Move!

This is an area that I have struggled with most of my life, my weight/health.  I enjoy the benefits of looking good and being healthy just like most people, but I struggle with staying with a healthy regimen.

I use my busy schedule as an excuse, (ok I admit it) to not exercise when I know that it will help me reap the benefits that I long for.  So why can’t I get motivated to move?  I really have no excuses and I am able-bodied and able to walk and have some endurance so I just need to get out there and move.  I know the results will be great and I will feel so much better once I get started, it’s the getting started part.

But since I have decided that I would makeover my life, this part I can’t skip over.  It wouldn’t make much sense to have a made-over life and then be sick.  Ok, ok I get it!

I hope that we can do this together, help motivate each other to move more and eat less and see what results we get at the end of this 6-month challenge!  For me I want to not only be at a healthy weight, but I want to be medication free.  What do you want?

Let’s do this!  Day 6 Action Step – Begin an exercise regimen that you can handle.  Find a buddy to keep you motivated.  Just start today and build up to where you want to be.  We can do this, let’s go!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

Facing Debt

On our journey to a life makeover, today’s action step was about debt.  Ugh!  Well it’s something that we all face in some facet throughout our lifetime.  Hopefully, yours has been a positive experience, personally mine has not.

Some issues are due to my own fault of not being a good steward over the finances that God entrusted me with.  Until I got to that level of thinking and looking at my situation, I could never be free to face it and dissolve it once and for all.

I have too much to do for God to be burden down with debt and all that goes along with it.  So as a part of my life makeover I have decided to face it head on!  Here we go!

Day 3 action step is to create a spreadsheet or chart that lists all your outstanding debt including the name of the creditor, their address, phone number and the amount you owe.  It may seem like a daunting task and it was for me, but once I completed it I felt liberated.  And guess what it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined.  Now I will put the steps together to whittle them all down to nothing and finally be free!  By the end of this 6-month life makeover I will owe no one but to love them a mandate from God!

I found a wonderful tool that is biblically based with financial tools to get you from point A to point B.  If you need assistance check out www.crownmoneymap.com.

In order to be successful with this part of our lives we are going to have to have a new mindset on how we look at and deal with money.

I don’t know about you, but I am ready to be free from debt and being able to be a blessing to others financially instead of living paycheck to paycheck.  Are you ready?  Well get going then it’s all in your hands.

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

Turn the Page

It’s time to turn the page in your book of life.  Time to write the next chapter as you see it vividly through God’s eyes.

Matthew 6:33 says; “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” NIV  When we finally come to the conclusion that God is there for us and we can look to Him for our everything, He will make it plain the plan He has for you and help you in the struggles of life that you face.  So all the areas in your life that you want to makeover really need to start with a belief in God.  What we will do over the next 6 months are things that will help you make positive move towards those goals, but it isn’t solidified until you choose God to lead you through life.

You don’t have to believe to understand biblical principles, but you must believe in order to activate them.  We are always going to refer back to our foundation – God during this journey.  It is not the only thing we know, but it is the best.  We will never push our beliefs on you, but we want to invite you to try this God that we speak about.

One thing I know for sure is that God has amazing things that He wants to show you and share with you, and you freely have the choice to choose His gifts!

Since we have reflected on our lives, taken an honest look at where we are in our lives, we should now be able to turn the page of our lives to begin to re-write the script of who we are.  This 6-month challenge is not going to be easy for some, it is not all going to be happy, happy, joy, joy; there are things that we will need to face in order to move forward into the life we desire.  So stick with me on this one, I promise that if you try at least some of the action steps that you not be disappointed.

Day 2 Action Step – Let’s start with wisdom, now you know I disclosed in the beginning that most of the areas that we will touch on will have multiple meanings and this is one of them.  This step will have a dual action step so pay close attention.  Part 1 – If you have a church home and are not attending regular bible-study then now is the time.  Make the sacrifice to join and be committed to it.  I have decided that I was going to join my fiance in studying the bible in a year, we started a while back, but I admit it was me that slacked off.  But I am going to call him right now, and ask that we start back up or at least that I start back up with him.  If you don’t have a church home that you belong to I am sure that any fellowship in your area will welcome you to attend their study.  Part 2 – What is it that you desire to do with your career?  Want that promotion, want to become an entrepreneur?  Then let’s takes a course!  Find out what you have to do to sign up for either a credit course or continuing education course that you would enjoy and invest in yourself for a change.  Don’t give me any excuses because I have used all of the myself, just do it!

I hope that this challenge will catapult you into the person that you desire to be, you know the life that you daydream about it only takes commitment and effort, I’m giving you the tools for free!

See you around campus!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

Start from Square One

Well today marks the first day of our 6-month life makeover challenge!  Woo hoo! I am super excited about all the new beginnings and possibilities to change my life from the place that I am right now into the place that I desire to be in every area of my life! It’s not going to be easy that is why we called it a challenge.  There are some parts of our lives that we will breeze right through, other parts not so much.  But I am committed to seeing the process to the end of the 6-months just to see how strong I really am.

I prayed and thought and thought and prayed about what the first action step should be on this challenge and it dawned on me that in order to begin to change the fabric of our lives we need to really have a clear picture of where we are.  Make sense?  How can we challenge ourselves to makeover areas in our lives if we don’t really focus on where we currently are.

So the first action step is going to be internal.  What do I mean?  Well I mean in your heart; I need you to focus on the inner being of who you are right now.  Look at yourself in your spiritual mirror and take an honest look at yourself.  Where are you?  Reflection on oneself is not something that we do everyday or even at all, but in order for us to move into a new dimension of who we really are supposed to be we must figure out who we are right now!  Are you following me?

I know that I shared this part of my journey with  you many times before, but it stand telling again so you get exactly where I am coming from for this action step.  When I was depressed and started to heal (with the love of God), I asked God why did I end up in this place that I was in?  His response to me was simple, “look in the mirror of your soul and take a close look at your life”.  My life had become a jumbled mess of compromising who I really was, what I believed and my values.  For many reasons I found myself compromising to be liked, to be loved, to fit in, and to please people. But that portrayal of who I thought people wanted me to be was false,it was taxing on the real me. For me it was bittersweet to finally realize what was going on with me; on one hand I could finally make a decision to change and become the real Lisa, on the other hand, I had to face that I had let God down.  And that my friend was the bitter part.

Day 1 Action Step – Find a quiet place and begin to focus on your life, every part of it, the good, the bad and the ugly.  Listen to what your heart is telling you about what your life really looks like.  Some of it may hurt, some may make you proud, but remember there is hope for a brighter future.  Now one thing that I want to make clear is that it all begins and ends with you.  You can’t do this exercise and include others in the process.  If you have deep embedded hurt and unforgiveness that you need to deal with please seek a professional therapist to work those issues out.  One thing that God showed me in my process was ME, no one else, only me, I was responsible for myself – period.  After you have gotten a clear picture of where you are now is the time to begin to vision where you want to be in the next 6-months.  Have a set goal for every area of your life that you want to change.  This will give us a clear measurement of your progress.  If you haven’t purchased a journal to record this journey I suggest that you so today. You are going to be wowed at the end of the challenge about how far you have come and accomplished!

Ready?  Let’s go!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

Wellness, Wealth, & Wisdom Challenge

I have decided to do a 6-month life makeover.  I had a wonderful woman of God challenge me to start a new beginning with my life.  I have taken on the challenge and want to extend it to you as well.

Each area will have multiple meanings so you have to pay close attention.  Each week for the next 6-months there will be a new action step to accomplish.  The fun part is that I would like everyone to share their experience with the action steps.  Let us know if you accomplished it with no problem, if you struggled with it, and we can then help to motivate you to “just do it”!

I will include the action step in a post on that topic for the week.  However, if you would like to join us on our facebook page for more interaction, please do so.

At the end of the 6-months we should have some amazing stories of change.  This will give you the boost that you need to move from where you are to the place that you desire to be.

Prizes?  Of course there will be prizes throughout the entire challenge.  We want to make this fun with a serious outcome!

This is your opportunity to change and live your best life!

The  Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

 

 

The Coach

As I am completing my certification as a Christian Life Coach, I am learning a lot of great wisdom about coaching.  The concept of coaching dates back biblical days.  There are numerous accounts of coaching relationships throughout the Bible.  Jesus was a Master Teacher and today He is still guiding us (if we allow Him) with His teachings and wisdom for our lives!

If I wasn’t too sure about what my purpose was, I am 100% sure now after studying the profession of Life Coaching.  I have always been a natural motivator and I love to help people see the potential in themselves.

A coach comes along side of you to motivate you and hold you accountable to those things that you want to accomplish in your life.  I love that!  Coaches don’t make decisions for you or do things that only you can do for yourself, but we come along side of you to challenge you to do the things that you desire to do.  It is an awesome tasks, but very rewarding all at the same time.

Of course as a Christian Life Coach, our perspective is biblical-based with the ultimate desire to help people to have a closer relationship with God.  For me that is who I am, I am a believer in Christ, so it was no question that I would gravitate to this type of coaching.  And I want to stress that this type of coaching is not just for those who are Christians, it is for anyone.  I believe that everyone should have a life coach.  I myself am starting a coaching relationship with a Coach for myself.  I also need someone to come along side of me to help me to stay focused to the things that I want to accomplish.

The Butterfly Journey has decided to develop and launch its first program called STAGES.  The name was a perfect fit as we are on our “butterfly” journey and the caterpillar goes through STAGES to reach his/her final destination – a butterfly.  This program will focus on 5 STAGES: Spirituality, Discovering, Visioning, Goal-Setting, and Accountability.

STAGES was created directly from a need that I have observed over the last year or so with my encounters with different women that I have met.  Many women (and men) alike are searching for more for their lives.  They have a deep desire to fulfill an urge to make a difference in the world.  That is what happened to me one day, I woke up and said to myself, “There has to be more to life than this.  What did God create me for?”  But as I sought out the answer what I found out was that it is deeper than that.  It is a true need to connect with God.

Whether we acknowledge it or not we have a natural void that will never be satisfied with anything else, but a relationship with God.  If we all take an honest look at our lives, we will notice that what we thought would be the “thing” that would complete us or fill our void ended up not measuring up.  Trust me I know because I have done it too!

So we are super excited to offer this power-packed 5 week program to anyone who is trying to figure out what their purpose is and to accomplish their life goals.  We want to help as many people as we can, we are offering the program at an introductory price of only $150 (payment options available)!  This offer is time sensitive so join us today and tell a friend!  We love referrals and offer great discounts for them.

For more information and to sign-up please contact us at lisa@thebutterflyjourney.net, it’s time to change your life!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

Are You Okay?

As we embark on our emotional and spiritual wellness journey, one thing is evident.  We have to recognize that we are not well in some areas of our lives in order to get to a place of wellness.  We have to understand that our life as we know it may not be the best place for us.  During this journey we will need to really lean on God to show us, to reveal to us the areas in which we need help.

I look around at different people, mainly myself because that is who I know the best, and I see so much hurt and pain.  How can I recognize it in others?  Because I have been there myself, maybe not in the same manner but in some way.  It wasn’t until God allowed something to stop me in my busy life to really see where I was (in a pit of hell).

I would admit that I would never have stopped living like I was if something wouldn’t have come along to get my attention to what my life really looked like especially from God’s perspective.  I had to surrender to the idea that my life was very troubled and I needed help.

But my healing didn’t begin until I asked for help.  I wanted to know exactly what was wrong with me and more importantly how I ended up in such a dismal state of being.  If I didn’t know how I got to the place that I had ended up,  I would never know how to avoid going back.  It is easy to place the blame for what others have done to us, but at the end of the day we can only change ourselves.

Let’s decide today that we will ask God to show us ourselves and be willing to make a change.  Michael Jackson said it best in his song: The Man in the Mirror.

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

 

Enjoy the Journey

This week has been a whirlwind of excitement!  I met with my editor for the book (The Butterfly’s Journey) and she said the book is awesome!  I started to cry because I never dreamed of writing a book, but when God put it in my spirit to share my testimony in a book I felt unworthy to do so.

I am no Toni Morrison to say the least, but I really want to produce a product that is life-changing for women all over the world.  But as I began to think about the task at hand each week and each month that went by, I started to convince myself that it wouldn’t work.  I couldn’t do it.

The rollercoaster of emotions that I felt along the way were hard to handle.  Almost everyday I had to ask God to give me direction and clarity.  I began learning to walk in faith last year (for real this time) and it has been one of the hardest things that I have taken on in my life!  It seemed as if one thing would be working out and then something different would come along to squash my confidence and joy.

But I am learning each day to trust in Almighty God for every aspect of my life and it has been an amazing journey thus far.  I decided this year I would start a journal of my experiences with learning to walk by faith and not by sight with the Lord.  (just a little secret. . .this will be the base of my second book)!

As I challenge myself to live the best life that I can live; I want to also challenge you to do the same.  Tackling this project is not for the weary at heart.  It is going to require a lot of dedication, commitment, and praying in order to make it through.  I know that if we keep God first and focus on Him we shall be victorious.

My prayer for you and I is to keep our faith strong and never allow the doubts and fears of life stop us from accomplishing the greatest things that God has for us to do.  I pray that whatever comes to slow us down from making the necessary positive changes for a better life, will dissolve before our eyes as we lift up prayers to God.  I pray that every day brings us closer to working in our purpose and walking delightfully into our destiny.

Always take the opportunity to learn life lesson from your every day experiences and enjoy the journey!

The Butterfly Journey ~ Lisa

 

The Teachable Heart

As I was reminiscing about my “butterfly” journey one of the things that God reminded me was to have a teachable heart.  It has been years since my journey began and everyday I learn more and more about God and my relationship with Him.

When I was suffering with the depression, the one thing that was so important to me was to find the answers to why I ended up in such a dismal spiritual place.  I wanted healing and I certainly wanted out of the dark place that I found myself in, but more pressing was to find out the “why”.

My heart was so open to understanding, because I knew that it would be the pivotal point in my journey that would free me to becoming the woman who God desired for me to be.  So boldly, I went to God and asked Him the questions.  Deep inside I was afraid of the answers, but I had to know.  I had to understand in order to help others heal from their past.

As the weeks and months went by, God revealed every answer in vivid detail.  He was gracious enough to release little snippets to me and not everything at once.  I would surely have been overwhelmed that I may have experienced a relapse of my depression.  It would have been too much for my soul to bear.  (Please get my book – The Butterfly’s Journey, coming this spring for my full story).

I allowed my heart to be teachable to what God was sharing with me.  I was ready to face the truth, the good, the bad and the ugly.  Having my heart prepared for what I had to face was an important part of my journey and my healing.  Without it I would have remained in a place of despair.

As God leads me to minister to other women that are in a place of disconnect, pain, hurt, abuse, and unworthiness; I pray that they will allow their hearts to be teachable.  God doesn’t want to just help you, but He wants to fully heal you to purpose.  Your purpose!

My question to you today is: Is your heart teachable?  Do you want to be free from the things that have robbed you of your purpose and true worth?  Will you dig deep to face those pains that haunt you and keep you in a place of despair and disconnect from God?  The choice is yours and you have the resolve to change the course of your journey!

The Butterfly Journey – Lisa

Its All or Nothing

When God gave me another chance to change my life to something extraordinary, I took the challenge.  I am all in.  I never knew that some days would be so challenging that I would want to turn back.  As I was reading the Bible the other night about the story of Abraham, I started to think do I have what it takes to please God no matter what?

A few months ago God woke me up to give me specific details of the things that He expected of me to accomplish through Him.  While it was very exciting to be chosen and spoken directly to by God, as the words unfolded on the paper, my mind began to think “I can’t do this”.  And no I can’t, not in my own might or strength or wisdom, but God said to trust Him.  So I am.

As I immediately began to set out on total faith to begin the plans of what the Lord wanted me to do, He opened doors for me that I can’t even begin to explain.  One of the major things God asked me to do was hold a conference for women to introduce the ministry that He asked me to coordinate – The Butterfly Journey Ministry.  But wait not only shall I host a conference, but it was to be in Seattle, WA (somewhere I have never been) for 1000 women.  I decided not to tell anyone but a few close spiritual friends that would be praying for me and coming along side me to help me see this mission through.  My bank account doesn’t show any signs of opening up with huge amount of seed money to pull this off, so by faith we shall do this.

I connected with an event planner in the Seattle area who has been a true God-send.  I told her up front that this was being planned on faith alone and she never thought I was crazy or anything.  As a matter of fact she embraced the idea and said even if I didn’t use their services to get this event together that she personally wanted to attend because she was so drawn with my testimony.  A few days past as she went to consult with her boss about taking on my event and came back to me to say that her and her boss would be not only helping me to plan this event, but they would be praying on that end of the country for the success of the event.  They have taken hold of the vision for the ministry that God has given to me!  Wow, I am way past amazed!

Needless to say that they have found a wonderful venue to hold the conference and the facility personnel is all in to help me make this vision come to life.  Now I need the women, I don’t know where they will come from but I know that they will come if God ordained this conference.  He wants to give them something that they need, that they seek, He wants to change their lives forever!

Because the outcome is going to so great and far beyond anything I can imagine, I can’t turn back.  I have to fulfill the promise that I made to God that I would lead this ministry for the women of this world.  I want to be the catalyst that will help women heal, find their purpose and move into their destiny.  The mission is more important than anything that I have done in my life and I don’t take it lightly.  It’s all or nothing.

Can you help me find the women that God wants to move in their lives, to change from the inside out, to fill that void that nothing else can fill but Him?  I need your help on this one, to stand in agreement with me that we can do this and lives will be changed and God will get the glory!

It’s all or nothing!

The Butterfly Journey – Lisa