Spring has officially sprung and this is the time to focus on bringing the promises of God to pass. The dreams that you thought were dead are to be resurrected in this season. It’s been a long cold winter and the promise of new life emerges when you realize that the tomb is empty! Rejoice and refocus, your resurrection is here!
One of the exciting things about finding your purpose is discovering your assignment! Your assignment is comprised of the specific tasks that you will perform to accomplish your purpose. When I first discovered my assignment my life began to make sense. It took some time, but God began to reveal things to me piece by piece. As my relationship with him grew, I discovered who I was and the woman that he created me to be.
I realized that the struggles I had gone through in the past and had overcome with the strength of God, gave me experience that I could share with other women that needed help in these same areas. With this revelation I was able to concentrate on the women that I was called to help.
Who are you called to help? Before God formed us he had a purpose for us. There is a specific group of people that each one of us were created to help. God uses our burdens in life for the good of his kingdom. Your burden should drive you to create the change that you need and want to see in this world.
The book of Genesis tells us the story of Joseph. God allowed him to go through torture and turmoil as a result to shape him into the ruler of Egypt that he would become. He would in turn end up being the one to save his brothers from famine and death.
The book of Exodus tells us the story of Moses. After struggling with his identity, he ends up killing an Egyptian guard. God took him through torture and turmoil to prepare him for his destiny. He in turn was able to lead the Israelites out of Egypt on their quest to the promise land.
For every group of people that need healing and deliverance, God will use someone from that group to save them.
What group of people do you relate to? If you were to reflect over the your trials and tribulations, who would God use you to help and save?
For many years I sensed what my assignment was before I knew I had a purpose. My passion led me to fashion merchandising early in my career.
Training and development was my next stop on the road to purpose, but I still was not sure why I was drawn to these professions or how they fit together.
Once God revealed more pieces to my puzzle, I was able to see why I had the passions I possessed. God placed Divine Esteem in my heart and it has allowed me to pair my love of teaching, training and developing with fashion, style, and purpose! He doesn’t waste any of it!
God will direct you as he reveals your specific assignment to you. We are all called to spread the truth of Jesus Christ. His truth heals the sick and gives site to the blind. It gives direction to the lost and purpose to those that are stagnant in life. Once you reveal the light of Jesus Christ, you open the door for God to take over in another person’s life and the healing continues. Once you discover your assignment you are then able to truly begin working towards your purpose and enjoying the fulfillment that it brings!
This week I had the chance to work as an image consultant for a wonderful non profit group that provides free career training and wardrobes to women in transition. It is always fulfilling for me to serve but this week was special. This week gave me the opportunity to really see the process of transformation taking place in the women that I helped. Each woman may have experienced hardship that was unique to them but there was one thing that they all had in common. They were all at a crossroad together and ready to rebuild with the help of God working through his people. It was a great honor to help lift their self esteem with a new professional wardrobe.
It is always great for your outside to match what God has placed on the inside of you! People can feel your confidence and will trust that you are the right person for the job!
God made each and every one of us unique. Let the light inside of you shine!
During my travels I recently stumbled upon a beautiful vintage camera shop that was filled with history and nostalgia. The beautiful cameras got me to thinking about the art of photography. Whether it be a spontaneous selfie for social media or an elaborate editorial photoshoot for a magazine, the result is the same. A purposeful snap shot of a moment in time that was meant to illustrate the creators intended point of view. Couple the illustration with poetic narrative and you have a work of art from the perception of another.
I began to think about how important our perception is. It is perception that determines how we interpret a situation and can be detrimental to our faith. When we are patiently waiting on the promises of God and the enemy shows us a snapshot that goes against what we know is God’s word, we must elect to stand planted regardless of what we see or do not see. Of course this is not an easy thing to do, but it is imperative to receive the victory!
“And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Psalm 1:3 KJV
When the enemy taunts us with a full movie in HD of what will not happen and tries to steal our faith, we must learn to cast down all fear in those moments. Instead we must know that God is the writer, producer and director of our lives and every film that he makes guarantees a victorious ending if we don’t faint.
So be encouraged on your your journey.
“God is not a man, that He should lie. He is not a son of man, that He should be sorry for what He has said. Has He said, and will He not do it? Has He spoken, and will He not keep His Word?” Numbers 23:19 NLV
The hardest work is always in the wait!
Have you ever prayed to God for something, received it, then realized that the requirements to maintain it were much greater than you ever imagined? Did the excitement from the blessing wear off once you began to focus on the portion that contained the challenges and requirements of the new contract between you and God, (often referred to as the “fine print”)? Did it cause you to question if you even wanted it anymore? It is a crazy feeling to have. The emotions that you experience can include guilt, confusion, remorse, and insecurity. If you are not sure what God’s purpose for you is, those emotions, although perfectly normal, might lead you to abort your mission of destiny.
“When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.” Luke 12:48
For every level of success that you obtain there will be a higher threshold of discomfort that you must be able to withstand as you settle in to a new normal. As responsibilities change and shape you into the person that God has created you to be, you must remember that every new experience is designed to give you the character that is needed to get the job done. Focusing on the fine print can be overwhelming but in the end very empowering if you don’t allow it to defeat you. It is empowering because at first glance fear tries to take over. After you face this fear head on and decide to focus on the big picture instead which is your purpose and the blessing itself, you find that with the help of God you are actually well equipped to handle these requirements. You were built for this! They will just take some getting use to. You often find that you have to grow in to each level of your destiny and after a while you are then prepared for a promotion to an even higher level that will take you to your next step.
So don’t shy away from the “fine print”. It is here that you will find God’s strength and your growth. It is in the challenges that you overcome that you can stand confident and discover who God has really made you to be, an overcomer and a victorious conqueror in his name.
Have you ever felt like you were on a long winding bridge to nowhere? As the years pass by and unaccomplished goals began to fall to the bottom of your checklist into the “never going to happen” file, we often find that what is left, can easily be summed up into three categories. Go to work, pay bills, and die. As responsibilities determine more and more of our important life decisions, do you find yourself feeling like there has to be more to life than this?
If you have found this to be true I would like for you to ask yourself three questions.
1. How much control does society and the media have over our hopes and dreams?
Many outside elements can effect the development of our life’s expectations. Every day we are saturated with images of perceived beauty, romance, career, and family lifestyles to aspire to. As the media drives culture with marketing and advertising, our perception of what we want out of life begins to conform to the intended level of conventionally defined success. Culture drives the creation of value and we find ourselves being programed like robots to live lives that we were not intended to live. As we compete with our neighbors, family members and others around us to reach the imaginary brass ring, we create a lifestyle that is further away from our destiny. We are also now working long unfulfilled, and sometimes agonizing hours to maintain this. Meanwhile the media that produces this need to obtain these things grows more powerful. As a result our souls are left empty and depleted when we find that after obtaining these things we are still not as happy as we thought we would be, but still we press on. This creates a never ending cycle of longing and debt that eventually snowballs into misery instead of contentment. When we are not confident in who we are, we become susceptible to outside definitions of ourselves.
2. How do we recover from the past failed attempts to fulfill our dreams?
It can be emotionally exhausting to recall the many failed attempts that one may have had to fulfill their dreams in the past. When one strategy does not work in the way that we anticipated we are faced with the choice to either keep going, try again, or abort the process all together. It has been said that the quickest way to ensure success is to increase your rate of failure. If this is true, then what better reason can we find to try again? Dreams do not have an expiration date and we can not allow pain or embarrassment to stop us from obtaining our goals. With each failure there is a lesson that is learned through experience. With each failure we are that much closer to obtaining all of the elements that are needed for the winning formula. God said that he will do a new thing! It is never too late to try it again!
3. At what point do we hand our dreams over to God and what does that really mean?
13 Listen! You who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this city and stay a year and make money.” 14 You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? It is like fog. You see it and soon it is gone. 15 What you should say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But instead you are proud. You talk loud and big about yourselves. All such pride is sin. James 4:13-16 (NLV)
We often fall short when our hearts are not in line with God. Our plans will often disappoint us when we leave God out of them. He has placed specific dreams in us for a reason and he gives us the desires of our hearts. When we seek him, it is then that we find more to life. It is then that we unlock the gift of wholeness and adventure that fuels the fire of purpose. So clear the dust from your museum of ideas and begin your next day with a refreshed confidence. It is in God that you will find a new expectation that this time will not fail.
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Mia Verde Woman 