God is like GPS

dad driving

God is like GPS. He ain't gonna show you all the steps at once, he'll take you one step by one step until you get to the desired point. You know where you are and He knows where you are going. so don't get frustrated with not knowing all the steps. Funny thing about the unknown is, there's also another name for it, trust. 

And remember, even GPS systems show grace when you make the wrong turn. What makes you think God won't show you even more grace and help you get back on your way when you fall off course - no matter how far you've gone. 

Bear with me.

Adulting is hard. I don't think there is ever a time in your adult life when you can say I finally have it all figured out and from now on I'll be good. Adulting is constant mix of coming to the end of yourself and leaning into God's graceful understanding a whole lot more. Although it only took me, ohhhh six years to figure that out, it's a process I wouldn't change for anything. However, as I venture along in this "process" please be patient with me. I know I have not posted anything new in the last few months but I assure you, you all are always on my mind. Bear with me. I'll be around shortly.

Dear thighs,

dear-thighs- Dear thighs,

I don't think I thank you guys enough. For one reason or the other I always seem to be so preoccupied in pointing out your flaws, the shape of the skin that falls around your muscle, how the left is bigger than the right, or how both are bigger than all the girls ( I selectively notice) around me. However day in and day out you lift me up without fail. Every day since the one I was born you have been my go-getters, fearless adventurers, my own magic carpet ride from point A to point B. Without so much as a questionable doubt it has been you all along. I may have had some pretty harsh expectations for you but you have met and exceeded every necessary task I have ever thrown your way. Nature or not, nurture or not, you two are pretty bad-A and for literally carrying me through the last 23 years without cease, I salute. I thank you. I love you. Here's to the next 23+ years and wherever you guys and life decide to take me.

 

Here is to the here and not yet.

tumblr_ly4v3z7oFd1qejys5o1_500 There's a peace in letting go of certain things when you realize they were never yours to own in the first place.

There's a peace in letting go of certain things when you realize they were never yours to own in the first place because God has something in store for you.

There's a peace in letting go of certain things when you realize they were never yours to own in the first place because God has something in store for you and it's far better than you initially dreamed.

Let go, the future is waiting for you to embrace it.

Love, LaToya: Messy Messes

Here is a guest post from my friend and mentor, LaToya Seawood. This piece is called Messy Messes.

Happy readings!

love-latoya
love-latoya

As I child, I only ever remember cleaning my own room. Mom started us young doing things around the house. However, I am sure there was a time when she did clean it. Now, here I am years later with two young boys (ages 1 and 4)  and I am cleaning their room. It's taken me a while before I realized that the mess doesn't go away by itself. Instead, it multiplies... and smells. And of the 4 of us in our family, I am the one currently responsible. The mess, however, is overwhelming! Where in the world am I supposed to start? I chose to start with the easy most obvious stuff, working my way up to the bigger stuff, the organizing, digging under furniture, dusting and vacuuming. It turned out to be a great activity. I cleaned up a few bio hazardous messes that were hiding, found lost items and set things right.

Cleaning is actually a great way to let your mind wander... I began to think about why I had let it get this bad. I also couldn't help but think about the connection between cleaning a messy room in my house and cleaning a messy room in my heart. We all know the mess is there but it can be so overwhelming to the point that it's easier to shut the door. No harm, right? However, let time pass and we start smelling, or someone gets hurt stepping on a lego in the middle of the night (figuratively speaking). So, where to start? There have been messes in my life so big that I can't begin to clean them up. I tend to approach it in the same way as my son's room, I take care of the most obvious things first. Then you run into the bio hazard and if I hadn't already, I start to pray. "Lord, what IS this? Where did it come from? Why is it STILL here? "The more you clean in this messy room the more you see. It is overwhelming. You do cry. But those who know who Christ is, also know His promises that when we give our burdens, our cares, our "WTFs" to the Lord, He will take care of us and He will not allow us to slip and fall (Psalms 55:22). I have learned that as hard as it is, I WON'T DIE from the cleaning process. But I could die if I let this mess, this sin, fester in my heart. I mean, it's only a matter of time before the dirty diaper stuck behind the dresser turns lethal, right? This is where I bring in the best Cleaner I know. Jesus knows where to start, where the hazards are and how to clean them.

Once the cleaning is done, it's time to figure out how to keep clean. The truth is, there is no easy way. And there is no real checklist. It takes commitment. I am going to have to stay committed to picking up the chaos everyday in order to prevent the bio hazards. Check in everyday. Put things in order. Pick up the items off the floor. Vacuum... I'm not talking about or looking for perfection. I'm looking for clarification. It can be done. I have seen it. I can do it. Eventually it will be my son's turn, and I will be the one to show him how.

 Love, LaToya

The Free Woman: Honestly, You Are Pretty Rad

TKomolafe

"I hope you know that you are worthy of celebration. Yes, you are worthy of cheers, pats on the back, woot woot's and a whole bucket load of sparkly confetti."

– An excerpt from my piece,   Honestly, You Are Pretty Rad. Take a look at the rest of my piece on The Free Woman. Happy Readings!

Meet LaToya!

Hi-hi readers. Today I wanted to introduce you all to AnO's new contributor, LaToya Seawood. Having known her as a mentor and friend for many years I know that you guys will  enjoy reading her posts as much as I do.  She will be contributing to the blog on the last Friday of every month and write on a range different topics so stay tuned! latoyaseawood

LaToya Seawood is a daughter, sister, cousin, wife, mother and friend. She lives in the States working part time and caring for her family consisting of husband, Ron, and two boys. Career wise she is transitioning into her own HR consulting business after 7 years of corporate HR work. Ministry wise she enjoys coordinating events, working with children and encouraging others with the Love of God. She appreciates and is thankful for all the blessings and challenges that come with wearing many "hats".

Here's to the good in life.

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I hope you take these moments and how they make you feel and you hold onto them for life. I hope that in this moment as you realize how amazing, how awesome, and capable, and stunning you are that you keep that realization with you forever. It's in this moment that truth is brought to light. It's in this moment that you finally believe in what was inside of you all along: greatness, strength, intelligence, ingenuity and grace. 

Hold on to it all because when bad moments come to try and steal what is so rightfully yours - and they will try - it will be hard to come back to that place of truth and light. It will feel like the darkness and its lies are winning. However, do not fear my dear. Pay it no mind because fear is only False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear knows your worth and tries to distract you from knowing it too. Hold on to the moments of joy, contentment, peace, strength and hope. They are truth and under no circumstance will truth ever fail, flee or falter.

Music of the Month: January

January15

1. Walk the Moon  - Shut Up and Dance

2.Peking Duck ft. SAFIA - Take Me Over 

3. Ella Henderson - Yours (Wideboys Remix)

4. Josef Salvat - Open Season 

Ps. Happy Birthday Justin Timberlake

Never lose your wonder.

 No matter where life leads you I hope you are never so consumed by the enormity of it all that you overlook the small wonders presented to you daily.

A few weekends back my family and a few friends took a drive few hours south to visit the small town of Kiama. Although Australia has many other cities worth exploring, we decided to take a day trip and stay a little local. So without further adieu, here are a few photos from that glorious Saturday.

Kiama, you are as gorgeous and breath-taking as ever. Your small town charm reminds me to be grateful for everything I have the chance to see.  I could not have put these words from Bethel Music any better myself when they said:

"May we never lose our wonder. May we never lose our wonder. Wide-eyed and mystafied, may we be just like child staring at the wonder of our king."

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Happy Friday!

Happy Friday everyone. I hope that whatever your plans for this weekend (long weekend if you live in Australia and celebrate 'Straya Day) are joyful, give you rest, and leave you pumped up for the week ahead! Here's an oldie but a goodie to get you up and at 'em.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8SPwT3nQZ8

You Are Not The Hero(ine)

Contrary to what we've always been told, Esther was not the heroine of her own story, she wasn't even the main character.

Yeah, she had a book named after her and her husband, the king would do just about anything she asked of him which led to her saving an entire people however, I think she would agree with me when I say this but it wasn't her we should all be focusing on-

it's grace. 

No, there's no typo because I don't mean Grace the person but actual God-given, we-all-need-some-of-that-good-stuff, unrelenting, situation-changing grace!
Take grace away from this story and you're left with a girl living an ordinary (actually you're probably better off saying boring) life.

 

She wouldn't have been chosen to become queen.
She would not have found favor with the king.
She wouldn't have found the courage to go unsolicited before the high court and ask for help.
She would have lost her plea to save her people and maybe would have actually gotten a few people killed in the process.
Without grace there would be no 17th book in the Bible named Esther because as great and inspiring as she was she did none of those acts on her own.

 

So, what am I trying to get at here? I'm saying that we can be great in our own right if we realize that we and our capabilities are not the heroins or heroes of our story - grace is.

You don't need to have it all before you get it all. You don't need to measure up to any standard to be considered good enough because His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

We often go into or leave situations believing that we won't measure up or didn't do enough and we let that affect us in such a negative way. The truth is there will always be someone who you think is smarter, faster, bigger, stronger, and/or better than you but don't let that hinder the unique ray of light God wants to use in you.

 

Just like an artist turns broken shards of glass into beautiful mosaics, how a runner uses the hardest and probably ugliest of terrains to train on, how a potter never discards a piece of clay just because of its color and shape, and how God used the most average of girls to become queen and save a nation, so will you be in whatever situation you find yourself in.

 

Allow God's grace to take you where only your dreams can, and then some.

We  all uniquely fall short in a lot of things but when we leave those things to God and then allow Him to mix what we can do with that marvelous, better-than-the-putty-that-fits-into-every-crack-and-magically-fixes-everything grace,  we are bound for awesomeness.
So, what's your journey like? Where do you see yourself and trust in Him to take you? Wherever it is I hope it's nothing short of glorious!

From mine to yours...

Hey ya'll just want to shout out another Merry Christmas to you and yours. I hope you all have more eggnog than your stomach can handle (Also, please have enough for the both of us because I forgot to get some this year. Womp, womp, womp), more delicious food than your taste buds know what to do with and enough good memories to make your head swell. Here is a little video I put of my Christmas celebration this year. I was truly blessed to spend it with my aunt, uncle and cousins, which was all too fun. Funny enough, they open their gifts on Christmas Eve but I've always opened it either on Christmas day with Mom and siblings  or Boxing with Dad (who's also my aunt's older brother), Ma, and my siblings. Goes to show you if one family has many traditions, imagine the whole world! [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK2vl6XhZps&feature=youtu.be[/embed]

Speaking of traditions, what are some you and your people do for the holidays? Any stories worth sharing? Leave them in the comments below, I'd love to read them!

 

 

Merry Christmas Y'all!

My, what a year this year has been! Although I find myself saying that statement during every Christmas season, each year I'm still filled with the same amount of surprise, excitement, wonder, and gratitude. I love the fact that Christmas falls at the end because it's honestly the perfect time to be reminded how far we have come in the year and in life. The celebration of our Savior's birth is not only a celebration of hope and life but it is the exact reason why we also have hope and life. Without Him, none of this would all be possible. I'm so thankful that God sent His son down in the purest and most humble form just for us! With that said, I pray you all have the best of Christmases, the happiest of times this year. Regardless of where you are, who you are with or how you celebrate, know that you are loved!

Hold On To Hope.

In recent weeks the entire world has gone through a lot.
I pray these words leave you all well.

anchorsnoceans_hold-on-to-hope


 

I don't think there has ever been a time where the world's criminal history  has ever made any devastating news easier to bear. The past has never made us any less shocked or any less shaken to the very core of sadness at what is happening around us. Whether it be sieges, school shootings, or multiple homicides, mass killings, bomb threats, kidnapping,  car accidents, plane crashes - it never gets easier to hear no matter what.

 

Every single time something terrible like this happens we are just as surprised as if it's the first time we've been through difficulty. Even though in the last ten years there have been more than 50 mass murders all over the world  it never gets easier to hear about or to deal with. Finding out that a few senseless people took the lives of many others will always be hard because every single time it's never something we expect.  However, this attitude on our part is not to be mistaken for naivety or ignorance, rather, it is our ability to bond together and give one another hope that events like this will never happen again, which helps us to heal and move on.

 

Hope is the constant that never budges no matter what lies ahead.  It is what we rely on for the possibility of something better because we need to be able to believe it is going to be okay. We should never think, "If bad is bound to happen, what is the point of hope?" The point of hope is not to stop things from occurring but to remind us that bad times don't last forever - good will come again.

 

Yes, like I said, bad things will pop up and they will make the headlines but they will also pass and they will not make us who we are. Good is what we are made of. Good is what we need to continue to show those who are trying to hurt us. Good is what we stand for. If hell and high water come our way we will always have hope and we will always live for good.

 

Doing Better Over Being Bitter

I'm not gonna lie, being wanted feels pretty good. We all enjoy the immediate sense of gratification when someone tells us how much they missed or needed us while we were away. However I recently came to the realization that being missed is not always what we should aim for. It doesn't do you or the other party any good.

During my travels back to the states I was contacted a few times by some of the people I work with and that really bothered me. It bothered me that they needed me to explain certain procedures that I do on a weekly basis - they were tasks that I could explain in no time at all if I did it properly. But that's just the thing, I didn't.

  In all the time before I left I never really took the time out to show others what I knew. I never set aside a moment to share the skills someone else had taught me. I guess I was so distracted by an ego that secretly fed on the "well done"s and "good job"s to stop and think that someone else could benefit from me passing on my experience to them.

The more I thought about what I could have done better the more I realized that this happens far too often and not just with me either. In a society where it's do or die, fall or fly I think we've forgotten that we can also strive to be the best without (unknowingly or intentionally) tripping up those around us. It should never be about building our own self up to the point that if we were to ever move that our community would fall. Am I saying you shouldn't improve or grow yourself? No. But should you selfishly take everything for yourself so you can look better than everyone else? Think again.

It is possible for co-workers, teammates, siblings, parents, and all other types of  people who work together to better themselves without diminishing or undermining the other(s). Here's how:

1. What does each person like doing and what is each person good at? They might turn out to have the same answers or they might be different but it's still important that you make it.  This way everyone starts off on the same foot and clear guidelines are made.

 

2. From those lists, you can now decide who does what. It doesn't have to be permanent or signed in blood because things can change. Maybe one person can do one task for a certain time period or 2+ people can work together just until the task is done.

 

3. After everyone has spent some time in their own respective areas take a moment to ask everyone what they liked, didn't like, and maybe what they would like to learn from/teach to others (We all know you're pretty rad in HTML coding  but hey, maybe someone else would like to learn it too. And to the person who's been answering phones at the front desk for the last however long, don't be afraid to ask your higher-up if they could show you how to put together a killer business presentation). Not only does talking it out build a stronger sense of community but it eases the work load when you know that that guy Steve in accounting wouldn't mind helping you out with your next project because he likes working with Adobe Suite too.

 

4. Stop looking at it like a ladder but rather an elevator.
Ladders make no room for multiple people to share in the success because there's only room for one. Not to mention, the only way you can see the other people while you're on the ladder is if you're looking down at them. Elevators on the other hand are big enough to make room for more people at once. So while you are all on your way up you can actually talk and seeing each other face to face.

 

5. Trust your talent. You are good, like really good - you wouldn't be where you are if you weren't. Your talent has gotten you this far and given more time and polishing your future has endless possibilities for growth.

 

6. If someone else comes along with the same strengths as you...
a. Don't think any less of yourself. Like I said, you are good.
b. Never try to put them down in attempts to raise yourself up. Doing that only wastes the time you could have used to be productive. Not to mention it makes you look bad to everyone else.
c. Steal their stuff. Okay, not really but still. They might have a similar position but maybe the way they do it is different so this is a good chance for you to learn a new technique (Only don't just copy it action for action, make it your own).

 

7. Remember why you got into this. Chances are, it wasn't the money or publicity but interest, passion, and drive. Your reason for doing all this will keep you humble and happy when it everything gets a bit hectic.