If you’re like us, we’ve got a few younger kiddos on our list this year…and to be honest, this was new territory for us. We don’t have kiddos yet, and we weren’t too sure where to start with this area of our holiday shopping list. BUT, we do partner with several amazing companies through our business, so I started there. I found some really cool, popular gifts that are sure to be loved by the kids and teens on your list this year (at least I hope so)!
(Some of the below items can be found in our personal retail shop, and some through partnered retail stores – for more info on how you can access better deals as a registered customer, please contact us directly.)
Here are our Top 10 Gifts for Kids & Teens for 2021:
Frozen 2 Arendelle Castle Play Set (Disney) – This is the epitome of what I would have wanted as a little girl (although Frozen wasn’t a thing). It’s a super ornate play set version of the Frozen magical kingdom known as Arendelle. Wow your littles with this awesome entertainment piece.
Nutrilie Kids Complete Immunity Fast-Melt Powder – Hear me out on this one! I know it’s not a “gift” per say…but it may be something that their parents haven’t seen or had the change to let them try yet…and the BEST gift we can give the kiddos around us is the gift of health. Especially during these times. Plus, kids LOVE the taste of these awesome fast-melt powders.
Little Tikes EasyScore Basketball Set (buybuy BABY) – You know what I didn’t know? buybuy Baby has gifts for ALL the kiddos on your list. I assumed (hence the name) that it was only for little babes, but I was pleasantly surprised. What kid wouldn’t love to have their very own basketball set? This gift promotes activity and will be one their sure to enjoy.
Adidas Original Superstar Lego Set (Legoshop.com) – This is definitely the perfect unique gift. An older (teenage) boy would totally enjoy this collectors item piece. It’s hard to find and one of a kind…sure to impress the sneaker-heads on your list.
Artistry Men’s Skincare System – This one also made our “Gifts for Him” top 10. Why not start your teen boy off early with a top of the line skincare system that’s also sure to get him noticed by the ladies?! (It smells amazing)
Unisex Graphic Pajamas Set – Give the gift of extra snuggles this holiday with these cute and practical pajamas. They’ll look forward to the nighttime transition when they’ve got Pj’s they look forward to wearing.
That’s all we’ve got! There are tons of awesome gifts out there for all of the toddlers, kids, and teens on your list this holiday season. Hopefully this helps get you thinking and one step closer to some of their favorite gifts!
Are you ever in a pinch for an easy, healthy go-to recipe? Yeah, me too. After a while of searching existing recipes and trying them out, I’ve finally made a few tweaks and this recipe has quickly become a favorite. Especially in the colder, winter months.
Ingredients:
Half head of cabbage
3 carrots
3 stalks of celery
1 large zucchini
Half yellow onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic (or 1 clove)
1 tablespoon olive oil (or oil of choice)
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
14.5 oz can tomato sauce
6oz tomato pure
32 oz Vegetable broth
Thyme
Basil
Seasoning Salt
Pepper
Instructions:
First, if you’re a “prep before you start” type person like I am, you can chop the cabbage, carrots, zucchini, onion and celery.
Then, in a medium skillet, heat olive oil and minced garlic over medium heat until onions become fragrant.
Once onions are fragrant and softened, add in celery, carrots, and zucchini and sauté on medium heat for 5-10 minutes.
When all the vegetables are somewhat softened, transfer mixture to a large stock pot (really this could all be done in a stock pot if you prefer).
Add in diced tomatoes tomato sauce and then cabbage. Mix well.
Add tomato pure and pour in vegetable broth.
Finally, add in your seasonings – Thyme, Basil, Seasoning Salt and Pepper (I honestly don’t measure these, so use your best judgement).
Boil soup on medium high heat for 20 min, then boil on low for another 20 minutes and then simmer until ready to serve.
I like to serve with a small amount of Feta.
Nutrition Info:
(this could technically be a “detox” soup if you wanted it to be since it’s so packed with nutrients and veggies but is super low calorie, low carb).
Serving Size: 1 bowl (about 10 oz)
Calories – 119
Carbs- 13.2g
Protein- 1.8g
Fat- 7.1g
That’s it! Short a sweet. Like I said, it’s a pretty simple recipe. An easy go-to to add to your cookbook.
Alright, here we go again. Typically it’s the men who need a little more help with finding the perfect gifts for the special ladies in their lives (no offense, men).
The great thing about technology is that it speeds up this process. No longer are the days that you must fight traffic, drive across town and look around aimlessly for hours before waiting in a massive line to checkout. You can do it all from the couch in a matter of minutes IF you know what you’re looking for.
That’s where we come in…
We’ve compiled a list of our top 10 gifts for Women this holiday season, so here goes…
(Again some of these products are available in our personal retail shop, and companies we have contracts with. If you are a registered customer you can qualify for additional discounts and incentives. If you’re interested, please contact us directly.)
Ok, let’s jump into it.
Artistry Flora Chic Perfume –This is perfect for any lovely lady in your life. Give her the gift of feeling her best with this long-lasting floral fragrance.
Ember Temperature Control Smart Mug (Best Buy) –This 10oz. mug comes in a variety of colors including every woman’s favorite, Rose Gold! It’s perfect for busy moms who can’t find the time to finish their morning brew, or even teachers, business owners, etc. who love sipping on their brew all day long.
Personalized Bamboo Cutting Board (Personalization Mall) –For the best chef you know, gift her a thoughtful and practical gift she’s going to get a lot of use out of. These boards can be customized to fir her personal style and preferences and she will LOVE that you took the time to get creative.
iCook 19-Piece Cookware Collection – Let’s give your gal the only cookware set she’ll ever need with this patented 19-piece collection complete with a LIFETIME WARRANTY! That’s right…a one time investment for a gift that is sure to keep on giving.
Artistry Signature Select Firming Body Bundle – This is one that’s sure to make her feel appreciated. Encourage a little extra self-care with this body care bundle packed with natural ingredients and pure botanicals. The firming treatment is a fav among ladies young and old – Cellulite be gone!
Women’s Satin Pajama Set (Kohls) – She will truly know you care with this luxurious sleep ware set. In many colors and varieties, there’s bound to be one to fit her style.
Artistry Signature Color Light Up Lip Gloss – This is such a fun and glamours gift for any lady on your list. With a built in side mirror and LED lights, she’s bound to stand out when she reaches for this gloss.
Hopefully this has given you some ideas or at least inspired a place to start! The biggest thing to keep in mind is how you can make her feel special and loved. Put a little thought into her gifts this holiday season and she’s sure to feel special.
Since we’re all new here, and we’re just getting to know one another, I figured it might make sense to share about our story and what got us here.
Let’s just say, it wasn’t exactly the picture-perfect romance that everyone hopes for. We’ve had our ups and downs. From meeting in a McDonalds parking lot, dating through college, living together, breaking up, navigating singleness and finally marriage…there’s a lot to cover. So, let’s jump into it…
When I was a sophomore in college, I worked at a local baseball field during the summer. One of my best friends and co-workers at the park was a guy named Brandon. We became very close during our time at the field and got to know each other pretty well. One night, Brandon was off work and brought one of his buddies to the game (Russell). While I was busy working at the kids zone, managing a herd of little kids fighting to take turns in the bounce house, they were enjoying the game. But we did catch a brief glimpse of one another at some point. The game actually ended up getting rained out, and ended early…so there I was on a Friday night with nothing to do. My mom was even out with friends so no one would be home to hang out with. Reluctantly, I drove home and on my way there I got a phone call from Brandon. He was inviting me to a “party” that night with a few friends, Russell included. Of course, I said yes, looking for any reason to get out of the house on a Friday night.
I put on my best party outfit (a pink blouse and black and pink polka dotted skirt with straps sandals…I still remember to this day), and drove to meet the guys in the McDonalds parking lot of all places. They met me there so that I could follow them to the party since I was driving alone. When I arrived, I saw Russell and Brandon standing outside their car, and I hesitantly walked over. Russell had just turned twenty-one and was offering to buy us all beer. I, of course, came prepared (I’ll elaborate in a future post, but I had a bit of a party stage just prior to this time frame). That was our first meeting. I was immediately attracted to him and thought it was cute that he was so excited about being able to buy alcohol. So innocent and nice. We made the drive over to a quaint apartment complex in the town over, and I quickly noticed that we were the only ones there. Someone had actually let the guys (and about 3 other friends) borrow their empty apartment to have this little shindig. Of course, at this point, I feel completely trapped and set up. I was the only girl amongst 5 guys and it felt a little awkward. Nonetheless, I stayed (because I didn’t want to seem rude or like I couldn’t “go with the flow”), and I was pleasantly surprised. Russell asked me to play a round of beer pong with him (again, this is where we were at at this stage of life) and that led to a major tournament between he and I. It’s so comical to me now, but at the time I found his impressive beer pong skills to be such a turn on. After he annihilated me at beer pong, we sat and talked just the two of us for quite some time. We had the best time. Obviously, I didn’t want to come across too eager or show all my cards, but there was a brief moment where our knees touched while we were talking, and I couldn’t help but notice that neither of us drew away. Soon, the “party” was coming to a welcomed conclusion, and we walked out to our cars. I (pretending to be super bubbly and outgoing) hugged Brandon and the other guys that I knew and said goodnight…I saved Russell for last. Giving him a slightly longer hug than the rest, we both smiled and parted ways. I smiled the whole way home.
That night, as soon as I laid my head on the pillow, I got a text message from Brandon asking if he could give Russell my phone number. I was ecstatic! I literally jumped out of my bed, ran into the living room where my mom was and jumped up and down. Again, I remember this so vividly because it wasn’t really like me to get so excited over a boy. We immediately started texting and played the worlds longest game of “21 Questions” to start to get to know each other more. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, he asked me out on our first date.
He picked me up in his Jeep Grand Cherokee and we went to the movies. I even remember what we watched (White House Down)…but I was a little surprised that he didn’t even try to hold my hand. I thought surely if he liked me as much in person as he did via text messages, he would have gone for it, so I was a little bummed. However, he redeemed himself by being bold in the car on the way home and wrapping the entire song “My Band” by Eminem. I thought it was hilarious and for some reason that made me feel better…like he was letting his guard down a bit. We laughed the whole ride back to my mom’s house, and when we got there I wasn’t ready for the night to be over, so I invited him inside. Now, this is where it get’s a little awkward looking back on it, because my mom was in the living room watching TV and I wanted to introduce them so I wasn’t rude…but she was watching the Hooters Bikini Fashion show and I was just a little uncomfortable watching that next to my date. She didn’t seem to think anything of it, and left it on, so he was awkwardly trying to keep conversation flowing so he wouldn’t have to watch it. We joke about that situation to this day. Eventually, though, Mom went to bed and we changed the channel. The night ended with us sharing our first kiss on the living room couch. A few days later, we went out to dinner and he picked me up again…this time we literally matched completely. We both wore black, white and gray outfits…to the point where I thought about changing. Again, we still laugh about that too. The rest, I guess you could say, is history. We officially started dating not long after.
We dated for almost 4 years, lived together with some of our buddies in a big house off campus and everything was great (I’m obviously speeding things up a bit here and skipping details). In 2016-2017, I really started to develop my faith and invested a lot of time in personal development and spiritual growth. Russ also started to deepen his relationship with God, but I would say at the time I was just a few steps ahead of him in this area. We hit a phase where I became worried that he wouldn’t be able to lead me as a husband someday if we were to continue on the path we were on. Our friends around us were starting to get engaged and I was honestly a little scared of that commitment at that time. I worried that marriage was just the next step for us since we’d been together for a while, and I wasn’t completely sold on the idea. He was working on himself, slowly, but I kind of worried that I was more ambitious than he was and that I would end up being the one who “wore the pants” in our relationship…and that just wasn’t what I envisioned. Needless to say, after a lot of thought and prayer, we had a conversation that ended up in us breaking up. He was a gentleman, and since we lived together at the time, he volunteered to move out and live with his parents so that I could stay put. We were both really sad about this decision, but it was actually leading us into a season that was much needed for us both.
We each handled the breakup in different ways. Russell says that he always knew that I was “the one” and that he had faith that we would end up together someday. He remained hopeful and truly was so humble and patient during this time. He consumed himself with new habits, personal development and growing his faith. Me, on the other hand, I actually started dating just a few months after we broke up. I wanted to “test the waters” as many people say and see if I had the ability to connect with anyone else the way that I had with Russ. All the while, I was actually becoming closer to God in this season than I ever had been before. It was super interesting and almost a huge contradiction of character at this time because while my faith and relationship with the Lord was flourishing, I was also making some choices in my personal life that weren’t exactly a reflection of the person I was trying to become. I really struggled with that.
I began dating a guy that I worked with (ew, 10/10 don’t recommend), and honestly I became infatuated with him. It was as if I expected to pick right back up where I left with Russ but with this new guy. I expected him to love me, to be consumed with me, and I wanted that so badly. Looking back, I think I was simply seeking approval and validation at the time, rather than a love connection with him personally. I was compromising my character at this point by drinking too much and just making not so great decisions. I didn’t know why I was doing what I was doing. Long story short, he called me one night (after about 6 months of dating) and broke up with me over the phone. I was shattered. What was worse was that he literally couldn’t give me an explanation or reason for wanting to break up. “He just did”. The lack of closure from that situation crushed me. I think it was the lowest I’ve ever felt…and all from some random boy. God had some major work to do on me.
After that situation, I continued seeking God and became absolutely hungry for his wisdom and guidance. It was amazing how close I felt to the Lord and how much peace he brought me even during a very emotionally draining season. I experienced things that I never had before in my spiritual journey and it was absolutely a huge blessing.
After almost a year of pressing in and filling myself up emotionally and spiritually, I was in a whole different space. I think experiencing such emotional lows actually allowed me to rely on the Lord in such a way that so much clarity had come from the entire situation. During all this time, Russ and I still saw each other almost weekly. We were still in business together and had things to accomplish, so we just kept things cordial and completely friendly. It was during that duration of time that I got the chance to watch Russell from a distance and I started to notice a lot of positive changes in him. I noticed that he had gained so much more confidence and how he carried himself was very attractive. I noticed that he had developed amazing communication skills and was becoming a leader in his own right. He was always reading or listening to podcasts to help himself continue to grow, and he was simply the sweetest guy ever. Not just to me, but to everyone around him. So humble and calm. It was through watching him and recognizing these things, in conjunction with a lot of prayer and self-reflection that I began to realize that I had made a big mistake. I knew he was the one. Even before we got back together. God had opened my eyes to it, and my heart was ready.
I started to make up excuses to see him more often. Like, “Hey, do you want to meet up and grab coffee and discuss business” or “We should have a game planning session on how to make it a great month”. It was so funny because we both jumped at those opportunities to spend time together, usually with an excuse of how “productive” we would be (two heads are better than one). One night I was feeling a little daring and I asked if he just wanted to meet up downtown and take a walk and catch up. We must have walked around down town Mount Holly about 10 times because neither of us wanted to go home. It was then that I think both of our eyes had been opened to what was really going on, and we were starting to rekindle our love story. A few weeks later, I called him and asked him to come over to my house. We started talking about business and ideas and “appropriate” topics, but I just stopped him mid-sentence and started apologizing and telling him how I really felt about him. We both cried and before we knew it, we were back together. The past was in the past and we were both SO excited for a new beginning.
As Russell was leaving that night, we both lingered awkwardly in my doorway for what seemed like an eternity. I finally just said “are you going to kiss me, or what?”, and he laughed and gave me the most heartfelt kiss before leaving.
From that moment on, we were completely restored. All glory to God! We had been through a lot, but it didn’t matter. We were actually thankful for our journey. We dated for a few months before he popped the question at one of my favorite places, The Billy Graham Library on Labor Day 2018. We were so excited and immediately started planning a wedding, which would happen the following June, 2019.
We’ve been married now a little over 2 and a half years, and not to toot our own horn…but we have an amazing relationship. Again. praise be to God! We’ve learned a lot from mentors and spiritual giants over the years in the area of building a God-centered marriage and I think we’ve actually gotten off to a great start.
So that’s it – that’s our love story. I’m sure it was a little different than you may have been expecting (but aren’t all the great ones, anyway?). I just want to say before ending this post that I am 110% thankful for everything we had to go through and overcome to get to where we are today. Sometimes the strangest and hardest times are just cultivating and refining you to become a better version of yourself, and we’ve experienced that first hand. Today, I couldn’t be happier to share my life with my amazing, wonderful, god-fearing Husband, Russell, and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store.
Holiday gifts for men can sometimes be a struggle. What do you get a man who already has everything that he needs? Well, my answer to that would be…something that he wouldn’t think to buy himself.
Most of us have turned to the internet for the bulk of our Holiday shopping, and we are no different. I love that we can shop around online and compare items and have them shipped right to our front door.
And – think about it, wouldn’t you much rather shop from the comfort of your home, pajamas on, sipping a nice hot cup of coffee on the couch? Yeah. Me too!
So, here I’ve compiled a list of 10 great gifts for men that are sure to wow him this Christmas!
(Some of the below items can be found in our personal retail shop, and some through partnered retail stores – for more info on how you can access better deals as a registered customer, please contact us directly.)
Vistaprint! This site is one of our absolute favorites. You can customize and/or personalize anything from Canvas prints, Mugs, Blankets, Calendars, etc. All of which are sure to be a huge hit! (They also do a lot of sales towards the Holiday Season!)
Artistry Men’s Skincare System – We all know a few men in our lives that could benefit from adopting a good skincare routine, but they’re likely not going to do it on their own. For that reason, this makes the perfect gift! (At the time this post is being published, this is 10% off in our Shop!)
Artistry Men’s Unknown Spray – This goes along the same lines, but hey, personal care matters. Why not give your guy something to make him feel amazing. Bonus points because he may even get more hugs!
PowerXL Smokeless Grill (from Bed Bath and Beyond!)– What man doesn’t love to grill? But, with the winter months upon us, they may not be as thrilled about cranking up the old outdoor grill. Fix that problem with this convenient indoor grill.
XS Muscle Recovery Bundle (with CBD Pro Cream & Muscle Multiplier) – For your workout enthusiast! Help him feel his best after hitting it hard with these amazing recovery products.
Grayl UltraPress Purifier Bottle(from Back Country!) – For the world traveler! This awesome purifying bottle helps remove pathogens, particles and chemicals to make global travel a no-brainer.
Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) – From entrepreneur to ultimate music lover, these newest edition of Apple AirPods are sure to be used and loved by all.
XS Energy & Focus Bundle (with XS Energy & Focus Supplement and XS Energy Drinks) – These days, who couldn’t use a little pick me up? For the man that’s always on the go, give him some much needed energy to power through his day. A gift that keeps on giving.
Nike Digital Gift Card – Need a last minute idea? Here’s a fool-proof one. Get him a gift card. Better yet, get him a digital gift card that he doesn’t have to keep up with. What guy wouldn’t love a new pair of kicks?
iCook 5-Piece Knifeware Set – For the home chef, get him a gift to last a lifetime (but really, there’s a lifetime warranty). He’s sure to feel like the real deal with this awesome set.
That’s a wrap!
Hopefully this helps and at least gets your creative wheels turning!
Let’s face it – life has many different seasons. Sometimes things are going great and you’re on cloud nine, while other times it can feel like nothing is going right. Life is a marathon, not a sprint, and there are going to be various obstacles to overcome along the way. We all know this, but surviving and learning to thrive through it…totally different story.
With the Thanksgiving Holiday just behind us, I’ve spoken to several friends and family members who have simply found themselves in a low season even despite looking around and having so many things to be thankful for. Have you ever been there? Yeah, me too. It’s okay. It happens. What we’ve got to do is figure out how to get through those seasons. How to wait and trust the Lord to get us through, but also what we can do to make faith work in our lives.
For starters, accepting that it is okay to be down. We’re humans, after all. We’re going to struggle from time to time. We may lose a few battles. But we can’t stay there. We’ve got to learn to get back up when life kicks us down.
Try focusing on what you DO have, rather than what you don’t. It’s probably common sense, but when you focus on the positives and not the negatives in a situation, it really makes all the difference. What you give attention to will flourish. Do you see the glass half empty or half full? Learn to become a “good-finder”. Someone who CHOOSES to find the good in any and every circumstance. You’d be surprised at how big of a difference this will make.
Grace: [gr`ac] Noun “An accurate, common definition describes grace as the unmerited favor of God toward man.”
This brings me to the art of giving GRACE. It is usually much easier to give grace to others…but it can be a struggle to provide ourselves with the same level of grace. However, the Bible says that no one is perfect with the exception of Jesus Christ, and that Grace is the ability to give ourselves permission to forgive our own mistakes as Jesus forgave us for our sins. If He can pay the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, we must be willing to learn to forgive ourselves too, or it is dishonoring to God.
This next one can be a hard one. What if you’re in a season of waiting and yet you have people around you who are celebrating the fruition of exactly what you’ve been waiting for? I.e. you’ve been looking for a job without any luck, but then a friend gets their dream job. Are you happy for them? Are you jealous? How is your heart? When we experience these tests, I believe it’s important to remember that God knows the desires of our heart. After all, he’s the one who put them there for a very specific purpose. If we truly trust God and have faith in his divine timing and plan for our life, we should be able to celebrate the victories of those around us without remorse or ill feelings. BUT, again, a lot of this is easier said than done. Which is why I’m writing about it…to let you know that I’ve been in these seasons myself and you’re not alone. Not at all.
Where do you turn when you’re going through struggles? Do you self-medicate? I’m not necessarily talking about drugs or alcohol here. I mean, do you shut down, tune out those around you, stop praying, stop seeking to develop your relationship with the Lord? I’ve done all of the above at times. What I have found personally is that the only way that I truly find hope and satisfaction is through pressing in when things were hard. Doing the things I don’t want to do…like reading my Bible. Praying. Giving God room to work in my heart and in my life. Until I do those things, I’m usually aimlessly trying to fill a void that simply cannot be filled by anything else other than Jesus.
I encourage you, if you’re in a season of waiting…slow down. Take inventory of where you’re at. What’s causing you to feel the way that you feel? Can you choose to do something about it? (Hint: The answer is always YES!)
Spend some quiet time with the Lord and press in to that relationship. Give it some time. I truly believe that He will get you through it.
In the meantime, make sure you’re doing what you can. Be positive. Speak life into your situation. Surround yourself with a good environment of uplifting believers. Don’t neglect self-care and things that bring you joy. You have SO much to be thankful for. Appreciate the wait.
No matter if you’re a business owner, work for a large company, a stay at home mom, etc. everyone needs to have goals and asportations they are chasing. After all, if you never have anything to look forward to, life can become pretty mundane pretty quickly…and I believe that God created each and every one of us to fulfill a specific purpose. Only God knows the desires of your heart, that is, until you share them with the world.
If you’re anything like me, I can quickly come up with a to-do list of things that I know I need to accomplish. But, sometimes, the hard part is actually knowing where to start.
Here are my top 5 recommendations for how to start setting BIG goals for yourself and more importantly, how to keep those goals in front of you:
Everything good starts with a LIST
Pick the goals that stretch you the most
Start to envision what your life will be like when you achieve the goals before you
When it comes to goal-settings and actually coming up with the things that you want to achieve, I think it’s best to start with a list. Almost like a brain dump of all the ideas, projects, or plans you may have. Let your mind run a little wild and capture everything that you come up with.
When making your list, you may even realize things that you desire that you haven’t yet given much thought to. This can be a great exercise to get in touch with yourself.
Now, I would say to try to keep the list somewhat prioritized as it can be easy to go down a rabbit hole of thoughts that bring up tasks you need to complete rather than goals that you want to strive for and achieve. Stay focused!
Pick goals that stretch you the most
When you complete your list of newfound goals and ideas, the fun has just begun. This is where it gets important to begin to prioritize the goals you have and determine which you want to focus on.
One of the most daunting tasks will be to choose the goals you’re immediately going to put into works. I encourage you, choose the goals that scare you the most. That’s right! Believe it or not, the best things worth having are usually the things that scare the crap out of us. It goes back to the saying “nothing worth having comes easy”, and from experience, I can totally agree.
Start to envision what your life will be like when you accomplish the goals before you
One of the most practical things that I like to do when I’ve settled on a few goals is to picture the impact that it would have on our life when we get the job done. Now, that being said, not every goal that you set is going to be life changing…BUT, usually your desire to want to achieve something is rooted on the basis that some area of your life will likely improve after having completed said goal.
When you can start to imagine the reward after having completed your goals, it is often very motivating and can inspire you to want to push yourself past your previous limits of expectation. This is where the magic happens.
Keep the Vision in front of you
Once your goals are set, and you’re starting to get excited about the idea of completing them…it’s going to be absolutely vital to keep the goals you’ve set in front of you. What exactly does that mean? Well, as the great Napoleon Hill once said, “What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”.
You’ve got to keep your desires in the forefront of your daily activity or else it’s possible to start to slip on the progression of attaining the goal, or to actually begin to lose interest in the goal simply because your expectation has gotten low. Keeping expectation high is one of the key ingredients to developing the discipline and fortitude needed to accomplish big goals.
A few ways that we like to approach this are by putting up photos of our goals on our refrigerator, taping up words or sayings around our house where we will see them throughout the day, creating a vision board of the things you’d like to accomplish, changing our backgrounds on our phone lock screens to relate to our goals, etc. These may seem like silly ideas, but we can tell you firsthand that it works. Its the “out of sight, out of mind” principle. You don’t want that to work negatively against you…so find a few ways to allow it to work FOR you.
Get your words into Alignment
A great friend and mentor of mine once told me “I’ll stand behind you and your goals in complete agreement, so long as you do not speak a single word of negativity or disbelief when it comes to that goal”. That was a HUGE statement for me to process at the time. I never grew up thinking about the implication of the words that I let slip out of my mouth, but words are extremely powerful and they play a huge role into the fruition (or lack there of) our goals. The Bible goes as far to say that “life and death are in the power of the tongue”, and I don’t know about you, but I sure want my words to bring forth life!
So…we’ve really got to watch what we say. Usually what we say is a direct result of what we are dwelling on. What are you thinking about? Is your mind in the creative stage of “How can I get the job done?”, “What can I do with the resources that I have?”, “Who can I be a blessing to?”? Or, is it in a negative spiral of “I can’t do this”, “Who do I think I am setting a goal like this?”, “I’m not worthy of this”, etc.? If it’s the latter, I would surely start taking a harsh look in the mirror and decide if it’s worth it. A saying that we often keep before us is “I’d rather prosper”. When we get a little down or discouraged and it’s tempting to be negative, we just say “I’d rather prosper” and it helps us put things into better perspective.
So, you’ve now made a list, narrowed down your goals, picked what stretches you most, pictured the result of your accomplishments, put your goals before you and made sure your words are aligned with them. Now what? Now, you get to work! Faith is an ACTION word, and without you doing the things that you can control (the natural), God cannot meet you halfway and do the SUPER. So, get going. Tackle each day as new and stay the course. The rewards will be great, but even better, the self-satisfaction that you’ll find in completing the goals you set for yourself will be so sweet.
The Abundant Life is a small business collective run by Russell and Jessica Hicks. Our mission is based on the scripture Ephesians 3:20, “Now to HIM who is able to do exceedingly ABUNDANTLY more than we ask or think according to the power that works in us…” We believe that there is ALWAYS more that God wants to do through you.
Through our blog, we would like to create a safe place to share about all the many blessings, challenges and ups and downs that come with living a full and Abundant Life.
A major part of our life is devoted to a wonderful association of entrepreneurial minded men and women who are determined to serve at a high-level on the pursuit of becoming their very best selves. We couldn’t be more proud to surround ourselves with such amazing people and business owners.
In addition, we are partnered in business with several World Class companies and product lines that offer Home, Health & Beauty products that are second to none. They have truly enriched our lives and we are determined to pay it forward, being a blessing to those we know and love by introducing them to these amazing products.
Of course, that’s not ALL there is to our ever-evolving life… and we hope to share our journey here with you. We hope you are inspired, blessed, uplifted or encouraged by these stories and words. Join us here, on our pursuit of an Abundant Life.
The Abundant life 