There's a reason for your season

There's a logic in the universe and nothing can be done to reverse it. The natural way of things is to progress and to get to the next season; there's always a progression and there's always a next season.

But we, the adults, are so busy with just making life happen - holding on to the job, pressing on that career, taking care of our families, volunteering in the community - so we become too tired to make sense of what's happening in our lives.

And when we finally have some time, we make 'pity phone calls', we organize 'pity dinners' or we even throw 'pity parties' -  this is our recreation time: to complain and talk about what is wrong in our lives. Complaining has become such a socially accepted behavior that no one seems to bother to analyze and realize what complaining ever accomplished, how many golden medals it won and how many genius ideas it inspired.

But likely for us, it takes the life out of us to finally understand that complaining has never brought any good results. Complaining only instantly dismisses the blessings of your life. Complaining only looks at what you are lacking and describes you as a failure.

And you simply can't start with the negative and hope for the positive (result).

We forget that we are not all grown, but we are growing. We forget that it is not about the destiny, but about the journey. When we finally reach that goal that we have worked for, it is funny how quickly we become obsessed with the next goal and we never ever take time to be content with what we have. We are not enjoying our season, but always hunting for something that's too far to reach right now.

But just by passing through life like everyone else, I have realized that life comes in seasons. We are all at different seasons in life. It is funny, but when we hang out with people, we are instantly and unconsciously  drawn to compare our life with theirs. We sometimes want to be in their seasons and have what they have. It is funny but we never want the whole package, only those accomplishments that are sparkling trendy or hot. We surprise ourselves wanting her husband and her career, her shoes and maybe her bag.

But comparing your season with your friends' season you robbing yourself of the season you are in. By not appreciating the season you are in, you disqualify it and you annihilate it. You are only robbing yourself of the blessings that your season might bring.

You need to be where you are. You need to appreciate the season you are in. Focusing on your here will get you to your there. Doing the work that God trusted you with right now will open the door for the work that God has in store for you tomorrow. I don't know if God will give you tomorrow what you are praying for today, but I know that God will bless the great work you are doing now. He might now give you the same he gave to your friend. God has a great, creative mind and loves blessing each child of Him individually, He will bless you in a personal way that will set you apart from all the rest of the crowd. He will bless you according to the good plans that He had in mind your YOU. So stop expecting God to perform the same miracles that He did for your friend; instead, be obedient where you are and open to God's unique blessing for YOU. There's not a question of IF but there's only a matter of WHEN.

The most important think I have learnt in my life is to enjoy and make the best of my season. There was a time when I thought that my calling was to live in 'this' beautiful, scenic country and therefore I made every effort to accomplish my dream. I made the mistake of thinking that if God gave me the vision and the heart for this dream, then it was my responsibility to make it happen. Needless to say, it did not work. Every strategy I took collapsed and I failed on every level. Then I did the only thing that was left: I surrendered to God, I prayed and acknowledged my failure and asked for His intervention at His perfect time. I finally understood that it was not the season to get my dream. So I gave it up and prayed God for opening a door that I might walk in. ANY door He fancied. The Holy Spirit led me to the British land  where I spent the best four years of my life. Looking back, I know that those where the best years of my life, but back there, I tended to complain like everyone else did: it was hard to get integrated into a country I did not know, it was hard to go back to school and do it all by myself, it was hard to work ten hours/day and commute another two. It was hard!! But when I understood that I had been granted a British season, I worked hard on it. It was hard to depend on God for everything, I had to learn to be wise with my resources, I had to learn to be responsible and focused on my school and then on my job. But step after step, God provided and blessed me even more, with a graduation paper and a job and then a better job. I grew like a fig tree by the water in that soil and environment and I recognized the season I was in and the blessings I was experiencing. That was my training for the season to come.

After all that training, God has finally granted me the things I have prayed for years. And I am happy and I have understood even more the importance of enjoying every season and making the best of it. Your next season depends on what you are doing right now in this season. Just because I chose God's way and surrendered my dream and took the door that was opening in front of me, I honored God by trusting Him with my dream. Four years later, right now, I am living in that country I was dreaming of, I have the husband I prayed for and I am in another season. The country and man that God gave me are much better than I could ever choose by myself. And also, there's a peace and an assurance knowing that it all came from God...cause when God gives you something, it is for eternity and not for a moment.

There's a reason in your season. Look for God's presence and He will tell you what to do. Do not feed your emotions but turn your emotions into prayers and pour them to God -tell God your fears about tomorrow, He will reveal to you the good intentions and plans that He already had prepared for you.  The big bright future that's for you starts with today: working hard on what you were entrusted with right now, meeting the needs around you.

As God says:

1 You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. 2 You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him. 3 That's right - you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set. 4 You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it.   
 164 Seven times each day I stop and shout praises for the way you keep everything running right. 165 For those who love what you reveal, everything fits - no stumbling around in the dark for them. 166 I wait expectantly for your salvation; God, I do what you tell me.   (MSG Psalm 119)

My welcome to America

So, America finally welcomed me.

For all of you who are American you must understand that I have lived most of my life on the old continent and I found myself exuberantly excited waiting for my USA visa to be processed. And when it happened, the process of crossing the Atlantic was rather quick so I did not have time to prepare and practice  my 'repatriation'. All my 'training' (into the USA concept) was media and Google branded mostly.  My husband was the American I knew and I loved him to bits - so I planned to do the same about his country.

Boarding the American Airlines plane was rather pleasant and to my delight, I even got a window seat. The guy sitting next to me was a high schooler who was just returning home from a school trip to England; he was chatting with the guys about the nostalgic feeling of leaving behind the jolly land, and I therefore liked him as I identified myself with him... England and London in particular have been an amazing blessing into my life; almost four years they have nurtured and entertained me, enabled me to find build special friendship that must forever last. But voila, it was time for new discoveries and, most important, it was time to be with my soul mate!

So,the flight over the Atlantic was uneventful (which is always a good thing when travelling) and, lacking any interest in reading or watching movies, I found myself counting the number of sodas and cookies that people around me consumed. Counting is always a distinguished hobby in itself, but for me it was quite amazing to conclude that no person around me had any drop of water during the whole flight, but soda, and especially Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper and Ginger Ale. I did stay firm in my beliefs and only had water and tea (with one milk, no sugar please) of course.

Landing in Dallas, the procedure was standard, except the amount of time which the queue took until we went through security. But I felt lucky to have been able to catch my next flight even if the three hours queue wait left me completely dehydrated, so therefore highly irritated. My nonstop prayers worked though so I was able to resist my body (to the urge to faint) and I could even made it to the next gate.

Not long after that, I was walking on the American land, breathing the American air and eating the American food. I did not mind the first two at all, and the last seemed quite fun in the beginning. Until I went to  the supermarket and started to read the labels - then I have realized that it must be quite a fashion here to have long lists of ingredients. I personally did not understand why yoghurt or bread must be made from all these ten to thirty different ingredients; when yoghurt is basically milk; and bread is basically wheat (my mom used to make yoghurt and bread when we were kids and she used only the basic ingredients that we could always recognize and pronounce).

But this is the land of the American dream, so food here must be different too.
Shopping for food is like shooting for a moose: you find food and moose everywhere here (Alaska) but you rather want to make sure that you know what you're getting yourself into...Or what you're getting into yourself (or into your body - for more clarification). Aiming at avoiding GMOs, artificial additives and colorants at all costs, looking for the natural and most unrefined product is hard word and sometimes makes you feel so restricted. But this only makes it more clear and evident that what's best about this American land it's the American people.

I have never (ever) met more joyful, more relaxed and more welcoming  people(note: British and Canadians are all of these, but there's no excessive manifestation of emotion with them). We have all impacted by the charm of the American people in Europe and we have all been inspired by their oratorical skills. These are the people of the new land that for many years monopolized the world with the power of their speech and with their enthusiastic actions. Of course that the world always change over time, but for me, I'll always appreciate the non-tiring fight that America led for enabling other smaller countries and far away people to get their freedom and live up to their abilities.

Now of course that the country of yesterday is not the country of today, but my husband is the best evidence to me that the American spirit is alive and as honest and as powerful as it has always been.

It is merely a matter of choice I believe. It is trendy to criticize and find faults in the American land nowadays, but when there's a will for the better, there's always a way for the better. I am personally thankful to God for my American family and for all the benefits that come with living in such a great country. Every country has its own battles but we must never forget that it is the people who make the country; and each nation must and can write their own destiny.

So, I'm happily becoming American I guess.

Kick start your life again!

The last month has been one of the best months of my life - but it also felt quite intense: traveling a lot and staying with friends and family; not really having a routine of my own but trying to relax and enjoy discovering new places and faces. It was fun but this last week had brought me to actually North Pole, which is not only very north and remote, but where actually I need to start my life all over again.  Being in a new country (recently married and relocated to my husband's), with nothing to do and not knowing anyone, I felt with no purpose at all. I started my days with a nothing agenda and I ended up my days with a nothing agenda. My sole purpose was to drag myself all through the day like a convalescent. Slowly but firmly, I started to believe I had reasons to pity myself and the result was that I complained so much that my husband pitied me and got concerned. My mind was going crazy!

But two days ago I told myself this needs to stop. I had to stop wasting my time by doing nothing and finding fault in this blessings I'm walking (happily married to the best man in the world, living in beautiful Alaska). My mind was wasting the blessings that I had received from God. I told myself that true, I got no agenda, no connections, a full time working husband but  I had myself and I had God and a truck I was been trying to learn how to drive. I decided to start with the small things. The small things are safe things - you can only get wrong here if you want to get wrong.
So, the next morning, I woke up early in the morning.  My body recognized the first signs of waking up and rushed into responding to them: by making me wake up even more. My body was expentantly reacting to my mind. I washed my face and started coffee. As I did want so badly that day to start well, I decided to get some external stimuli that would pump me up for the day. So, I read a devotional, listened to inspirational music and prayed in my spirit for a definite start. Doing so, my mind got infused by the Holy Spirit and understood that the new day was the blessing in itself - but a  blessing needs to be redeemed in order to leave you blessed (like the present that needs to be open so you can enjoy it). So, hearing God's good promises for me, feeding myself with positive thoughts allowed myself to develop a positive expectation about the day. My positive mind then took over my still sleepy body and made me HURRY to get out for a fresh start! I made it out of the flat.

You need to understand that I did not have to get out of bed. I did not have to work. I don't have to work. I did not have to drive my husband to work. He could drive himself. But I wanted to do something (anything for a start)!!!

Then I drove to the gym and seeing all those people working out made me realize that I could work out too. Get yourself where there is competition (even if passive, no one cared about me as I did not know anyone) and you will get competitive. I jogged and did weight training and all that and I was feeling happy, capable, motivated and inspired to actually do something - to even contribute to the formation of sweat. Physical activity results in endorphins, which brings joy and a sense of contentment. So, all gooood!

I therefore felt better, felt valuable, felt irreplaceable and I felt strong. I started to make a plan with things I will want to do - things that I have always wanted to do but never had the time for them. I was starting to appreciate what I had and used it to get what I wanted.

Meditating on this rapid change of mind right now (today is my second day of me getting out of bed), it makes it clear to me that a good start brings a good day. A good day turns into a good routine, which in the long run will work on making a good life. My good life.

But of course there's always a choice to be made and a decision to take .But it is incredible how quickly it gets for the physical actions to respond to the nervous stimuli. It takes seconds!! You speak to your mind the positive thought and tell your mind there's a purpose in this new day; then the mind in itself is trying to create purpose by making neurological connections and creating strategies and agendas. The abstract strategies have the power of the brain in themselves -which means they want to create something too - so they start mobilizing the body to actually get the agenda done.  And it all started with a decision and a positive mind.

It is funny how so many people look at their body and then try to align their brain and mind to respond to the body. But a lazy body creates a lazy mind. No wonder there are people that never move on. But respecting the hierarchy (spirit-brain-body) one can get from the Spirit the purpose of God (full of life, purpose and goodness) which makes your brain want to create that purpose. The body in itself only submits to its authority by mechanically making it possible.

I have therefore promised myself to always start my days right. To start it with God and get from Him power, inspiration and motivation for the day. It is hard to start things right. It is hard cause it means you need to be organized, structural and focused.  And we all want just to be lazy sometimes; we all want the reaping season without working into the planting season. But there is no such thing!! And because it is so hard to get distracted/lazy, I always need to remind my mind about the heart of God and the majestic promises that He has in store for me. I need to remind myself constantly that I was created to succeed and to be blessed.

And with every day that passes by, the more I listen to my mind which proclaims God's promises, the more things my mind will prepare for me to walk in. After so many experiences with God, I understood that there are always beginnings and there are always reasons to feel afraid. But we need to hold on to what we know; and what I know more than anything else is that God will always provide and redeem and reinvent your story again.

But you need to start it right! Here is the order:

Set up the alarm clock. Get out of the bed when it rings.
Let your Spirit inspired by God (read your Bible, read a devotional, listen to inspirational music) - worship God in your Spirit by declaring His might and power and goodness over your life.
Believe in your spirit that all God is is what God wants you to have.
Tell your mind God's resources are for your empowerment.
Tell your mind this again; and all over again until it starts believing it.
Let your body react to the revived spirit. Listen to what your mind tells you to do. Do it (Use your limbs to assemble the things that God motivated you to do)!
And ALWAYS speak truth to your mind (your truth can only be God's truth).

Do this every day and see what happens!
And now, get ready to kick up your day!
God will bless you!

Hi and welcome to my blog!

So, if you're wondering who's the person behind the screen, I must say that I'm lady who loves achievements more than anything else. For me, life is about expanding. About results. About living your dreams. And all the time I'll be fighting for these spectacular results I act normal (biting my lips, sobbing on my pillow, pitying myself occasionally but regularly -oh, no, I have confessed!!!) even if there are lots of emotions that threaten me with their tears effects. But I am not convinced by how my human nature is trying to trick me into giving up. I know that our humanly limitations are just yearning for our soul and spirit to come before the One Resource: the one that can qualify the unqualifiable, to the One that infuses into us power and wisdom and blesses that renew every morning. The One God.

 From my personal experience and from the experiences of others, I know that you can have a fruitful life. A life that reaches out to the unreachable. A life which is contagious. A life that inspires and builds. A life that glows. So the purpose of the blog will be to inspire. I am passionate about helping people reach their potential. And even more, I am passionate about helping people reaching a potential that there are not even (yet) blessed with - a potential that comes from the Lord, that is divine and perfect and that surpasses any men' explanation or reason.

The title of my blog reflects just that: aiming for a life that is intentionally (purposefully) glowing.
Have you ever met people that are (always!!!)  glowing? People that you find yourself envying even from your first encounter with them? These are people that you want to be like...Balanced people that manage their life well, that get their strength from a source that seems not to ever dry out...People that are stable in their ways and wise in their approach and most of it, successful in everything they do (and they not even seem like they are trying to be successful). Wisdom, happiness and success just happen to them because of who they are and not merely because of what they do.

To get to that inner formula that kicks you into a fulfilled life I believe you need to find peace with yourself and this peace that never fades away -it is the peace that comes from the Creator of peace. God almighty created us for a good purpose and we need to rest in His presence before we want to start with our 'to do/to achive' list.

I will therefore try to keep yourself rooted into the source of our blessings. I will also try to inspire you to get more out of your life: revolutionize your looks, revolutionize your health, revolutionize and accomplish your dreams! When we fix our roots in the God of Glory, He indeed seals us for victory and glory. We ARE glowing (continuous action, does not stop sometimes!!) not because we just met Mr/Ms Right and life seems great at the moment (circumstantial joy), but  because we were created to be children of light (light glows!!) we were created to glow, to overcome our limitations and to embrace the impossible dreams that will become our life.

So, welcome aboard!:)