RELEASE AND RECEIVE
Control yourself. Alter your thoughts. Delete negativity. Let go of all of the things that no longer server you and release the need to control. Easier said than done right?!
God’s Got This Zippered Pouch - Coming soon to the shop! Sometimes it’s nice to have that little reminder front and center that God’s got this so just live in the now and stop worrying.
Okay real talk... who else is a self proclaimed control freak that has a hard time with letting go of the need to know?! I am the first to admit that I AM A CONTROL FREAK. There. I said it. Now, I am generally really laid back especially when I am dealing with other people. I like to assess the situation and take in all the variables before I make any rash decisions. But when it comes to planning my life and getting things in order - I am 100% a control freak.
What do I mean by that?! I have a need to know. I like to know what to expect. What is coming, what do I need to prepare for. I get really anxious when I don’t know what to expect. If I don’t have a list or some plans or at least a general idea of what is going on in any situation - you better believe I am stressing! Please tell me I am not the only one! This last year in general has made us all question what is coming. 2020 just barely got started and then BOOM the rug got pulled from under us with the “pandemic”. If it taught us anything it is that we don’t have control and we cannot be in control all the time - no matter how hard we try.
My world in general in the last two years has been flipped upside down from divorce, family moving in, a little thing called a pandemic that shut the world down, in between with my job etc. and I feel like it is finally getting back on track and getting ready to take off in a good way, in the direction that I have been working towards- exciting but also makes me very anxious because I don’t know what direction will be the one that takes off. When I get stressed I typically in the past would freeze up. I have been trying to push past that - working out more, praying, listening to some scripture and pastors - I recently came across Pastor Steven Furtick and I turned on his podcast this morning and I swear it was just the message I needed to hear.
You may think I am crazy but I totally believe in seeing signs. I have been trying to let go of my need to plan everything and trust and believe that my hard work is paying off and believe in God and his timing but MAN that is hard to do sometimes. Anyway, back to the signs, I have been seeing the letter R literally everywhere - sounds super strange and y’all probably think I am nuts but for some reason this stood out to me - I was trying to figure out what this meant and today I turn on the podcast and Pasteur Steven says “You need to RELEASE to be able to RECEIVE your blessings”. He went on to specifically call out that “it sounds cool because he made it all start with the letter R” - my ears literally perked up. I felt like that was a sign I need to release to receive.
If you get the chance to listen to this sermon, I highly recommend it. it is amazing and has so much great content. Here are some of the highlights that stood out to me and helped me to shift my focus this week about letting go and releasing to be able to move on. (Note: these phrases are summarized from his sermon not word for word!)
Letting go is one of the hardest things we can do because we have to let go of what is familiar to us and have faith that what is not yet known to us is better than what we had.
When you are holding onto the past, you can’t reach what is in front of you.
When we are meant to grow God takes away the balance from the outside so we have to find balance within us
It is not the amount of weight you are carrying - God never gives us more than we can handle - It is HOW we are carrying it - we need to loosen our grip on everything to be able to carry the load
God shakes things up to create a new baseline. We must look FORWARD to normal not look back on an old normal - just because it is familiar does not mean that it is normal.
We have to let go to move on. We need to release the need to know what is coming and live in faith that the best is yet to come. I try my best everyday to start with affirmations, prayer, meditation and listen to something faith based with the goal of setting my mindset on the right path for the day. I also workout to wake myself up and take that time for me to clear my head and get ready for the day. One of the things that I love about beachbody is that they focus on your mindset and personal development almost more than the physical working out and nutrition. Your mind will tell you you cant do something before your body will actually need to stop. If you can push though your thoughts telling you you cant do something, you’re too weak etc. you CAN do it and you WILL do it. Start your day with a workout and use that as a metaphore for your day and your life. You CAN do hard things and when you get through that and defeat your self limiting beliefs and thoughts by changing the script and conquering mind over body - you will be unstoppable. When you RELEASE this bad habits and open yourself up to receive the messages and the positivity - you will be amazed at how your life can change.
One of my favorite parts of Pastor Steven’s sermon is below and that is what I will close with. “ Certain changes are not embraced - they must be forced. If you want your muscles to grow - you cant nicely ask them to grow you have to force them to grow. You have to bring them to the point of failure so they can grow back stronger.” - in working out FAILURE is a GOOD THING. Sometimes things must be forced to the point of failure so that we can embrace and receive the new things in our life and build them up even stronger. I am thankful everyday for the experiences that broke me down and brought me to Beachbody that helped me refocus and build myself back up even better than I can imagine. Building yourself back up starts from the inside out with mindset, positivity, stillness, taking time to rest and refocus and most importantly releasing what we cannot control including the past. Be present. Build healthy habits and surround yourself with positivity.
I hope that these sayings and my story help you to relate and know that you are not alone! We all try to grip too hard sometimes to what we know. Who is ready to release their grip on the past, the negativity and the old mindset so we can accept God’s new baseline and build ourselves even stronger and more balanced than we were before? If you want to learn more about joining me and my team for coaching, trying out some of my workouts or if you just want to see what my team is all about shoot me a message or fill out the form here! I would LOVE to chat :)