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!

What Up Folks!  So far 2016 is looking a lot like 2015 only with less sweetness because I gave up extraneous sugar for this 21 day fasting thing.  I surprisingly did not have a hard time without my fix of fro-yo every weekend.  I did, however, find it hard to not buy any sweets at the grocery store, which is why I am glad I kicked the sugar as my way of participating in a fast.  It is easy to break promises I make to myself; it is harder to break promises I make to God.  I can actually recall myself tooling down the frozen isle scoping out some new fro-yo only to remember “oh wait, this is a God promise. CRAP!” and I tooled on along down the isle and out of frozen land.  While I have not officially lost any weight yet, my stomach is flatter and this improvement is all I need to keep extraneous sugar kicked out of my life!
 
On another front, I can say that my excitement for church is coming back!  I have no idea how either.  All I know is that once I finally relented and started going to the church that I felt God was constantly re-routing me to – something changed on the inside.  I have found that I wake up excited on Sunday mornings even though my situation has not changed.  I still go to church alone, sit alone, leave alone and go home to hang out alone, but I have an excitement that I cannot understand, an excitement beyond all understanding if you will.  This is something I have been wrestling with while in Jacksonville.  I have told God that I don’t like not having the excitement I had in LA.  I told Him I want to enjoy my Sundays again, I want that excitement back, I want Sundays to be legendary again.  Somehow the excitement is back and I am very grateful for it.  I guess it lets me know that I can have joy in the middle of what was a situation that brought nothing but disappointment and tears.   That’s definitely something, a God something, a Philippians 4:11-13 something.  I also changed where I sit.  I like to be in the middle of the action so I sit down front now regardless of when I arrive. I used to relent and go up the stairs and found that it interfered with my participation in service.   They have these usher/bouncer dudes all over the place and I just make them find me a seat as close to the front as possible. I mean it is their job so why not let them be of service.
 
I am also trying to dig deeper in my Celebrate Recovery involvement.  While I have been a facilitator/leader for the ladies share group at the beaches, I have only been fulfilling the role in the small group session itself.  This past month I have been digging deeper in that I have been focusing on building better relationships with the women who come to the beaches CR.  Instead of talking to friends at the café afterwards, I am focusing on talking to some of the ladies in the group, trying to get more of a feel for where they are in life, where they are mentally and where they are spiritually.  I want to be an encourager, a cheer leader, an ear, and a guide for these ladies in their own battles and the only way to do this is to spend time with them and so far I am loving what I am learning.
 
I have had that Live Love Lead book by Brian Houston for a while now, but just recently started to read it.  I came home from the grocery store on Saturday and felt a prompting to go to the beach.  Due to the cold weather I hadn’t been in about a month and it was a sweet 67 degrees and already 3pm so I decided to head to the closest beach for some relaxation.  As I was leaving I felt the nudge to pick up Brian’s book so I grabbed it with no intention of actually reading it.  Once I got to the beach I was glad to see some soft sand and nestled in to watch the waves roll in and out.  I find their rhythm hypnotizing and healing.  The waves do something for me that I cannot do for myself and after my recent vacation I found that the sound of the waves can be just as beneficial and so I took out the book and started reading.  I got through the introduction and the first two chapters and feel that God was trying to re-confirm His plans for me, my ministry calling and His promise in the verse He has gave me last year. (Joel 2:25) 
 
Life has just been hard and it is getting harder.  The pressure is on at a level that I have never experienced.  I know I have to make a move, but the move I want to make and the move that is most likely going to be available are not the same.  To make matters worse, I am conflicted about staying in Jacksonville.  In Los Angeles I had everything I wanted, but felt that something was off, that I wasn’t supposed to stay and that prompting turned into busted fire hydrant pressure.  Here in Jacksonville, I have nothing that I want, but feel complete peace and have absolutely no prompting to do anything except focus on the tasks I feel God has given me like this blog, the new video series, a possible memoir and continuing with ministry leadership training.  It is so strange especially since I know that I have to make a career change due to impending financial ruin.  Jacksonville does not seem to offer the career options I am looking for and I feel very conflicted about leaving and more frankly I don’t even know if I can leave at this point.  You could say that just like I relented on the church I felt God leading me attend, I am ready to relent on Jacksonville and so I tell God daily – If you want me here – then plant me.  If not, then move me.  But whatever You do, do it quickly - One thing I am looking forward to is the job hunt being over!  I need to focus on the video series and I cannot do that if I am spending an hour a night job hunting.  That hour should be creating time if not resting and relaxation time.  I can’t keep going on all cylinders all day and all night, especially with a job that drains ones soul like mine does.  To be frank, I need a minute and some fun to boot.
 
Overall, I do have a good start to the new year.  Eating is going better thanks again to the fasting thing at church.  I am delving deeper into ministry leadership, looking for a better paying job, making an effort to venture out more via local Meetup groups and in a few weeks I will be participating in a small group and the women’s ministry stuff for the spring semester at my church.  All of these are in my goals for 2016 and to quote my calendar for the month of February…

I recently had the opportunity to share a bare bones version of my testimony at a local Celebrate Recovery anniversary party.  I didn’t realize how much of a story I actually had until I tried putting my story on paper.  I spent the following week trying to cut it down to the time frame I had been given and it was tough because everything I’ve ever been through seemed pertinent.  Anywho, since August brings my 3rd Sober Birthday I thought I would share my bare bones testimony with all of you:

 

Hi!  My name is Jessica and I am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ who struggles with alcohol, anxiety, and self-worth. 

When I write I like to have angle to work with and my angle for this testimony came from a song called Broken Vessels:  “Oh I can see you now, Oh I can see the love in your eyes, Laying yourself down, Raising up the Broken to Life.”   Because this is exactly what Jesus is doing for me!

You see I have been switching back and forth between two very different lives since I was nine years old.  I grew up in church.  I had a good family.  I lived in a nice house in a nice part of town.  I sang in the choir, I taught Sunday School, I went on mission trips, I led bible studies and I helped make the first Passion Conference happen.  I did a lot in a few short and widely separated years of sobriety. 

However, the majority of my life went more like a nightmare. I grew up with extreme social anxiety and had a hard time connecting to anyone. BUT, I quickly found that I could do anything and be anyone as long as I had alcohol in my system.  My first drink was at nine years old. Nothing special, just a stolen beer shared between two best friends. It would be years later before I would have another alcoholic drink.  I was 16 and made a new friend who introduced me to wine coolers. High school quickly became a blur as I routinely opted for spiked coffee in the morning, spiked soda at lunch and whatever I could get my hands on after school.  I had a horrible relationship with my parents.  I cursed them out daily and was out all hours of the night. My parents had no idea what to do with me.  It was normal for me to drink until I blacked out and I did so every night of every weekend. My social anxiety made me dependent on alcohol, which brought a lot of depression so I was also a cutter for most of my teenage years.  I hated myself, I hated my life and I only felt free when I was in the oblivion alcohol brought me.  

As I mentioned earlier, I had bouts of sobriety that were broken by that lie alcoholics like to tell themselves.  “I can control it this time.  I just need a little release.  Everybody else gets to let loose. One drink won’t kill me.”  And down the rabbit hole I went faster than the previous time.  Only now I was working and supporting myself.  I was in Human Resources of all careers and I had found a new best friend in wine.  Most of the time I was sober during the day, but I started drinking the second I was home.  I longed for the weekends so I could go on benders and I got increasingly irritated with my co-workers, family members and friends due to my constant craving for oblivion.  It got to the point that I was consuming multiple bottles of wine a night, often drinking until I vomited or passed out.

I eventually had another stint of sobriety that lasted about two years.  It was all adrenaline and zero anything else and so I fell back into the arms of alcohol and told myself I would change my life once I left Memphis and I did just that – but it was not on my terms.

A few years later, I found myself living in a roach infested rented room in Los Angeles.  By this time I was drinking a large bottle of Vodka a day and popping migraine pills to ease the suffering of my vodka based diet.  I could barely walk to the mailbox because my muscles were so weak, including my heart, which palpitated non-stop. For the first time in my life, alcohol was not working.  I could no longer reach oblivion. I needed something else, something stronger – and considering the state I was in – that something would have killed me.

I was at a very dangerous cross roads when God intervened in my life one last time.  I had been seeking His help with a job.  During a day of prayer and fasting I had a vision that scared the crap out of me.  It turns out that Jesus loves me, but He was ready to let me die if I did not hand over the alcohol once and for all.  I cried out – But it’s my Everything.  Jesus replied, Exactly.  Realizing that I had finally pushed God past His point of no return, I surrendered the one thing I had that made everything else okay and entered into a very reluctant sober state.  I entered the rooms of AA in Los Angeles and I found a new home.  After about 6 months of screaming into pillows and being afraid to even try going to the grocery store - something just changed.  I started feeling more comfortable.  Los Angeles taught me a lot.  The Recovery out there is top notch and I needed to hear every word that was spoken. My favorite being “you’ve been upside down for so long that you have no idea what right side up feels like.  Of course you feel upside down right now – it’s because You’ve finally turned right side up.  Give it a minute.”  And he was right!   I also learned to like myself in Hollywood of all places.  I made friends that liked me for who I am.  My LA tribe helped me realize that I am funny, pretty, sweet, fun to be around and deserving of the best in life.  After I got called to leave LA and found myself in Jacksonville, FL – I felt God nudge me to attend Celebrate Recovery instead of AA.  I did not understand this at all. AA had saved my life.  I live and breathe the AA logic in my soul.  It keeps me from doing stupid things.  But, I decided to follow God’s prompting and visited CR and I absolutely hated it. I felt so weird.  I was a newbie all over again, but my AA logic quickly spit out the “Shut up and Show Up for 90 days” and so I did. 

The first CR I went to, wasn’t my cup of tea so I sought a different one and met a super sweet woman and so I came back and I kept coming back here at the Beaches CR every Friday night.  I have found that Celebrate Recovery offers me an atmosphere of love and acceptance where I can work on the root issues that cause my insane desire for escape. Thanks to CR I am staying sober while learning how to ground myself in God’s truth.  I am learning to see myself the way God see’s me. I am learning how to serve, I am learning how to lead and I am learning how to deal with those unwanted emotions that usually make me bolt in every direction except the right one.  I can say that after working the steps, I mean really, honestly working the steps, I no longer feel the need for alcohol.  Sometimes I may want it, sometimes I may think about one drink, but I immediately tell myself that it cannot happen.  I know where that one drink leads.  For me it leads to my death.  It really is that simple. 

There is no going back, there is only pressing forward to the life that Jesus is calling me to lead and excitement about where He is taking me.  He has given me a new vision for my life, which is the old vision I started out with years ago before alcohol took over my life.  The good news is that the last 15 years have not phased God one bit.  His plans for me have not changed.  He still sees me as the same person I was before all of this mess started.  This past year He gave me a verse that has been spoken in this room by others – Joel 2:25 - …He will restore the years the locusts ate away… – thanks to AA and Celebrate Recovery I get to live a life of freedom today and I get to be excited about the restoration of all the things the locusts ate away in my life while I was deep in my addiction, my depression and my self-torture. 

AA Saved My Life. Celebrate Recovery is teaching me how to live and accept the new life that has been freely given.  If you’re new – keep coming back!  Keep doing the next right thing!  Get a sponsor, get an accountability partner and Work the steps!  Make yourself available to others! Surround yourself with the right people – people who have what you want, people that are grounded in God’s truth!  Lean into Jesus and you too can sing that song with gratitude knowing that you are one of the broken God has raised to a new and awesome life.   Thanks for letting me share.

 
And I really am excited for all that is to come!  The vision God has given me seems so unattainable and so unreachable, but that’s also the fun part – I cannot remember who said this – Louie, Erwin, Russ or maybe they’ve all said it at one time or another – God never gives you something you can do without Him – I just have to be willing and God will take my willingness and make something awesome out of it.  Like this blog, for instance, the readership has slowly been rising since the day I started it and I will keep writing until the day people stop reading it.

I am also working on some full-length (main speaker) versions of my testimony as I might soon have the opportunity to share with some other nearby Celebrate Recovery groups.  Not to mention that I am delving into the Advanced Leadership training materials as I continue to develop my ministry leadership skills. 

Looking back, I believe God had to take me out of LA so I could slow down and figure out where my life was going.  My LA life was very hectic and due to the location of my work it made it very hard for me to be involved in after work activities.  I MISS LA A LOT, but it is clear God brought me to Jacksonville so I could slow down long enough to truly change direction. 

August 26th, I will be celebrating 3 whole years of sobriety:  Three whole years of a different way of living; Three whole years of a better way of living; Three whole years of feeling my feelings; Three whole years of facing my fears; Three whole years of being the real Jessica.  Three whole years of being someone I am proud of, someone my family is proud of and someone I know Jesus is proud of.  Three whole years of better decisions, better relationships and better impact on those around me.  Whoever said Sobriety is boring, uneventful and unattractive - doesn’t know Sobriety. 

I really do miss LA!  My friends, my adventures and Mosaic. While I no longer have that constant nagging in my soul telling me to leave the City of Angeles, I also no longer have any sort of life.  My days consist of job hunting and playing with my roommate’s dogs.  I knew I was going to be up in the air for a while and I also knew that once I officially had a new city, it would take a while to start a new life, but the reality of it is just now hitting me and, for lack of a better word, it sucks.  As of right now, the only time I get out of the house is to go for walks, go on a job interview or visit a local church.

 I think it is safe to say that Erwin McManus and Hank Fortener have changed my worship DNA.  They and the Mosaic team introduced me to a freedom in worship that I never knew before and I am finding that freedom to be important in my next faith community.  I currently have 22 churches to visit in the Jacksonville area so here’s hoping one of them will offer the tangibles I am looking for and the intangibles that I require.  For me, worship is now a response to Who my Creator is, all of Who He is; His kindness, His mercy, His grace, His power, His unending love – all of Him.  I can no longer just stand in a service and robotically sing songs as if they have no meaning.  For me, worship is personal and messy and emotional and amazing and inspiring and communicative and heartfelt. Worship is my response to what Jesus is doing in me, for me and through me; and it was my time at Mosaic that taught me this. Mosaic also gave me an idea as to the energy Heaven is going to have when we all come together to worship our Creator. It’s going to be an energy we don’t want to be away from and I promise to try to bring some of that energy with me wherever I go.  If you ever find yourself in Los Angeles, I encourage you to attend one of Mosaic's services.  Whether you are a believer or not, the experience will be worth it.

 My friends in LA wrote a story on my heart.  They reminded me who I am and how much I matter.  For some reason I have always deemed myself as someone’s second or third choice, but my friends in LA told me a different story.  I learned that I am someone worth knowing and that I make a difference in people’s lives.  I learned what it means to be me, to stand up for myself and that I am someone other people want to be around.  I’m funny, spontaneous, adventurous, insightful, caring, intelligent, somewhat crazy and 100% worthy of love.  I am still trying to wrap my head around that last one, but my friends in LA are living proof of it and I miss them every day.

 LA is also where I learned what it really means to trust Jesus with my life.  LA beat me into a corner and left me for dead and in doing so I finally surrendered my everything (alcohol) to Jesus and I got sober.  It was the hardest thing I have ever done and it has changed my life forever.  Folks, I am living proof that AA works because I was one of those people that could not imagine, a me, without alcohol.  I mean when I heard love songs on the radio I thought about my favorite vodka drink or my favorite wine.  The tables have definitely turned and when I hear love songs on the radio these days, I now think of Jesus and something He has done or is doing in me, for me or through me.  Alcohol is no longer my everything. Jesus has taken its place and I trust Him daily to keep me sober as I navigate life without alcohol and trust Him to bring friends into my life that don’t drink for their own reasons.  I trust Him to keep me afloat financially and I trust that He has a plan for my life even though it doesn’t look like it right now.  I trust that there is a reason that I drove across the entire country and landed in a small city on the opposite ocean with just a few grand to my name and I trust that everything is somehow going to be okay and that I will be able to one day explain to all of you why I had to leave all that I loved so abruptly.  The only thing I know right now is that God is being very quiet.  Not exactly what I want from my Creator as I watch job opportunity after job opportunity slip from my grasp.  I have heard, however, that one of the keys to success is one’s ability to be comfortable in complete uncertainty so I guess I need to suck it up, enjoy my break from the daily grind and trust that if I am supposed to stay in Jacksonville then I will. I am, after all, in my Father’s hands and He is the pilot; I’m just a passenger on His flight who isn’t entirely sure of her destination.

 Lastly, leaving LA has made me acutely aware of how important it is for me to feel important and to be seen as important by people that I do not know.  Every time I have an era in my life come to an end, I fall back down the rabbit hole because I have no idea what to do with myself now that I’m not Jessica the athlete or Jessica the HR professional or Jessica the production coordinator or Jessica the show host or Jessica the bloody whatever… every time I loose my title my identity disappears with it.  I need to get rid of the notion that I am what I do.  I am so much more than a job title, but for some reason, my identity is wrapped up solely in outward success and as a result my light is very dim and my light should never be dependent on the thoughts of other people.

 All in all, I had and will continue to have a love/hate relationship with Los Angeles.  It taught me a lot about myself and when referring to LA or Mosaic I use “we” so perhaps I’ll be back one day.  For now, it appears I have some things to do on the east coast – I just haven’t figured out what they are yet.

 I wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year.  Stay Safe.  Stay Classy and don’t be afraid to Let Your Light Shine Bright.  I will see you in 2015.

Change, my friends, is the name of the game.  God has been gently making me aware of why nothing seems to be happening for me here in bright, sunny California.  I mentioned in a previous post that I have been pondering the idea that my sobriety might have been why I was led here and that since I am now sober, my time here might be up.  Over the past few months, God has been making this more and more clear to me and I believe I know where He wants me too.   

It’s like God has taken my dreams and started replacing them with His own.  It feels weird.  Once, I knew what direction my life needed to take, I began badgering God for a place to land.  I know the words ‘badgering God’ don’t sound too smart, but I felt that I needed more direction than ‘leave LA and look for stuff like this…’ And so over the course of a week I would get up each day asking God where He wanted me and I would see a map with a circle over one half of the country.  Each day I would ask the same question and each day the circle would get smaller and smaller and smaller until it was over a city.   I know of this city, but I have never been there; however, after doing some research, it does meet a lot of my requirements: on the coast, at least medium sized, good weather, lower cost of living, etc.  It’s crazy for me to even think of moving right now and I have let God know that it seems financially impossible at the moment so I am leaning on Him for this potential move.  I also cannot fathom leaving the friendships I have here, some of which are just beginning to blossom.  And then there is Mosaic – I get up each Sunday excited for worship, excited for a brain challenge from Erwin and Hank and I simply cannot fathom finding a place that matches the energy of this faith community I now call home.  But more than anything, I know I want to be where God wants me because if I am not where He is, it won’t matter how I position myself; the doors will remain locked.

The real uprooting that is taking place in my life is the ripping out of the belief that I am simply not good enough for anything or anyone that God has planned for me.  I guess this has always been an underlying current in my life from sports to career to men to my overall social graces.  It started one night when I was looking at myself in the mirror and getting superbly upset and Jesus reminded me of that day I actually saw myself in the reflection of a man’s sunglasses.  My entire rib cage was exposed.  I had no idea I was that skinny.  I never saw it reflected back to me.  The mirrors I look into only reflect an overweight and hideous looking person.  Then God reminded me about how I tend to get unwanted attention from men.  They always have to look me up and down about five times before they start talking and they have to whistle or say something stupid… Jesus reminded me, in that moment, that I cannot see myself correctly.  Later that night Jesus tapped me on the shoulder while I was going to sleep and said, “It’s time to deal with this.  We have to for what is coming.”  I simply replied, “Okay, but You’re gonna have to do it because I cannot even begin to deal with all that encompasses.” Crazy thing is… He is doing just that. He has made me acutely aware of how much I bash myself on a daily basis.  I mean every other sentence is nothing but self-degradation whether it be my appearance, my efficiency, or my brain.  It wasn’t long before He was cutting me off and by that I mean that internal pulling that makes you stop talking mid-sentence and you’re like yeah sorry and you move on to another topic.  At this point, I can’t even get those sentences out of my mouth.  I mean I’m even starting to like the way I look in the mirror! That’s a first, people, that’s a first.  Jesus is doing exactly as I asked, He’s uprooting this unhealthy and limiting belief from my life and I have absolutely nothing to do with it.  It’s just happening.  But then again, that’s the God I serve.  He never gets angry or frustrated with my incredible humanness.  He just meets me where I am, only giving me what I can handle, always calling me to a greater purpose and He never fails to carry me when required.

Perhaps next month, I will be able to share about the new dreams God has placed in my heart.  I feel like God has taken the dreams and plans I had on the front burner and replaced them with the dreams I had put on the back burner.   I never really got on the whole Tebow bandwagon, but I have been looking into him lately because it appears God might be doing the same with him in that he seems to have also had two very different goals in life and per recent events, God seems very concerned with the one and not so much with the other.  I guess time will tell if he stays on his new road or gets diverted back to the NFL.   And time will reveal whether I will be starting down my own new road and whether that road is here in LA or in a city on the other side of the country that looks really nice from a Google Maps perspective.    

Oh and one more thing! In case you haven’t heard already, November 9th, 2014 is the first ever World Adoption Day!!!  Spread the word to adoptive hearts everywhere whether they were adopted, have adopted or are interested in learning more about adoption.  World Adoption Day is a global celebration of life and family and we want everyone involved!  Go to worldadpotionday.org to find out more!  

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell

Speaking of a soul nudging, I had an intense desire to worship on a week night in March.  I was just being pulled to the computer so I got some things done, logged into Pandora, clicked on the worship station and let it rip.  By the second song, I knew this was not going to be an ordinary worship experience.  God had made this appointment because He had something to reveal to me.  I have previously shared that I have issues grasping and believing God’s love for me.  I can fully believe it for everyone else and often encourage others in His love, but I have always had a hard time accepting it for myself.  Alcoholics are known for being hard on themselves and I can say with all certainty that I have this trait.  Becoming more and more aware of my lack of joy, I have been praying that God would help me to open up to His love, that He would help me receive it on a daily basis so that I can have the joy that so many other Believers seem to radiate.  I don’t feel that I can ever become a light in this world until I am fully able to receive this love and so I have asked Jesus to help me receive it, that His love would become real to me, that it would impact me daily. 

This week night worship experience ended up being a dialogue of love from my Heavenly Father to me.  Through the songs that played He told me how He already knew every mistake, slip up, wrong turn, absurd plan, stupid word and every disappointment I could ever cause Him and He still deems me worth taking on the worst death in history so that we can walk together through this life and escort me into an eternal life that is beyond what any imagination can fathom – supreme happiness – everything this world started out to be until we intervened.

I am proud to say that since this worship experience, I have noticed a difference in my attitude at work, in the car and during my personal outings.  I am nowhere near perfect, but I can tell that God is transforming me into that radiate light I so want to be and it is awesome.  If you are reading this and think you are too far-gone to ever make a change like I am making – then by all means read through my earlier posts.  I am not a saint and that is exactly why I am thankful for my Savior.

This worship experience has also redefined my goals for this year.  First and foremost, I am striving to love Jesus by living my life in such a way that it leads others to Him.  A second goal is to stay sober, which has not really been an issue as of late.  This, however, is due to the fact that I tend to only hang out with people who either do not partake in alcoholic beverages or I only accept invitations where it is unlikely that alcohol will be a focal point.  I know that I will have to branch out at some point, but until then I am happy to just be enjoying the sober life.  Lastly, God has reminded me of something He told me a few years back:  My job is to write; His job is everything else.  Insert eye roll or dumb face or whatever you would like because these are the ways I usually respond to this comment from my Creator.  It just does not compute in my brain.  How can I only carry the writing and God carry everything else?   It seems like a deal anybody with even a quarter of a brain would jump on but, I am one of those beings who seems compelled to make everything more complicated.  Nevertheless, I am complying and what I am finding is that as I make my writing a priority, interesting things start to happen around me.  For instance, the more energy I put into my writing, the clearer I become on what I want out of my daytime career.  I also have some doors opening in terms or new writing groups, critique groups and info-panels that directly correlate to my own business plan. Hmm, maybe I should listen to my Creator more often!  It’s a horrible statement, but it is true.  So often in life, we earnestly seek God’s advice, but as soon as He gives it, we tend to shrug and go make another mistake that makes more sense to us.  Somehow, He still loves us through it all and even patiently holds our hand while trying to keep us from walking directly into and/or climbing over the bumper rails He’s so kindly placed on our paths.

The winds of change are still blowing through my life at this moment and I know I am headed for a major career change, but I also know that this change will usher in a new era in my life.  I feel a resurrection of sorts is on its way – Whoever said it is not about the destination; it is about the journey was right.  Destinations change and often times you find that once you arrive, it is not at all what you had in mind so you might as well savor every moment and let the destination find you.  Besides, if it weren’t for the journey, how would you ever know where you belong?

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.
Joseph Campbell

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.

Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for surely he will receive it.

I have to admit I have been upset lately.  I desperately want to move into a different part of the entertainment industry, but have suffered repeated failures.  I have been on at least 15 interviews where I was labeled a “top candidate” only to have the door slammed in my face.  This past month I happened upon two amazing production coordinator opportunities that would have had me in creative meetings with writers, directors and producers on a daily basis.  Oh, the things I could have learned and the money I could have earned!  Sadly, after two more great interviews with great feedback, I came up empty handed yet again.  It just sucks.  I purposely put all of my energy into a job blitz because I knew once the end of January came, I would be busy most week nights and unable to devote time to job hunting.  What’s more is that I am really feeling the nudge from above to get back into my writing which takes more time away from the little time I have to job hunt.  I am one frustrated soul right now.

The word expectation has been coming up a lot recently.  In AA, I have been told you need to make a list of what you want to accomplish in sobriety and share it with your higher power.  I have been told by friends that I must create a bucket list and share it with God so that He and I can work together to mark off all the things I want to see, do and experience while I am on planet earth.  In a mission-training group for which I am taking part, I was told the opening quote and made to list expectations for this training and subsequent mission trip. I will tell you right now that I do not like having expectations due to the fact that my expectations are not usually found in my reality. 

Having said this, a Soul’s Goals class I took through The Daily Love came to mind.  In this class I learned that it is one thing to set goals and expectations for your life and quite another to set realistic goals and expectations.  And then there is the fact that you have to keep resetting these goals as you move through life experiencing what is working and what is not working or as the goals themselves begin to morph into new goals and expectations.  It is with this in mind that I took a look at my life goals and expectations and decided that it was my focus that needed to change.  My job hunting is going to have to be set on the back burner and it is my writing that will be set on the front burner for 2014.  This does not mean that I am going to stop putting effort into finding and obtaining a learning opportunity in TV or Film; it just means that I cannot allow it to be my focus any longer.  It is time to create, it is time to prepare for my own creative venture and if I obtain a better paying and more creative day job in the process – well then that’s just icing on the cake.  This city has tried to kick me out several times, but I know I came here for a reason and I am not leaving until I can tell all of you about the real reason I moved half way across the country and settled in the city of angels.

Well, it seems as though 2014 is going to be another year full of change.  I say this due to the fact that my current landlord gave me notice the day after returning from Christmas vacation.  This has to be the absolute worst time to have to dig up two months worth of rent, but I trust that everything will work out – at least most of me does.  I recall that when I first found out – a whole four days ago – I got excited because whenever I have been placed in an almost impossible situation that could be my “end” it is these times that God tends to do some amazing things.  In my life, at least, it seems to be His calling card.  Impossible situation that should destroy me usually means God is about to do something major and it always involves major change too.  So I am trying to stay excited and not dwell on the whole what if I don’t find a place in time scenario. 

Apart from that chaos, I am transitioning to a new volunteer position at my local church due to several reasons that will remain with me just in case anyone from the church reads this blog.  Oh, all right, I’ll tell you this much: it is similar to my living situation only there was never an actual notice given.  All in all, I think it is best because I continually butt horns with someone involved in my old position and I frankly don’t need any additional stress, in fact, that’s the one cup I can say is abundantly overflowing these days.

As far as work goes, I am still employed by the Encoding House and have been promised an end of year bonus (would seriously come in handy if it came this week) and a decent pay increase.  Even so, I am still looking for a new position that is closer to my industry career goals and am hopeful that wherever I land house-wise, will be convenient to wherever I land career-wise. 

As for 2014, I do have some resolutions:

Set 1 = resolutions that can be measured and accomplished

1)     Finish paying off my debt and don’t restack it
2)    Set up sole proprietorship
3)    Set up social media for said company
4)    Make my writing a priority again

Set 2 = resolutions that are easier said than done and measured by others

1)     Do my best in all situations regardless of how I feel
2)    Keep God first
3)    Make the best of things instead of the worst of things
4)    Obedience, Obedience, Obedience

Obedience is not a word people are into these days.  Nobody wants to be obedient anymore.  It is a My world, My life, My Decision, My want, my need, my whatever.  We don’t want to even consider the fact that we really aren’t the ones in control or that Someone Else might know better and I am just as bad as all of you. 

During one of my focused quiet times where I worship, meditate, read God’s word and plead for Him to talk to me – I asked why He always seems to give immediate answers when it comes my sobriety and my tithing, but stays silent on all IMPORTANT matters.  His response was unwelcome and completely silenced me and it was this: I lead; you obey.  It’s not your world, It’s MINE.  I mean how do you respond to that?  You don’t. 

God is teaching my Taurus butt to obey because it is His world and He is my Creator and Sustainer and He does know better than you and I ever could, yet you and I constantly try to rewrite the plan and try to explain why it would be better our way.  How He puts up with us I will never know, but I am glad He does.  Heck, these days He doesn’t even get mad at me.  He just touches me on the shoulder and says “Really?” and I just stand there like a two year old who just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar, glancing from jar to parent waiting to see if this is a reprimand situation, a go-to-your-room situation or a get-the-belt situation.  I recall reading an interview from Zachary Levi’s earlier days when He was much more apt to speak on his faith.  In this interview he mentions asking God why things weren’t moving forward with his acting career.  God’s answer, he said, was that God needed to know that He could trust Zac with the blessings He was ready to give him.  That he (Zac) had some changes to make in his personal life before such blessings could be bestowed.  I believe this to be true for all of us.  God is just trying to prepare you and me for the awesomeness He has in store, but before He can bless us, He has to know that He can trust us with His blessings, that we are ready and equipped for proper action and this is where most of us fall short – we get mad when things aren’t going the way we want them to and fail to ready ourselves for the blessings that God has set aside for each of us.  How sad indeed.  So, to make a long post even longer, I guess you can say that my main goal for 2014 is to make sure God knows that I am finally ready to be readied because the last thing I want to do in Heaven is go through all of the gifts God wanted to give me, but couldn’t.