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.

This last month has been a whirlwind of emotions.  I went from loving my surroundings and my church to wanting to leave and never look back only to find myself thinking maybe it’s not the end of the world if I stay here a little bit longer.  The bottom line is I have to do something and after glancing at my savings account I think I know what I have to do.  As much as I would love to get back to a bigger city, I need to stop pre-judging every opportunity that comes my way.  I also need to be realistic about my current financial situation and that means accepting an opportunity within my preferred salary range either here in Jacksonville or back in Memphis and sticking with the job for the next few years so I can get my debt paid off, replenish my savings account, buy a new car, buy a new Macbook and buy a new Galaxy. I am literally living on borrowed time with all three of those absolutely necessary items!  I mean I know my phone is old, but I didn’t realize how old until I was until I was taking a picture of a lion at the Catty Shack Ranch.  Everyone was lined up along the fence, zooming in for the perfect shot and I couldn’t believe the captures of the people next to me.  I might as well been standing there shaking a Polaroid.  At least that’s how I felt. 
 
Anywho… Once I allow myself to accept a boring (my perception) new job with a decent salary, I will be able to put the focus back on my writing, my video devotional series and the books I have planned to write! I will also have more energy to devote to the ministry leadership opportunities that are currently sitting in my lap.  I guess what it all comes down to is trust.  I am going to have to give up, give in and trust that God knows exactly what He is doing.  I would like to say that I am in the Hall of Fame when it comes to trusting God.  I have certainly trusted Him with some pretty big items: keeping me cancer free, the move to LA, and the move to Florida.  While I might find it easier to trust Him with the big-ticket items above (items I feel I cannot control) I am realizing that I don’t trust Him when I have or feel that I have partial control.  It’s like if I can touch it then I can screw it up so it must not be in the cards type of thinking.  I have to come to a point where I realize what walking in grace actually means.  I had a conversation with Jesus this afternoon regarding some opportunities – good opportunities – that I totally flaked.  I told Him that I guessed those type of opportunities were long gone considering my inability to accept parachute number 250.  His words to me were this “Did you not think I would know how long it would take you to relinquish your control?  Do you still not realize that you always walk in My grace?” 
 
Perhaps it is time to start trusting God for all the things I secretly want in and for my life.  Not begging for them, not petitioning for them, but just trusting for them to appear when they are supposed to appear.  Perhaps it is time to realize that while there may be a direct route to where we each want to go in life, we seldom ever choose it.  If we did, we’d miss out on so much.  Besides, don’t the best things in life come in unexpected packages?  I think I’ve heard that somewhere.  So maybe, just maybe…when life pushes you into a corner thereby taking away your ability to pick and choose – it’s actually for your own good. 

Over the past month, my life came to a slow crawl.  I was having a harder and harder time getting up in the morning and was having a very hard time staying awake at work.  My workouts became smaller and smaller until they consisted of nothing more than relaxation yoga.  I was beat and I did not know why.  I had no symptoms except for extreme fatigue.  It’s crazy how sickness can creep up on us.  I never once thought something might be wrong.  I just assumed I was depressed, that it was my fault, that I hadn’t been sleeping well or eating well, that I had gained weight and that I am just dealing with unwanted feelings or extreme loneliness.  I just kept reasoning my fatigue away until it stopped me in my tracks.  I spent three days in bed and on the third day it dawned on me that something must be wrong and so I went to an urgent care facility and found that I had a bacterial infection.  Had I not gone to the doctor, I would have only gotten worse no matter how much I rested. 

During this time of barely living, my rear view mirror hopped off my windshield again.  I knew I needed to do something about it, but it was kind of nice just driving down the road, only concerned with what was ahead and not worrying about the guy in the truck behind me.  My attention was on the road in front of me and I was driving peacefully.  It occurred to me that this is how we are supposed to drive our lives, but many of us drive constantly looking in the rear view mirror.  We’re in front of it, we’ve moved around it, we’ve driven past it, but it still holds our attention. 

 While driving without my rear view mirror one sunny afternoon, it dawned on me that Jesus never meant for us to be concerned with what’s in our rear view mirror.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we are not supposed to deal with what’s in our past.  What I am saying is that God never meant for us to obsess on it, contemplate it and bring it into our present over and over again.  I say this because if you look at how Jesus dealt with people in the Bible, He was the exact same with every person no matter what had happened to them or what they had done.  His words were same every time.  He simply said “Follow Me”.  It is a small sentence with life changing implications.  When He said “Follow Me” He was saying listen to my words, read my words, make my words and my deeds the center of your life and do as I do, speak as I do, love as I do, strive every day to be more like Me.  Follow Me.

 Jesus never condemned anyone no matter who they were or what they had become.  He simply said Follow Me.  Make Me your role model.  Jesus never mentioned anyone’s past, instead He called everyone forward.  I heard a sermon not too long ago where the pastor on stage, said that the devil calls you to your past so he can condemn you in your defeat, but the spirit of Christ always calls you forward to a better you and a better life.  Christ might make you aware of something He doesn’t want you doing because He wants better for you, but He never condemns.  The devil condemns us, fellow humans condemn us, but God never condemns any of us because He always sees what we can become if we Follow Him.

 The funny thing is most of us walk around condemning ourselves over and over and over again for things that don’t even exist in God’s mind.  He let them go a long time ago.  He is only focused on where He is taking us; we are the ones focused on where we have been.  I know that I keep pointing back to a decision I made several years ago where I adamantly refused to move in the direction God wanted me to and to this day I often wonder if that one decision ruined my entire life.  Thoughts like what if that was a once in a lifetime opportunity and now God will only let me wallow in crappy jobs?  What if my husband was in that city and I didn’t get to meet him so now I am going to be alone?  What if that career was going to be a launching pad for me to have a larger ministry and now I am going to die with a burning desire in my heart that was never fulfilled?   The problem with these kind of thoughts is that they totally disregard that the fact that Jesus always calls us forward and that if we follow Him to the best of our ability learning and growing as we walk through life with Him, He always leads us somewhere good.  He is not about condemnation, He is not concerned with our past – He is only concerned with where He is taking us because His plans for us never change.  Whatever He started in us, He will complete – if we follow Him and allow Him to work in and through our lives.  I know I have come full circle and find myself rather exhausted thinking it’s time to call it, that I’ve missed my opportunities, that I can’t possibly attain the vision I keep seeing for my life… But Jesus is looking at me saying “Jessica, I created that vision for you. I know how to get you there.  Just keep following Me.”

I spent Christmas of 2014 alone and it gave me some time to look back on some of my most notable regrets.  While I never thought I’d be turning 35 without a career, a husband, a house or any children – this appears to be on the agenda for 2015.  Going through Christmas alone was actually good because I realized that being alone is not as bad I once thought.  I enjoyed Christmas cookies, some phone calls from friends and family and some really good holiday movies.  Being alone at the holidays did not kill me – it actually did quite the opposite – it gave me back some of the power I had lost somewhere along the way.

 They say you should never compare yourself to others, but I find it to be a tall order.  Most of my friends made better choices in life and as a result are enjoying a soaring career, motherhood and all the things that come with that good life.  I, on the other hand, seem to have developed a knack for changing both career and scenery every three years.  Instead of enjoying the good life, I’m wondering what will become of me, how I will be taken care of and if I will ever feel like I belong anywhere.  It was these questions that made me take yet another look back at some of my most notable regrets, only this time, I did not regret the choices I made.  You see I simply was not ready.  If you’re not ready – guess what?  You’re just not ready.  Had I accepted that dream job in the Christian music industry, I would have sabotaged it and still ended up penniless in Los Angeles.  I needed to go to LA, I needed to get a taste of the industry and I needed to be brought to my knees and I needed to get sober.  I also laughed in the face of a few great men that I now would give anything to have someone like them come across my path.  We’re talking good-looking, Godly, athletic, sweet and amazing men that I just wasn’t ready to meet.  They were ready to make an impact on this planet, get married and start families whereas I couldn’t see past running in circles.  Had I forced myself to settle down I would probably have ended up divorced with major wreckage in my quake.  These guys were and are amazing men, but I wasn’t the woman I needed to be when I knew them. 

I guess you can say that 2014 has brought me to terms with the woman I have been and made me ready for the woman I am to be.  I do regret not being ready, BUT, I do not regret the choices I have made.  Those choices, strange as they may be, are what led to who I am today.  Without them – I just wouldn’t be.

My resolutions for 2015 are short, simple and as follows:
1) Continue my venture into Celebrate Recovery and go through their Step Program (more on this next month)
2) Pay off my debt and keep it off this time.  (my wandering ways were not meant to hold debt)
3) Stay Gypsy! (aka Stay in His Wind Always)

My Life Verses for 2015 are as follows:
A) Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you... plans to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future.
B) Joel 2:25 - I will restore the years that the locusts ate away.

Wishing all of you a happy and joyous 2015!

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.

As I approach the end of this year, I am hopeful for many changes in the year to come. Namely, my job, my place of residence (I want my own pad!) and I really need to show some people currently in my life, the door.  Just because someone has a good heart, does not mean you have to keep that person around.  Good heart or not, if they drive you insane to the point that you want to set them on fire – perhaps you need to let their good heart be good to someone else. 

They say the only way to change where you are at, is to change the actions that got you there in the first place.  A lot of people like to use this line, but they never stop to think what it actually means.  It means going against your own grain, it means doing the exact opposite of whatever your instinct might be, it means not being you – at least that’s how it feels.  This uncomfortable existence of going against my own grain has been the bulk of my reality for 2013.  I am beginning to think that getting sober was the easy part in that all of things I was evading with the alcohol are coming to light in a succession similar to that of a hundred clowns exiting a Beetle.  It’s fast, it’s quick and it’s confusing.  Walking through this new circus, I feel like I am doing more damage in sobriety than I did while drinking.  The good news is that I am starting to have fleeting moments of feeling like myself again – albeit a different version of myself and I am hopeful for a complete resurrection in the year to come.  They say that as long as you stay in the program, things will get better and I am counting on this testimony from those who have already been here and done this and have moved on to a life they couldn’t even dream of having, yet they do.

I must apologize as this post is not well put together, but neither am I at the moment.  I actually thought about not even posting anything at all.  The only thing I can say is that whatever changes are flowing into my life – I am ready and I hope to be able to share them with you soon.  I am going to try to have a better plan for this blog next year, but I do still want my life and the lessons I learn to drive its direction.  Maybe that is the issue I am facing this month.  Maybe I am in the middle of a lesson right now and having not yet learned it, I cannot yet share its wisdom.

But I can share this morsel of truth: If there is one thing you do this holiday season, make it this – do something nice for someone else, hell, go a step further and do it anonymously and then do it again! You will be the one with the present in the end.  I don’t know much folks, but I do know this to be true: it is only by helping others, that we truly help ourselves. 

To you and yours… May you have a wonderfully Happy New Year!

Yep, that about sums up my existence right about now.  Nothing bad is happening per say, but neither is anything good.  Life is moving at the speed of sound and I am standing still watching it all happen to everyone, but me.

The other day, I told my mom that being broke in southern California is like going to Disneyland, but not being allowed to ride any of the rides.  It just plain sucks.  I feel like I am sitting on a track, only there is a race going on and I am the only runner not running.  The only thing that does seem to be happening is the increase in the number of fine lines on my now aging face.

It would be an understatement to say that I am having a case of the blahs and to make matters worse my sunshine fell out of my back pocket blocks ago.  I need to find a way to be interested in life again.  Yes, it is true that some of this blah is connected to the fact that I am coming up on one year of sobriety so that first year funk is rolling in like a thick and non-dissipating marine layer determined to ruin everyone’s day at the beach.  On top of the funk is the wonderful sugar doldrums as I am three weeks into my new diabetic existence. (But I do have to add that being able to eat all day long and not gain a pound is awesome and might I add that diabetes is a very unexpected way to answer that lifelong prayer of being naturally thin!)  On top of my now sober and sugar free existence is complete boredom at work and financial strain every waking moment of the day. 

I guess the one thing that I am not doing (that usually makes everything better) is writing, not that I haven’t been given some story ideas.  I just find it hard to focus on writing when my own well-being is not in order.  I am putting pressure on myself to find a new job because I feel that I am too old to not have a career of some sort.  And I fear that if I don’t find something soon, I am going to cross that age line and only be considered for the positions that no one else wants.  The eternal spirit inside me is screaming, “This is not how life was supposed to turn out!  You were supposed to move to a sleepy beach town, get married, have fur babies and write novels and plays from your chic home office with a sea view.  What happened!”  

The answer is I happened.  I made bad decisions and walked down roads I shouldn’t have and as I look at the future that is now in front of me I shudder.  The future is not yet set, but it is not looking good either.  I guess I just have to keep in mind that one moment can change the course of my life completely.  One moment can make everything I am going through worth it.  One moment can connect all the dots that I cannot connect right now.  Until then I just have to keep doing my part: stay sober, work on bettering myself both inside and out, keep working my steps, keep my commitments and keep trusting that if God is going to this much trouble to make me anew, He must have something for this new me to do.

“There was that "in between" phase. The phase between where I was at the time and where I was going. It's a grey zone if you will. A cocoon phase.”  - Mastin Kipp

After a fleeting moment of clarity, I find myself back to not knowing which end is up.   I am worn out mentally, emotionally and spiritually and I don’t really have any fight left.  My current job has become rather stressful, which would normally be something I revel in given that I actually like and hold interest in my daily activities.  Unfortunately, my current provider of all things monetary does not hold my interest and that is why this stress is what I refer to as bad stress.  I am a simple being.  If I want to do it then it is good stress.  It doesn’t matter what’s on the line or how much pressure is on me or how many plates of expensive china I’m juggling. If I like it, I want to do it and it is good stress.  I love that kind of stress.  I’m actually one of those people who prefers running around like a crazed maniac.  I am an administrative powerhouse who is fantastic with all those little details, but I also have a creative side that cannot go unfed.  The worst part is my personal projects are suffering due to this bad stress.  Well, it is more like they are just not happening because I am too exhausted to even think about them.

I just feel lost right now.  I have come to terms with one of my biggest regrets (i.e. that job I should have taken two years ago in Nashville).  I know that ship is sailed and I know that for whatever reason, I am supposed to be in LA.  What I don’t know is when I will find a sense of belonging out here.  I miss my friends and family terribly and am in desperate need of a support system.  I am kind of a guy in that a lot of my identity comes from my job and I know that when I land in a position closer to one of my passions that some of this need for belonging will subside, but not all of it.

I feel like I am in that cocoon that Mastin is talking about in his post.  Or like that age old phrase, “I’m not where I want to be, but I’m not where I used to be.”  I’m in the in between and the in between has been okay, but once I hit my six month sobriety mark it was like a light switch went off inside me.  I pretty much have my competence and confidence back and as far as I am concerned I am beyond ready to move forward, only I’m not moving forward, at least not that I can see.  To say that I have complained to God about this would be an understatement.  Unfortunately, the only response I have received has been the following thought:  you can’t run from something you can’t see coming.

This thought makes me think of what I’m doing at my church.  I find that I love being a part of making a show or service happen.  It’s good stress.  It’s fun.  And I would never in a million years ever have thought that I would ever want to run media for anything, but I got thrown into this while I was still in my screaming into pillows days.  In other words, I was so upside down that I didn’t really know what was happening until it was too late.  Maybe the same thing is happening again.  Maybe God has me upside down all over again so He can place me into a position that I would otherwise turn down.  Maybe the only way God can keep me from running from the right thing is to keep me from seeing it in the first place.  I may be flying blind, but I have the feeling that I am flying blind in the palm of God’s hand and that changes everything, does it not?