Sitting from the top of the Oasis, I looked out and the water looked so beautiful. I have been to the Oasis many times before but I had never seen it look so clear in my life. I saw a water tower from a distance, I saw the Dam I have always seen, but I could see more homes. My vision was clear to see the things in the distance, because of all the training I had by visiting the Oasis and looking past where I had already looked.

I could never see all the things at once; It wasn’t because my vision was bad, and it wasn’t that I wasn’t capable of taking in the beautiful essence of The Oasis, but it was that I saw exactly what I was supposed to see. My vision was able to appreciate what I saw, and then I would stretch my vision of the Oasis farther down Lake Travis and appreciated it even more.

What does this mean?

If you were to look at the homes on the Oasis, if you were to have a house has an ocean view, would you be able to really appreciate the view? Or would you be working tirelessly just to have what people say you should have when you reach a certain social level of wealth? 

Do you see the difference?: One one side, you achieve a certain expectation or goal (like Financial Success, Marriage, or etc) and you actually are able to reflect on it as a blessing, knowing that you did deserve it and your success happened when it was supposed to happen. On the other side, You are working tirelessly to have what  you believe you were suppose to have when you reach a certain success by a certain time.

Our lives are structured where we work hard to OBTAIN (we seek relationships, we seek money, we seek the rapid promotion), and we sometimes don’t value our position in life where we currently at. God wants to bless you to get where you think you should be, especially when He equips you with all the gifts and talents to do it. But also, God wants you to really absorb the place where you are at currently before he PROMOTES you to the next thing.

Hear me out!

FOR RELATIONSHIPS: Don’t be so anxious to be in a relationship!! The reason why you are alone is because God wants you to understand him to such a point that you are prepared for the ups and downs of a relationship.

You have to truly fall in love with yourself before you can love and comprehend someone else. But we focus so much on trying to get to relationship that we want! When we get to that “ideal” relationship, it just goes sour. We have to learn to enjoy the time of being single, being content in self, and then when God’s timing is right, it will happen.

FOR CAREER: We all want the job promotion, and the pay raise, but take the time to enjoy the job  you have now!

Every step is a small step towards your vision. But there are certain talents that you have to develop in your current role before you are ready for your next role. Be ambitious, and hard working; where opportunities lie, take chances. But remember, your destiny of greatness will happen as long as you continue to make yourself a better you where you are. Then the money will double, and triple, and quadruple as your talents will take you before the right people. So look towards the future, but come back to say “hey what can I do to be a better me today”

What is the results?

When you factor in patience into your life, you endure a growth that only experience, hardwork, and wisdom could mold.

What will come to pass, will pass. It just takes time and with time, you grow. The relationship that you dream of, will come. But first you have to grow in yourself, love yourself, and learn how to be yourself. That job you want, with the high paying job, and benefits, and perks, will come. But first, you have to learn the smaller jobs that will help you to be developed in multiple areas. Then you will progress in due time as you reach growth pinnacles.

We were not made to be alone! So understand that our connection with others helps us to reach this incredible growth. 

We all need people to build us up, share knowledge, and growth with. We didn’t come into life to live this life single, and we have to communicate with others to help us achieve growth. But our friendships have to be of substance, our friends have to have our best interest at heart. Our friends keep us on track, help us navigate when we are confused, and most importantly they should build us up when we are down.

Make sure your friends reflect that.

Keys to remember:

1. Friends are important and you must have friends that share the RIGHT and SAME values with you!

2. You have to let people into your life to help you BE A BETTER YOU!

3. Appreciate where you are now

4. Grow yourself to be a better you where you are now

5. Understand the vision of the future will come as you prepare by being a better you now

6. Don’t be super anxious to get to the future: It comes in due time (Relationships, Jobs, Etc)

7. Support others, but don’t forget to take care of self

8. Don’t hold all things inside, expression and emotion is okay!

9. Don’t push people away! We are made to help each other!

10. Change and growth is scary but addressing things is important to your emotional health!

11. Communication is very important!!

12. Everyone wants to be strong, but it is okay to cry and express real emotion and tears.

How many times have you felt the pressures of life creep up on you and consume you?

We all have had those feelings of “man the world is collapsing on me”

• Could be a relationship ended up not going as you planned
• Could be a test that you need to pass that you failed
• Could be that money is tight and you can’t meet your budget and other obligations
• Maybe your unhappy that you feel alone and can’t speak to someone
• Maybe your employer is testing your last nerve or your fear of layoff

Whatever the case may be, I’m sure if you can’t relate to the examples I posted  you can think of your own unique situations that apply. You feel helpless and during this time, you are sure that you know right from wrong but you can’t tell if your suppose to go left or right. You don’t know if your world is up or down. Your drained mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. You may not only feel disconnected from others but also from life and God. You seek for an outlet but you don’t know where your outlet is.

If only you could get away just like you see people do on the Southwest Commercials, right?

Nevertheless, these are tough times in your life, and seeking a solution to change is your main goal.

Where do I go? What do I do? What is the first action?

Life gives us adversity, but understand a perfect life would never have made our life interesting or make us into the strong people we will become.

“God places nothing on us that we can’t handle”

You may have heard that phrase many times but consider this meaning I took away from it. When we are pressed and pressured against insurmountable odds and opposition, this helps to refine our character as long as we don’t stay defeated. Every failure or tough situation you have in life is a learning lesson and growth for you to not repeat the same mistake again. We shouldn’t give up, but we should be patient and learn from each situation as to the lesson that God wants us to know. We will not be tempted more than we can bear. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

For instance, a rock undergoes metamorphisis, to change from its original state to a more beautiful, more appreciated, and a stronger state. Imagine if a rock wasn’t pressured by moving plates underground, heat from the magma of the earth, and spit back up above the mantle of the earth? 

Would we still have pretty rocks that are not only stronger and sharper but tougher than before?

But I feel alone, how can I be around God when I feel so bad?

We often feel alone because sometimes what we want is not in our season for us to have, we have developed lustful desires that are not beneficial, or have forsaken what God has asked us to do in stubborn enjoyment of what we have for our life.

For everything there is a season, as we have to exercise wisdom for the season we are in. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) We have developed desired of the flesh and desire the worldly things. (Romans 12:2) Our desires haven’t been on him but when we seek him he will make himself available. (Matthew 7:7).

We are never alone as even though God is someone we haven’t seen, and Jesus has died and left but will return, we have the Holy Spirit who is our guide and friend as someone we can confide in and walks with us daily. (John 14:16-18) Even while we seek to understand what God tells us to do we have peace with the Holy Spirit who will never leave us.

Give me an example

I heard a great story that I wanted to share:

“A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing it with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Noticing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind. “You have been pushing against this rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it.” Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These troubling thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. “Why kill myself over this?” I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough.

And that is what he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his thoughts to the Lord. “Lord” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even been able to budge that rock. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”

The Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, When I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?”

“Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. This you have done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is simple obedience and Faith in Him…”

This man followed what God asked him to do, tried to reason it with worldy knowledge, only to realize that God has asked him to go through this trial so that he would grow stronger. We just have to trust in Gods faith even when it seems hard to do so. We must let go of us…and allow God. The man that entered in the cabin left a different man. God allowed him to come full circle to the outside world but different then when he returned to the outside world. In solidarity, God was able to refine the man and grow him strong, which to us seems really scary when we are alone and we haven’t been listening to God, but yet God has something better for us than we could imagine.

Conclusion

Just think about a few things

• There may be a new relationship God has for you/You may not be ready for the current one you want and God is building you to be ready for it
• Maybe there is something God wants you to learn something that you missed for future reference
• Maybe you haven’t learned to communicate and interact with others/God wants to take time to teach you to love yourself so you can love others
• Maybe the employer is opening the gateway to you understanding you are meant to create something new/Maybe there is a new opportunity for you to serve HIS purpose elsewhere where you will be able to do more

Check out my mood song: Musiq – SoulStar

5:47 am

I was born…but I wasn’t born at night

My Uncle Avie always told me that phrase as I was growing up….a folk tale of wisdom

I was born…but I wasn’t born at night

I am thankful to God just for the way he has kept me under his protective wing and ensured my growth

I am thankful to make it in the world at 5:47 am once again as I did 22 years ago…despite being right next to a tumor that was bent on killing me

I am thankful for a having a host of family members that have watched out for me over the last 22 years and helped my upbringing and molding me into the person I am today.

I am thankful for the all relationships that I have had with many friends over the years that have giving me a sense of belonging amongst camaraderie

I am thankful for all the mistakes that I have made that have allowed me to grow as a person and experience a more enriched life without fear of failure

I am thankful for all the memories that I have made in this life process even more enjoyable

In the last year as I reflect back at my life, I have continued to be blessed. I got one step closer to my professional goals, amid some hurdles that I embraced. I watched some pieces come together successfully and can see the light brighter at the end of the tunnel. I got one step closer to finishing school and ending my undergrad chapter of college. College has been a very unique experience that has challenged me to raise my limits, but also exposure to topics and ideas I never considered while undergoing personal growth and maturity. I developed some strong, lasting relationships and bonds that I foresee lasting for a long time and duration. I found purpose in my many activities and relationships, also finding how I can exemplify myself for God’s benefit. I saw myself continue to grow with Christ and align my life’s walk to be less on the structure but more in my actual application of his life. I saw understanding from mistake, and lessons from corrections, and continued to preserve despite obstacles that were in my way. I never have agreed with the defeatist attitude, and I can now see the many years of painful mistakes lead to more critical thinking, and split decision making to prevent past mistakes. I made some changes personally in my life and I believe they were in line with God’s Path for my life.

In All, since August 20, 2010, I can honestly say I am happy to be on this Earth and serve God.

Being super thankful and humble is my goal in my life, next to hopefully being an aspiration that Goals and Dreams are obtainable when you ask God to be the center and most important piece of your life. Granted I don’t read the bible 24/7 as I would like, and I don’t get to give him all the public praise that he deserves, but I try to life as best I can to make him happy, do onto others as I would want to be done, admit when I am in the wrong and recognize when things shouldn’t go my way, and just try to be the best person I can at all times while thanking him sometimes in my mind for the blessings I realize.

In all, I am thankful for you as a blessing in my life. Each person, despite where we stand relationship wise, despite how close we may or may not be, despite how many times we talk, are all blessings to me in my life. Every person enriches my life someway, somehow and I am thankful. I hope I can be a blessing to others and expose God’s light to others.

Thank you Lord for my many blessings and thank you for being a blessing to me