Stop Second -Guessing Yourself

December 27, 2015December 28, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

Have you ever made a decision only to go back to it over and over again wondering whether you made the right one or not? I have.

Like you, I have made so many life decisions. Especially when it comes to my professional life. I have always been driven to succeed. To me, I take a no hole bars approach to my life. I take an attitude of “the sky is the limit” approach.

Earlier in life, I would just make a decision without thinking of the consequences and go for it; many times it worked out. I think God knew I was young and silly, so He sent angels to watch out for me (at least that’s what I have told myself throughout the years). Later in life I learned the importance of praying before I made a decision. I had heard others say that people do things and pray about it afterwards, asking God to bless it, when they should have prayed about it ahead of time to see if it was God’s will. That made sense to me so that has been my practice ever since hearing it. On the big important things, it was especially critical for me to stop and pray first before moving forward.

Once I have prayed about it and waited to hear from God, I feel good about moving forward. Here’s the problem though. Suppose you prayed and felt that you heard from God, so you moved forward believing it was Him only to find yourself going back and forth re-thinking or even regretting your decision? What if you made the wrong decision? What if you didn’t hear from God as you thought you did? What if?

Let me help you with this issue. I went through this just recently. I made a life-changing decision that would affect not only me, but my family. I prayed and prayed and made my decision only to question whether I had made the right one. Early one morning during prayer as I talked to God about my insecurities, what came to me was this: “Stop second-guessing yourself.”

Hmmm. It think it came to me from the Holy Spirit because I was saying to God that I had prayed and prayed and felt I had His answer and now I don’t know. When I looked at other elements of my decision, I thought to myself well this change puts a dent in my 5 year plan, yet, I wanted to go with the decision I had made. I needed to make sure God had blessed it. As I sat in my “prayer chair” again, the words resonated in my mind, “stop second-guessing yourself.” I smiled because I accepted what I was hearing.

The word TRUST carved into a stone wall. 3D render with HDRI lighting and raytraced textures.

Many times you will make the best possible decisions you can with the information you have. You do your best to do what’s right. What happens is people who don’t want you to do something or maybe they want you to themselves, will speak things into your life that make you second-guess yourself. On the other hand, your mind will play tricks on you and have you question your decision and if you are not careful, fear will consume you. When that happens, tell yourself what is written in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline.” If you have to say it over and over again, do that.

Anxiety is natural when you are making major life-changing decisions. The question becomes, do you want to live a life that is full and purposeful or will you allow fear to stop you from fulfilling your destiny? When you make decisions, always pray about them first, wait to hear from God and when you believe you have and He says it’s okay, then move. If he says no, then stay. If He says okay and you are fearful to move, ask yourself, “Am I telling God that you don’t trust Him?” I am sure you don’t want to say that, but your actions are.

Stop second-guessing yourself. Trust God and trust yourself.

An Issue of The Heart

December 20, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

I ordered these killer boots from Amazon that were to be delivered on Saturday. Doorbell rang, my husband goes to the door. UPS had delivered an order. My husband brings the box inside and hands it to me because it had my name on it.

I tell him thank you and when I opened the box, I found a pair of young girl size 6 Nike shoes from Zappos. UPS mis-delivered so I pick up my phone and call Zappos to tell them that someone will be looking for these shoes. I asked them how I could get the shoes back to Zappos or the intended customer. The lady on the line says, “Oh thank you so much for being honest” (I hate it when people say that to me) and then she told me what to do next. Easy right? It was. However, during the course of our conversation she said, “you probably want to check to see if something was supposed to be delivered to you today from Amazon because we share truck space with them!” Oh no, I thought and then I went into panic mode. I was expecting these “Killer Boots” today!

I logged onto the Amazon site and looked at all my orders, you guessed it, my boots were marked “delivered today” so I frantically began writing to Amazon about the mix-up. Eventually I spoke to a young woman over the phone. She was really nice, I can’t say that I was pleasant to deal with. I was only focused on my boots. Where were my boots is all that was turning in my head. She continued in a pleasant manner and readily gave me a refund, but I still wasn’t happy. I didn’t want my money back, I wanted MY boots! I was frustrated and unhappy. My husband tried to ask me questions and I was snippy. My son was instant messaging me and I was telling him what had happened, which got me even more frustrated the more I typed. I think he sensed my attitude and stopped. I could feel my blood pressure rising. My grandson sat quietly on the couch playing on his IPAD but watching this scenario play out. Occasionally he would look at me and say, “Grandma, you ok?” I explained to him my side and he listened sweetly but I am sure he didn’t understand why I was letting this situation get to me.

During the course of all of this, I looked to see if I could simply re-order the boots. No, because the boots were no longer available in my color on Amazon at all. I looked out on Google to see what stores carried it. I went to the Nordstrom site, Macys, Dillards, and everywhere I looked for that boot it had sold out! Not one single site had that boot; not one! I was becoming consumed with a boot.
I finally felt the nudge from the Holy Spirit say to me, “Stop. If these boots are for you, you will get them, but maybe they are not for you.” I looked around at my husband and grandson sitting quietly and calmly and thought to myself, what’s wrong with you? You are acting like a spoiled brat. Those boots don’t matter; they do.

I turned off my computer and got up and went to a quiet place to calm my spirit and pray. I went to a place that I would be able to relax and reflect. I went to my room. I could hear the dialogue going on in my mind. It went like this. Don’t you dare allow “boots” to get to you. Look around. Look at what you have; you have so much to be thankful for; don’t you dare let boots create an attitude that will affect the mood of this house.

That was the Holy Spirit speaking to me. That’s why I say that we can choose. We can choose how we respond to negative and frustrating situations or how we respond to frustrating people. I know the Holy Spirit will do His job, our job is not only to listen, but to obey. In the big scheme of things, do material things matter? The answer is no. It’s that simple. A relationship with God and others is what matters most.

You Taught Me a Lesson…

November 21, 2015November 21, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

I know I am not the only one who has asked herself, “Why do I feel that I am a target lately?” Have you ever wondered if it was just your time to be the focus of “people messing with you”?

Well, that’s how I have felt over the last several months. It’s been one attack after another. As a woman in her 50’s I have been good about not letting people get to me. Because when I was in my twenties, had anyone tried me, I would have not given a second thought to taking their heads off. Nowadays, I pride myself on not even responding. However, I think because I don’t respond like I did 30 years ago, some may take my silence for weakness. That’s a big mistake.
Attacks are hard, I don’t care how they come. But when they come from someone you thought you could trust, they are particularly hurtful. It makes you wonder why someone you thought you could trust, would take underhanded approaches in dealing with you. Well, they may say, “You’re unapproachable” and that could be true, I guess. But honestly, would you believe them? I wouldn’t.

When people are underhanded, two-faced, gossipy and just down-right messy, they teach you valuable lessons. One of those lessons is that they can’t be trusted! So learn not to trust them!

What makes a person messy? It became apparent to me a long time ago that there were people who seemed to be just wired that way. Their lives seem full, but that is a fascade also. They do not have meaningful relationships so I think they secretly envy those who do. A person who always finds themselves in the middle of mess, should ask themselves “why”? but they won’t because they like being in the middle of mess. In fact, I bet you will find them so busy messing around in another person’s life that they cannot make positive strides in their ow envy n. They can’t be happy!

Maya Angelou said, and I have said it many times as well, “When a person shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” That really hit home recently. I believe in what Maya Angelou said, I should have been on guard with the person who betrayed me. But like so many of you, I let my guard down because I wanted to give another person the benefit of the doubt. I wanted them not to be an ingenuous person; I wanted them to be honest and sincere. Turns out they were not.

So what do you do when you face an insincere person? What do you do when you find out that you have to watch your back around a person who is waiting to put a knife in it? You do nothing. You just watch and guard yourself; that’s it. They are the ones who are insecure. They will never accept that they have these deep insecurities, but they do. You don’t have to argue the point them; you just need to remember. Keep their tactics close in your mind; don’t keep it in your heart; just remember. Don’t hold grudges; just remember. Because there will be another time when their true colors will show and you will stop and remember that they showed you who they were many times before. This difference the next time is that you will not be surprised or caught off guard or ill-equipped to handle their tactics because you have paid attention.

Life’s lessons can be hard, but they are designed to help us mature and survive. In situations like this one, you don’t get bitter, you don’t get even, you learn the lesson. .

Value or Disrespect

October 22, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

I don’t mind giving advice, but one area that I hate to give advice is in the area of dealing with abusive people, especially mentally abusive bosses. Some of the stories I hear infuriate me and the boss can be so terrible that I find myself wanting to punch them! But I would never do that and that would not be my advice to you either.

I don’t want to ever advise anyone to give up on anything, yet, I struggle telling anyone to stay with anyone who treats them like crap. I want to fight for what is right and I like working hard for what I get. I get a kick out of the struggle. In fact I have a saying that reads “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it”. I believe in tenacity, diligence, dedication and hard work. If you want something out of life, you got to do your part. One of my mottos could be that diligence pays off. Yet, I want to tell the person who feels inadequate because of the actions of another person to leave.

It is easy to sit in a chair and write pretty advice. It is easy to say what you should do once I have crossed over my own challenge of having to deal with a nasty boss. So I won’t write the pretty advice but I will be straight up with you. If you have a boss who is mentally abusive, who depresses you, dishonors you, disrespect you and you don’t think that person will ever change, leave.

That’s my advice. Leave. Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”, and I agree with her. That lady was one wise woman.

You see I have had wonderful bosses who were positive, supportive and saw to it that I was developed and given opportunities. I have also experienced cunning and unethical bosses too. I have never, ever had a boss yell at me, cuss at me, talk to me as if I were stupid or talk down to me. I think God made sure that I didn’t because I don’t know how I would have handled them in my early years.

I have told you on many occasions how destructive words can be. When you stay with a person, whether that person is a spouse, friend or boss, who has little interest in uplifting you or in making your life better, why are you staying with them? You don’t rely on others to make you happy; that’s not what I am saying, that’s your responsibility. What I am saying is that disinterest or detachment from you is one thing, but disrespect is quite another.

We stay with spouses and friends longer in bad relationships, because we have vested relationships with them. We do not have that same investment with an abusive boss. I get that it is hard to walk away from a job when you need the money, but it is even harder to walk away from a marriage when one depends on the support of a spouse, but people do it everyday and find support.

I am not saying to just quit your job when you have an abusive or narcissistic boss. That’s a decision that only you can make. I just want to remind you that you are valuable and you are important. It doesn’t matter if you are the janitor or the CEO. And just so you know, even if you are dependent on a person for a job, that does not give them the right to disrespect you.

I can’t tell you what is enough, I can only tell you that you are enough. “For we (you) are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that (you) we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10.

Happy Attitudes = Happy Lives

September 26, 2015September 26, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

Ecclesiastes 3:12 reads “I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.” See, there it is!

One writer stated “The goal of every Christian should not be happiness because the Bible never promises happiness to the believer but joy, that is a totally different story. While happiness is temporary and is based upon happenings, joy is from the Lord and you can still experience joy during trials, suffering, and testing. Joy is permanent but happiness is fleeting.”

I understand what this writer is saying, but isn’t this just semantics? I don’t disagree, but I don’t think we have to get hung up on this either. In fact, I feel if we are going to disagree on something, it should not be on whether or not God wants us to live a life of happiness?

11690912-attitude-is-everything-text-written-with-chalk-on-a-blackboard We should not be fighting over this. So why do we? Is it just easier to sit and fight and to be negative?

Do you think that God designed us to with the attitude of negativity? No, He did not. In fact, the Bible tells us in Philippians to think on things that are good, pure, honest, all of these are positive thoughts. I know that it takes intentional effort to be positive, that’s why Romans 12:2 tells us that it is important to transform our minds and that’s what the Holy Spirit does for us. He helps us to draw from His strength when we would automatically default to the negatives in this world. When our minds are transformed and when we focus on what we are thinking about, I think we will work hard to stop random negative thoughts from becoming permanent negative thoughts that become our daily lives.

The Bible tells us “there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good.” I bet the happiness that is talked about here is not seeking to live our lives out of selfish gain, nor out of stepping on others to get to the top, nor is it in fame and popularity; neither is it just an emotional state that one feels just because something good happened. I think the end of the scripture really tells us how we will live a life that is happy and positive; a life that rejects negativity. We do it in being productive and not idle. We live happy by working and seeing the works of our hands, whether it is something tangible or intangible we produce.

When we reach out and touch the lives of others and when we add to the lives of others, those kinds of acts bring about joy and joy produces happiness in our lives. Happy attitudes result in happy lives. So, can we actually accomplish what is stated in Ecclesiastes 3? I think so. That, too, begins with our attitudes towards work and life

Will Your Plans Succeed?

September 9, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

Many times we dream of being a huge success. We daydream of being at the top of the pyramid. We want the highest position and the most money. Oh, don’t forget about power. We want successful careers as well as success in our personal lives.

Many of us have even dreamed of being as successful as Oprah, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Cuban, maybe even Donald Trump? While others have more altruistic ideas of success like feeding the hungry and other social justice issues. I have on many occasions, dreamt of living a life that helped others; kind of like what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Mother Teresa have done. Oh, let’s not forget the Pope; especially Pope Francis!

I think that it’s okay to dream of being successful. I know some don’t think we should. I honestly don’t see anything wrong with dreaming big and reaching for the stars. Recently, I was pondering my life and looking at some of the successes I have experienced. I was thinking about what’s next. As I pondered, I considered how important it is for me to make sure my desire for success didn’t control of me. I thought of how important the Bible is to me and that I want to make sure that as I continue to live and accomplish things that whatever I do is inline with God’s will for me.

One morning I was praying about a particular issue I was dealing with and as I read my Bible that morning, I was led to two scriptures. One was Proverbs 16:3 and the other was Proverbs 16:9. In Proverbs 16:3, I was gently reminded if I committed my life to God, He would ensure that my plans would succeed. Later in that same chapter, in verse 9, it says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” As I read these scriptures, I felt that they were jumping off the page to speak to me. In fact, I knew they were talking to me. I was struggling with a decision that I needed to make and did not want to move forward because of popularity, money or anything like that. I wanted to make sure that my decisions were not driven by greed or my desire for power. I think those scriptures answered my lingering questions though because I came away knowing that I was in line with what God wanted, but also that if I wanted more success, that was okay too.

Some might have you believe that your dream of success if not what you should think of; that you should settle. I say they are ridiculous. Some may say that the goals you set are too ambitious; too audacious, that you should think smaller. I say, hogwash. Don’t listen to those who will keep you locked in “smallness”.

If God has planted a dream in your heart and you have transferred them from dreams to actual goals, make sure your life is committed to the Lord and then trust Him to help you succeed. You see, there is nothing wrong with success, it just has to be aligned with God’s will for your life. Always remember to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33. I believe that!

What Will You Do When Opportunities Knock?

August 26, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

I am not a comedienne at all, but sometimes I get one in there when I said “when opportunities knock, don’t send them to your neighbor.”

Recently a person I know had a great opportunity to show their skill and expertise but was too shy to do so. Their boss automatically thought the person could take care of a major job without questioning at all if the person had the skill. When the boss said to the person to take of it, they replied “Well, I will try; I don’t know if I can handle it.” Yikes! I asked them if they could handle the problem and the person said, “I think so.” Knowing full well that they could, as well as knowing that they had probably royally messed up a chance to show their skill, they called me after the fact and told me the story. then asked me “what do.you think I should do?”

What do you think, I said? “Hang up and go and take care of it! Don’t let them go outside the company and pay for another “expert” to come in and fix it when you can do it yourself.” It didn’t take much convincing. For them to pick up the phone and call me already said something about them knowing that they had made a mistake. The good news is that they recognized it and did something about it.

Once the situation was taken care and the person had successfully handled the problem, they sent me a message telling me that they had handled it. I congratulated them and went on my way.

Later, I was thinking of that particular situation and wondered many times the exact same situation had happened to others but they did not rush to self-correct. How many times do you allow others to seek out someone else to do a job that you could do? The question that follows is, why?

Is it because you don’t want the responsibility? It is because you have self-doubt? Or is it because of laziness? I would like to think that the latter isn’t the case the majority of the time. I would like to believe it is because you are shy or fearful of failure.
I can just hear the wheels turning and the doubts beginning to pop up as you consider if you would have jumped in and volunteered your expertise. Many of us would say that we would, but trust me, others would not and it’s because of a lack of confidence or maybe the fear of being embarrassed or criticized if what they tried did not work.

May I suggest that you won’t know if you don’t try? May I also suggest that one thing that you will find out, if nothing else, is when you try,you show not only others, but you show yourself, that you are willing to take a risk. You demonstrate your willingness to help which shows that you care. It shows that you have initiative, at a time in history, when it seems to be lacking.

You might not always get it right, but you will gain experience and, hopefully, good exposure. You will increase your confidence, your boldness will develop and you will own your own decisions and contributions. This may seem difficult to digest, but once you step out and try, I don’t think you will ever look at problems the same again. You will grow.

Remember, when opportunities knock, open the door and invite them in. Don’t send them to your neighbors…

Stop Complaining…

August 12, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

I think it was Gandhi who said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” This quote really resonates with me because I truly believe that we can change things if we would try.

You might say, “But I don’t want to change the world.” Well, shut and stop complaining. That’s right, stop it. I don’t know about you, but I get tired of hearing folks complain about every thing. If the weather is hot, they want it cold and if it is cold, when will it be hot. It is always something. In fact, there is always something that we can complain about! What annoys me is that those who are constant complainers, never step up to do anything. Except complain!

I am no different that others, at times; I complain too. That’s when I have to remind myself that I need to stop. If whatever it is that I want to complain about persists, I tell myself, “ok, what can you do about it? Can you add anything positive to it?” Guess what? My perspective of the situation changes. So instead of sitting on the sidelines and pointing out all that is wrong in the world, step up and do something to help the world.

.I have always had a special place in my heart for people like Gandhi. People who step up when others draw back. I admire those who don’t have much but are willing to give what they have. People who don’t look at their resources as being limited, rather they look at the condition of others and they take what they have, as limited as it may be, to help. Listen, small acts become major movements of social change.

Many see Gandhi as a great person, but I see him as so much more. I say that because our definitions of what or who is great can be based on the superficial. However, people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, and others like them, are great because of their willingness to make a difference in the lives of others, thus changing the entire look and feel of the world.

great people

How about you? Do you see yourself as being put on this earth to do something significant? Do you ever feel that you want to do something but you just can’t? You just don’t know where to begin? I bet at times these people felt that way too, but guess what? They did something anyway. If you are like most of us, you want only the best. We want the comforts of life. We want nice homes, big homes, nice cars, luxury cars, higher education, we want to marry well or simply to be independently wealthy. We want it all. There is nothing wrong with having the good things in life; nothing at all. However, having the niceties isn’t all there is to life.

If you think about the nice things you have, one day they will be gone, or you will be, and then what? Nothing. I have talked about the value of positive attitude and the purpose of life many times. I don’t believe that our purpose has anything to do with how much material stuff we accumulate over a lifetime. I do believe however, that being able to accomplish our purpose starts with the right attitude, which is a direct result of having the right heart. With the right heart, we can make a huge impact on the world.

Hmmm, maybe if we looked more at the lives of noble people, rather than at the lives of the super rich and famous, maybe those noble lives will spark a flame in each of us that will help us believe that we can make a difference too.

Love Without Conditions…

July 29, 2015July 29, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

I read someone’s post recently that listed a whole bunch of things for his reader’s consideration. He said that someone asked him what advice would he give to his children. He listed so many considerate, loving and well-articulated things he would tell his children;. Clearly he loved them. But out of all the things he listed, what resonated with me the most was “love without condition”. During the time I read his letter, I had just received mail from someone telling me of an issue in their family with a teenager.This parent was clearly upset and so totally disappointed with what had just happened. I had already responded to the friend and then I read this guy’s post. I immediately thought about the situation that had just been described to me and although I had pretty much said the same thing, the phrase “love without condition” would not leave me alone.

I began to think about it. I pondered it and asked, What is “love without condition” anyway? Well, immediately Jesus came to my mind. He is the only person that I can think of who ever loved without condition. He loved humanity so much that He died for us. Yet, there are so many in this world who refuse to believe it. They say that this is just a story that someone made up. That Jesus was indeed a good man, but there is no way that he is the Savior of the world. My simple response? But He is. You might say, prove it. I can’t. I just believe.

I believe that Jesus is the ultimate example of unconditional love. He reached beyond His little home town, His little team of disciples, He reached beyond His own people, the Jews, to embrace and include people that nobody else would even dare sit with. Hey, but Jesus did. Jesus didn’t mind being around hookers, drunks, the lowest of the low, He didn’t mind sitting with women or people of different races, because He loved without conditions. He forgave regularly and He knew how to meet people where they were without condemning them. He loved them without conditions.

You might say, well, there are conditions, you have to change your life to be a Follower of Jesus; to be a Christian. No, that’s not true. I was messed up, like many others, and He accepted me as I was and then as time went on, my life began to change because I wanted to change. Unless you have lived in some secluded & remote place where you have never had to interact with others or you have only been around people who are exactly like you, maybe you don’t know that. But even you and those like you, are not perfect. When you met Jesus, you were not then and you are not now! Yet He still loved and continues to love you. In fact, the Bible says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

I am not going to even pretend that I have mastered, nor that I am anywhere near loving unconditionally, but I hope that each day I get a little better at being loving, patient, & kind,. I hope that step by step I can become what we are told to become by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 :4-7 when he says, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Hey, that’s a picture of what unconditional love looks like! And unconditional love is not just for the people we like, it’s for everybody no matter color, gender, creed or (wait for it….!) sexual orientation. We are to love people and let God handle the rest. Look, don’t judge me because I believe in loving others regardless of where they are. Hey, my sin and your sin may be different, but it’s still sin.

Luck or Faith?

July 17, 2015July 23, 2015 ~ authorlasharnda ~ Leave a comment

I hear people say, “It was just my luck” or they say “I was lucky” and I don’t say anything, but I do wonder. I wonder if they hear what they are saying. I have said before that if we would take time and consider what we say, we probably would rethink our comments. I have also said many times before that we have to be careful about what goes into our minds, because eventually it comes out of our mouths. It’s really important to consider the impact of what is taken into our thoughts because they will end up as actions.

But going back to my original thought about luck. Luck means that success or failure is brought on by chance rather than through one’s own actions. To be clear, you think whatever happens is just a chance thing. That’s fascinating to me.

What’s fascinating is that it is easier for a person to say that they have, or had, luck on their side rather than to say that God blessed them.

It seems to be a trend that it is hip or cool to say one does not believe in God.

Now listen, I don’t care to get into anyone’s business; if you don’t believe, you don’t believe, end of story. However, I just don’t get how it is easier say that one believes in luck rather than in God. I do believe that it is every Believers responsibility to tell others about Jesus, so I am not saying that I don’t care about that, I just don’t believe that I have to be bothersome, judgmental or pushy in doing so.

Believing in luck is as ridiculous to me as me believing in God may be to another. I know that some will argue that God is not real and that He is just something or someone I have made up to believe in because I and other Believers have to be dependent on something other than ourselves. Well, I don’t have to convince anyone that I am pretty independent but I am also totally dependent on Christ. I have no room for luck. I believe everything happens for a reason and ultimately what happens to us ties back to God’s grand plan for each of our lives. I believe that being on this earth has absolutely nothing to do with luck and everything to do with God’s purpose for my life. Guess what? According to Jeremiah 29:11, He has a plan and purpose for your life too. Argue if you will, but too many things have happened in my life that convinces me that a divine hand is in it all.

As much as I believe in a divine God, I also know that I have free will. I can choose to do whatever I want. When I do that, things happen that have nothing to do with luck either, it has to do with a decision I made. Sometimes it works out and sometimes not. I am thankful that I have never doubted that God exists and controls all things. As the scripture says, “All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord.” (Romans 8:28). Hey, I love Him!

So, when you say, “It was luck” or “I was lucky”, no problem, that’s your right and your choice, but please show me the same grace, respect and patience when I don’t believe that and when I say how much I believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Accept me for my beliefs. One of which is I was placed on this earth with a purpose in mind and trust me, I am going to live it happy and out loud. My life on this earth is not by chance, by luck or coincidence, it was because the God of the universe decided on me before I was born (Jeremiah 1:5). It’s because I know what the scriptures say about all of us, I have confidence in me.

Luck or Faith? You decide. I have…

Dr. LaSharnda Beckwith

It's Your Life; Own It. No Blame, No Excuses

Author: authorlasharnda