Hope Filled Living

Choosing Hope and Cultivating an Inspired Life with Author, Mary Clewley

Inspired Living

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Inspired Living: Live the Life You’ve Imagined
February 14. 2011
I recently read a story of a couple that had always dreamed of visiting France. After many years of marriage, they finally got there together. On the way home from their vacation, their hearts ached. They had fallen in love with France, it’s people and culture… and their hearts and minds were now opened to a world of new opportunity. Instantly feeling a connection –they both understood why their hearts had been drawn there for so many years. The fantasy had become a reality and it was a good reality. Their hearts had finally come home.
Each of us have a story about a dream we carry with us throughout our lives. Too many of us neglect to act upon our dreams, but wait passively for a miracle to happen that might propel us knee-high into fulfillment of our dream.
I had a strange encounter the other day when a little boy decided to shovel the snow from the sidewalk in front of our office.  “Hi, I’m Brian”, he said to me. “Hi Brian. Thank you for shoveling the snow for us. It looks like you are doing a fine job.” His response startled me: “You know, I AM a Cancer survivor! 2 years now in remission.”
After my chance encounter with Brian, I reflected on how quickly life can fly by. Day in and day out we spend so much time trying to survive it that we never learn to understand what a gift it truly is…  the gift of time. I pray that this sweet-faced little boy gets to do all the things he dreams of in his lifetime. Somehow, I sensed that he had worlds of wisdom about how precious life is.
When we are young, we think we have so much time. We enter each day with the assumption that the dreams we dream will come to fruition but somehow our time runs out, our bodies grow tired and weak. Often we begin the busyness of adult life, starting a family, paying a mortgage and for many, fighting to be affirmed and recognized in a career and we begin to put our dreams on hold.
Life is full of change. We learn to adapt to change in order to survive. That being said, we carry with us the ability to change and adapt to new situations. I say live the live you’ve imagined! If your dream is big enough and real enough to you, re-invent yourself. Life is too short to settle for anything less than everything your heart desires.
The bible tells us, “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 particular passage goes on to say, “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
We have been given free will to make our own choices. Pray and seek Gods guidance for clarity of your vision. When you consecrate your hopes and dreams to God, doors and windows of opportunity to help you fulfill your dreams will suddenly open to you. If you are silent you will hear a still, small voice guiding and directing you, giving wings to your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined. Don’t waste precious days doing less, being less, expecting less and burying your hopes and dreams beneath the “stuff” of life! LIVE IT!  If you dream it, you can achieve it. Reinvent yourself and change your reality.
  •  Find a quiet place to sit and reflect upon the vision you have for your life.
  • Make a list…what’s important to you? Name 3 things.
  • Get a plan…write out the steps you will need to take to get moving in the right direction.
  • Accomplish one small piece of the puzzle each day or each week.
  • Make it visible–put your plan where you can see it and be reminded of it…make visuals of your plan…
  • Keep believing.
  • Be consistent. In your talk. In your planning.
  • Be true to yourself.
  • Praise God in advance, for giving you the tools that you need to live your life with passion.
  • When you get off track and have not worked the plan for several days or weeks, just get back on board. Balance is something we all must work at consistently. If your dream means enough in the scope of your life, you will find yourself always coming back to it. The days are going to pass anyway, so why not spend them doing something that rewards our heart?
  • Don’t give up.
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative (and creation). There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:  That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Have the Courage to Tell Your Story

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Each of us have a story, and it is our unique thumbprint on the world. To live a truly courageous and inspired life, we must be vulnerable enough to tell our story – the one with wrinkled pages and grammatical errors. It takes courage to be honest and share with others from the deepest places in our heart. When we are willing to tell our story, it is as if we are lifting our open arms up to God, saying, “use me, expose my inner soul hurts and give me the tenderness to reach out to others who are hurting.”

Sharing your story is not about giving people a play-by-play account of all of your worst experiences. Rather, it is more like using those experiences to relate with a compassionate understanding to others who may be going through something similar. When we experience pain, adversity or suffering, we grow. Seasons of growth are often met with fear, anger and sadness, and yet, we come to know God deepest in our brokenness. There is healing for both the story- teller and the listener when we share.
Not everyone is going to benefit from the hearing of your experience. There will be people who do not want to hear what you have learned through suffering. Some people are uncomfortable with anything that touches them on an emotional level because it may require them to face their own truths. Perhaps they are not ready. If you are willing to share, make sure you have the right audience.
Woven into the tapestry of our lives are little nuggets of wisdom from every corner, twisting and twirling around us – shaping us, uniting us with our purpose. Jesus was a mover and a shaker. He stirred things up wherever he went, because his teachings were unlike anything people had ever heard. He taught about breaking the shackles of religious law and old tradition and that man should instead, be focused on heart work and relationships.
As a young outreach pastor, I often faced grumbling in the Church for being unconventional. When I invited a group of homeless people one Sunday, I was scolded, “Church should be a safe place for Churched people!” But there was something in my own unique tapestry of life experience that birthed in me a compassionate understanding for “the least of these“. Somewhere, my story intersected on an emotional level with the stories of the despised, unwanted, marginalized. Perhaps it was the experience of being a female pastor in a traditionally male-dominated career and the suffering and isolation it caused me to experience.
 
When we open ourselves up to be used by God, through the vulnerability of saying, “Yes, God“, His hand will pick us up out of our comfort zone and place us in unfamiliar territory. Jesus was a traveler. He went about his way, walking, talking and preaching. In the end, He has been telling his story through man for over 2000 years.
Those who do mighty works for the Kingdom are those who have laid down fear and stepped courageously into their calling. They are willing to risk being judged, scorned, laughed at, gossiped about and betrayed to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We cannot grow spiritually with one foot behind us, rooted in our comfort zone. “Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62
When we are in the midst of living to share out of compassionate understanding, there will always be naysayers – people who want to hold us back, oppress us and keep us from fulfilling our own true course. Jesus said, ” If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.” Matthew 10:14
Courage means having the wherewithal to do something that you know can be dangerous or difficult. When we muster the courage to tell our story, growth comes from seeing the way the sharing can calm the restlessness, fears, anguish, sadness and isolation of others. As you open yourself to this new experience, you will gain profound insight and nuggets of truth and wisdom about yourself.
 
 Embrace the Truth.
Be Courageous Enough To Tell It.
Find Your Wings.
Don’t Be Afraid To Fly.
Don’t Look Back.

You Are Enough

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For all of you ladies out there who constantly feel like you don’t measure up…

All girls are princesses

You Are Enough

For times you feel as if you are not enough….
You are enough.
For the times you compare yourself to others…
You are enough.
For the people who have tried to tell you that you aren’t smart enough, pretty enough, thin enough….
You are and have always been enough.
For the negative things you think about yourself…
You are enough.
For the many times you have tried but failed…
You are enough.
When people mock and ridicule you, when you have been betrayed, when someone has broken your heart, when you have
lost your job, your home, your marriage, relationships, things…
Still, you are enough.

In the book of Romans, Paul says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”Romans 12:2

If we look at this passage from the perspective of our self-image, it tells us that one of the keys to recognizing our own unique beauty is not in the transformation of our body but in the “renewal” or transformation of our mind, our thought life. What thoughts do you think toward yourself? What messages about yourself do you play again and again, like a broken record? Thankfully, God is willing to partner with us in transformation through prayer. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and transformation is a process which requires daily renewal by bringing “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

As women, we must make a daily decision to choose to see ourselves in the light of Christ, to see ourselves as Christ sees us, setting aside what the world says about how we look or should look or feel. We must keep our eyes on the goal, focusing on those things that will keep our body and mind strong, choosing first and foremost to concentrate on the work of our heart and the light of Christ that shines through us as we grow deeper in knowledge and understanding of the One who calls us beautiful. Transformation of the mind is an integral part of this process as what we think and believe about God, others and ourselves will determine our actions.

When you are plagued with insecurity and ugly thoughts about yourself, remember that there is a God who calls you beautiful, and his love will shine through you, creating an inward beauty which manifests itself outwardly, drawing people to yourself. Inner beauty gives us a healthy glow, unlike anything we can buy in a bottle. Well, you ask…how do I acquire this beautiful glow? By seeking him daily and casting all your cares and burdens upon him, asking God for your daily sustenance. As we are changed (transformed) on the inside, we begin to see ourselves and others differently from the outside and people around you will begin to notice the gentle radiance of your Spirit.

“Dear Lord, I release my thought life to you today. Please transform me into your likeness, allowing me to see in myself the beauty which you see in me. Help me recognize that the more I work on my Spirit, the closer I grow in relationship with you, the more I will shine outwardly. Lord, help me to meditate today on things of the heart rather than the externally focused ideals of the world. Thank you Lord for calling me beautiful. Thank you for calling me by name. Thank you that I can and will see myself through your eyes today and because of this, I will be more open to giving and receiving love. Because you tell me so, I will believe in my heart…that I am enough.”

Let the TRUTH embrace you today–and bring you comfort, sweet one.

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