Back in July 2014, our family went on vacation to Florida. During that time, thanks to my brother's generous invite, I got to stay a night in the most luxurious penthouse I have ever been in during my lifetime. I felt like I had just stepped into a special "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" elite club that only certain ones could afford. Little did I know, that my one night stay would start a journey for me. Here's the view from one of the four balconies at the penthouse we stayed in.
And so it began...
I came back home with the attitude that I had not reached by full potential in life yet. As far as my career was concerned, I felt I had reached by goals. I earned a Master's degree years ago, became a licensed professional counselor, and pursued additional trainings too. However, true success in my mind was not going to come until I had "made it" financially. After all, I live in America, and there was no excuse why I couldn't reach the same level of financial success that others have reached. I became focused on coming up with a business idea, spending hours on the internet, and praying hard that I would come up with the right idea to help me reach my full potential. I prayed prayers such as this, "God, I feel you taking me to the next level. I know you have bigger plans for me in my life, and I'm asking for you to help me with a business idea to bring me to that level." I would also assure God that I would take the success that He blessed me with and use it to bless others. I prayed this throughout the next few months, but I was becoming frustrated that I kept coming to a dead end street.
During all this, I bought a small marker board to place on my bathroom countertop, so that I could put motivational quotes on it pertaining to success. During my journey, here's one of the quotes I had on the marker board at one time.
After months of pursuing this journey to "success," I woke up one morning to my alarm going off with an incredible strong, overpowering "voice" in my head. I really do feel that it was God speaking to me because I was awakened by my alarm, and I have never had anything come to me so strong and precise from just waking up out of a deep sleep. The message was this... "Take your mind off financial success and just focus on what you can do to bless others." Well, that was an eye opener for me, because I had become so focused on achieving financial success. Especially since I had believed the prosperity message that I had heard many times. I just knew that God wanted to bless me, and I knew that part of his blessings included financial success. Although, there is nothing wrong with financial success, God was pointing out to me that my focus on it was wrong. From that day forward, I totally changed my mindset. I then began praying, "Lord, take me to the next level. Use me as a vessel to bless others. Show me, Lord, what you want me to do." Anyway, I am loving the joy and fulfillment that I'm experiencing from it right now. I will continue to pray and ask for God's guidance on what to do next and how he can direct me to bless others. So, this leads me to my final thought... Define success. What does success mean to you? As for me, I thank God that he took me on a different journey than where I was going. My prayer now is this... "Thank you, God, for this amazing journey. Use me. Work through me, God. Help me be Your vessel. Help me show others what God's love is all about."
