Gratitude Archive

I have been extremely blessed because at the age of 53 I have found my purpose in life.  Well, I guess I really should say God’s purpose for me in life.

If you have read any of my blogs you know that this last March 12th I was stopped in my work to write a blog focusing on gratitude.  I never wrote or read a blog in my life but I wrote one that day.

As God guided me through that blog I felt at ease and so relaxed speaking of the main topic I knew and practiced so well.  The topic of gratitude.  My life has become so much more fulfilled and blessed by practicing gratitude every day.  When I hit the keys on my keyboard it was like and energy was flowing through me and out my fingers as the screen filled with words.  I know that energy was God.  He knew it was time for me to embark on this journey.

The blog made me feel comforted and relaxed.  As I reread the blog I could feel myself filling up with confidence and actually inspired myself.  I really only wrote it to make myself feel better.

The next thing God put in my head was I needed a way for people to know this blog was posted and get them to read it.  I knew that step would be a Facebook page.  I could develop a page and pray that a few of my friends would look at it or possibly share just to help me out.

That Facebook page was way more successful than I had ever imagined.  We have almost 2,000 followers in 10 short weeks.  Our daily posts reflecting on God’s love for us and our purpose in life are shared repeatedly and some posts actually have 8 shares from the initial post meaning I posted it, another shared it and from that share another shared it and so one for 8 levels of shares.  That absolutely move me because it tells me others feel God’s love like I do.  By the way my blog has been read by over 750 people from all around the world. The Facebook idea worked.   Thank you God!

The Facebook page was successful and a great friend of mine recommended doing a podcast on gratitude.  I mustered my courage and my money and hit the studio.  The 10 minute brief podcasts talk about all different personal experiences with my life and gratitude within my life.

I was incredibly surprised when one day my friend said that my podcast on prayer had been listened to over 850 times.  Thank you God for blessing me with listeners that want to hear about Your greatness and how you add so much gratitude to my life.

What could possibly be next?  I mean I have a 9-5 job and I was just going to do these different things for my own personal satisfaction while hopefully touching 11 other people daily.  This is much larger than that so it has to be the work of God showing me His plan for me.

I knew there was still more I could do.  God told me in a dream that there are many others that need help practicing gratitude so why not start a monthly group called “Grateful Gratitude Monthly Inspiration Meeting”?  OK, let’s see what it would take to do this.  I need a place to meet, inspirational videos and the ability to lead a discussion.  I was fortunate that a new office suite complex with conference rooms had just opened and was offering memberships very reasonably that I could utilize the conference rooms.  I also found a huge amount of inspirational videos online to use as our topics for the meetings.  Lastly I felt I could count on most of the attendees to talk about the video and if they didn’t I could fill 20 minutes with what I got out of the video.  The monthly meeting was started in April and I had six people in attendance.  The second meeting was held this month and we had twelve attend.  I am exited to see how many we have the next month.  Thank you God!

Things were rolling so effortlessly that I knew there had to be more.  What was next?Think, think, think, think  like Winnie the Pooh says. It it hit me like a freight train.  You need to become a personal coach that focuses only on gratitude.  You can help others live more abundant and happier lives by teaching them how to practice gratitude in their daily lives.  I knew many people already were grateful but I knew how just adding a bit more gratitude to their lives would enrich their existence and maybe help them find their purpose.  I am so please to say I have completed my Certified Coach Practitioner certification and I am now a Certified Gratitude Coach.  Let’s remember, this happened 8 weeks after that first blog post.  Thank you God!

So everyday another suggestion from God comes to me and appears to be so clear. He also puts people in my path that can help be complete these tasks.  The latest suggestion is to develop a YouTube channel called Grateful Gratitude 11 and we will begin filming within the next two weeks and be up live for viewing.  Thank you God!

This morning my daughter and I had the opportunity to speak to 80 chamber members on practicing gratitude for a more enriched life.  It was amazing sharing this platform with my daughter who also practices gratitude so perfectly.  Another speaking engagement is just around the corner in June! The picture above in our blog title is me and my daughter, Lexie.  Wow, again, Thank you God!

I have no idea what God will whisper in my ear next to build on all the amazing things He has already blessed me with in a short period of time but my heart is open to anything He wants me to do for Him through me!  Thank you God for opening my eyes to the work you want me to do to help others and please keep me humble as I do it!

love, blessings and gratitude-LoLo

There have been many times in my life I have dropped to my knees in tears and cried, “I surrender God, take over and help me.”  Times that I had no idea how to go on or how I would survive a situation.

When my daughter was a tiny baby less than a year old my first husband came home late every night.  On this particular night he had not come home from work that evening and I assumed he was out drinking with friends.  I paced the floor holding my tiny baby wondering where he was and was he coming home at all.

I felt a burn in my stomach just knowing something wasn’t right.  I became more and more anxious.  Where was he?  Who was he with?  Was he alright?  Was he in an accident?  It hurts still thinking back to this night and reliving it in my mind.

The night grew darker and later.  My mind raced with all the worst case scenarios.  Was he with another woman?  Was he dead?  I looked in my baby’s eyes for comfort and strength.  I didn’t know where he was but I knew I had my baby and she would get me through this night.

Suddenly I heard his truck pull up out front and his truck door slam.  I waited patiently for him to come through the door still caressing my baby .  He never came through the door. I waited and waited.  I put my now sleeping baby into her crib and moved outside to see where he was.  Had he passed out on the front porch or maybe tripped on the sidewalk in a drunken stupor?

As I slowly opened the door fearing the worst, I saw him laying on the ground.  I rushed to him calling his name.  “Are you OK?  What’s wrong???”  I rolled him over to see a look in his eyes that I didn’t recognize.  His eyes were dark and glazed over.  “Talk to me, what is wrong??”  I had no clue what was going on.

He finally attempted to look at me trying focus his eyes on me and he responded, “The devil is in me and I can’t get him out.”  This froze my soul and sent chills down my spine.  “What do you mean?” I asked again as he continued to writhe on our front yard.  My ex-husband was 6’4″ and was an Airborne Ranger in the Army just so you understand his stature and toughness.

I was petrified as to what was happening.  Was my husband possessed or done something with the occult? No, it was not the devil, it was methamphetamine.  I had no idea my husband was experimenting with meth.  He did a great job dodging me and I was so busy with the baby I didn’t see him much.

Here I was a mom working 50 hours a week and taking care of a small baby alone.  My husband did nothing for the baby and I was literally exhausted and now I was going to have to care for him too.  How Lord?  How can I do this?

I struggled for many years trying to keep my ex-husband sober and away from drugs so my little girl could have a father at home.  I hid so much from her and my family.  I thought divorce would be considered as a failure on my part.  A broken home wouldn’t be good for my daughter.  She needs a mother and father in the home together as a family.

As time went on I became weaker and more defeated by this marriage and situation.  I could hardly take care of myself.  I dragged myself to work and put on a happy face for my daughter and made excuses to her as to why daddy wasn’t home.  Every bone and muscle in my body was ready to give up.

After years of trying to heal my husband of his addictions I decided I could do it no longer.  I called my parents and said, “I have to get a divorce.  I can’t live this life anymore.”  They of course were very supportive and said they would help pay for my attorney  fees.  I only made $19,000 a year and was paying a $1100 mortgage a month  plus all the household expenses since my husband wasn’t fit to work.  I called my attorney the next morning.

I filed the papers for my divorce.  I told my attorney I didn’t want to fight, I just wanted custody of my small daughter.  He could have everything else.  I just needed out.  The papers were filed and served.  I felt a burden start to lift slightly but he stilled lived in our house and wouldn’t move out making life very difficult never knowing when he would come home and in what condition.

A few nights after he was served with the divorce papers he came home after midnight falling down drunk.  My daughter was sleeping in my bed with me.  I ran out of the bedroom as to not wake her and to pour him into bed in another room.  As I tried to help him to bed he kept wrapping his arm around my neck and twisting me around so I couldn’t keep my balance.  My neck hurt and just wanted him to pass out so I could get up in a few hours to get to work and my daughter to school.  She was in first grade.

He continued pulling on my neck and although he wasn’t beating me he was violently jerking me with his drunken movements.  He finally passed out on the guest bed.

I called my parents and attorney the next morning explaining what had happened and my attorney got me in front of a judge immediately for a temporary restraining order and an order to remove him from the house.  In those days if you felt an immediate danger or if the spouse’s behavior was unpredictable due to severe alcohol or drug use you could also get a restraining order.

He was served with the order that day and he went to his mom’s house to stay until the divorce hearing.  That night my phone rang at 1 am.  It was a man I didn’t know on the phone and he stated, “You need to keep your husband away from my wife!”  What?  Do you see anything wrong with this statement?  I responded, “First of all, my young daughter is sound asleep in bed next to me and I am separated from him.  Maybe you should address this with your wife instead of me.” and hung up.

That was it.  I got out of bed, began to cry and said, “God, I know you want me to live a better life than this.  I know you want my daughter to know there is a much better existence out there and I need you Lord.  I need you to take my life and lead me where I need to go.  Please Lord, show me your grace and mercy and allow us to free ourselves of this life!”  I sobbed for what seemed like hours until I could cry no more.

I dragged my worn out body back to bed, cuddled my beautiful daughter and promised her quietly that everything would be fine and God would show us a way.”

After the the divorce was final and I continued to live in this small town struggling to feed my child and keep the lights on I again sobbed to God to give us a better life, a life He had planned for us.  I was so weak and distraught and cried until well after midnight.

I woke a few hours later with the warm sun shining in my eyes.  I sat up in bed and looked at my sweet child still sleeping soundly.  I looked out the window and it was all clear in my mind.  I would quit my job and we would relocate to Dallas where my parents lived.  We could start a brand new life without these struggles.

I nudged my daughter and she slowly woke up.  ” Baby girl, how would you like to move to Texas and be near grandma and grandpa?”  She smiled and said, “Yes mommy I want to move!”  I knew she was small but inside she knew a fresh start would be wonderful.

For years I tried to control my life and my husband as well as his addictions.  I learned that night in surrendering to God that you can’t control other and the sooner I realized that the sooner I could move on.

I walked many years through a tough and cruel life not knowing God or praising God primarily because I had not been taught how to feel God’s love and grace.  God intervened in my life that night to show me He was there for me and that He was open to having me know Him.  These were a very tough thirteen years of marriage but through all of the suffering God blessed me with my daughter.  Without her I would have given up many times and have no idea where or if I would have been here today.

By moving to Texas my daughter has excelled in her life which would have never been possible in Illinois and I met and married the most wonderful man.

If you are struggling right now with something in your life, know there is an answer and God will take you down the right path if you will just surrender everything to Him.  No matter what the problem is, addiction, financial, illness or lack of faith God is there for you.  He only wants us to live a happy and abundant life in His glory.  Hit your knees and pour your heart out.  The answer will become clear.

All my love,  LoLo

You may think that when I titled this blog “What Does Heaven Look Like?” I would be explaining what I visualize heaven to look like when we die.  Well that’s not what I am  going to write about at all but actually the heaven here on earth. The heaven we see as we live each day but may not be observing.

There is a series on TV that is called “One Strange Rock” and it is a documentary about astronauts that have lived in space and what they recognized and realized while in space.  One of the astronaut,  Michael Massimino made a statement that when he was looking down from space and saw the earth he wondered if that was what heaven looked like.

He said, “I thought at one point, if you could be up in heaven, this is how you would see the planet. And then I dwelled on that and said, no, it’s more beautiful than that. This is what heaven must look like. I think of our planet as a paradise. We are very lucky to be here.”  What a powerful observation.  This was my inspiration for this blog.

I feel connected to what he is saying.  I see so much beauty and wonder here on earth that creates a day-to-day heaven for me when I notice it.  Please allow me to tell you about a few of these things.

The most recent recognition of heaven here on earth is my beautiful baby grandson.  I am in such amazement when I look at him.  Although my daughter and son-in-law physically made baby Levi, looking at him I see God’s way of putting heaven here on earth.  Levi’s eyes are so expressive and I can see how deeply he is observing his surroundings.  He will fixate his gaze on me when I talk to him, studying the sounds emanating from my  mouth.  How his little brain is working to process those sounds amazes me.

I can immediately feel Levi’s emotions through his eyes.  They become big and bright when he is happy and deeper in color and smaller when needing attention in some way.  When he is tired his eyelids become so heavy he fights to keep them open hoping not to miss anything.  How can I not see this as heaven?

When I sit on a beach at sunset with a hundred hues of orange, pink and yellow on the horizon as the sun sets. There seems to be no end to the horizon and the colors mindlessly meld one into another. Everyday the sun rises and it sets.  What a miraculous thing to me.  I don’t have to give any thought or effort in making this happen.  God handles this for us and allows me to see heaven in the sunset and the brilliant colors.

When I was greeting at church last weekend, I was touched again with a little bit of heaven.  There was a deaf and mute girl in her early twenties that came to the door I was greeting at and was coming into church.  I tried to make eye contact with her to word, “Good morning” to her but she kept her head down.  She instead came up to me and hugged me, turned and entered our church.  I tear up just thinking about it because she gave to me wanting nothing in return.  She is living in a silent world but hears God and gave me a touch of heaven.  I will never forget this unnamed angel.

When I feel a cool breeze on a hot day giving me relief from the hot sun I look at that as a bit of heaven.  I listen to the breeze as it starts to wind up and progress into a cooling wind.  I am hearing and feeling the breeze.  This happens when the wind blows from the higher pressure over the water to lower pressure over the land causing the breeze.  Another amazement that just happens without anyone’s earthly control.

Other things that I call heaven here on earth are rolling meadows with long, blowing grass, the flicker of a candle flame that mesmerizes me into thoughtless meditation, listening to small children laughing and playing on a playground carefree and innocent as well as my husband’s voice saying good morning as we wake up each morning side by side.

I guess the point I am trying to make is to recognize that we are not living our lives to someday die and be received into heaven but that we are already surrounded by our own earthly heaven.  Appreciate living in this earthly heaven fully as a mortal so when you die and get everlasting life in another heaven you will have lived the best of both lives.  Celebrate our daily heaven now and our future heaven when it is time.

“Heaven on earth is a decision you must make, not a place you must find.” Dr. Wayne Dyer

We may know simply that praying is the easiest way to lift our spirits, connect with God and understand our purpose.  We may have been taught as a child to pray or we may have come upon prayer later in life.  No matter when we learned to pray we know praying is a necessity for a more blessed and happy life.

There are different amounts of prayer said.  Some people pray daily, multiple times throughout the day like I do.  Some save prayer for crisis and then pray fervently.  Others may only connect to God in prayer once or twice a week.  I want to say, any prayer is good and great. Prayer is about quality not quantity.  It is better to pray with your heart than with idle words.

God loves to hear from us.  He doesn’t set parameters on us as to when He will listen and hear our prayers.  He is always listening.  He loves to hear prayers that are sincere and from the heart but also listens when they are cryptic and unclear.  Don’t judge your prayers or how you pray, just pray.

Praying reduces stress, influences your wellbeing and can give you clarity.  When you pray and you allow your mind to offer sincere thoughts and pray for guidance it releases endorphins that are mood elevating.  This makes you feel better and feel better immediately.

Prayer also help deal with day-to-day stresses.  If you are having a difficult time in your day and you proceed to a quiet place to pray your mood with be lifted.  Have a special quiet place you can go to and breathe deeply and pray to our most loving God.  I have several special places that include my bathtub full of warm water, my back patio surrounded by nature and a comfy couch in the upstairs of our house.  These areas all induce calmness for me and are perfect settings for prayer.

If I am in my car when an unpleasant situation arises that could impact my day, I turn off the radio or audio book I am listening to and begin to pray.  This is the only time I pray with my eyes open because of safety reasons.  I speak my prayer in my car out loud.  It used to be that people were confused if they saw you talking to yourself in your car but now with hands free  cell phone use it looks normal.   I also tend to pray for at least ten minutes while I drive or until I get to my destination if less than ten minutes.   For me a ten minute prayer just feels right.  You choose what feels right to you for your prayer.  You can always create an on the spot place for prayer no matter where you may be.

Never procrastinate your prayers.  Never be too busy to pray.  You know our cell phones ring or we receive a text and we feel instantaneously drawn to answer it.  Every mortal person can wait a few minutes for an answer.  God should never have to wait to hear from you.  When I feel the need to thank God and pray, I do so immediately.  Pray is one thing you can do in your head in front of others that can still be private and between you and God.  There have been many times I have heard someone tell a story of tragedy or illness when I will pause, go inside my head and say, “Heavenly Father, please bless these people suffering, send them your healing touch and love.”  This takes thirty seconds and no one knows I have left the conversation to offer prayers to those suffering.

It is also so important to pray for others.  I ask God everyday for prayers for my family, friends and those I will meet during the day.  I also pray for anyone in the world or my community that may be having health issues, financial struggles, relationship problems and any conditions impeding their happiness.  Praying for others strengthens your heart.

Regular praying also reduces our ego.  We live in a society today that is very ego driven and that is constantly putting ourselves before others.  When we pray, we are humbled and we recognize that we don’t have to be number one and that God is number one.  You know the saying, “I am #2” ?  This is very pertinent to becoming humbled and non-egotistical.  Without God being number one, we all are lost.

It has also been proven that your heart benefits from prayer.  It has been shown that heart patients that are recovering from heart surgery and incorporated prayer into their recovery program healed more quickly than patients not practicing prayer.  Prayer also regulates your heart beat as another benefit.

Other benefits of prayer are that we actually make better decisions when we pray.  It is shown too that prayer promotes confidence within us.  Prayer can promote peace and calmness in our lives.   When we are more confident we allow ourselves to be more at ease.

Another amazing benefit of prayer is we are inviting God into our lives to fill us spiritually and with His love.  By becoming close to God we are able to see more clearly our blessings through His love.  When you are comfortable talking to God freely through prayer you find no matter what the situation prayer will automatically flow from you naturally.

Again, it doesn’t matter how you pray but when you pray God opens his heart to allow you to feel and respond to His love leading to a more fulfilled life.

“When Job had everything he prayed.  When he had nothing, he still prayed.” bliss

All my love and gratitude,

LoLo

Our podcast related to this blog

http://gratefulgratitude.libsyn.com/benefits-of-prayer

There will be days that the people you love will be suffering and having difficulty finding peace in their lives.  It is very important that we remain calm to comfort others.

We feel that if our friends or family members have health issues or marital problems that we need to intervene and “solve” all of their problems.  I am here to say, “Step  back, breathe and let God take over.”

As humans we feel the need to correct and control everything.  The sooner we learn that we cannot control others or their situations the better off we will be.  Now me being a mother, wife, daughter, grandmother, board member, friend, business woman, etc I wear many hats. When I have these hats on I always feel like I am in a leadership position and should be problem solving for everyone.  I tend to think my years of experience make me the best person to solve issues and give advice.  My experiences do help but I am not in control.  I do realize that.

I am a better person when I trust that God will handle any problem and I am to remain still and silent.  Let’s  think about it.  Have you ever not had God intervene and take care of you or your loved ones?  I haven’t.  He has always been there for me.

I once had a family member that was suffering terribly with OCD and anxiety.  I was so worried and distraught over the situation.  There was no way I could control the situation because I was not the one suffering.  I was standing by as my family member suffered.

Each day she seemed to get a bit worse.  I didn’t have an understanding of how debilitating this would be for her.  Minutes seemed like hours for her. He mind would never rest.   It broke my heart.

After about five days of watching her struggle, I sat on my back patio and prayed.  “God I don’t understand why we are going through this incredibly dark time but I trust in you.  Please Lord help me to understand and release this to you.”  After praying for quite a bit of time, I looked on Pinterest for quotes regarding God’s grace and mercy.  I must have read and pinned one hundred and fifty pins about remaining faithful during dark times.  Each time I found a pin stating God’s grace I felt a small bit of the worry lift off of me.

I again said, “This is it God, I know you will handle this according to your plan and I trust in You.”  I then went to bed and slept like a baby for the first time in a week.

When I awoke the next morning and was laying in bed before getting up I had a realization.  I had learned from another board member that our local hospital has an outpatient program that deals with all types of mental health issues.  My family member’s condition could be addressed if she would go and get help.  It hit me like a bolt of lightening.  God’s intervention.

I dropped into the center to ask a few questions  and to see if they accepted our health insurance.  Something ironic is that at the beginning of the year my husband’s insurance coverage had changed and we went from having no mental health coverage to full treatment coverage.  A blessing from God.

The people at the center were very kind and helpful.  They asked me to bring my family member back to meet them and to see if she would be open to outpatient treatment.  I was able to get her to the center with her husband and she said she would start treatment in a few days.  As we were pulling away from the center she looked up and said said, “I am going to conquer this!”  Thank you again God!

She began treatment a few days later and it was a very excruciating process.  She had group therapy with others that had some very severe mental issues and it was hard for her to hear all of their problems as well as talk about her own.

She did continue to go several more days and she had access to a very good psychiatrist that prescribed a combination of two medicines that would correct the chemical imbalance her brain was suffering from.

The medication she was given would take three to four weeks to stabilize before she would feel better, maybe longer.  Each day I worried and was so stressed as to what the outcome of this condition would be.  It was a waiting process that required much prayer.

As each day passed, I slowly saw her feel better and smile again.  I guess I should have told you earlier that she was also pregnant at this time so this added to the limited medications that could be used and the strength in which they could be used.  Pregnancy hormones on top of anxiety and OCD was a rough combination.

She was discharged from the center and they recommended a therapist for her to see as well as instructed her to see her regular psychiatrist.  Once again I checked our health insurance benefits and they would pay all of the expenses for the therapist for eight visits and all but $125 for the psychiatrist.

The insurance change was such a blessing and God was guiding the HR director that switched our plan at the beginning of the year  since God knew we would need mental health coverage.  The final bill for the week and a half treatment was almost $9,000 and our insurance paid all but $1400.  Thank you, thank you, thank you God!

I recognized that the moment I turned everything over to God I knew He would give us the answer.  There have been several times in my life I have fully surrendered myself to God and he has taken much better care of me that I could have done myself.

God knows what path he wants us to walk along and for what reasons.   It is not for us to decide or control.

I now sit on a Board of Directors that fundraises and educated the public on mental health issues.  We are currently raising money to train families on how to recognize the symptoms of mental health in others so help can be obtained quickly.  Mental health issues are not just bipolar and schizophrenia, it is substance abuse, postpartum depression, anxiety and many other conditions not normally thought of.

There is no doubt in my mind that God had us walk this dark path to only serve Him and others through mental health awareness.  Although it was a tough time, I am so grateful God took care of us and allowed us to grow even closer with Him.  May our journey and service help many people get the help they need and help understand they are not alone.  We are all in this together.   love, peace and gratitude

Jesus relied, ” You don’t understand what I am doing now but someday you will.”  John  13:7

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=91UIZPZDaes&feature=youtu.be