Greetings from the beautiful State of California!
My apologies for my disappearance! While I do not like to make
promises I cannot keep, I commit myself to writing more often,
especially after a surge of inspiration.
What I love most about celebrating a new year is the opportunity to reinvent yourself by taking your dreams and goals to greater heights. In the month of December, I received the opportunity to participate in the trip of a lifetime by visiting the Philippines with my classmates and colleagues from the University of Redlands. It was a humbling and life changing experience to say the least. Manila grew on me so much that I wanted to stay for another week. At the same time I began to think about my intentions for this new year and the great things that I can accomplish as a woman along with my family, friends, colleagues, and sorority sisters. As a result, my theme for this year is Year of Service.
In 2014 I am committing myself to really engage and live out my mission in life - TO EMPOWER PEOPLE TO BE THE BEST AUTHENTIC VERSION OF THEMSELVES. It was a mission God bestowed on me almost three years ago and while initially I was scared to live out my mission because I did not know how to live out what God called me to achieve, God spoke to me and said "Just walk, keep moving forward, you're going the right way." All I knew is that what had once been a vision all of a sudden became a mission and commitment to God to live out my life for others, in a similar fashion as that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Like I tell many of the individuals I encounter and speak with on a daily basis, my faith is a deep rooted pillar in my life. However, I share my faith with you not because I wish to convert you, but rather show you why my life is the way it is as a result of my faith. In fact, I would not have become the amazing, energetic, full of life, loving, and caring person that you see before you today. I live today because I have a greater purpose than me to achieve and accomplish before the Lord calls me home to be by his side.
These last few days I have been tempted to believe that I was selfish for choosing my dreams over the hopes and desires of others. The video that was recently posted by Patrick Bet-David really spoke to me and reminded that I was not selfish in choosing my dreams. In addition to the video moving me to tears, it is also a great reminder to the rest of us that we are all destined for greatness and its time to act to live out our greatness. We cannot accomplish our goals, much less make our dreams a reality if we continue to sabotage our own success. While it is true that life sometimes can become overwhelming, it is better to accept sooner than later that life will bring about some difficulties and challenges that will push us to our tipping point. Growth does not come without pain or challenges; when you encounter the aforementioned, it is a sign that you are growing.
This Year of Service will bring about great opportunities, joy, love, sadness, hardships, and resilience. All I know is that you and I need to both persevere and push until the end, until we cross that finish line. Besides life being overwhelming at times, human beings can sometimes be just as overwhelming and sometimes even annoying. Despite all that, I am still willing to serve, love, nurture, inspire, motivate, and above all, EMPOWER those people God puts in my life for a purpose. Sometimes what those people need is a bit of love and patience; we need to understand that not everyone comes from a similar background or lifestyle as ours. It is from those individuals that we learn the most because they have some of the most amazing stories of hope and struggle that you will ever hear.
Lastly, give yourself the opportunity you deserve to live out your dreams because you owe it to yourself to be a very successful person. I believe in you and I have the utmost confidence that you will achieve greater things than your biggest critics will ever say about you. Have a blessed day!
P.s. Watch the video below and I hope that you understand why it moved me to tears. To Mr. Patrick Bet-David: thank you for the inspiration sir! Your message was a Godsend; it provided me with clarity and reassurance that I am moving in the right direction.
Peace and love everyone!
