8/25/2015 0 Comments Pursue Your Passion-Contributed by Daily Dose weekly contributor Chaun Archer- "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ." Colossians 3:23-24 I’ve been labeled many things in my life. Dreamer and free spirit are two that I heard a lot. It is not until recently that I’ve begun hearing people say hard worker and persistent. It’s odd how for so many years I hated the label of dreamer and free spirit. I hated what it implied. It sounded as if people thought I just had my head in the clouds chasing a dream or a goal that would never be reached or accomplished; as if I was wasting my time or aimlessly wandering through life. Although my plan may not have made sense to the people around me, I’ve always had a plan. My plan may have been flexible and changed over the years, but there was always a plan in place. I think most people struggled with my audacity to live life by my terms and pursue my passion instead of going down the beaten path. I believe that many people wish they had the courage to pursue their passion instead of a job or career that brings them little fulfillment or joy. I would like to say to anyone reading this, that you can pursue your passion too. People confuse passion with purpose. It may take you years to discover your purpose in life, but passion lives within us, and we usually know what we are passionate about. The two are often associated with each other, because many times while pursuing your passion, you often find your purpose. I’ve always loved acting and writing. These two things help me to breathe. After going to college for banking and finance to please my family, I realized I would be so unhappy because I found no happiness in it. Was it paying the bills? Yes. Was I good at it? Yes. But just because you are good at something doesn’t mean you love it or want to do it for the rest of your life. I found ways to write and get involved with acting while I was working. It was small things at first, because to have even a little of it made me feel whole. The small things opened the door for bigger things and before you knew it I was doing things that I loved and I was good at on a consistent basis and it began to pay the bills. I found far more pleasure in my work and it showed. First ask yourself, “Are my goals mine? Are you chasing someone else’s dream for your life?” Next ask yourself “Why?” Why do you want to pursue this thing? Next, start where you are. Try finding creative ways to pursue your passion without quitting your job or using up all of your savings. Find ways to volunteer or a group of people who are passionate about similar things. Lastly, give it your best, and give it time. The thing about your passion is, you would do it for free, because you feel so fulfilled every moment that you are doing it. There was a businessman who once went on vacation to a faraway beach. One day he walked past a local fisherman who was lazing around, with his fishing rod in the water, enjoying the sun and a glass of lemonade. The city man’s mind went to work immediately. The fishing spot was a gold mine, and a serious fishing business would thrive in the area. “Why are you so stupid?” he asked the fisherman. “Get some boats, hire some extra hands, and in a few years you will turn your little shop into a million-dollar business!” The local man asked him. “And what would you do once you have a million dollars?” The city man stared back blankly. “Why, I would have so much free time I could sit around in the sun all day drinking lemonade!” Enter into Worship
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8/19/2015 0 Comments Happiness Is a ChoiceEnter into Worship![]() When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I’ve always liked that saying. But what if you don’t have any sugar? For some people it’s more difficult to find the silver lining, to think positively, to turn the negative into the positive. That person was once me. I would turn a bad situation into a worse one. I would take sadness to another level. If someone even mentioned a silver lining I would cringe. For every positive thing you tried to get me to see, I could give you 10 negatives. One day I realized the toll that this kind of thinking was taking on my life. After having kids you begin to see yourself in a different way, because much of your attitude and traits can be seen in your children. They pick up these things from us and we cannot deny it. I began seeing my toddler, display bouts of sadness, and temper tantrums that reminded me of myself. I saw anger and rage and when I made the connection to where she could be getting it from, I realized that if I did not change my attitude and behavior I was setting up my child for a long miserable road ahead. I also began to see how my body was responding to this constant negativity. I struggled with depression, anxiety, weight gain, high blood pressure and lethargy. It was time for a change, and one day I realized that it was just as simple as making a choice. In every single moment in life you have a choice, big ones and little ones. The little ones we rarely think about, and do them almost on automatically. One of those tiny seemingly insignificant choices is happiness. When something goes wrong, or someone does something that makes us feel powerless in the situation, you are not powerless. You have a choice about how you will respond, and what you will think. Many times your response to the situation can even turn it around in your favor. Psalms 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the LORD: and he shall give you the desires of your heart.” It may seem like you are giving up your control to someone else, but it is the exact opposite; by deciding how you will feel you have taken control. You do not have to give another person or situation the power to determine your mood, or feelings. Only you can decide that. By practicing this, I’ve consistently remained positive and maintain a healthier lifestyle. The things I complained about before I now embrace as the challenges they are and the purpose they serve, which is to strengthen me in different areas of my life. What things do you allow to determine your mood? Who determines your happiness? Do you have the power to control your thoughts in a difficult situation? How can you choose happiness in difficult situation? Contributed by Daily Dose weekly contributor: Chaun Archer Enter into Worship![]() We get dressed, put on makeup, brush our hair, and countless other mundane chores each day in front of a mirror. We look briefly at our image and carry on with our day, but do you really see yourself? The mirror was not created to look deep into ones soul, but merely return an exact image of your outer physical appearance. The kind of mirror I’m referring to is the mirror that examines your true self, beyond the smile and the makeup. After years of tests, trials, and tribulations, failures and shortcomings, we rarely take a minute to really reflect on how these things have affected us and assisted in our growth and change. Most of us go through a difficult time and our focus is just on getting through. But what happens after you make it to the other side of adversity? Do you just move on to the next and continue this cycle never taking a moment to look back and examine how you’ve changed, or how it has changed you. Anyone starting a weight loss journey knows that they are in for a tough ride, but they expect change in the process. Day after day and week after week they look closely in the mirror for change and examine their efforts and chart the progress. In a similar way we need to keep up with the changes that life can bring about. Has it made you bitter or better? Has it made you mean or merry? Are you walking around with regret, guilt, and being unforgiving? Is there sadness beneath that smile, or a joy that cannot be taken away? Even when we fail to take a look at ourselves, God is constantly in tune with the rhythm of our souls. He knows our innermost thoughts, hurts, worries and fears. He knows when others have treated us badly and when we have done wrong. Ignoring these things or pretending like they didn’t happen or didn’t change us doesn’t make it any less real or true. In Psalms 26:1-3 David says, “Vindicate me, O Lord, For I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart. For Your loving kindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth.” In a similar way we need to let God do the work. When we are having a hard time seeing ourselves and who we have become, we should ask God to examine our hearts, reveal our truths and fix anything that was broken or bent. If we do that we can be whole and continue on our journey with love, and God’s light, fulfilling our purpose. Contributed by Daily Dose weekly contributor Chaun Archer. Enter into Worship8/6/2015 0 Comments Take the Labels Off![]() Walking through any aisle of a grocery store you are bombarded by labels. Aisle after aisle, row after row, clearly on display, you can see what each box, can, and package hides inside its container. Along with the ingredients, usage, warnings and nutritional information, you will often see guarantees, and promises, like “You Can’t Eat Just One”. They throw words around like “The Best” and “World Famous” and “Amazing”. They highlight all of the pros and turn negative aspects into positive ones. Never do you see words like “Bland Taste”, “Undesirable Odor”, “Seldom Liked”, “Less Value” or “Never Received an Award”. We expect a can labeled beans to have beans in it, and although we know that what’s inside will not mirror the image of the serving suggestion, we buy it anyway, because we need what’s inside. What would happen if we took the labels off? Would you buy it based on someone’s promise that beans are inside? Would you need to see proof of what’s inside? Labels serve a great purpose and add value when buying a can of corn or a box of stuffing, but what about the labels we put on each other and our selves? What purpose do they serve? Over time some of us have allowed our environments, life’s circumstances, and failures to place labels on us, and decrease our value and worth. It’s been done to children, and adults alike. At first we might fight it, but we hear some labels so often, that slowly but surely we begin to believe that we are the very things that we once disagreed with. That instead of beans, there must be corn inside, because everyone says so. We begin to consider, maybe they were right. We take on the mannerisms and become that thing. What about the people we’ve met and were told by others, not to trust because she’s a liar, or he’s a thief, or she’s so lazy. The next time we encounter that person we see, liar, thief, lazy, and never give them a chance to prove otherwise. When we do this to others we give them permission to be these things, instead of the hope to be better. When we hear negative things like you are ugly, nasty, mean, stupid, broke, useless, hopeless, a fool, can’t be loved, a small seed is planted. In times of doubt, those seeds begin to sprout and take root, and before you know it, you believe it too. Once you let those thoughts take root, do you even know who you really are anymore? Without a label God found value in us all. Before we could even walk, speak, read, or write, God validated us and placed his stamp of approval over our lives. In Jeremiah 1:5 God says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." Somewhere along the way we forgot and began to believe the lies. Today I want you to begin to see the good in others and yourself as God sees the good in each of us. We have the potential to be great, and fulfill our purpose but first we need to take the labels off, respect each other, and respect ourselves. With a little hard work we can prove to others and ourselves that we are not the negative things that were spoken about us. At the end of the day, it’s not even about what people think, but that God is pleased with our attitudes, character and behavior. So let’s do what’s pleasing to God, worship him with our actions, and take the labels off. Soul Searching: What negative things have you believed about yourself? Who have you placed labels on, knowingly or unknowingly? Find 5 positive things to say about yourself, that you believe or would like to change. Contributed by Daily Dose weekly contributor Chaun Archer. Enter into Worship |
What is Worship?
The Apostle Paul described true worship perfectly in Romans 12:1:
“I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship." Worship is first of all an experience. It may express itself through certain forms, but it is not primarily a form. It is an experience. It is a consciousness of the presence of God and a response to that consciousness. Worship expresses itself as an outreach of the deepest emotions of the soul in adoration, reverence, homage, exaltation, and praise to the Almighty. We hope that our Worship Wednesday creates a deeper more meaningful worship experience for you. Visit our other inspirational blog
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