Life, Faith &Love™

We live in times where social media deems having money, success and fame equates to happiness. The purpose of this blog is not to deem money as a bad thing nor to portray money as evil. The purpose of this blog is search for the deeper meaning of happiness. Material possessions can not give us peace of mind. Material possessions can provide temporal joy, but not permanent joy. If you don't believe me, read below for quoted statements from celebrities (who have A LOT of money, fame and success) and their stand point on money and happiness. -Cardi B:  Interviewer: " You had put an Instagram video where you had an iced out Patek Philippe watch and you seemed like the happiest person in that moment."  Cardi: "It wasn't like... I was happy like, who don't be happy when they get new stuff? But the thing is, I was happy cuz a lot of people stay trying to play me. I was happy cuz, yeah I talk about ssshhmonneyy, like I love ssshhmmoney, but I don't show

First off, I want to start this blog by saying no matter what season you walk through in life, you are never alone. It might feel like you are, but you're not. If you believe in God, such as I do, He will never leave you nor forsake you. No matter how deep the valley or how high the mountain, He will never leave you. My purpose for this blog is to provide 3 practical tips on how to walk through seasons where you might feel isolated. 1. Find the Root Cause of Isolation Before anything can be fixed or before any healing can begin the root cause must be known. For example when pharmacies run into problems or medication errors they use root cause analysis or fish bone diagrams to identify the root of the problem. Once the root is identified, then we can take steps to fixing the problem. Ask yourself, "Why do I feel alone? What led/contributed to this feeling of isolation?" Maybe you recently ended a close friendship, someone close to you passed away, or you recently exp

This morning when I was processing offense, that quote came to me. I've come to realize that lately I've been taking offense to LITTLE things. My quote can be taken in many ways, but my purpose was to reveal how God can use conflict/offense to reveal the state of our hearts. In the quote I refer to God as the Reference. The google definition of reference is the use of a source of information in order to ascertain something.   God is the ultimate source of all references, He is the God of ALL truth. In the mist of conflict when I find myself getting offended, I've learned to pause and ask myself if this conflict/offense is intentional to reveal the state of my heart. Before we are quick to point the finger on others, let us first look within.We can't control others, but we can control ourselves.

So I love avocados. I can eat avocados for breakfast, a snack, lunch and even incorporate avocados in my dinner. I love avocados so much that sometimes I get inpatient for them to get ripe. The other day I grabbed an avocado from the kitchen. I knew the avocado was still hard, but I wanted it so bad that I started to cut into it. As I was trying to clean and cut the avocado, I was struggling to peel off the skin because it was not ripe yet. I forced the avocado peel off and lied to myself that I was enjoying the unripe avocado. If I would have waited a couple more days, that avocado would have been ripe, not as difficult to clean and perfect for me to eat. I feel like sometimes in life we want certain things so bad, that we are willing to force it, even when we know it's not the right time. If we learn to be a bit more patient for what we want there will be an ease that will come when it's the right season.  In this blog I will provide 3 tips on how to be patient and

Guest Blogger/Writer Margaret Olat: A few years after I graduated from college, I was faced with the enormous responsibility of having to actually act like an adult. I could no longer sleep in till 12:30 pm and survive on ramen noodles. I had to wake up early to be at my internship by 8am, attend weekly worship rehearsals at church, and continue to nurture the audience I was building online. This became really overwhelming at one point as I was starting to feel uninspired at work and at church. I knew something had to happen because I wasn’t about to give up blogging for work. Neither did I want to give up my weekly rehearsals for being bright and sunny at work.   So, I discovered the structure to getting all these done while actually saving more time in the process. But before I share it with you, I have to warn you; this isn’t perfect. But it works because I continually have to assess how effective the system is. This is for you if you nurse the ambition to follow your

If you're like me, you might be surrounded by engagements and weddings. Seriously you guys everyone around me is getting married. My sister got married this summer, many of my classmates have gotten married and close friends are getting engaged. It's so easy to get sucked into the marriage bandwagon and try to rush something when it is NOT the right time. You might have clicked on this blog post thinking I was going to tell you how to find your Boaz or your Naomi aka "the ONE". Unfortunately ya'll, I'm not married yet and I'm still waiting on God for that. In this blog post I want to focus on you. You may have created your 50 count list of things you want in your future spouse. I have one question for you though, of that list of 50, how many of those character traits do you have? In this blog post, I will provide 3 tips on how to prepare yourself for the ring.  1. L.O.V.E. Yourself Love is a word that is commonly used, but very few really know t

                                                                              The three syllable word contentment is a very simple word to say, but is not always the easiest word to live by. We live in a day and age where social media permits us to observe the lives of others and compare our life to others. There are about 2.3 million weddings a year, roughly 4 million babies born in the USA each year, and approximately 126 million people were employed in the year 2017. Weddings, babies and employment are all great things that bring joy, but what if you find yourself on the opposite side of the equation. What if this is not your year to be married, have babies or get that new job? Will you decide to dwell in comparison or envy because you can not control life course or will you choose contentment and trust that your time will come. In this blog I will be sharing 3 practical steps to help in the process of choosing contentment. 1.) Eliminate The Triggers That Cause You To Compa

Have you ever felt like you were in a storm? You try to ride through the waves, but as you pass one wave, the waves only get bigger and bigger? Life comes with seasons that feel like all odds are against us. You feel like you are trying everything, but nothing is going your way. The focus of this blog post is to address what to do when life brings storms. How do we overcome the stormy waves of life? I will provide 3 steps to help you triumph over the storms that life brings. 1. Surround Yourself with Others I wrote a blog about the necessity of having people in our lives. We were not made to go through life a lone. No one is an island. Like that blog, I re-iterate that we need community to flourish in life. Frequently in life we are our own biggest enemy. We tend to pick at ourselves and dwell on the things that make us feel insecure. I have a sister, who is always picking at her thighs and stomach. When she sees herself, she sees thickness. When I see her, I see a 5 feet 9-i

It's about that time of the year when Twitter, Instagram and Facebook is blowing with, "New Year, New Me" posts. If only if we were Cinderella and had a fairy godmother to magically transform us before the clock strikes midnight. Let's be real, most of us will still be the same from 11:59pm to 12:00am. We don't magically change overnight, it's a continual progress. My intentions for this blog is not to discourage you, but to help you change your perspective on New Year Resolutions. Studies show that only 8% out of 45% of new year resolutions are successful. That means that 37% of resolutions are unsuccessful. Most of these resolutions are unsuccessful because they are vague, not well planned out and are extremely difficult. I am included in the 37% that has experienced an unsuccessful New Year's Resolution. Although I may have experienced an unsuccessful resolution, I have successfully experienced a lifestyle solution. Lifestyle solution is a synonym