by desing | Faith & Purpose
It can be difficult to believe for a breakthrough in the midst of hard times. All you can see in front of you is the current trial and trying to believe that your triumph is right around the corner can be beyond difficult.
However, I realized that how we choose to live is a choice. How you choose to operate in this life is a choice. You can operate out of fear, worry, doubt or you can operate out of victory. When you operate out of fear, worry and doubt you may tend to try to control the situation but when you choose to operate out of victory you can relinquish control in peace.
You were not called to live in turmoil within yourself. You were called to have a peace of mind and peace in your hearts. Peace should always provoke your thoughts and actions. If you don’t have peace about it, then don’t do it.
When you begin thinking about your current challenges, you can decide if the way you’re thinking about it is from a place of peace and victory or a place of fear and control. When you’re about to make a decision concerning your circumstance, is that motive for that decision rooted in victory or defeat?
We’ve been conditioned to be pretty lazy in our thinking and coping skills. It’s so easy to allow any sort of thought or emotion to fester in our hearts but you have the power to decide otherwise. Peace must be the umpire of your thoughts and your decisions.
Look at all of your current trials from a place of victory. Take the time to meditate on everything working in your favor. Believe that this test of faith is simply something that’s going to make you better and perhaps even help you help someone else one day. It’s time to believe past what you can see and keep your eyes glued on the finish line which is your victory.
Once you begin to keep your eyes on the victory, you will begin to operate out of that victory daily. There will be a change in your focus, a change in your emotions, a change in your mindset, a change in the words that you speak. You will find yourself talking about your problem less because you will be too focused on your victory.
Instead of talking to anyone who will hear you about your problems, talk to yourself about your victory. You can choose to believe that you will be victorious or you can choose to believe that you will fail and the worst will happen. I’ve said this before – what you choose to believe is a choice.
You don’t need anyone else to believe what you believe. You don’t need everyone to be on your same page because you have to learn to be strong and grow in your individual faith. You cannot operate out of the faith of someone else, you have to grow, come up higher and believe for yourself.
When you focus on your victory, you will have peace. Turmoil, worry, impatience, lack of trust, fear and doubt bring about a lack of peace. If you truly want to experience peace in your life, then it’s time to believe that your battle is already won and operate from that victory in your mind, soul and spirit.
Identify with victory and God who has already provided you with the victory. You don’t have to “obtain” your victory, all you have to do is maintain the victory that God has already won for you – remember that 🙂
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy
by desing | Faith & Purpose
Don’t you just wish that you could have everything that you want when you want it? If only life were that simple, right?
Often, when you want to experience a victory or growth in your life it will require some sort of sacrifice on your end. We live life on levels but arrive in stages.
Unfortunately, you cannot have it all when you’re on your journey of success and realizing your dreams. A few months ago, I was talking to someone who had recently discussed their frustration with their living situation. We discussed the options for this person moving into a new apartment. We talked about the importance of saving money and being diligent during this time in order to get out of their current circumstances.
To my surprise, that same person recently tells me that they’re going on a vacation to a Caribbean island soon.
I thought to myself, “Hmm. Does this person really want to experience change in their lives. Priorities are definitely out of order.”
Jim Rohn has this quote. “People will plan a vacation better than they plan their lives. I guess escape is easier than change.”
If there is something that you want to do then you have to commit to making sure it happens. Life is a series of choices and if you want a better life then it’s time to make better choices. You may desire making the transition from employee to entrepreneur. Well, you will need some sort of financial cushion to do so which means you have to forgo those European vacations.
You may desire to work on your relationship with your spouse; well hanging out with your girlfriends every weekend instead of spending time with him is contradictory to your goals. What if you want to pay off your debt? Well, you may want to start packing lunch and skip the “I just got paid”’ shopping ritual.
The point is that you want to be clear on your priorities and all your decisions must be in line with those priorities. Start to pay attention to the decisions that you’ve been making, do those decisions mirror your priorities?
I suggest that you write down your top five priorities for this season in your life as priorities change as seasons change. Your may have a priority of focusing on work because there is a raise or promotion that you want or you may have been missing in action from loved ones only focused on your career and now you want to shift gears a bit.
Your priorities determine how you spend your time, attention and your money. If your priority is to finish writing your book then you may want to spend less time on social media distracted by what others are doing.
Doing “what you have to do” only lasts for a season of discomfort so that you can live a life where you are “doing what you want to.” Your life can look totally different in ONE year but you have to be willing to do the work now. I encourage you to make sure your life is in alignment with your priorities and if it isn’t it’s time to fix it.
Stay tuned for more details coming later this week! Until then, keep embracing your legacy!
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy
by desing | Classes, Faith & Purpose, Services, Tools
“A dream without goals will remain a dream.”
“Having no goals is like getting dressed up with no where to go.”
I love researching and learning about the strategies, habits, resources and tools of people who have managed to achieve their dreams. In my research, I’ve witnessed several common denominators and one of those is that all successful people are goal-driven and goal-oriented. These goals will essentially shape the actions that you’ll take in order to achieve your success.
Success is not something that you chase after, it’s something that you’ll begin to attract by the person you become. The person you become is consistent of your routine, character, habits, words you speak, actions and will shape your destiny.
There was a study done at Virginia Tech University in which students were asked whether or not they had goals. Most of the students said that they didn’t have goals, another group said that they did have goals but never really revisited them and then a very small group said that they had goals, written-down which were they reviewed often. The last group all went on to become millionaires – do you think that’s a coincidence?
We all want to become successful and you are to measure your own success. The world shows us one version of success, but true success is achieving a worthy goal. Success for you may be starting that non-profit empowering teen goals, success for another may be launching a tech company, success for another may be getting completely out of debt and buying a house. Whatever it is, I want you to understand that it’s possible!
That vision that you desire to manifest is one that only you can achieve, that’s why it was placed in your heart in the first place. I cannot achieve your vision for you but I can use what I’ve learned to help you realize that dream. I’ve managed to accomplish authoring my book, Take the Limits Off Your Legacy and getting it published, executive producing web series & launching teen empowerment programs like our Made to Succeed Academy because I am extremely goal-oriented!
Your goals are not something that you set at the beginning of each year and go back to business as usual. There are methods that you have to apply in order to help you actually accomplish your goals. There are resources and strategies that are available for you to win but you have to be willing to the work.
You are going to walk away from this class learning the following:
- Strategies to help you achieve your goals (One-by-One Method, Cause & Effect Strategy)
- The Do’s of creating an effective vision board and the power of attaching images to your vision
- Embracing the right mindset to help you achieve your goals
- Clarity in your motivation for your goals
- Sources of inspiration that your goals will bring
- The benefits of being goal-driven
- How to make your goal SMART definitive statements
- How to develop action steps to help you achieve your goals on a weekly basis
- A framework to guide you on how to work at your goals daily
- The effectiveness of written goals
- How to stay motivated in achieving your goals
Your season of victory is not years away, it’s NOW if you would be willing to apply the discipline that’s needed to help you manifest your vision. Next year at this time, your life can look totally different and the choice is yours. Our lives are a composition of the choices that we make, in order to experience a better life then it will require you to make better choices.
You may hate the job that you are currently at, you may be struggling with debt, you may be yearning to launch that women’s conference or start that business or write your book – whatever it is, I want you to know that the beginning of you manifesting your vision will start with a decision and with a goal. It’s time to take the potential that lives inside of you from an existing possibility to a reality!
Take a moment to meditate on you realizing your dream. What does it look like to you? What does it feel like?
Well, it’s time to make it happen!
I look forward to empowering you with the tools to help you master your goal-getting and manifest your vision! So what are you waiting for girl? Download the class below!
Please note that all sales are final.
Download Now!
by desing | Faith & Purpose
You ever had something fantastic happen to you when you were not expecting it? Or better yet receive a surprise gift from someone that was absolutely incredible? Or have you received some great news out of the blue?
I absolutely love those moments! Those moments can be as little as having your boss tell you that you can leave early or as big as receiving a surprise call telling you that you will receive an unexpected $8,000 check in the mail. I have had both of these happen to me and I am now starting to understand that all of the good things that have happen to me are a result of God’s grace.
Our society tells us that in order to “get” something in this life then you have to “do” something because nothing in life is free. This type of thinking can influence how we manage our relationships and most importantly, our relationship with God. Oftentimes we think that we have to “do” something in order to “get” God to respond but that is not how He works. We are fooled to believe that we have to have good behavior and do everything well before we can receive God’s goodness.
I am here to tell you that those are all lies.
God’s goodness stems from His grace and His grace is His unmerited favor. This means that you cannot earn it or purchase it out of your own merit because it’s a free gift that has been given to you. You do not have to do anything to earn God’s goodness; it has already been given to you but it up to you to receive it.
Someone told me that the opposite of fear is actually love. When you become settled in the fact that God loves you and He does not extend His grace according to what you do but out of His love for you then you will begin to expect His goodness and the lying voices of fear will begin to dissipate.
God’s grace covers all the mistakes you have made and will continue to make as you are human and none of us are perfect. In addition, God’s grace will provide all that you need if you learn to rely on it, trust for it and expect it in your daily life. I believe that a huge weight will be lifted off of your shoulders once you begin to operate out of God’s grace for you instead of trying to do it all alone, all of the time while always trying to figure it out.
When you start to depend on His grace, you will find yourself receiving His favor. Society tells us to “do” so that we can “get”, God tells us to simply “trust” so we can receive. There is a difference between getting something and receiving something. To receive means to be given or presented with, to get means to cause to be in one’s possession.
Trying to “get” something done can be exhausting but when you know that you are going to “receive” something then you can be at peace knowing that it will come to you. The grace of God will bring you the right relationships with the right people at the right time. The grace of God will open the door to an opportunity that you were not even qualified for but called for. The grace of God will get you the right table at a crowded restaurant; the grace of God will bring you a 20% discount at the checkout line or the raise that you have been hoping for!
I want you to start to expect God’s grace and embrace it. Instead of trying to “get” something to happen in your life, begin to trust in God’s grace and love for you. Trust that everything is working out for your good, trust that all your needs will be met, trust that you will achieve your dreams and hope for God’s best for you, your family and your future.
Rest in God’s grace for you.
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy
by desing | Faith & Purpose
You’ve probably heard me say that you can have courage or you can have comfort but oftentimes you cannot have both – and boy am I realizing how true (and even scary) that can be.
When I started this journey of pursuing my dreams years ago, I never knew that it would cost me as much as it has. Like most of us, I believed that my journey would be easy, breezy and that I would always get what I wanted and desired. If you’ve been on your journey of success for some time now, then you may have even thought like that before and quickly have realized that that is far from truth.
Our journey of success will be met with opposition, fears, challenges and uncomfortable seasons – all of which we may not have expected. But all of these are an essential part of your journey because they are your training grounds to empower you to fully fulfill your purpose and to prepare you for the next season in your life. There is never going to be a point in this life where you “arrive,” you are always going to have to grow in your character, mind and capacity until the day that you breathe your last breath.
What I am learning is that sometimes you have to choose to be courageous and deny yourself of the comfort that you are used to in order to really experience your greatest potential and what God has for you. I believe that there are circumstances in which we may be stripped of things that we find our comfort in so that God can come in and show us to find our comfort, trust, identity, acceptance, approval and sense of belonging in Him and Him alone.
We give people, job titles, relationships, financial security and other fickle matters too much power over us to the point where they may be holding us captive from experiencing the life of victory that we yearn for. Sometimes we simply have to let go of what is familiar or comfortable and choose courage to walk through a season where our whole trust is in God to lead and guide us through to our victory.
But there is another player who will keep us in that place of comfort and his name is fear. Fear is a culprit that will plague our thoughts of the future and the unknown. Fear will tell you that you are crazy, that you could never go through life without (insert the person, job, relationship, financial status or whatever has been holding you back here). As a result you can become paralyzed by that fear and you choose to remain in a place that you know you should be courageously walking away from and trusting that God will take care of you and all of your needs. Those needs may be financial, emotional or physical and you have to learn that you can trust Him for all of those needs.
God LOVES to be trusted and when He knows that He is, that is when He shows up and shows out!
In order to experience God’s best for you; you may have to go through some seasons that are uncomfortable. Just because something you are going through is uncomfortable does not mean that it is not best for you. What you believe is a choice. So you can choose to believe that choosing courage over comfort will lead you into your victory or you can choose to believe the fears that are lying to you.
I never teach from something that I have not experienced, that is not my style so if I am telling you this, it’s because something in my heart is guiding me to empower you through this and maybe even be the message that you have been waiting to hear.
Therefore, I want you to think about it. Is there something comfortable or familiar in your life that you have to let go of? Is there a fear that has been holding you back from experiencing your true destiny? Is there something that you have to maybe give of yourself as a sacrifice for someone else’s need? Is there someone that you have to forgive? Is there a habit you need to break?
If anything comes to your mind then I want you to boldly choose courage over comfort. Of course it will not be easy and those lying thoughts will creep back in but you have to believe that this “uncomfortable thing” that you are doing is what is best for you and your destiny. When those thoughts come to you then speak out loud to those thoughts and say this “I will not fear because God is with me, I will not believe those lies and I will focus on thoughts that are good, praiseworthy and true.”
As a continuation of facing your fears, I will be hosting a FREE teleclass on Facing Your Fears & Defeating Your Giants on Wed. July 22nd at 8pm ET. If you want to learn more about the class or to register then check it out here.
Thank you for allowing me to speak life over you, remember that you are victorious, courageous, bold and powerful!
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy
