Invitation

The Invitation

By: Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithlessand therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

That Little Thing Called LOVE

Fictional characters come to mind a lot of times when I think of love.

From great amazing beyond fake never going to happen examples like Allie and Noah from the Notebook to more re-lateable flip flop misery love situations like Carrie and Big from Sex and the City. You can help but wonder...is love fake. Or like that old song says "Where is the love"!?!

I find myself in more situations like Carrie and Big then like Allie and Noah. And I cant tell you how many times Ive heard the same or worse from one of my girlfriends about the guys they date. Where are the Allie and Noah relationships? Are they out there or do us women sabotage them? In part I believe both. They are hardly any close to the Notebook romance but the few once in a lifetime ones that come along I think we usually mess up because we just got out of a Carrie and Big relationship so we think we don't deserve the Allie and Noah relationship. Messed up isn't it?

As all of these fake fictional characters swarm in my head I came along a little encouragement. Once again none my own but maybe one day I will be a wise wise lady beyond my age and have all the words to pass along like I long to hear.

The passage I was reading was asking what area of your life needed a make over.

What areas are lacking or just plain ugly?

It said if we go to our mirror, the Word of God, we see that we don't look good wearing bitterness, unforgiveness, anger or jealousy. First Peter 2:1 also tells us what not to wear: envy, deceit, hypocrisy, slander and malice. But in Colossians 3:12, we are told what to wear: "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

Today, remember, God has a wonderful plan for your life. He wants to transform you into His image. He makes all things new, and He makes all things beautiful. Submitting to Him and letting go of the old isn't always easy, but it is always worth it. Trust that He is at work in your life doing exceedingly abundantly above what you could ever imagine. Receive His everlasting love today as you cloth yourself with Him.

to everlasting love from the Father and who he has for us

always yours,

CLC

Good Things ARE Coming...

Sometimes the odds are against us. In the natural we have all the reasons to believe we cant be anything great or make anything great out of our life. We have to get rid of the excuses and start expecting great things out of life. The God we serve is not a small God. His plan for your life is not to reach a level and get stuck and stay there for 30 or 40 years. God’s plan is to increase you, to open new doors, to take you places that you’ve never imagined. In fact, God says in Deuteronomy 1:11 that He desires to increase you a thousand times more. To see God’s increase in your life, Isaiah 54:2 tells us we have to enlarge, stretch and lengthen to get ready for increase. How do you do this? With your prayers, faith and expectancy. When was the last time you asked God for more peace? For more faith? For more influence for His glory? Are you asking? Believing? Stretching your faith? Psalm 2:8 says, “Ask of me and I will give you the nations.” Dare to ask God for what is in your heart. God is saying, “Ask me for big things. Pray bold prayers.” It’s time to think like God, to think big, to think expansive. Get up every morning and say, “God, I’m asking You to do something big in my life today.” Stretch your faith. Don’t let life contain you; let God increase you. God has something big in your future! Now it’s time to ask, believe and see God work in incredible ways!

Who Pushed The Pause Button in Life...?

Circumstances or situations that feel like they are NEVER going to change...

I feel like a lot of times I am stuck in this same rut in life and everything and everyone around me is changing. I feel like my friend are graduating college, getting great jobs, finding their soul mate and living happily ever after with their cute little family and prefect little jobs. But in all of these seemly “perfect” situations, they ALL eventually have felt like me, stuck in rut or down in a hole.

Here’s a good reminder, things ALWAYS change. No matter how permanent they feel, they will change.

As the old saying goes “this to shall soon PASS” which is a great way to put things that come into our lives that have that “suffocating-it’s-never-gonna- change” effect on us.

The truth is that God is continually working in our life, that He has a good plan for us and it’s not to harm us, but to bless and prosper us. God loves us and scripture says that He wants to give us the desires of our hearts—but we must SEEK Him first. Before we seek to get out of high school, before we want to “get into the real world,” before we want a spouse, before we want children…insert your “it’s never gonna change” situation here. We all have them!

Remember to keep your eyes fixed on God and rest your hearts desires in His hands. There is no on else…EVER…who can make the impossible, possible. And there is no one else that can turn a broken life into a beautiful mosaic. Our God is a God of restoration, healing and HOPE. Hope that right now, in this very moment, He cares. He loves you. And He is actively working in your life. Just be still and know that He is. He is the Great I AM. No circumstance can contain the God of the Universe!

Let’s learn to look beyond our current circumstances and see the possibilities with an all powerful, all knowing and ever present God.

Matthew 17:20 “If you have faith, nothing shall be impossible for you.”

hope, faith, and understanding that our best days are AHEAD of us...

always yours,

CLC

I Think God Uses Blogs Sometimes....

With the past few weeks going like they have been and with how things have been going this week, I cant help but be discouraged and feel at lost with life/where I am going/what I am doing and question the reason for me even being here on earth. Now I know it sounds a little harsh and "emo" but lets be real, we all think about it time to time and wonder what is the glue that holds us together so to say when times get tough. I guess I am still figuring out my glue so to say and what keeps me going this past couple of weeks. I cant help but notice everywhere I turn my eyes I see almost the same words or message. Coincidence, maybe...on purpose, PROBABLY.

Example one...from Joel Osteen's daily blog

Do you ever feel like something is lost or missing in your life? Even after giving your heart to Him, maybe there's an uncomfortable emptiness on the inside that you can't quite put your finger on. Sometimes when you face difficult situations, it's easy to get overwhelmed in your thinking, wishing you could have done something differently. We can lose confidence or joy because of accusing voices or past mistakes. Oftentimes, people try to either fill or escape the emptiness by choosing things that bring pleasure for the moment, but only lead to more emptiness.

If that's you, and you feel emptiness in any area of your life, I want you to know that Jesus Himself is on a mission on your behalf today. Luke 19:10 says that He came to seek and save that which was lost. Not only is He out to save souls, He's out to restore joy, peace, confidence and strength. He's on a search and rescue mission for your relationships, broken dreams and missed opportunities. He wants to save your health, your finances, and totally renew every area of your life!

Today, if there are some areas in which you don't feel complete, if there are some missing pieces or you feel lost, I want to encourage you to open your heart and mind to what God can do in your life. If you feel like you don't have any options, there's always the God option. Align yourself with Him in your mind, will and emotions. Be still and meditate on His goodness because He's working behind the scenes on your behalf to seek and restore everything that was lost!

Example Two...from a dear sweet Christian friend of mines blog I follow

What am I doing here?

Sometimes it’s easy to start wondering, “why am I here? what am I even doing in this life? Does it even matter?”

YES! It ALL matters. You are no mistake. You are alive at this point in history for a purpose that God chose long before your mom even knew she was pregnant!

God chose YOU before the foundations of the world. Incredible!!! GOD Himself planned you to be here!

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God has ALREADY chosen the GOOD work for us to do! We just need to walk out in faith and do it!

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Example Three...from another sweet cheerful Christian friend of mines blog I follow. She always has the coolest ways of putting things to encourage others.

She was talking about in her post about seeing a breath taking sunset and being taken back by its beauty and thought about how the sunset doesn't look so amazing without the clouds. And how the clouds are just plain and grey and often times dark. BUT....with the clouds, the sun has something to soak up and reflect and this beautiful color and light. And that is how our lives are too!

"without the clouds in our life, we wouldn't have beautiful sunsets of inspiration and beauty!"

No matter what is going on in your life: relationship problems,heartbreak, loss, financial troubles, feelings of hopelessness, loneliness, feelings that are out of control, family problems.

Be encouraged by these stories of "storm clouds" in people's lives, that have really been beautiful sunsets of opportunity just waiting for the sun to go down to make them shine.

A single and broke mama, who started making and selling sandwiches out of her home because she suffered from Agoraphobia...went from a former bank teller to cook at a Best Western Hotel...to the now famous, Paula Dean with a cooking empire. And she found her true love and soul mate along the way!

Paula Dean suffered a lot of the things on the list, but she didn't give up.

she didn't say.."oh now I'm so alone!"...

she didn't say now I don't have a husband...I can't make it.

she didn't say...now I don't have a job, we're going to be homeless.

NO!

she put on her big girl pants...

realized what she loved....COOKING...

and found a way to start doing what she loved...

SHE USED WHAT SHE HAD:

she had a kitchen..

she had skills

she had a desire
she had to do something because she only had $200 to her name

she had fear of leaving her house...but that didn't stop her.

and now she has become successful because of every STORM CLOUD in her life that made the sun shine a beautiful sunset of success!

AND ALL THOSE CLOUDS made for the most beautiful sunset in her life every day!!!

SO today...rejoice for the clouds...they are bringing a beautiful sunset for you!

God has a beautiful sunset waiting to sparkle success in your life....let's just be thankful for the clouds that are going to make our sunset amazing!!!

to happiness, life with a purpose, and good things coming...

always yours

CLC

Just Getting Started...

Just trying to start this Monday right!

Its so easy to get discourage right away on a Monday. Its the start of a new week. Instead of being liberated at the thought of the endless possibilities the week can hold I think we stumble on the uncertainty of what is exactly going to happen and why should I be happy.

We look at other peoples lives and judge. We think they have it a lot better then we do. More advantages, better choices, and most importantly, happiness. We always assume the person next to us is considerably a lot happier then us.When in reality they could be just as miserable or feel worse then we do. There is a lady I know that survived a traumatic plane crash, she was left in a coma for 5 months and woke up to 80% of her body scared and forever changed, especially her beautiful face. I read her blog day after day to only be jealous of the beautiful life she has. Its heart wrenching. From the outside if you were to pass her in a store most people wouldn't say Id love to change places with her in life. I mean who would ask to be in a plane crash and have to experience what this beautifully brave woman has had to go through, not her or anyone I know. But looking into her life by means of her blog she has 4 beautiful kids, a great husband, a simple but generous life, and more loving people around her then she could count. I truly hope to have that one day.

From one of my favorite characters, Carrie Bradshaw marrying the infamous Big to women all over the world settling and marrying men we don't need to. Where are our lives going? How fast are they going? And mostly importantly...WHEN WILL WE GET THERE!?!

Like Charlotte said in Sex and the City...I'm tired of waiting. Ive been waiting my whole life for HIM. When will he get here and show up...I'M EXHAUSTED.

As all of these stories, characters, and people race through my mind along with my own battles I try to remember and stay grounded in this advice. I don't have the answers and I'm pretty sure if you are like me and looking for the answers to any of those listed above we want ever truly get them. We just have to wait. Close our eyes, walk blindly through life expecting the best, preparing for the worst, and just maybe somewhere along the line something great and wonderful will happen.

When things looks dark, when all the odds are against you, when life seems unfair, that's not the time to get depressed. That's not the time to start complaining. That's the time to turn up your praise! That's the time to say, "Lord, You are good! You are in control! You're bigger than my enemies, and nothing can stand against You!" Friend, praise can break the chains of the past. Praise can bring down walls that are locked. Praise can turn enemies into friends. Praise can break addictions. Praise can bring healing. Praise activates God's favor. No matter what you are facing today, even if things look impossible, the key to breaking free is to keep singing, keep praising, keep rejoicing and keep trusting because God is working behind the scenes. Declare His praises because He is ready to lead you out into freedom in every area of your life!