Tag: God

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Be Grateful Standing In Your Present

June 28, 2021 jcladyluv

Photo Credit: Risa Rodil |www.risarodil.com

“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.”

~Nightbirde

The news has been really heavy lately and it feels like if there isn’t one thing then it’s another and you might think that it would make me less optimistic and less hopeful. You would be wrong. I used to think that it was a load of crap when people said that if you get your spiritual walk in life on track then everything else will fall into place. I just didn’t think that it could be as simple as being consistent with my daily devotionals and daily spiritual motivation along with my long and extended daily talks with God plus a healthy dose of manifesting the life I want. I, as usual, found that I was wrong.

In a time where things are definitely not certain and the world is at its highest level of chaos that I’ve seen since probably 9-11, I have to say that I have never felt more at peace in my life. And it’s not that I have anything figured out (because I assure you that I do not) and it’s not that I have become suddenly successful and have stepped into complete financial security either (because that definitely has not happened yet). I can only say that my peace comes from knowing that God already has everything worked out for me in whatever way he needs for it to happen in order for me to fulfill the purpose I am here to fulfill.

I heard the above quote from a young lady who auditioned for America’s Got Talent and who is currently suffering with a terminal cancer in which she was told that she only has a 2% chance of survival and her attitude about it was that “hey it’s not 0% and I’m going to live while I can” and I loved her outlook. She basically pointed out that you can’t just keep waiting for the day things get better because they might not and then what.

It’s the same when you are working towards accomplishing your dreams the way I have been aggressively doing so (and sometimes not as aggressive as necessary) for what feels like forever now. There are good days when I seem right on the cusp of something big about to happen and then other days where I am acutely aware of how far away my goals truly are. It doesn’t matter how many bad days I have, I can’t just give up and stop now. I can’t just throw in the towel on my dreams because of the hard days that I have along the journey.

The way I see it (or at least how I see it now that I have grown and matured lol) is that the hard days are going to be so worth it when I reach the actual goal. And even then, I’m just going to create another goal and extend the journey. As long as you are given another day to breathe on this earth you have to be grateful for each day that you get and be happy no matter how hard the day was because you are here, and you are present, and God is giving you another chance each day he wakes you up. Don’t squander the time you have here by dwelling on how hard the day may be. Be thankful that you are alive to get through the tough days so that you can better enjoy the good ones that are surely to come.

Until next time…#BeBold #BePresent #BeGrateful

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

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Trust In His Plans and His Timing

June 21, 2021 jcladyluv

“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.” ~ Jeremiah 29:11

This may shock you but I am not an optimistic person by nature. It is my natural inclination to always be waiting for the other shoe to drop, for bad luck to strike, just for something to go wrong on a grand scale. I had a traumatic childhood with virtually no one who was supportive of anything I wanted to do except for the few friends that I had, the few people that didn’t bully me and make my life miserable at school too. So when I say I have come a long way in how I see things, on my shift in perspectives, I am not being melodramatic or overstating things. For a long time I had no reason to see anything good about my life, accept for my writing.

Writing saved me in so many ways. When I was six I knew that writing was what I wanted to do but I didn’t actually start writing (aside from the very short picture book that I wrote after my revelation that I was going to become a writer in which I gifted to my then best friend lol) until I was ten years old. I started writing poetry to cope with the abuse I suffered at home and all of the feelings of hopelessness that I felt but couldn’t tell anyone about. I wrote to escape and enter into a world that I wanted to be in and more often than not a world I wanted to stay in. I don’t see things as bleak as I once did and I have to say it is much better to see the brighter side of things than having that dreaded feeling that nothing will ever get better.

I’ve only recently, well within the last five years anyway, been able to shift my perspective and see that sometimes it’s not about my plans for my career and what I want my writing to do for others, but rather God’s plan. I like to keep the phrase in mind that when we plan, God laughs because it’s as if He’s up there saying “oh you think that’s how things are going to go but you don’t know what I’ve got planned for you.” This is why we have to trust the plan, and not our plans mind you, but His plans.

I just don’t know if, back when I was in a depression so deep that most days I didn’t know how I would climb out of it, or when I knew I had this dream and this passion for writing but I wasn’t really sure how to use it to help people, I don’t know that if God had given me the clear vision I have now, that I would’ve been able to do what He wanted me to do with it. Back then I didn’t see a brighter side to anything so I wouldn’t have known what to do with the purpose God was sowing into me.

God’s timing truly is perfect because I think without all of the abuse I experienced (physical, emotional, mental, and psychological) and all of the other experiences I had that went along with all of that, I wouldn’t be who I am, I wouldn’t have built up what was needed inside for me to go to the next levels that He is preparing for me ahead of time.

If we don’t show Him that we trust His vision for our lives and that we know that His plans are to better us and further enrich us, why would He then trust us with the ability to see His vision through? If you are in a phase of doubt when it comes to your dreams or whatever is going on in your life, sometimes you have to just let things be whatever they are going to be. Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up and literally let go and let God.

Until next time… #BeEncouraged #BeEmpowered #BeinFaith

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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Don’t Let Someone Else’s Disbelief In You Become Your Reality

June 14, 2021June 14, 2021 jcladyluv

There are so many people who have big dreams and visions for their lives and they never even try to accomplish them. They essentially give up before they even begin. What’s more surprising about that is that the reason they don’t try is not because they don’t have the passion to do so, but rather because someone else told them that they wouldn’t achieve it. I don’t have to imagine how someone can let someone else’s predictions for their lives become their reality because I was almost that person.

I had a mother who constantly told me that I would never accomplish anything that I dreamed of doing and who did her best to keep me down in terms of my goals and my vision and for a really long time I allowed her to keep me from trying at my full potential. Mind you, there was never a time that I wasn’t trying (because the calling to write was just too strong) but I know that I held back on the level of try that I had because I believed what she said about me.

There was a lot of things I had to go through and realizations that I had which made me come to terms with the toxic person that my mother is and made me understand that I just would never really have her support and that was okay because I knew what I was meant to do and what my dreams and goals are and only I am responsible for the level of tenacity I have.

Now what I really want others to realize and see for themselves is that they can’t let other people’s ideas of what your life is supposed to look like affect what you want your life to look like. Their perception of your aspirations is not your problem nor should it ever become your reality. If you are still struggling to figure out what your purpose and vision is for your life I encourage you to sit down with yourself and God, with some paper and pen and really think about what it is you want and then put a plan of action into place to go after it.

If you already know what you want but you are grappling with others opinions, stop! Their opinions don’t matter. God and you are the only two opinions that matter and in all honesty, truly it’s only God’s opinion and purpose He has for your life because sometimes what He has planned for us isn’t even what we planned for ourselves. Make your own path and don’t let the outside noise cloud your focus.

Until next time… #BeBold #BeFearless #BeEmpowered

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Laying the Groundwork

June 7, 2021 jcladyluv

So I’m about to have another birthday on Thursday and I’ll be turning 41 and thinking about really crossing further into the forties has me thinking about whether or not I’m satisfied with the direction that my life is going. I mean of course I had plans when I was younger of what my forty year old self would be doing in life and where I would be in my career and on the ladder of success.

However, when I was younger I was naïve to the reality of adulthood and what having all of those things that I want would take in terms of effort and sheer willpower after getting repeatedly knocked down and having to pry myself off the ground to get back up and keep pushing forward. Honestly if you had asked me when I was younger if I thought I had the tenacity and strength to have to keep pushing through all of the obstacles that have been thrown at me I would have said no, I can’t do it, I’m just not that strong. I’m glad to say that I would have been wrong because you never truly know how strong you are until you have to be.

So what have I learned in these 41 years of living? I suppose I would say the biggest thing that I’ve learned about myself, and that I continue to learn as I move forward in my career goals, is that I have never lost my passion for what it is I know I am supposed to do with my life. Even though I’m not sure how I knew writing was my purpose back when I was just six years old (at six I wouldn’t have known anything about the use of the word purpose lol) I have never wavered from that dream. Sure I thought I would be where I desired to be by now but again, that was the naiveté of a child dreaming that just assumed if you’re talented and wanted it bad enough it would happen easily.

I know a lot of people who think writing is nothing special and that it’s an easy thing to do. I often get those that think I don’t do anything at all because I’m “just a writer” they say and that’s “not that hard to do” which is infuriating because this is not a career for the feint of heart. I have literally dedicated my entire life to this craft and it is who I am, not just what I do. At 41 I’m not on any New York Time’s Bestsellers list (as I hoped I would be at this point) and frankly I am just now in the process of re-releasing my first novel and a couple of poetry books this year but I have put in years of article writing and blogging here on this blog, creating a newsletter first, and then magazine, to make sure that I do my part to highlight other authors to the best of my ability, and now I even have a YouTube channel in which I talk about my writing life and that is not nothing.

A couple of years ago, in the mindset I was in then, I would have been sulking and further depressed about where I wasn’t in my life, only focused on what I haven’t been able to accomplish. Today, because I have been working on my spiritual journey, my mindset has drastically shifted to where I don’t see it quite that way anymore. I see all that I have been able to accomplish as me laying the groundwork for all of the victorious things that I know are to come. I have been getting prepared for my dreams to come to fruition and I think I needed that preparation.

Just because things don’t happen on the timetable that we want them to, doesn’t mean they won’t happen. In fact it may be better for them not to happen when we want them because I find that oftentimes when we think we are ready for things, more than likely we aren’t ready at all. If you haven’t gotten to where you want in life just yet, don’t let that get you down. Just think of it as you laying the groundwork for all that is to come and keep pushing, keep working, and you will get there. God wouldn’t give you the vision and the dream if He hadn’t prepared a way for you to have it when He’s ready for you to.

Until next time #BePatient #BePersistent #BeReady

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

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Pushing the Boundaries

May 10, 2021 jcladyluv

So I did it! I did my first live stream this past weekend and I’m going to be honest, I did not hit it out of the park. I wasn’t necessarily planning to hit a home run here because if you know anything about me then you know I am terrified when it comes to doing something new, in particular something new that terrifies me in the first place. I’m never eager to fail at anything but I have been doing some growing these past few years, both spiritually and mentally, so I get that in order to succeed at anything there are going to be a few failures along the way because perfect is not a realistic goal. Could it have gone better? Yes! Do I regret doing it even though I feel I could’ve done much better? No! Just in the way that I felt terrified when I started my YouTube channel about being on camera to begin with but then gradually adapted to it and even liking it.

Sometimes doing things that we don’t necessarily want to do can end up being the best thing that we’ve ever done and if we just focused on the fact that it scares us then we would never much of anything. It’s scary to grow past the box that you have learned to maneuver yourself in. You get accustomed to things being just the way you like them and in a way that doesn’t require you to have to learn anything new or do something you’re not used to doing and in my case, someone who has extreme anxiety and OCD and a nearly paralyzing fear of change, it can feel pretty good to know what to expect out of every day. But then you never end up growing if it stays that way and to succeed in life with anything there has to be growth.

It’s something that I’m learning along this journey and something that definitely makes me feel uncomfortable. I suppose we all have two choices in the ladder of success. We can hold on to the rung that we’re on with the knowledge that as long as we hold on tight we won’t fall, we’ll stay right where we are. Or, we can have faith that if you just carefully move forward and grab one rung at a time, even knowing that there is a possibility of falling, that God will always be your safety net, thus remaining cautious yet still in motion.

We can’t hold on at the same level forever, not if we ever expect to get anywhere. Success lies in the ability to reach for the next rung of the ladder and having faith that you won’t fall and if you do that God will be there to catch you and get you back on track. We can’t live in our comfort zones forever, and I’m not sure we should really want to even if we could.

Until next time… #BeBold #BeCourageous #BeBrave

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Are You Heeding the Call?

March 22, 2021 jcladyluv

I do daily devotionals and have done a pretty good job of making a habit of reading my devotionals and my bible readings for quite some time now. It is a welcomed part of my spiritual journey and growth and something that I had convinced myself at one point in my life that I didn’t need to do. Yesterday after listening to a message from my Pastor about obeying God’s will I read in my devotional about answering the call that God has placed on our lives and obeying the voice of God and not the whispers of Fear.

It got me to thinking about how many times we dismiss the gifts that we inherit from God and how much time do we waste ignoring what we know we’re called to do and fighting that calling. More importantly it made me contemplate how many people’s lives do we miss the opportunity to touch and what that means because we didn’t act soon enough?

When I was younger and realized that writing was my passion and my gift I thought that it was mostly because it was the outlet I needed to release some of the emotional pain I had to deal with in my childhood. Not that I don’t write for the readers and to of course tell the stories living in my head but I felt very silenced as a kid and that was my way of using my voice. I’m not sure when it was exactly that I realized that my writing actually helped other people but at the moment that I did I shifted the way I thought about what I wanted my writing career to do.

I had one major goal prior to that realization and that was to make the New York Times Best Seller List. However that has shifted to how I can use my words and my writing to effect change in the world, or in people generally. Now, yes my writing is still and always about the stories I tell, but everything that I do within my writing career is about what it can do for others and how I can help others. With my YouTube channel, with my magazine, with my up coming podcast, with the products I’m creating to sell, it is about making other people understand that someone sees them.

I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I hadn’t realized early on what my calling was and if I had just ignored it. It wasn’t like I didn’t think of other career choices when I went to college and I do after all have a Master’s in Psychology and a Bachelor’s in Communications so it isn’t that there aren’t other avenues that I could have taken, certainly they would’ve provide more financial stability. But I knew what I was put on this earth to do and while I had to figure out exactly how my calling could make a difference in the world, I knew that I wasn’t going to give up on what I truly felt God put me on this earth for.

Have you realized what you were called to do? Have you been wasting too much time fighting that calling? Have you been listening too much to those whispers of fear? Don’t let fear stop you from doing what you were meant to do. You have a gift that can help change and improve this world. Don’t waste any more time ignoring it.

Until next time… #BeMindful #BeMotivated #BeFearless

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Have You Picked Up Your Broom Yet?

February 1, 2021 jcladyluv

One of my best friends made a Facebook Live video yesterday with a message from God that was on her spirit to share and it was an amazing word that we all need to hear and be reminded of. She spoke about (I’m paraphrasing) blessings and God bestowing many blessings upon us but that they may not always look like what we thought they would.

We tend to have these expectations of what we think God should bless us with (me included) and if they don’t look almost exactly like what we want we get the notion that God somehow has let us down and didn’t keep his word to us. But His word didn’t say that he would give us exactly what we asked for in the form in which we asked for it. He said he would bless us exceedingly and abundantly but he never gave us the exact method in which those blessings would be bestowed.

Sometimes He says yes to our prayers and He opens a door that we were waiting on to be opened. Sometimes He says no and He closes a door that we had been hesitant to close on our own (which is still a blessing, trust me). Then there are other times where He simply says WAIT, and He gives us a broom and tells us that we need to sweep our front porch and get our house in order first before he can open that door and heap the blessings he has stored up for us. It’s that waiting period of time that challenges us the most because it’s not a yes and it’s not a no either so you tend to think that you’re in limbo, this holding pattern so to speak, without any answers. But in actuality it is an answer and very much still a blessing.

See, God doesn’t have to give us that broom to sweep our front porch with. He doesn’t have to give us a chance to even get our lives together because let’s be honest, hasn’t He given us countless chances already. If God is giving you a broom and you’re in the waiting room recognize just how blessed you really are because he is giving you time.

He is telling you that He has something special for you and He wants you to have it but you need to be ready because He has a purpose for you. It’s a purpose that He’s not entrusting to anyone else but you. Don’t just let your broom sit in the corner and just let time go by while you keep wondering where your blessings are. Pick up that broom and get to sweeping because He’s waiting on YOU! Be thankful for the broom!

Until next time… #BePatient #BeWilling #BeReady

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Timing is Everything

January 25, 2021January 26, 2021 jcladyluv

As I watched Joseph R. Biden being sworn in last Wednesday as our 46th President I felt a sense of relief and calm come over me. I also felt a sense of hope as well. Not just hope for this country, and hope for the unification of the people of this world, but also hope in the timing that God has. I’ve learned over the last several years, the hard way might I add, that God has an incredible sense of humor when it comes to the development of our plans in life in relation to His ultimate purpose over our lives.

We don’t always understand when God closes a door that we were so sure we were prepared for but he always reveals his reasoning, eventually. Just think about our newly elected President, Joe Biden. This is his third time running for the office of President. In both of the first two times he never made it past the primaries and I don’t at all believe it was because he wasn’t prepared enough for the job, or that he wouldn’t have made an excellent President both of those times, but yet the office eluded him. He had been Vice President at least and had come to terms with the fact that being President wasn’t meant to be. But God clearly had other plans.

I don’t think that was by coincidence, but rather by sheer design. I think God knew there was going to be a more dire time in this country in which He was preparing Joe Biden for. I think given who he is, to his very core, his empathy, his knowledge, his preparedness he is the perfect President in the current circumstances this country is in.

Our timing is not always in line with God’s timing and I think if we always got everything we wanted, exactly when we wanted it, we might not be well positioned for the purpose God has for us at the time in which He needs us to be ready. He allows us to go through the obstacles and struggles we do, not because he wants us to suffer, but because he needs to build us up and provide us with the strength and fortitude we will need to endure the journey He has mapped out for us.

The next time you have a question about what God is bringing you through or why you’re not where you think you need to be yet just keep in mind what God may be preparing you for. Just make sure that you are ready when it is your time. God has a role for each and every one of us but we must be in position when called upon.

Until next time… #BeFearless #BeBrave #BeRelentless

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

The Image We Portray

January 11, 2021 jcladyluv

As I watched the events at the Capitol building unfold last week I not only felt a profound sadness but I also felt concerned about what other countries thought of America when they watched this chaos ensue. How have we been representing ourselves to other nations? I was reading my devotional today and one of the messages talked about being a good representative of God.

We are made in His image and everything we do reflects on Him. Countless times I’ve heard people say they don’t have faith in God and in what God can do in our lives and through our lives. I myself, had a period of time (well over a decade ago) where my faith was shaky and I had those same feelings but it wasn’t because I didn’t necessarily believe in God, it was more so because there were so many un-Christian like representations of Him that it made me questions things.

I of course no longer feel that way anymore because my main focus is on how I can be a good representation of God and how I can fulfill the purpose he has placed on me to achieve. I do still, however, worry about the images that we as a people, as a country, as Christians, are projecting into this world. I want everyone to see and to know how good God is and the miracles that can take place in your life when you represent Him well and dive into living out the purpose He has for us.

By us fulfilling our dreams and purpose in life we can become and remain a very good representative of who God is and of what He can do in our lives. I want people to not follow behind those who are not a good likeness of Him. Be mindful of the image that you are putting forth for the world to see because rest assured, people are watching and they are most certainly taking notice. Until next time… #BeMindful #BeDriven #BetheChange

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310