I’ve been talking a lot about the recent journey I have been on, but I have good reason.  I’ve been thinking about it a lot because I find myself back at the start.  I returned home five years to the day I left and I am somehow right back at that starting point.  My creativity is flowing and my desire to return to LA is stronger than ever!  I feel like I have trampled my away around a gigantic circle and now I find myself where I started, completely unsure of what to do next.
 
I know I had to leave Los Angeles when I did in order to experience more personal growth and receive some much needed healing.  I am not saying in any way shape form or fashion that my decision to leave was wrong.  It was not.  The strange thing, that I am trying to digest and figure out what to do with, is after this five-year journey of growth, healing and transformation… I now find myself right back to where I was at the beginning.  Even though I did do the impossible last go around, in terms of moving across the country with a mountain of debt and my sheer will to succeed, I cannot do anything right now.  I am more strapped than I ever have been, closer to financial disaster than I ever have been and then there’s the whole car issue… Hercules might make it back to Los Angeles, but he cannot pass inspection and so I have to ask what was all of this for?  Why have I been plopped back down at the starting line?  And what the hell am I supposed to do about it?
 
I have been doing a lot of meditating as of late.  I’ve shared that I have always had some sight so to speak and I have been working on focusing that sight and one of the ways one maintains a clear channel is to meditate so one can quiet the chatter and hear the Voice that counts. 
 
You know how sometimes you just know something and don’t even know how you know it?  I have had that too lately.  Along with meditation, I have been doing a lot of praying and sometimes begging for clarity.  I have a list of things I am to accomplish for the end of 2017 and most of them don’t make since to me, but they are what came through while listening for that Voice that doesn’t belong to me.  That Voice told me that as I move forward, He would move me forward.  And I believe that has happened or is happening.  As I have stepped out in faith and completed some of these steps, new steps have appeared for the first half of 2018.  I will tell you this, the steps I am completing right now are easy; the steps for the first half of 2018 are not.  But I am willing.
 
I guess I say all of this to tell myself that if God is pouring into my life then He must have a reason.  As I sit here right now on the brink of financial ruin, wondering if either of my lifelines will come through in time and if I should even do what I am thinking of doing… I am just in one of those moments where I cannot see an inch in front of my face and nothing makes sense.  Why go through the spiritual journey just to end up defeated?  Why am I creatively coming back to life at a time when I cannot make anything happen much less fund any projects?  Why have I been brought back to the starting point?  I can’t answer any of these questions.  All I can do is complete each task on the list and keep on completing the tasks.  It is like I am experiencing that staircase Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about.  As I take one step, the next step appears out of nowhere.  I have often spoken about how I need to learn to live my life as if I am trekking up a mountain.  I never have any problem figuring out where to go when I am exploring… I let the spirit inside (who is mighty curious) guide me.  I never wonder if I should take this side trail or if I should duck under that rope and head down the cliff to enjoy an amazing view… I just do it.  I have literally hit a wall of rock on some of my explorations and you know what?  I scaled those walls.  I can say that some of the best trails I have ever been on were the trails we got lost on or encountered something we weren’t prepared for, but we figured it out and we always found a sweet reward in the form of a hidden pool or creek or view.  I don’t know why I can’t translate who I am on a trail to who I am in life.  Maybe that’s what I am beginning to do right now. Maybe what feels like utter defeat is actually my learning to treat life like one of the many trails I have explored.
 
I do still need an income though.  I have had some amazing opportunities slip through my finger tips because I am way too qualified or the person sitting across from me doesn’t understand why I want to work for their company after what I’ve done and where I’ve been!  That last part might be more of the reason…. I can say that I have started looking into avenues that I would have never looked into previously so who knows maybe one of them will work out before the burial begins.  I guess I just have to keep reminding myself that if God is pouring into me then He must have a reason.
 
Putting all of my life havoc aside, November is the month of Thanksgiving!  I personally strive to make gratitude a part of my daily life.  I wake up thanking God for bringing me back (because He did not have to) and I go to bed each night thanking God for His provision, His direction and His protection on my life and the lives of those I hold dear.  I used to struggle with insane amounts of depression and anxiety and I spent a great deal of my life in addiction with thoughts of suicide and actions of self-harm as a regular part of my life.  Gratitude and its daily practice is one of the many components that have taken me out of those lower vibrations of living.  I cannot even allow myself to feel those thoughts, those feelings, those vibrations…  If you don’t have a daily practice… I highly recommend you start one by buying a notebook or journal and taking some time each day to write down anything good in your life.  I have learned that no matter how bad my situation is… it can always get worse and I am thankful for all that God is keeping me from that I cannot see or have any consciousness of!  Another way to ward off pity parties, self-doubt and all around bad vibes is the careful use of music.  I am in love with a song called King of My Heart.  I particularly love the extended worship versions from institutions like Bethel Music.  I even listened to a 17-minute version the other night while walking because I was in such a bad head space over this financial entrapment I am currently walking through.  This version includes a spontaneous line of “You never fall off Your throne.”  I needed to hear it; I needed to be reminded of it.  There are other songs playing in my head right now, but their messages are not what I need to be hearing.  Sometimes you just have to turn certain messages off.
 
I hope everyone reading this has a lovely Thanksgiving.  If you don’t have anyone to share the day with – try inviting people over to your place, look for churches that host holiday gatherings (I know Mosaic in LA used to/might still do this), or try being of service with others by helping out at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter – Just don’t be alone.  The vibrations you will get from being alone are not worth it.  On the flip side, if you have holiday plans – be on the look out for those who might not have anywhere to go… No they will not tell you, but just try and be a little aware of those around you, be willing to invite people you know don’t have family in town or have recently lost family or don’t have good relationships for this time of the year… Be willing to spread a little cheer.
 
Happy Thanksgiving!

Greetings from the Mid-South!

As I write this post, I am reminded of a Propel Women study I took part in at a previous church.  I believe the topic was time or timing or how to manage your time wisely… well, it was something along those lines.  The main thought I remember centered on the fact that you can have it all, just not all at the same time!  The conversation continued along the lines of seasons in life correlating to the accomplishments in one’s life.  Many people want to accomplish so many things like parenthood, career, service works, entrepreneurial endeavors, creative projects, ministry involvement and personal bucket list items.  The truth is that we can accomplish everything our hearts desire, however, the likelihood of accomplishing all of it at the same time is very slim.  For one thing, our lives would be an absolute mess, as would any of our relationships and friendships. We are not meant to do everything at the same time... But we are each meant to accomplish many great things.
 
I don’t know what it is about Memphis, but whenever I find myself here I find a current of creative energy.  I have only been here a couple of months and I already have several creative projects percolating.  I also have this sense of urgency to get things going, to start creating, to make something happen before it is too late; however, when I consult my God about my plans – He pulls back the reigns as if to say ‘slow up woman… It’s not time for that yet’. 
 
Knowing what season you are in makes all the difference in the world when it comes to being successful.  We all know that timing is everything and so it makes sense that knowing the calling on your life in this particular moment or season will make all the difference in your success right now and your success in any future endeavors.
 
As much as I want to plow ahead with some of the ideas I have percolating, I know that my current season is a time of preparation.  I am noting all that comes to mind for each project, but I am not working on those projects right now. I have no doubt that I will begin work on some of these projects in the new year, but for right now I am in an active preparation mode that includes writing exercises, scripture classes, small group leadership preparation and some research regarding how to move forward with projects that are yet to be named.
 
I feel an amazing momentum in my life even though the reality speaks volumes in the opposite direction… But like Martin Luther King Jr. said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, you just have to take the first step” and the rest of the steps will magically appear as you and God walk hand in hand to accomplish great things together.
 
Knowledge is everything.  If you know what your objective is in this moment, this season; then you can navigate your way to the next moment, the next season, the next project, the next accomplishment.
 
Happy Navigating!

It’s been a year since I penned Corralling Part 1 and I never wrote a part two, but then again, this special one is still in her holding pen.  I was driving the other day and reflecting on life in Florida and life in Los Angeles and the vast difference between those two lives.  I was also reflecting on my financial situation, which as we all know was just re-torn to smithereens. I was thinking, ‘how can I be in this situation again! How is it that I keep winding up here.  Why can’t I get anything going for myself!’  And just before I would come to a place of movement, I would think I guess I am just in a burning season.  I have thought this many times before, but this time God had something to say about it.  Abruptly and with force He interjected the following:  You are not in a burning season.  You chose this.  And you keep choosing it.
 
I knew exactly what He meant.  You see, I have a history of talking myself out of amazing opportunities and shrinking back into my little shell.  I also have a great talent when it comes to pulling out all the stops for a job that I won’t like and won’t pay me near what I am worth or need. 
 
I have been going through a CR Step Study so that in the future, I can lead a CR Step Study and we just had our burning party.  In this particular CR, after Step 4 and 5 are complete, we burn our inventories.  Since my focus for this step study was to rip out all of the lies I have believed about myself, I wrote all of those lies down on a couple sheets of paper and threw them into the fire and watched them turn into ashes.  It was only a few days after this that God told me that my so called burning season is due to my own choices and those choices have been rooted in fear due to the lies I have believed about myself for so long that I don’t even know where I first heard them.  Or perhaps I do know where they come from – experiences and events that scarred me and made me think less of myself.
 
This brings me back to that sermon from Erwin McManus that I seem to recount over and over again on this blog and in my life.  That sermon where he asked,  “whose voice are you listening to?”  Whose voice is getting the last word in your life?  Is it God’s voice or someone else’s? 

Well, if you want to know if you are listening to God’s voice then you have to know what God says about you.  While I am not the best at knowing scripture, I do know that according to scripture God delights in me.  He knit me together and considers me a masterpiece.  He loves me more than I will ever understand and while He is not always proud of my actions, He is always proud of the lady I am becoming while I venture through life with Him.  I also know that the Bible says we can do anything He has called us to do.  Maybe that is my hiccup.  Maybe I don’t know what I have been called to do.  I do know that we all have a calling to love God and to love others, but I believe we each have personal callings that match a passion burning within us.  And I am a lady of a million passions so maybe as Kim McManus said the other day, I am overwhelmed by choice so I keep not choosing.  I fear I don’t know how to choose correctly, or I fear I am biting off more than I can chew or maybe my fear in choosing allows the voices that aren’t God’s to flood me with lies and so I choose wrong again.
 
My life is about to get turned upside down all over again.  My roommate situation is ending at the end of March and I am desperately trying to get out of my latest job choice mistake by the end of May.  I am unsure if I will be renting another room in Florida for a few more months or if I will go back to Memphis, but I do know one thing – If a good opportunity that excites me ever crosses my path again, especially in the next few weeks, I am going for it.  100%.  Let the Lion Roar.  I am done with talking myself out of amazing opportunities.  I am done believing the lies.  I know the difference between my gut telling me something’s not right and plain old fear so from now on, - I am going with my gut.  It’s what brought me to Los Angeles and it is what brought me to Florida and one of these days my gut will lead me out of this holding pen. After all, my life verse is Joel 2:25 and I do believe that God will restore the years the lies ate away.
 

Sometimes life takes you way, way, way up in the air and just leaves you there, hanging.  After a while you can’t help but wonder if you are headed for a touchdown or a crash landing. 
 
While my financial situation hasn’t changed, my stress level has skyrocketed.  The company that I have been trying to run from is crumbling before my eyes.  There is good news though!  After feeling uneasy and unsafe for so long I had started to question if my past was causing issues in my present, but it would turn out that my gut, my discernment, my instinct – whatever you want to call it – it was telling me something is off and so are all these people.  I couldn’t understand it.  It was unfounded and I found it crazy that I felt safer in gang-ridden Los Angeles than in Jacksonville, FL, but as I now know those feelings weren’t so unfounded after all.  This is the good news.  It wasn’t me.  It was and is the company and people I call my day home.  While I cannot share any of it here at this time, it does feel good to know that I can and should trust my instincts. 
 
I have been questioning many of my past decisions that were made based on my gut instinct and while they look like they might have been wrong – current happenings say otherwise. Following your gut instinct can lead you into a deep valley, but that doesn’t mean you were lead astray.   In my case, I know that the valley I am in is a back-to-the-basics, re-grounding and re-focusing list of lessons that will make all the difference when the gate opens to the pasture in my future.
 
One of those lessons is the simple truth that I can ask Jesus for a hug whenever I feel overwhelmed and over stressed.  I learned this one evening while in shavasana after a hearty detox flow.  I saw myself as a little girl in a white dress balled up crying my eyes out.  Jesus came to me and picked me up and I watched myself disappear into His light.  I did catch a glimpse of myself in His arms and I was smiling from ear to ear and happy as a child could be. I then saw present day me get up off the yoga mat and walk into Jesus’ arms disappearing into His light.  While I was watching all of this I felt an overwhelming sense of peace, calm and tranquility.  I was immediately elevated somewhere above my current human status and experienced a calm I had never known before.  I guess what I felt was love and my tear stained face proved it.   And I have felt this same tranquility again and again as I have taken Jesus on His word when He told me at the end of that vision “Don’t forget I AM always here.”  I no longer deal with anxious or unwanted thoughts in bed and I no longer worry about what to do with myself when I am alone.  Some people have alcohol or weed or a host of other things, but I have Jesus and I find Him to be the most effective calming presence with zero negative side effects.
 
I am also finding out what is important to me and what deserves my focus and what does not.  I am sad to say that like many people who grew up like I did – I have quite a fascination with materialistic things and the finer quality things at that. Take it from one who always wants the most expensive of everything… It turns out that I look just as good if not better in what I can easily afford!  I do have to admit that my pride took a hit and I might have had to be forced into one of the stores after exhausting myself in 100-degree heat trying to replace a pair of everyday sandals that broke, but once I was in the store I had a hard time leaving.
 
And then there’s that whole living with intention and learning to make the best of every situation and becoming a living example of what I want to see more of instead of what I want to see less of…. Yes, I do agree… trusting your gut can lead you into a deep valley, but it does not mean you misunderstood or made a mistake.  It does mean that you went where you needed to go to learn what you needed to learn for when you get plucked out of the valley and into the pasture that is your future.  I mean what’s the purpose in getting everything you want if you have no idea what to do with it?  I am now realizing this could have happened to me and it would have been a complete disaster!    Oh and another something – I am finding that when I spend the day in Jesus’ arms – all those personality traits that I have been trying to get rid of somehow disappear and I didn’t do anything but ask Jesus to let me sit in His arms all day long.  They say Jesus is sufficient and after spending the last couple of weeks in His arms I can say with complete certainty that He really is more than enough.

I have been plagued with sickness this past month.  My mind, body and soul have been rather weary and the heat isn’t helping.  I am also not getting enough rest, which is something I have struggled with my whole life.  I am really good about sleeping on the weekends, but the weekdays are an entirely different story.  I guess I am feeling pressure in regards to getting a new career going, but I can only do so much and I really need to listen to my body more often.

On a positive note, for what is sadly the first time in my life, I recognized a player for being a player.  It took three months and constant prayer for discernment before I realized that I was completely being played, but I was able to see the truth in the situation before any strings got attached if you know what I mean.  What’s even more amazing is the fact that I was able to realize that I do not want someone who has the qualities I see in this guy.  I actually want a good guy who will treat me right.  I am actually looking for someone who is honest, kind, gameless and has an active relationship with Jesus instead of the normal slap-me-in-the-face carnal attraction player types for which I usually fall victim.  Now, hold your excitement, because while I want a guy with these characteristics – I am obviously not yet attracted to this type of guy.  But, I can say that I have turned onto the road that will lead to my being attracted to someone who is actually a decent human being.  So there is growth happening in this 34 year old who is sometimes going on three and a half.

Another positive from this past month is the confirmation that I definitely want to make a career transition to a non-profit ministry.  I know I shared that I was giving this idea serious thought last month and can confirm this month that I am now concentrating my job search efforts in this direction.  I feel that my writing is faith based, my stories are faith base, that everything I create is faith based so I might as well transition to a career that aligns with where my heart apparently resides.  I actually had an opportunity to interview for one of the few faith based non-profits in the San Fernando Valley.  I cannot lie and say I was not crushed when I literally slept through the interview, was able to reschedule only to get lost beyond belief and still able to reschedule a third time only to not check my email in time to confirm the appointment!  However, I can say without a doubt that it was not I who sabotaged this opportunity.  After the events of this past week, I feel that God slammed that door in my face so that I could have closure regarding the player mentioned above.  I guess I needed to tie up some loose ends and receive some confirmations before moving forward.  Sometimes receiving clarity is best gift one can receive.

I apologize for this being a short and not at all poignant post.  I set aside an entire weekend to focus on this post, but ended up in bed the entire weekend with a fever and extreme fatigue.  While I am better, some healing thoughts my way are definitely welcomed as the Southern California inland heat is not making things any easier.  I am definitely better, but I am either suffering greatly from the heat due to lack of air conditioning or I am experiencing a drop in my potassium.  Both cause one to be fatigued, have a low-grade fever, muscle weakness, shortness of breath and an all around feeling of blah.  May you and yours have a lovely end to the summer season and I will catch you in September.

I feel like I am in the middle of an uprooting.  Just how much of an uprooting I do not yet know, but I am definitely being pulled up and out to something, someone and somewhere new.  Over the past month I have had some mind bursting revelations in regards to promptings.  It seems that I may have been confusing certain promptings for panic attacks or crazy and unfounded fears. 

It all started a few weeks ago.  I started having intense panic while driving to church.  My muscles would tighten, my breath would shorten and my mind would desperately search for the “why”.  Nothing was causing this reaction.  There was not any beliefs or bad thoughts or fears.  It all just seemed irrational.  It got to the point that when I would step back into my car afterwards that my mind would utter “Whew.  I got in, I got out and they didn’t get me.”  Who is “they”?  I wasn’t sure and I did not know why this was happening.  This same strange phenomenon was also happening at a mission class I was involved in at this same church and it was beginning to happen at my long-time home AA group.  The question as to why remained. 

I can recall having panic attacks prior to my decent into alcohol absurdity so my natural inclination was to think that I was right back to my starting point and had to figure out how to handle this panic without alcohol.  The problem was that I only had this phenomenon in certain situations.  So, why these situations?  I for one did not have an answer. 

Here is where it gets interesting.  One night God was pulling me to the computer to write.  He does this often.  It is a particular pulling in my soul and I know exactly what it is when I feel it.  The only other time I have felt something similar was that day in the hospital when my soul was set on fire and I knew I had to kick everybody out because it was time for my family to say goodbye to my father.  That fire in my soul feeling was not instantly understood.  I remember just knowing that it was now, it was urgent, it was time to say goodbye.  I did not understand it, but I had to act.  I have only experienced this one other time in my life and that also centered on an earthly departing.  It was in the recalling of these experiences that a key piece of information hit my brain.  All of these promptings centered in that area near the heart that I refer to as my soul-self.  Anyone who has experienced these soul promptings knows that you just can’t put these experiences into words.  They are not readily explainable, but you somehow know what they heed and in that moment you realize that you really are much more than this existence. 

That key piece of information was this:  These so-called panic attacks center in the soul.  The same place I get pulled to sit down in front of the computer and the same place that got lit on fire that day it was time to say goodbye.  In this same instance my mind went back to the previous “panic attacks” and I realized that every place I had experienced this phenomenon something very bad ended up happening to me.  It was in this moment that I realized these are not panic attacks.  These are warnings.  God, Himself is sounding the warning alarms in my soul and my body is responding.  The tightening of my muscles which make it hard to drive and walk, the shortness of breath, the inexplicable uneasiness in my soul pulling me up and out of the situation – trying to prevent me from even being in the situation.  I am not having panic attacks, people.  My soul’s alarm is sounding because impending doom is ahead if I continue in these situations! 

Now I don’t know about you, but that is what I call a mind-bending revelation.  All I can do at this point is acknowledge and heed these warnings and see where they lead me.  As a result of this new information, I am taking a step back from my current church and from my AA meeting. These two places and the people in them have been my LA home for the past year and a half, but I am heeding the warning and letting go.  I know you have to be willing to let go of what does not completely serve you in order to receive what does, but that does not make the letting go any easier.  So here’s to seeing where this Wind is blowing as I march into the month known for its changing of the seasons.

I find myself walking up to a fork in the road.  I am not there yet, but I can feel it coming.  It has been both a blessed and a cursed year with the curse being extreme financial lacking and it has weakened my resolve.  I am exhausted from the strain of not being able to cover my basic needs much less attend outings to which I have been invited.  I am also finding that I hate the hectic pace of my current career.  I swear I do nothing but bend over and take it in the rear all day long and for absolutely no reason at that.  But this is the glory of being in the distribution world…Not. 

The fork that I see coming is the decision to stay in the entertainment industry… albeit in a completely different part or jump ship to a stable, slower paced and financially rewarding private sector institution.  There are pros and cons to both roads.  Road 1 (the industry) has definite advantages for writers: creative environment; networking with agents, actors and producers; and privy to the inside scoop on everything Hollywood.  The down side of the industry would be the long hours, high stress and hectic work environments often supporting projects you don’t support or believe in and until you make it past a certain milestone – very not great pay or benefits.  Meanwhile, Road 2 (the private institution) has its own pluses and minuses.  Pluses would be the slower pace and non-neurotic managers, the better pay, hours and benefits, as well as better job growth and job security and a better possibility of actually supporting that for which you toil.  The only minus on this road is the simple fact that I would be out of the creative scope for a majority of my day.

No doubt to many of you it seems like the simplest decision on the planet.  Road 2 clearly has more advantages than Road 1, but Road 1 still has my heart or at least some of it.

Considering the fact that I am known for making bad decisions and passing up opportunities like they number the stars in the sky, I have thought about partaking in an experiment of sorts: Do whatever it is that I do not want to do.  In other words, if I want to go left – go right. But I struggle with this decision.  You see even with all of the hardship I have endured out here in LA, I still feel I am supposed to be here.  I still feel that I am right where I am supposed to be; I still feel that it was the right decision – It’s just not making complete sense yet. 

And so I continue to make my way towards this fork in the road, hoping with each step, that the decision will somehow be made for me, that perhaps circumstance will force me onto one road versus the other. If not, I will have to decide whether I should go with my gut like I have always done or try something new and do the exact opposite.