Hit a set back today. Feeling a little down and a little insecure. It is a strange feeling when you know you are doing what you are supposed to do, but it feels so unsure. The reason for this journey was to walk into the promise land that God has planned and prepared for me (however, I do NOT have forty years to wait). Initially I was upset, when I saw that what I was hoping might not happen. I was sad and felt a little alone. However, even though it still feels like a bit of a sting I will continue to believe because that is what God has asked me to do. I will continue to trust and hold on to Him. This will not shake or weaken either my belief or my resolve. I will continue to trust, continue to believe, and continue let Him be the guide in all I say and do. For me that is a big step in the right direction. Life will have setbacks and we will fail before we succeed, but go forth anyway. Don’t let the setbacks hold us back.
Category Archives: Goals
Random (hopefully inspired) Thought
Joshua 1. “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous…” (Verses 3-6). This begins the journey into the promise. Joshua is taking the first steps towards God’s second chance for His people. In these verses God promises that everywhere their feet touch or step will be their’s to possess. This morning I woke up worried. There is something I am praying about. Much like, Joshua, I feel as though God is leading me (and my family) to a promise. But we have to walk, we have to face the enemy, and we have to be prepared to battle in Christ to achieve the goal He has for us. These verses are true for us all, God has a direction and a call for all of us. He has a promise for each of us to posses, but we must trust and like Joshua, follow where He leads even if the request seems unreasonable. God blesses our obedience, ALWAYS.
DAY 231 (2014)
It’s been a while since I have posted a DAY post. I apologize about that, I have been (and still am) in the process of moving from Florida to Buffalo, NY (yeah I know, quite the climate change). The move is two fold, first and foremost I sincerely believe it is what God is calling me to do. Previously when I have done something this dramatic I was usually running away from something, this is the first time I feel like I am running toward something, and that is a GREAT feeling. Secondly I realized that if I didn’t make a change I would forever be stuck not realizing or exercising my full potential in Christ. What does that mean? Well…we all have a purpose, I think I have said this before. We all also have a personal responsibility to listen and follow God’s guidance so that we end up on the path that He has prepared for us. However, many times we miss out, not because we don’t love God or because we don’t want to trust and follow Him. But because many times His ways don’t jive with our human logic and thus we assume it can’t be God, and so we don’t go. We don’t even pray, we just assume that God would do it OUR way. My relationship with God wasn’t bad prior to making this drastic change, but it was stale and stagnant. I wasn’t doing great things, I wasn’t doing small things, I wasn’t doing ANYTHING. I wasn’t living expecting God to show up and do amazing things. I was just a “christian”, when what I want to be is a CHRISTIAN. So this portion of the journey will be a little different. From this moment and till such time as God says, don’t write this post. I will endeavor to live my life expecting God to SHOW UP. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I want to see His hand in every area of my life, I want you all to be able to see His hand in every area of my life. I want to live like Joshua, “strong and courageous, not trembling or being afraid”. I want to like Paul, “be persuaded that my GOD is able to do all that He says, and more”. But even more than that, I want all who read the words I write to see it too. Welcome to the journey, let’s experience God together!!! 😛
“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” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
Today I believe and trust that God has gone before me. I await His blessings on this journey.
DAY 215 (2014)
This morning I woke worried about finances. Worried that God wouldn’t meet our needs, or that He would, but I wouldn’t be paying attention to His leaing and miss what He was saying. Then church started. Worship reminded me that. “There is no one greater, no one higher, no one like our God. There is none more able. Christ our savior great and glorious.” Then my Pastor started his sermon in Luke 16 (we are going verse by verse through the book of Luke), by letting us know today’s scriptures talks about MONEY and hell. Hahaha. God…JOKES. You would think then that this post would be about how God will provide for me and meet my needs (and in a sense it is), but that’s not what God laid on my heart as I listened to today’s message. No, today’s post will be about second chances. About God taking us out of our current situation to give us a chance to start again. There are many things in my life I wish I had done differently, things I wish I could rewind and do again, a do-over so to speak. Unfortunately life does not hand out do-overs. But that does not mean we can’t have a second chance. It does not mean that God can’t provide an opportunity for us to walk the line, the path He has created for us. As I sat in church this morning I went over in my mind all the things around me that have changed. Starting with my Church: our Pastor stepped down. It was devastating and heart breaking and for a moment I though, ‘Who could replace him?” But God, provided us with a Pastor. Pastor Doug, is right man for right now. Our church can breathe and we have been given a second chance a new opportunity to come to church for God and not for man. Second chance number one. My job. The center that I worked at started out with nine people (this includes doctor, nurses, and office staff). Yup nine…the originals. Right now of the nine only three remain. But in their absence there have been new office staff, new nurses, new doctors bringing with them a new perspective, change, and growth. Second chance number two. My life. Up to this point I have lived doing what was necessary. Necessary to take care of my family. Necessary to meet the bills and not live under a cardboard box. But all the while knowing I wasn’t really doing what I was meant to do. Then God literally one day just impressed on my heart that it was time to, GO. He gently started reminding me of my dreams, of what I had said I wanted to do for Him with my life. Then I asked myself this question, “Why hadn’t I done it? What stopped me?” My answer… Fear. Then God gave me Joshua 1:5-9. “Be strong and courageous do not be afraid or be discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” So right now my house consists of more boxes than furniture. In less than two weeks I will be leaving my home, to start something new. Second chance number three. This morning I woke up worried about finances. But God, showed me He was giving me a second chance.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
So what’s the plan? Second chance here I come!!!! 😀
DAY 214 (2014)

The bars aren’t meant to keep you out. No, sometimes they are saying…fight to get in.
(Picture by Lisa R)
God’s got jokes. Plenty of them. This morning I have to be honest I didn’t do my devotions. I kept putting it off thinking, “I’ll just do it later.” Later came. So I put it off for, yup, you guessed it, later. Then later came again and again (what’s up with later…geesh). It is now 7:27 pm and I just finished my devotions, about 15 minutes ago. So, why does God have jokes? The lesson I walked away with from my time in His word? Right choices are often the hardest to make (see God…JOKES). Why? They normally go against popular advice and popular beliefs. They also usually mean harder work, and more effort given. I am packing up and moving away from my “comfortable”. I am stepping into a unknown that will require me to work harder, put forth more effort. What I have realized about comfortable from this time of packing is that comfort makes you lazy. It makes you forget your dreams your goals. Often times we will sit in comfort, even if we are dissatisfied. Why? Well, it’s comfortable. We are not called to be comfortable, and just for the record we are not called to be uncomfortable either. No we are called to move forward, we are created to grow, change, and adapt. When we settle in our “comfortable” we don’t move forward. So today as I embark on this new journey. I know I will grow, I know I will change. But most importantly I know that God will continue to move me in His direction. That is the direction I want to go. Today’s lesson: Don’t settle in the “comfortable”. Move. Grow. Adapt.
“However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived’ the things God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthian 2:9).
So what’s the plan? Move. Grow. Adapt. Let God be God.
DAY 204 (2014)
So I have been wanting to post for a while, but time restraints have not permitted me. I have been blessed and blown away at how God has been revealing Himself to me through this new journey. I have to admit at the onset, I kept thinking, “Clearly this is not God”. This belief (or lack thereof) had me pushing through me days as if nothing was going to change, however, everyday God would tug at me with precise randomness (yup, that’s what I wanted to say). Random people would come up and say things like, “When are you leaving?” “I think you can do better than this, be better than this.” But still I persisted in my, “This can’t be God” thought pattern. So God started closing doors, jobs that I had applied for and was more than qualified for would pass me by, people that held me in place started to leave, my comfort was becoming more and more uncomfortable. He slowly but purposely started removing every and anything that would anchor me to my current locale. The kicker came when I went to work one day, clocked in, went to sign into my computer only to find that I had been completely deleted from the system. It stung a little because it dawned on me that I could be so easily removed after so faithfully working and giving my best. It was at that point it dawned on me, I genuinely have nothing holding me back, but me. It was almost as if a light-bulb went off and I realized that I wanted to move forward, I wanted to chase my dreams, I wanted to walk the path that I was created to travel, and not just walk the road because it was in front of me (because it was there). In the past few days as I have started to finalize my time here God has provided a rainbow, an awesome cop, and words of encouragement. The rainbow literally covered my entire complex, my devotion that day was about how God always keeps His promises. When I saw the rainbow, it was almost as if He was saying, “I will do ALL that I have placed in your heart. I PROMISE”. Today on my way home from work I was stopped at a red light for what seemed like forever. The light in my direction was stuck on red, there was a glitch. There was a cop two cars in front of me, after a while he flipped on his light and pulled out of traffic. My first thought, “Man I wish I had that kind of power to skip out on traffic”. But the cop did NOT skip out, instead he parked his car at the fuse box and switched the light to green, so that we could all GO home. At that moment I literally heard God say to my heart, “GO, I have made all your lights GREEN” (goosebumps… pounding heart, you get the picture). As if green light cop wasn’t enough, today I received the most beautiful card from my co-workers, my second family and the words displayed there have me believing that ANYTHING is achievable. What’s my point? We don’t always know why God is leading us on the journey. We don’t know what tool He will use to get us to go. But when He says, “GO!” Just do it, you’ll be amazed at how able He is to get you where He wants you.
“Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants” (Deuteronomy 1:8).
So what’s the plan? GO! 🙂
DAY 196 (2014)
Today on my way to work, I almost lost my salvation due to traffic. It was one of the most frustrating and irritating drives I have ever had. As I was complaining and questioning God as to why He created the driver in front of me, He gently reminded of just that, HE HAD created him. As such the driver in front of me was just as important to God, as I am. That small rebuke changed the direction of my attitude. We often times color the world and those who inhabit it, based solely on how we think things should be, or how we think people should act. But we are not here to try and fit people into our mold, we are called to help them unfold into who THEY are meant to be. That was my drive to work. On my drive home, I encountered another driver, but different circumstances. The car in front of me had a dog sitting in the front seat. The windows were down, and his head was out. His ears were flapping in the wind, and his face held an expression of pure bliss. As I watched the dog revel in the drive. it hit me. That’s what God intended. He intended for us to ENJOY life. He intended this life to be pure bliss, however, we got in the way, sin entered the world and God’s intentions were trampled by our disobedience. Today let’s live in God’s bliss. Yes I am aware that we live in a selfish, imperfect world. But God is selfless and perfect. So let’s roll down the windows of life, stick our heads out and enjoy the ride. God’s at the wheel, we have nothing to fear.
“So do not fear, for I Am with you; do not be dismayed, for I Am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
So what’s the plan? Windows down, head out 😀 .
DAY 194 (2014)
Today Germany beat Argentina in the most evenly matched World Cup, I have seen in a while. I have to be honest I really wanted Argentina to take it, but Germany earned every moment of that win. It reminds me of a verse my Pastor used this morning in his sermon, it is Luke 13:24, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able”. Today Germany strived for the win, they agonized till the very end and won the game. We like Germany and Argentina have a goal that we are working towards, however, many times we miss it because the price of striving the agony and pain involved feels like more than we can bear. Today let’s learn from the world cup teams, let’s stirve to win the prize. Let’s push forward even if it means extra minutes added to the game, even if it means we go into sudden death penalty kicks.
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24).
So what’s the plan? Strive to get through the narrow gate.
DAY 192 (2014)
After yesterday’s realization. I decided to get back on track with my life. So decided to started doing the things that make me, well, me. So today I worked out, (it helps to clear my mind). I looked at my eating pattern and have made a plan to change the way I deal with stress. I have this bad habit of abandoning the things that give me peace and keep me centered when I am stressed, worried, or scared. Today as I was formulating my plan I was reminded of something we tell our patients going through chemo: Don’t stop your life. Continuing doing the things you like to do. When you don’t feel like getting out of bed, make yourself get up. Live your life. Why do we give this advice? Because we (human beings) make subtle unconscious changes when life gets uncomfortable, when things are outside the realm of our control. These tiny compromises start to pile one on top of the other and before we know it… BAM! We are in a black whole of our own creation unable to find our way out. Today I made a conscious choice to regain my joy. A conscious choice to not worry, to put one foot in front of the other and move forward. Today for the first time in a while, I felt like me again. My life now (the one I am afraid of letting go of) is not where I want to be. Which begs the question, why do I want to stay? Honestly, it’s comfortable, it’s the evil I know, so to speak. But when I take my feelings and fears out of the equation and look clearly I realize that there is NO room for growth where I am now, no chance for change. I’d rather try and fail, then never try and never know. So I am taking the advice that I give on a daily basis to heart. I am going live my life, do the things I like to do, and move forward. Just like my patients are’t sidetracked by cancer, I won’t be sidetracked by fear. Plus God’s in control… so what am I worried about? God’s got this!
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isaiah 43:2).
So what’s the plan? One foot in front of the other, with my eyes focused on God.
Random (hopefully inspired) Thought
Numbers 32. “The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, ‘Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon— the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. If we have found favor in your eyes,’ they said, ‘let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan'” (Verses 1-5). Wait! What?! “Don’t MAKE us cross over the Jordan.” I am blown away by this. They wondered for forty years in the wilderness, watched their family members die, and miss the promise land; and now they are asking NOT to go in? I am not a bible scholar or a historian by any means, but starting from today I am going to look up the history of the Reubenites and the Gadites, because I can’t imagine that living outside of God’s promise was the best decision they could have made. The thing though is we do that, us, humans. We, like the Reubenites and the Gadites, only see the physical, the RIGHT now. I am sure that had they ventured into the Jordan they would have found land 100 times more suitable for livestock. Why? Because GOD had prepared the promised land for them. It would have met ALL their needs. But they settled. This scripture hits home a bit for me today, because I am preparing to take hold of a promise, but I, like the Reubenites and Gadites see clearly the security of the here and now and I am tempted to stay outside. But I realize that if I do that I will never know what God had for me. So today’s lesson: Don’t miss the promise, don’t settle for the here and now. Strive for the eternal.






