#KingdomWoman... On A Mission

I love this quote! 

I don’t have to have it all together to be a Kingdom  Woman.  I just have to be willing to bring all I am and who I am to [God] and let Him do His thing. ~Chrystal Evans Hurst

Isn't it a relief to know we don't have to worry about being perfect for God? Isn't it great to know that all God wants us to do is be willing vessels for Him to pour in and out of us?

I was wondering what I would write about today before I saw this quote. A few weeks ago, as I began this Kingdom Woman journey, I told my husband I want to be better in four areas of my life. I'm a Kingdom Woman on a mission to be available to be used by God more than ever but I felt I needed to get things... "right" across the board.

1. Spiritually. The saying goes, 'practice what you preach'. My prayer has been and is, Lord, help me to be genuine today and from this day forward. Let your light shine within and without wherever I go. Let my speech and actions be a consistent and true reflection of who You are at all times in my home life, with my family and friends, in our business, and in our community. Forgive me for the times I've not honored You with my speech, actions, and my innermost thoughts. I want to be more like You and I need more of You each day to grow. Thank You as always for Your grace and Your mercy and Your loving kindness and faithfulness to me even when I didn't deserve it. You are an awesome God and I praise Your Holy Name! Amen.

2. Emotionally. I won't go into great detail...yet but there are some deep rooted issues that I've never sought professional help for in my life. With the encouragement and support of my husband and family, I'm going to start dealing with those things so I can find inner peace and release some strongholds that are hindering me in this area.

3. Physically. When I started dating my husband, I was a nice size 5-6. I was confident in my appearance, how my clothes fit, my hair, skin, nails, everything! Not to brag, but I looked good! Even though I had a tight budget, I made sure to take care of myself on a regular basis. Now that I'm married, I seem to go over and above to take care of everyone but myself! Although I've still managed to take care of myself, it's not to the extent I did before. As a matter of fact, I've gained more weight than I care to share. I don't blame my husband or blame the fact that I got married. It's all about self-control...and I lost it. Being aware that something needs to be done and I need someone besides myself to get it done, I stopped in to see one of my 'kids' a few weeks ago. She's the owner of Beyond Physical Fitness. We briefly discussed plans to get my body in shape... from the inside out. I will begin when my youngest goes back to school - this week! Another thing I found out just this past Sunday is that my cholesterol is way too high so I definitely need to get started with the right diet in addition to exercise.

4. Financially. The big F... I met a wonderful lady at a women's business conference a few weeks ago and I fell completely in love with her spirit. She "read" me and I felt comfortable enough to share with her some of my financial struggles. In addition to her, God brought two other wonderful Christian women into my life this year who are genuine, smart, encouraging, supportive and I love them so very much for their authenticity. It is a relief to be able to be real and transparent and not be judged! They say if you aspire to be better, do better, including removing junk and negative influences from your life and replacing them with positive ones. In this area, I believe the Lord stepped in and took charge where I was too weak to do it myself. He took the wool off my eyes and showed me the reality of "friends" I thought were looking out for my well-being as I was looking out for theirs. When I stepped up, they stepped back, accusing me of not honoring MY commitment so they went on their way, bitter and unwilling to accept their part in the dissolution of the relationship. It hurt for a minute, but I know it is only through the Lord and the positive influences He's placed in my life that has shown me where I was being drained, used, and abused by certain people and certain groups. They were happy to take from me, but when the time came for them to return the favor, they were unwilling to give, and this has increasingly hurt me, my family, and our business, financially. Now, is the time to step into our financial breakthrough and allow the Lord to guide us in our stewardship across the board so that we don't suffer in this area any longer. 

I'm proud of myself for taking these steps to better myself. However, it's nice to not be under any pressure because The Lord can and will use me me no matter what! He's given me the principles to live by and godly, positive influences to model how they can be applicable to my life now. I'm ready for God to have His way!

So grateful for this Kingdom Woman journey!

Blessed to celebrate the 40th birthday of my business mentor, Shyra Smith.
She is one of the best, if not THE best, Christian Business Women I know!