09.26.08
Posted in Inspiration, My Life at 8:42 pm by Administrator
Have you ever thought of those three little words…or sang the sweet little song most of us learned when we were young?
Jesus Loves Me This I Know
For The Bible Tells Me So
Little Ones To Him Belong
They Are Weak But He Is Strong
Yes, Jesus Loves Me-Yes Jesus Loves Me
Yes, Jesus Loves Me -Because He Tells Me So.
(Okay, I changed the last line a bit -forgive me- I would rather He tell me so!)
Of all the travels in my life -Spiritual, Emotional and Physical- These have remained constant. I haven’t always acknowledged this simple fact but have, however, always known it was true.
A month or so ago I had the honor of hearing Billy Grahms daughter, Gigi, speak. Oh, the stories she had to tell about her dad! (This, I am sure, will be Destin one day telling stories on me!) One thing she said that stood out was in all of her dad’s speaking and in everything he had to say to the millions of people he had been in front of, he ALWAYS looked out to the people and said, simply, “Jesus Loves You, Jesus Loves You, Jesus Loves You.” That’s when it hit me.
Having grown up with many different views on chrisianity, religion and the spirit world I believe I may be as open to what just is as anyone. I know spiritual truths just are -no matter what personal beliefs you hold. I know we come from the same creator -no matter what personal beliefs you hold. I know it is not for me to determine your beliefs or life path -no matter what personal beliefs I hold. It is for me to live a life with love for all life and people no matter your choices. You are still a part of me in spirit and since Jesus loves you it makes it really easy that I love you as well.
As a Christian it is to live my life Christ Like. It is to live a life simply of forgiveness and love. When I try to complicate it with what I should be doing, need to be doing or must not be doing right, I go back to my simple prayer:
“Lord Jesus, YOU did not make this relationship with you complicated. When I am doing something I shouldn’t be -convict me. When I am doing what you would want me to do -give me peace. When I am not sure a direction to take -keep me still. In all of this I ask for Wisdom and Discernment to know what IS.”
Above all, in everything I do and in all of life circumstances, I will remember the most simple of all Jesus Loves Me and in remembering this, I will also acknowledge it!
Permalink
Posted in Girlfriend Newsletters at 8:42 pm by Administrator
Chocolate And Chatter Cookbook~
And I Need You To Help!
I have had this idea on my heart for awhile now and am wanting to get started and be ready in time for December!
December 2008 will be the 3rd Celebrate, Girlfriend! month and I want to celebrate with this cookbook that has been on my heart and mind for almost a year now. A cookbook filled with YOUR favorite chocolate recipes and my favorite antecdotes, statements of encouragement and just thoughts that flitter by me at times that I would love to have compiled in a book somewhere! This makes perfect sense!
Chocolate and Chatter -Two of my favorite things! So, here is where I need you ~my Girlfriends! Send me your favorite chocolate recipes! Include your name if you would like it included in the book or ask me to keep it anonomys if you prefer not to have it printed. The book I am looking at now will be a little over 7 x 9, spiral bound. I am thinking this will be a good handy size. I would love to hear your thoughts, comments and recipes!
Girlfriend Event Coming Up!
A Time To Share~
Here’s A Reminder! Chattanooga’s “Room In The Inn” is a home for ladies and children needing temporary lodging and support. We have been invited to a get together September 30th for dinner at 5:30 and then a time of getting to know each other at 6:30. It is the intention of “Room In The Inn” to bring women together, one on one, as mentors and Girlfriends to give these ladies friendship and support even after they have moved on- into their own home and out of the program. Without any obligation on your part, I would ask any of you that can participate in this get together on the 30th to let myself or Sharon know. I see us coming together as girlfriends to teach and learn from each other. I am planning an interactive time. A time to change perceptions, build trust and form lasting friendships. -Prepare to be uncomfortable, break down walls and leave encouraged! Please RSVP your intentions to myself -Rachel@celebrategirlfriend.com or
(Sharon) scollins@chattanoogaroomintheinn.com
And remember; under all the circumstances and life stories we each have, we are all women and girlfriends needing one another. Visit “Room In The Inn” website at - www.chattanoogaroomintheinn.com
Blessings and Hugs to each of you! Rachel
Girlfriend Motto!
Girlfriends honor us and our choices ~although they may not agree~ Girlfriends live without judgment. Girlfriends live without jealousy. Girlfriends honor confidences. Girlfriends lift us up without rescuing us. Girlfriends always live in truth ~and that truth being spoken in love~ Girlfriends Celebrate our differences. Girlfriends know how to listen. Just listen. Girlfriends know how to love themselves and so then are able to love us ~unconditionally ~ Girlfriends Celebrate! ~Rachel
Permalink
Posted in Girlfriend Newsletters at 8:41 pm by Administrator
Greetings Girlfriends!
We have an opportunity to get together and I wanted to send an invitation out to all of you.
Chattanooga’s “Room In The Inn” is a home for ladies and children needing temporary lodging and support. We have been invited to a get together September 30th for dinner at 5:30 and then a time of getting to know each other at 6:30.
It is the intention of “Room In The Inn” to bring women together, one on one, as mentors and Girlfriends to give these ladies friendship and support even after they have moved on- into their own home and out of the program.
Without any obligation on your part, I would ask any of you that can participate in this get together on the 30th to let myself or Sharon know.
I see us coming together as girlfriends to teach and learn from each other. I am planning an interactive time. A time to change perceptions, build trust and form lasting friendships. -Prepare to be uncomfortable, break down walls and leave encouraged!
Please RSVP your intentions to myself -Rachel@celebrategirlfriend.com or (Sharon) scollins@chattanoogaroomintheinn.com
And remember; under all the circumstances and life stories we each have, we are all women and girlfriends needing one another.
Blessings and Hugs to each of you! Rachel
Permalink
Posted in Girlfriend Newsletters at 8:41 pm by Administrator
Every time I get still I get shaky. Every time I take time to sit quietly and do nothing, I feel my body tremble. Sometimes slightly and sometimes so I know I couldn’t stand if I wanted to.
I used to feel, many years ago, that if I ever stopped I would fall apart. If I ever took time to sit still and listen or work on me, I would absolutely fall a part. I got along so well using dry humor and sarcasm to talk about things in my past, knowing they had to be dealt with in reality, yet I was too scared of the process.
So I stayed busy. And manic. Happy and friendly on the outside, yet a state of depression inside. Fearing a journey of healing would include the process of falling apart. I had two kids. No one to take care of them should this happen. So I stayed in the place of fear. And doubt. Bad decisions, Anger. Bitterness. Heavy depression.
What a pleasant surprise to find my healing took place without my falling apart! What a surprise to realize this wonderful healing process did not have to include my turning every nook and cranny of my childhood upside down and inside out. This process did not include answering or figuring out all the garbage that I had been through or rehashing memories and figuring out what my parents should have done or didn’t do. This healing truly was as simple as forgiving myself. Truly realizing a self love for the woman I am. Then bringing this to a lifestyle of loving without expectations and forgiving without exception.
Boundaries have become a necessary part of my life (although truth be told I may always be working on those). Living a life of love and forgiveness does not mean accepting everything that comes your way and having to live with those circumstances or people cluttering up your space. More simply, it means first of all loving yourself enough to keep your space clear of the negativity. Then when circumstances or people do enter your space, with whatever agenda or expectations they may have, you are more easily able to let them go in a spirit of love and able to forgive whatever may have been meant to hurt, without taking more than a moment for the process.
I see circumstances and people coming into my own life with their stuff, their agenda or with what they think is cool or desired and it seems the more practice I have with these circumstances, the quicker they are to leave. My level of amusement has risen as I see more clearly now at the beginning, exactly what is happening and can, more quickly and clearly, watch as it exits my space. All in a spirit of love as well as the firm belief and knowledge that with my boundaries in place, there is no way for the foolishness to get so close - no way for the insincerity to find a place of rest - no way for chaos and negativity to take root and stay. I watch with equal amusement as they enter and as they leave. Perhaps I will start timing this process! *smile*
Now I am working on another level. Something deeper in this life I am living and the inevitable change that takes place within this life. I am seeing my needs and desires perhaps on a more intense level that I have not yet grasped. So I see myself start to get busy, yet less manic than before. I see myself start having a whole lot going on with much of it having absolutely nothing to do with what I want or need to be doing. It is time to stop again. To take time to be still and listen. To notice the weakness in my body, or the way my insides feel like jello. And know that a breakthrough does not have to include a breakdown. I just have to stop, take time to listen, and be aware when the answers come.
Getting Still
From “Until Today” by Iyanla Vanzant
Everything has to stop at some time in order to keep going. When driving, you must pause at stop lights and stop signe. On a train, there may be stops before you reach your destination. An airplane stops at the head of the runway before it ascends into the sky. Knowing this, why do we believe that we can move from experience to experience withouth stoping, refueling or resting? Most of us will not leave one job until we have another. As soon as one romance is over, we begin our prowl to find another. We go from work to home to work some more. Even a quiet relaxing evening could mean reading, talking, playing with the dog. Some of us feel guilty about doing things that do not earn an income or meet some responsibility of our lives. We believe that doing nothing is not a good thing, when in fact it is the best thing we could do for ourselves. To stop, to rest, or to pause means to do nothing. It means no thinking! No moving! No decisions! When you press the pause button on the audio machine, everything stops. No picture, no sound, no movement. The images and sounds of life must come to a halt if you want to have a clear picture about what to do next. What a blessing it is to puch the pause button. To have the ability to stop and gather strength or to wait until things have passed before turning a corner and moving forward. A pause in life’s journey does not mean that nothing is happening. In reality, it is a divine opportunity to be present and catch up with all that is going on. Until today, you may have been afraid to stop moving or doing in life. Just for today, push the pause button. Be still. Shut down. Stop your movement just long enough to check up on yourself. Unless you pause, you may not know if you are fast-forwarding or going in reverse.
Sign up to receive your ‘Chocolate and Chatter’ E-Mail Newsletter sign up at www.CelebrateGirlfriend.com
Permalink
09.12.08
Posted in Inspiration at 5:09 pm by Administrator
In posting the letter - Forget Love and Try Good Manners, from ‘The Divine Secrets Of The Ya Ya Sister Hood’- and doing some reading and contemplating this weekend (how odd *smile*) it has occurred to me how very true the statement is “Forget Love, Try Good Manners.” In observing couples and the way they treat each other…the question posed is “Why do you stay?” The answer invariably is “Because I love him/her.” Give me a break! And, in talking to friends and letting them know that I am dating again and intentionally searching for the love that comes from being connected to another soul, I hear very often ~maybe from the ones that aren’t happy~ “maybe in your search you will realize you are better off single.” I am very well off single. I love being single. I love being independent and self sufficient, I love taking off on a Friday night and doing my thing…not reporting to anyone. But I miss being in a monogamous relationship. I miss the connection to that one other human being that you can count on and has your back no matter what. The one who looks for you and wants to be with you and you with them. Because you enjoy them! Because you want to be in their company! Because you respect them! Because you have compassion and genuinely care what is going on and what happens to them. So, back to my original thought. Love has nothing to do with it if you haven’t learned how to love. If you haven’t learned how to love~in a genuine, honest, thoughtful, you mean the world to me way~ Start with good manners.
Permalink
Posted in Encouragement at 7:06 am by Administrator
In posting the letter - Forget Love and Try Good Manners, from ‘The Divine Secrets Of The Ya Ya Sister Hood’- and doing some reading and contemplating this weekend (how odd *smile*) it has occurred to me how very true the statement is “Forget Love, Try Good Manners.” In observing couples and the way they treat each other…the question posed is “Why do you stay?” The answer invariably is “Because I love him/her.” Give me a break! And, in talking to friends and letting them know that I am dating again and intentionally searching for the love that comes from being connected to another soul, I hear very often ~maybe from the ones that aren’t happy~ “maybe in your search you will realize you are better off single.” I am very well off single. I love being single. I love being independent and self sufficient, I love taking off on a Friday night and doing my thing…not reporting to anyone. But I miss being in a monogamous relationship. I miss the connection to that one other human being that you can count on and has your back no matter what. The one who looks for you and wants to be with you and you with them. Because you enjoy them! Because you want to be in their company! Because you respect them! Because you have compassion and genuinely care what is going on and what happens to them. So, back to my original thought. Love has nothing to do with it if you haven’t learned how to love. If you haven’t learned how to love~in a genuine, honest, thoughtful, you mean the world to me way~ Start with good manners.
Permalink
