Conquering those fears....

What are fears? Are they reality or are they things our mind uses to play tricks on us? Maybe little ways we happen to let Satan into our lives. Tricks or not some fears can be totally paralyzing to us. I'm dealing with the fear of not being good enough. I don't need a ton of e mails telling me how good I am because I know what God says about fears. I'm just being real. I think we allow some fears into our lives so that we have an excuse to fail. Do we want to fail? Mostly no but we use that to get ourselves down from the start so that when/if our "fear of failure" really does happen we can say "see...I told you so!". But what if we give those fears to God from the start? Why is it we try to sabotage our future before it even happens? If we believed that God would improve things for us would that improve our motivation? Our outlook? Our drive for success? I would think so!!! How about we Pray Pray Pray! Isn't that what it's all about anyway? So what fears do you deal with? Let's try to put those in the Father's hands and find success from the start without the worry and fear getting to our core.

I know what you did last night!

GIRLFRIENDS!

This didn't take a lot of planning, invitations or phone calls to get a group together. Some times the best times are the spontaneous moments when you can call/text or facebook people and get a group of gal pals together for a night out!

I have not, in a very long time, laughed as much as I did last night! We ended up having about 13 of us at the movie Bride Wars. It was pretty funny and I thought it was also an interesting view of how women can be so mean to each other but in the end we realize how important our friends really are to us. It doesn't matter if we're hurting, happy or sad, it's the bond that holds us together. What bond is that you ask? For everyone it may be different. It may be because you've known each other for a long time, you've experienced the friendship of that person because of something traumatic in one of your lives or it might be a new relationship. Whatever the bond the friendship is there and that's the whole point!

I have been blessed with a great group of gal pals. Some who could make it last night and some who will have to come to the next movie night. With so much going on in my family right now this night out was just what the doctor ordered. I was able to meet one of my friends for dinner before the movie and it was great to catch up with her. One of the things I love most about her is that we can go for weeks without seeing one another and nothing is ever "weird" when we do spend time together.

After the movie a group of 5 of us....you know who you are....went out for a snack. I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face. The best comment was about potato chips and family meetings! The conversation was great and the company even better! Thanks Gals!

So let me just encourage you...if you don't have many gal pals in your life right now, try reaching out to someone you don't get to spend a lot of time with. One of my favorite things about inviting people to go out last night was the comment I got, "thanks for thinking of me". Who cares if you're married or single, you have 1 kid or 10, time isn't always convenient or there are dishes in the sink! Make time to go out, accept the invitation, enjoy people, and remember to Laugh! After all, laughter is the best medicine!

Next girls movie night is February 13th! Let me know if you want to come!

PS Names have been left out intentionally to protect the embarrassed!

Things aren't always what they seem...

The beginning of the year usually starts with people saying..."Can you believe it's 2009? Where did last year go?". Well, lets just say that I'm not one of those people! Of course you can believe it's a new year! It happens ever year at about this time. The true cause of the disbelief is the fact you still have things you weren't able to complete the year prior and perhaps a to do list a mile long that doesn't magically disappear at the start of the new year. We don't suddenly get a new beginning, a new body, changed habits, or money in the bank but perhaps more of a fresh start in our own mind. Maybe this is part of the trick we play on ourselves in order to get some motivation back. How about we make a resolution to stay the same? Continue on with the things we need to get done, the people we want to see and the tasks around the house that still need to be completed. We can do all of this while improving what we look like, what we wear, how we act, what we eat and habits we want to break. So follow me as we stay the same this year! Perhaps by the end of this year we will have made some positive changes that we can say at the start of next year that surprised us!