Category Archives: Blog Post About Me

Blog Post About Me

Finding Inner Strength

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Adversity makes you stronger? Ya well guess what….From the age of 4 when my mom had her first major stroke… So began my journey of growing up with fear and that only grew bigger and developed into the FEAR of change. There were too many times that change and fear combined had paralyzed me. I knew “change” meant the end of one thing…. And I never embraced that it also meant the start of something new.

I recently heard someone very special tell me that the saying “God never gives you more than you can handle” is a lie.  I’ve learned it’s what you do with it, who you turn to, who you rest your hope and belief on, and the choices you make daily.  But I never really understood that until now.

I grew up believing that “no matter how bad you think it is, someone’s got it worse”.  My dad said this often to me growing up.  It’s good to be a fighter.  It’s good to pick your chin up and move forward.  You don’t give up. While this quote is undoubtedly true, the fact remains that you must honor and acknowledge what it is that is ailing you.  You can only bury it and sweep it under the carpet for so long before it finds its way back and challenges your strength.

So sure…. For every hardship we endure in this life, one hopes that they can grow and learn from it so that those skills can not only apply to future circumstances but can also be used to help support others and transfer to other situations… Making you stronger.

Adversity makes you stronger?

Maybe…

It does have POTENTIAL to make you stronger based on how you handle it and how you move forward from it. It can also bring you to your knees and debilitate you forever.  Sounds like a simple and positive spin but it takes a LOT OF TIME and a LOT OF INNER STRENGTH to get there.

I’ve had many many supports throughout my life get me to where I am today. Including and probably THE MOST important supports I have ever had; my parents.  Now with them both gone, my learning curve the past 2 years on HOW to move forward without them has been incredible.

I’ve mentioned it before.  It’s a constant battle and it’s in my opinion one of the biggest and most challenging battles ever…. life and death.  A topic hard for many people to talk about and a topic that’s on my mind every single day from the moment I wake up.

My inner strength has shaped in a way that I never knew would unfold because no one is ever prepared for life and death.  They are matters completely out of our control.

So when creating a picture in YOUR MIND for “INNER STRENGTH”……

Make sure you have a “Fight Song” to play.  These are the words that you can stick inside your brain to get you through it.  WHERE EVER YOU ARE.

These words in particular feel like they were written for me… And that’s how your “Fight Song” should sound too.
FIGHT SONG

By Rachel Platten

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xo1VInw-SKc

Like a small boat
On the ocean
Sending big waves
Into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion
And all those things I didn’t say
Wrecking balls inside my brain
I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time?
This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I’m alright song
My power’s turned on
Starting right now I’ll be strong
I’ll play my fight song
And I don’t really care if nobody else believes
‘Cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me
Losing friends and I’m chasing sleep
Everybody’s worried about me
In too deep
Say I’m in too deep (in too deep)
And it’s been two years
I miss my home
But there’s a fire burning in my bones
Still believe
Yeah, I still believe
And all those things I didn’t say
Wrecking balls inside my brain
I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time?
This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I’m alright song
My power’s turned on
Starting right now I’ll be strong
I’ll play my fight song
And I don’t really care if nobody else believes
‘Cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me
A lot of fight left in me
Like a small boat
On the ocean
Sending big waves
Into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion
This is my fight song (Hey!)
Take back my life song (Hey!)
Prove I’m alright song (Hey!)
My power’s turned on
Starting right now I’ll be strong (I’ll be strong)
I’ll play my fight song
And I don’t really care if nobody else believes
‘Cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me
No I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me

Blog Post About Me

Finding Inner Harmony

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Adversity makes you stronger.

The next 3 messages are going to focus on:

Inner strength.

Inner peace.

Inner beauty.

Today I spent some time in the Fertile Grounds Cafe.  I saw and hugged Dr. Kiltz, the doctor that helped create Eva and Jack after years of unexplained infertility that included 10 failed IUIs and 4 failed IVFs.  Looking back now, were they really failures or was that in God’s plan all along?

He asked me what it could have been. I shrugged my shoulders and could only come up with the first thing that came to mind… Stress.
RJ Journey

 

That 5 years of “unexplained infertility” was a diagnoses at the time that offered us no direction for specific treatment other than textbook trial and error.  But it was during that journey that I learned more about myself and what I thought I could handle and little did I know that it would help me become a survivor down the road.

It was the tools I learned, just like in education or any profession that continue to serve me well.  It was the yoga, the acupuncture, the Chinese herbs, the essential oils, the Reiki, the breath, the sounds, the prayer and the meditation that bring me life…..and bring me inner strength, inner peace and inner beauty.

Blog Post About Me

Where do you start?

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THE ANSWER IS ACTUALLY QUITE SIMPLE. YOU START WITH YOURSELF.

It might sound selfish, but if you want to be the best parent, sibling, child, spouse, employee and friend you can be, you have to start with YOURSELF.

You have to wake up each morning with a drive, a motivation, an appreciation, a zest, and most importantly …CONFIDENCE.  It really does start when you look in the mirror.  It’s also the first thing others notice about you too.  It’s your posture. It’s your outlook. It’s your passion.

Each year for the past 5 years, I have set for myself a New Year’s Resolution. And I have kept it.

4 years ago it was to start my day with a devotion to God because my resolution was to grow spiritually. I bought a devotional book for my mom and one for myself. I gave it to her on her birthday. January 3. Each morning on my way to work during our “first call of the day”, we talked about it together. Looking back, I’m so glad we did that because as she neared closer to death over the final 18 days of her life, I re-read so many of those devotions and scriptures out loud to her.  This was comforting to us both and brought us both to tears many times throughout that journey. Many of those scriptures I had highlighted and so many “un-coincidental” occurrences took place around that book as she took her final breaths.

You need to feel good about yourself and take care of yourself.

As part of my resolution this year to take care of myself, I wanted to begin a skincare routine that invested in my skin. (After all, I’ll be wearing it for the rest of my life.)

I didn’t have time or money to waste on something that didn’t work and my husband and I believe whole heartedly in spending our hard earned money on things that are high in quality and sometimes those things are hard to find.

A former college teammate, Katie Wood introduced both the products and the company to me.  I knew right away, just from the sample she so kindly shared with me, that this was going to help me look better, and likewise FEEL BETTER.

My husband treated me to this. Of course he wanted to do anything that would help me feel better and he could tell how these products were impacting me. After just a few short weeks of my regimen working OVERTIME with the birth of our 4th baby, Brady, my results spoke for them self. I was excited, encouraged and felt renewed. How could I NOT share this with others??!!!!!!

 

My face after just 1 month of using my favorite brand of skin care products

And it only keeps getting better…..