Mind Makeover

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“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you”

— John 15:18

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My Dearest MacKynzie,

The problem is that we are losing the desire to think for ourselves. We are getting our information from the wrong places, bombarded daily with thousands of commercials geared toward making us feel and think a certain way. Today, there is information everywhere.. television, social media, news, radio, youtube and billboards. Millions of dollars in research thrown in our faces casually like cancer slowly taking over our minds and bodies. We need to stop to ask ourselves questions and intentionally create a fruitful mindset.  Fruitful? You see, fruit at it’s best is sweet and beautiful. It contains all varieties flavors and colors with different ingredients for nourishing life. As children, we naturally have fruitful minds, we see beauty in the simplest things. We notice rainbows, birds and flowers. As we get older, our minds get damaged by experiences and negative people. Our fruitful minds get dropped and bruised over and over again until they become rotten and smelly. Unlike fruit, the great news is that you can choose to reverse the damage. Like anything else worth having (a great marriage, healthy body, good job), having a fruitful mind is not easy and requires work. A lot of us don’t make the decision to control our thoughts and actions. We don’t take the time and energy to radiate positivity no matter how dark the situation. We consume the gossip and blindly give in to the advertising, just because everyone else is doing it. It’t time for a mind makeover.

‘If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.’ My first thought while reading this passage is the saying ‘misery loves company’. The negative people in this world will love you for being negative with them. They will hate you ‘because you are not of the world’, not living with them in constant fear, anger and hatred toward worldly things.

My loving advice to you. Why worry so much about the things that you can not control? Stop worrying and start meditating and praying. You, my lovely lady, have such a beautiful and fruitful mind. You notice the rainbows, birds and flowers. You love others and you breathe life into everyone around you (except your brother lol). Do not worry if the world hates you, your mind does not need to belong to the world. You do not need to be the company of misery. You have been chosen to lead a gloreous life. 

My love to you and my prayer for an amazing life!  Live to inspire <3 to create!

The purpose of sharing this letter is to inspire you. Please ‘like’ if you found this article useful and please ‘share’ if you want to help inspire others. You never know who is watching ;)

Learn to Receive

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“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

— Matthew 6:3-4

“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

— Acts 20:35

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My Dearest MacKynzie,

I am writing this letter to you today because this is something I want to work on in my own life. I always gladly give time, money, complements and support. I give to my kids, husband, friends, church and strangers. But when someone tries to give to me I feel awkward and ashamed. There are two bible verses above. As I was thinking about this lesson and digging deeper into my own struggle to receive without guilt, I picked up my bible and read. I saw verse after verse about giving: 
‘But when you give to the needy’
'It is more blessed to give than to receive’
'Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered’

Receiving is uncomfortable and vulnerable. Of corse I like getting gifts and complements but how can I get better at receiving without feeling awkward and guilty? Sometimes it’s crazy how God works. You know how your attention is on something and all of a sudden you see it everywhere? My husband and I were looking to buy a jeep. The second we got the money I was seeing Jeeps for sale of all shapes, sizes and colors on the corner of every block. How did these all magically appear, I had never noticed them before. While I was thinking about this topic (receiving.. not jeeps lol) I turned on a podcast. One of my favorites is The Business Boutique. Christy Wright was talking about her struggle with receiving. I thought about a book I recently read called ’The Go Giver’. It talks about the five laws of stratospheric success.. guess what the last law is? The Law of Receptivity - The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.  I thought about my own giving and how amazing it is to give to someone that receives gratefully. No one likes to give to someone that does not receive with joy. Then I thought about others. I bet many others feel the same way I do. How can they feel the joy and get the benefits of giving without someone there to receive the gift? I realized that it’s a circle. In order to get the full benefits of giving, I must also learn to receive. Receiving isn’t only a blessing to you, it’s a blessing to the giver as well. It is a full circle of blessing... 2 for 1. Think about ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’. Receiving isn’t about me at all, it is about the giver. 

My loving advice to you. Do not feel guilty completing the circle. Celebrate the gift (complement or time) that has been given to you. By accepting the gift gratefully and without guilt, you are able to glorify the blessing that you’ve also given to them. 

My love to you and my prayer for an amazing life!  Live to inspire <3 to create!

The purpose of sharing this letter is to inspire you. Please ‘like’ if you found this article useful and please ‘share’ if you want to help inspire others. You never know who is watching ;)

Find Your Passion

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“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts in his exhortation; the one who contributes in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. ”

— Romans 12:6-8

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My Dearest MacKynzie,

There is a saying ‘when you enjoy what you do, you will never work a day in your life’. I can tell you from experience that this is such a true statement. If we dig deep, we all have things that we are passionate about… I have about 104 lol. Do you love to help people transform their lives through fitness? Do you have a heart for animals that suffer? Do you want to help improve our country through politics? Are you worried about our planet? Would you like to feed the hungry? Start by finding something that sparks a flame in your heart and work towards developing a career around that passion. I don’t care if you read this when you are 84, It is never too late to start doing something that you are deeply passionate about. As you learn and grow your passion will mold into something else along the way. The amazing thing is that you can develop products and services that can service one passion while fueling another. Bombas Socks is a company I recently saw that is a great example. They create socks... so what, not exactly a reason to wake up in the morning excited about working. The twist is that they’ve made socks a part of their mission. They create a high quality sock and donate socks to the homeless. They are doing something every day that makes a difference in the lives of others. Talk about having a reason to wake up in the morning! There are many major companies that are able to provide a great service while fueling a passion. If you want to help people solve their problems by being a counselor and you provide a great service, you may make enough money to volunteer some hours or donate to a charity that you love. Knowing that everyday when you wake up, you are doing something to make the world better will have a huge impact on your outlook on working. Nothing is exciting or fulfilling about going to a job where you are counting the minutes to 5:00. That is no way to live life. 

My loving advice to you. Don’t be afraid to take some risks to find something you can be passionate about… your purpose in life. Especially while you are young, explore, be spontaneous and try new things. Take time to stop and reevaluate what you are doing and why you are doing it. Shoot for the moon my little lady. It may look impossible now but you will never hit it while staring at your toes. Fear is something that keeps us from living our purpose in life but fear is all in your head. It’s ok to be scared but don’t be frozen by it. 

My love to you and my prayer for an amazing life!  Live to inspire <3 to create!

The purpose of sharing this letter is to inspire you. Please ‘like’ if you found this article useful and please ‘share’ if you want to help inspire others. You never know who is watching ;)

Let Good Words Lead Your Life

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“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

— Ephesians 4:29

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My Dearest MacKynzie,

I struggle with this everyday. It is so easy to indulge in the drama and negativity that surrounds us on social media, in social gatherings and on the news. Sometimes the negativity thrives because people encourage it, consume it and spread it. Politics, jealousy covered with nasty words, making fun of people that are different than us, and family drama. We all know at least one person that makes us want to fall asleep in a coffin after having a conversation with them...everything is a tragedy and the world is out to get them. If you don't know someone like that, then that person might be you. 

This may sound too easy, best way to keep the negativity out of your life is to watch what comes out of your mouth. It is not possible to be a content person with an unwholesome tongue. If you are having a rough time in life and everything seems to be going wrong, pay attention to what has been coming out of your mouth... what story you've been telling. 

We all go through challenging times in life. What you look and feel like when you come out of the other side has a lot to do with the words that were leading you through. If you are in a tunnel yelling at the top of your lungs about how dark and long and smelly the tunnel is then all you will see is a dark, long, smelly tunnel. Your perspective and attitude will be much different if you CHOOSE to focus on the beautiful flowers growing through the rocks while singing a happy song and listening to the beautiful echo. 

Almost everyone in this country has the potential to live a good, happy and healthy life. We all have unique abilities and talents. It is our responsibility to discover them and use them to make the world better. You will be much more fulfilled by finding the good in others and using your words to build them up... even if you feel like they don't deserve it. Building others up is not only about them, it is about you and your quest to be more like Jesus (WWJD). More of the passage from Ephesians says 'Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.'

Even if you are not a Christian, this message is for you. Not only is indulging in negativity effecting others, it is effecting our own dreams, passions and talents. It is effecting our lives by making us sick, depressed, angry and ungrateful. 

My loving advice to you. If you want to live a fulfilled life full of joy and gratitude, your first step is to watch what comes into your thoughts and out of your mouth. Use your words to build others up instead of tear them down. Walk away when negative talk surrounds you. Stick up for those that can not stick up for themselves, with positive encouragement and thoughtful actions. Express gratefulness for the wonderful things you have in your life, instead of longing for things that you don't. You will not be perfect, this advice is challenging. We are human. Follow your heart and be intentional about what and who you let into your life. Together we can make a small impact. 

My love to you and my prayer for an amazing life!  Live to inspire <3 to create!

The purpose of sharing this letter is to inspire you. Please ‘like’ if you found this article useful and please ‘share’ if you want to help inspire others. You never know who is watching ;)

Bless Others

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“Whoever brings blessing will be enriched and one who waters will himself be watered.”

— Proverbs 11:25

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My Dearest MacKynzie,
I can confidently tell you from experience that this is one of the most powerful messages I can leave with you. Your daddy and I have always been generous but it wasn’t until recently that I realized how rewarding blessing others can be. Compared to many families in our country, we would not be considered rich. About two years ago we decided to be very intentional about how we spend our money and our time. We started tithing to our church and put ourselves in a position where we can help others when we feel it is appropriate. Some would consider our lifestyle as sacrificing many ‘things’. ‘Things’ that our culture and commercials and friends tell us that we need to have in order to be happy. But sacrifice is not a word that I would use because I do not feel like any of these ‘things’ truly bring happiness. Yes, there are some ‘things’ that we would like in order to make life easier like a dependable car and a house in a good neighborhood. We want to be able to travel and have money to retire but my message to you is that you can do both. In the past, blessing others felt like such a stressful thing to do because when we gave, we did have to sacrifice. Giving meant that we would have less for groceries or that we wouldn’t be able to pay our own light bill. These last two years we have been able to experience giving and blessing others from a whole different perspective. Since we are being intentional about where we spend our time and money, we get to make a choice instead of a sacrifice. What do I mean by this? When you sit down at the beginning of the month and create a plan for your money and your time it becomes a whole different ballgame. So many people don’t have a plan and just spend aimlessly. They want to eat out so they go, they want a new car so they go into debt, they want to buy clothes and purses and shoes but they are not intentional about how they do it and they freak out at the end of the month because there is no money left for gas. This is not a good way to live your life and this does not put you in a position to bless others. My Pastor Mike told us a great story about the time I started being intentional. He talked about someone that he knew that went out and bought a bunch of polo shirts because they were on sale. A couple of days later someone came into his life that he really wanted to help but he couldn’t because he was wearing his blessing. When you are spending time and money on one thing, it takes away the opportunity to spend it somewhere else. We realized that some fancy clothes, shoes, nails, hairdos and ‘things’ that are important to others were not as important to us because those ’things' that we will not appreciate a week from now will soon be laying in a dumpster with nothing to show. Some of these ‘things’ that we do not really need in our lives were taking away the opportunity to save for our future.. our kids future.. or bless others. 

My loving advice to you. Be intentional about where you spend your time and money. Do not buy useless things to make you happy. Dave Ramsey says that happiness is like a bully in the schoolyard. He draws a line in the sand and once you step over he backs up and draws another line. That is what things will do for you in your life. You think this one thing will make you happy so you purchase it and two weeks later you want more. I chose the verse from Proverbs ‘Whoever brings blessing will be enriched and one who waters will himself be watered’ because I believe this is so true. The Kacie interpretation of this is if you bless others you will be enriched (which according to dictionary.com means to supply with abundance of anything desirable). What a great word. By blessing others, you in turn are blessed. If you water yourself, you will be watered. To me that means that what you buy becomes just that... if you buy shoes, you have shoes.. there is nothing spectacular or rewarding about that.

It is ok to reward yourself with nice things, but don’t expect those things to bring you happiness. In the long term, putting yourself in the position to bless others (big or small) is what will bring true happiness. Give it a shot and tell me if I’m wrong.  

My love to you and my prayer for an amazing life!  Live to inspire <3 to create!

The purpose of sharing this letter is to inspire you. Please ‘like’ if you found this article useful and please ‘share’ if you want to help inspire others. You never know who is watching ;)