Live on Purpose!

As you begin to understand the true purpose for your life, being empowered will be an easy thing.  It will be easy because empowerment comes from understanding your passions and honoring your purpose. [AND] Passion breeds energy and ideas and when you are truly passionate about something, you will be an inspiring person to be around because your passion will be contagious and uplifting. 

So if you want to know “What Your Life is to Stand for?” ask yourself, “what do I truly care about?”  Is it justice, children, outreach programs, ministry, acting, spreading a message through song or writing…whatever it is pursue it as if your life depended on it, because in truth, your life does depend on it.

The choice is ours, we must choose “are we going to live fully or just exist?”

Others may not know or validate who God has called you to be, but you need to know, and you must learn to be your own best cheerleader. 

We must stop shutting ourselves down before we ever have a chance to get started.  Those dreams and desires would not have been placed in you if they were not possible to achieve.  We have to learn to silence the voice of defeat in our heads, especially when we know we have a calling.  The famous artist, Vincent van Gogh once said:

            “If you hear a voice within you saying ‘I am not a painter,’ then, by all means, paint…and that voice will be silenced.” 

Now you might not be a painter, so substitute painter for teacher, counselor, parent, singer or whatever you know is in you to do.  The point is ACTION is the only thing that will silence the voice because you’re doing what the ‘VOICE’ said could not be done. 

Do it horribly at first, if you have to, BUT DO IT!  This voice will always tell you how limited you are, how fearful and inadequate you are, but the VOICE is not and will never be you!  That’s why we become paralyzed in the name of “security or stability or the I CANT’S” but if we were ever inspired to do something new, even though it might be scary at first, we would get out of this cycle (this Groundhog day, where every day looks like the day before it.) 

Don’t let depression get a hold on you, it is nothing more than deep-seated passion in reverse trying to find its way out so it can express itself.  You’ve got something way down on the inside of you that will not let you rest until it can come out.

It’s time to let it out.  We need you!

It's Time to Be Who You Were Destined to Be!

This blog is designed to be a DESTINY DEPOT of sorts.  I will utilize this space to motivate and challenge us to go beneath the surface and move beyond the status quo of our existence, and become who we were destined to be. Please feel free to share your needs or any obstacles that seem to be impediments to reaching your destiny and I will endeavor to address it here or provide relevant links that will assist you on your journey towards destiny.  The world needs that special something that only you have to offer, and if there is an idea, resource, or word of encouragement that will facilitate your destiny being unlocked, let's uncover it because we need you! It’s Time! 

Let’s begin with what seems like a simple question… “WHO ARE YOU DESIGNED TO BE, REALLY?”

For those of you who are not completely sure yet, IT’S TIME to get some real clarity BECAUSE this is one of the most essential questions you will ever ask yourself AND your answer will either define your life or defy the very purpose of your life.

I used to think that it was my right to ask “what is the meaning of life?” or more simply put “what does life have to offer me? Who’s going to look out for me, encourage me, support me?...” but the older I get, the more I realize, that it is life that is asking me the question “TERIKKA, WHAT WILL YOUR LIFE MEAN?  Who will you look out for, who will you encourage and support?”   You see, life does not allow us to cry long or make excuses for why we CAN’T DO THIS OR WHY THE ODDS ARE AGAINST US TO DO THAT.  I am here to tell you that life will keep on moving with or without us, but it is designed to move with us. 

Before we can even deal with this question there are some things we must address…If you are going to choose to be someone who moves into your destiny, you must not allow the “negatives” of your past or where you came from to determine where you are going because you are not your past!!!

Our past, with all its pain and all its joys, will, in large part, shape us and make us who we are, BUT WE ARE NOT OUR PAST.

If we’re not careful, we can become paralyzed by the things that were said and done to us, concluding that, something must be internally wrong with us because there was abuse, mistreatment, or discouraging words about who we are or our audacity to dream and believe God for more.  

Let me say this, hurt will come and sometimes others will feel like it is their life’s duty to point out what’s wrong with us, because in their own special way “THEY'RE JUST TRYIN’ TO HELP YOU OUT!” but what we have to determine to do, if we truly want to find out how to stand, is to find out and celebrate what’s right with us.  We never become better or more powerful by focusing on our flaws.  You are a designer’s original, and in spite of (and because of) your flaws, your life was meant to make a difference.  

Every experience you have been through, beneficial and hurtful, now becomes the foundation that you will build on. Let me make it plain…I have come to the realization that many of us would not have the compassion that we have now, or feel for others like we do, if we had not gone through some of the things we have been through. 

The reason I have dedicated my life to helping people discover who they are and tell them over and over again how valuable and necessary they are, is because I know the pain of not knowing my value and what it feels like not to have real meaning.  It grieves me to see any of us living beneath our potential because I know we were put here for greatness.  Not to be great in the arenas other people feel like we should be great in but great in the areas we were CALLED to be great in.

It is my sincere belief that you don’t have to invent a life’s calling, it is already in you.  Just ask yourself “what experiences in my life have caused me to thrive and what experiences have caused me to whither and die?"  And if that’s not enough, examine your talents and those things you seem to be able to do without even thinking twice about it… IT IS ALREADY IN YOU!  Your destiny is not your decision, IT IS YOUR DISCOVERY.  

(This is Part 1 of the "State of Our Destiny Address", Part 2 Coming Soon.)

Please feel free to share what destiny topics/areas you would like to see addressed in future posts.  What hindrances are you facing as you endeavor to walk into your destiny?