acknowledge God, so in essence whether they are difficult or easy so to speak, we should be seeking Him about these decisions anyway.

The next time you are placed in a position where you have to make a decision take a minute to think about what the consequences may be, because you know there will be some.  The end result of decisions is consequences. Just remember that those consequences are not always bad.  When you do good, good things come to you.  Either way, take a moment to reflect and hear from God before you move forward. #iDeclare #DecisionsEqualConsequences

 

Scripture Reference:

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Shift!

Author, Nicole L. Ross1 Comment

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Men and women all over the world, it’s time to shift.  Shift our mindset and shift the way we go about doing things.  As we know, the definition of being insane is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  Have you been expecting or wanting some changes in your life?  If so, what are you doing?  If you’re merely sitting around waiting for things to just magically happen then guess what, you probably gone be sitting there for a while.  In order for change to come, a shift must take place.  Shift the way you think and I guarantee you shifting the way you do things will happen automatically.  I say that speaking from personal experience.  I had been in a situation that mentally I couldn’t find any good in, knowing that God put me there.  For the longest, I always talked about the spirit of expectation that I had being there because I knew that God sent me, yet my mindset was still extremely negative.  God could not do what He wanted to do with me until I shifted my way of thinking.  Immediately when I shifted my state of mind, the way I did things totally changed.  Shift!

I want to elaborate on our thoughts for just a moment.  Far to often we stay stuck on all the things we have done wrong in life.  Shift! We are all humans and we make mistakes.  A shift takes place when you are able to pick up the lessons learned from the previous chapter all while looking straight ahead and writing a new chapter in life.  Focus the majority of your energy and attention on what you have done right.  I’ll also add this, whatever you doing right, keep doing it.  Take it up a notch and make it a point to operate in excellence.  Shift!

A slight change in position, direction or tendency could be the very thing that God is waiting on.  If you have an expectancy of change, that’s something that God has placed on the inside of you.  He’s just waiting on you to get your mind right.  This requires you to do what? Shift! Alright, now I hope you got it.  So let’s go change some things up a bit. You got it.  How do I know? Cause God got you! #iDeclare #Shift!