Restless

Lately, I find myself struggling with a restless feeling. It comes on and I throw it off, then take it back again. It’s exhausting . I’m wanting answers, a break from the unknown. Should I take that leap of faith or sit still a moment longer not to miss that perfect plan?
“Peace is a gift that few know how to unwrap”

It’s the classic battle: my mind wrestles with my soul. My brain is very logical, analyzing the possibilities, lacing each one with fear or doubt. But my soul has no room for fear and therefore, doesn’t see it at all. It only knows success reaching out as possibilities. The two can’t agree and so they go to war.

"There is no chance, no fate, no destiny that can circumvent, or hinder, or control a firm resolve of a determined soul."

Days that I “Feed my faith and starve my fear,” I am able to see clearly. My soul takes the lead and peace follows. Did you catch that? Faith is the only language our souls understand, so when we speak its language, it is the key that unlocks peace. Faith is always optimistic. It is always pushing the limits of what we know to a deeper path that it was meant to pursue. Our mind is meant to guard our heart, not trap our soul.


"The soul refuses limits and always affirms an optimism, never a pessimism."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It seems so simple and it actually it is. The hardest part is getting control of what and how we think. Have you ever noticed that people who are in constant “war” with their souls become sick? It wears on our emotions so much that we literally wear out!

“Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body”. ~Cicero
What makes us restless? Fear of the unknown. Knowing what we have to do, but putting it off. Wanting to fulfill a purpose that we don’t have vision for just yet. The reasons are countless, but the answer is the same. When we’re restless, our soul is sending a signal that it needs to be fed. It is the spirit’s “hunger pains” if you will. Feed it. If you starve it too long, it will weaken and your mind will be the stronger one calculating and developing more fears and walls. Giving logical reasons why destiny, passions and dreams won’t work.

“Encouragement is the oxygen of the soul.”

Born To Be Different

What if you were created to burn with passion and joy beyond anything you could ever hope or imagine? What if that inner voice that whispers, “there’s something more…” is actually a powerful fire waiting to burn throughout your soul and spur you to destiny? And what if you were created to be set apart with talents and skills unmatched by anyone in this world?
“You were born an original. Don't die a copy.” ~John Mason

I can prove to you that you were born to be unique and in the arena of “different” is your greatest power that can help lead to your destiny. Let’s start with the physical.

Scientists have confirmed that every person has unique DNA. No two people are exactly alike in this area. There are traces of our parents there, but no one will ever have the exact genetic makeup of you. Fingerprints vary from one person to the next. Even in the case of identical twins, no set of fingerprints are exactly alike. In fact, the chances of duplicating even a portion of a fingerprint are 1 in 100 quintillion (one followed by 20 zeros)! From the DNA inside of us to the fingerprints on the outside, we each have our own unique imprint. We were created to be original.
Even our eyes lack the ability to be duplicated. The iris and retinal are so unique to each person that some federal agencies use retina scans for security and sole identity of a person!
Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated, thus, everyone's task is unique as his specific opportunity.
Viktor Frankl

So many of us settle for the life that we have, knowing deep down inside that we are not happy. We convince ourselves that this is as good as it gets as we stunt our own spiritual and emotional growth. We’re afraid to fail. We’re afraid to succeed. We are simply afraid.

“Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.” - William Newton Clark
The human spirit was not created to be …and is therefore never satisfied… with the status quo. Our spirit is capable of a hundred thousand times more than our minds or bodies and is constantly searching for that flame that burns bigger and bigger until our souls are consumed at last.
The human spirit is equally as unique as our physical form. Inside each of us is a calling and purpose this is unique …in part… because of our own experience, perspective and life lessons. Each of us are born with a calling, that never changes, no matter what. You were given special abilities and strengths to fulfill your purpose. Your spirit knows this, but your mind fights it. This is why it is so important to “feed our faith and starve our fears.” Faith is a total “spirit thing.” The mind can’t see it, can’t understand it and therefore reacts to the unknown with fear. But if your soul is crying out for something more, it is sending out an alert to you that there IS more. Remember, we are not a body with a soul, we are a soul with a body ~CS Lewis.
When God calls you to do something, he enables you to do it. - - Robert Schuller
So now that we know we were created to be different from everyone else, now what? Embrace it. Find your strengths and focus on them. Develop them. Pray for guidance. Get busy trying new things until you find something that fans your internal flame. Ask yourself, “what would I do if I knew that I couldn’t fail?” Build your faith. Feed your spirit. And don’t give in to fear.
Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step. - Joni Erickson Tada

The Power We Speak

Every one of us has a purpose in life. Without exception, every human spirit is meant to burn with an excitable passion and anticipation of what the future holds. Each has very specific gifts and skills that others wish for, yet so many live dormant and defeated, missing out on the life intended for them. Why? One reason is that we fail to understand the power of our words.

“The Power of Life and Death Is In The Tongue.” Proverbs

Words are like open flames burning a lasting impression on the soul. Most of us walk around with an imprint that becomes a gaping hole over time as we burn away the fiber of our spirits… one word at a time.

“Every time we open our mouths, our words feed either success or destruction”

I work with a man that never has anything positive to say. And when I say never, I mean over the course of two years, I have never heard him do anything but complain. If he won a million dollars in the lottery, he would complain that the taxes are too high! And sadly, in the time I have been honored to listen to his constant stream of negativity, nothing in his life ever gets better. He always seems to be sick and when he is asked to do a very small task, he responds as though you’ve asked him to climb Mt. Rainier on his way home! We all know someone like him. Every day of his life he is defeated by the power of his own thoughts and words!

"If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can't, you're right." Henry Ford

What we say has tremendous power. Partly because we say, we think and dwell on. Words are a reflection of who we are and where we stand. Once we release our words into the world, they are often followed by actions that determine our ultimate destiny. When we set forth our “verbal fire,” we must realize that it will either burn for us or against us. There is no middle ground.

“Attitudes are contagious. We can have one that makes us sick and weakens those around us or we can have something worth catching.”

If we could take our eyes off of the mountain before us just for a moment, we would find ourselves suddenly aware of those around us. More importantly, we would become more open to their needs. And pretty soon, before you know it, opportunities to be effective begin to present themselves. And as you help shape a new chapter for someone else, your perspective on life suddenly becomes broader, making that former mountain seem a little smaller. If we can speak into someone’s life instead of spewing verbal garbage at them and ourselves, we would open a door to unlimited rewards.

“If you want to experience peace, provide peace for another” Dali Lama

The bottom line is this, the human spirit wants to be alive with passion, vision and joy. But if all we say are negative words, our soul has no fighting chance to build and become stronger. And our purpose in life may never be discovered because we fail to understand the power that helps get us there.

“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.” Helen Keller