LiveFreeLoveHard

“But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me.”Psalms 50:23 Lord you are worthy to be praised.   All of the thanks that this individual can muster is still not enough compared to the things you have done, the sacrifices you have made for me. I thank you that I am not perfect, nor do you expect me to be.   I thank you that I don’t have all the answers because what would life be if it wasn’t an adventure?   I thank you that I’m amazing, even with all my flaws and quirks.   I thank you that I’m more than getting by, that I’m immersed in your blessings day by day.   I thank you that I’m beautiful, that when people compliment me they are really seeing your light that shines through me.   I thank you that I’m scared sometimes, because it causes me to run to you and seek your refuge.   I thank you for your mercy, because you shield me from my own destruction.   I thank you for your patience, because even though I am not where I should be, I am always in your care.   I thank you for

I discovered that once I lost my job, my apartment, my boyfriend, my car and eventually my sanity, that things could only go up from here.  I felt like I lost everything, everything that I valued.  My life was a snapshot of a rampaged home where robbers had come in, torn everything apart, and had taken everything they could find.  I didn't know where to start to pick up the pieces.  But it could get worse.  The unemployment I was depending on to pay my rent fell through on some technicality.  And my landlord decided this is the month she wants to get rigid.  What now? I recited 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.  We are pressed on every side, but not constricted, unable to find a way out but not utterly without a way out; persecuted but  not abandoned; cast down but not destroyed." And then I realized what the robbers were looking for, the most valuable treasure - my light, my

By most individual’s standards, I am the prime candidate for worry: mounting bills, no income, no job prospects, and no clear direction of progress.   I often wake up in the morning with questions like: What am I going to do with my life? How am I going to pay this month’s rent?   Is it legal for the collector’s to call back to back like that?   Often times I feel overwhelmed by everything I can’t take care of.   On the verge of feeling like a complete failure, I have to remind myself the difference between what I think is important and what God thinks is important.   “O my people, listen as I speak.   Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God!    I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly bring to my altar.   But I want no more bulls from your barns; I want no more goats from your pens. For the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.   Every bird of the mountains and all the animals of the fi

The Lord tells us that we will have many trials and sorrows; that affliction is to come.   My stomach turns when I think of that sincere warning.   Has anyone ever told you that something bad was going to happen to you before it happened?   It almost seems to make things worse for you because you anticipate something bad is coming. You believe this person so you expect that their words are a sincere warning.   He precedes this warning with “I have spoken this to you that you may have peace.”   Peace!?   Why is it I felt a sense of uneasiness instead of peace?   Jesus is like a coach. He studies the tapes of the opposing teams. He learns their best moves and then he reports back to His own team.   He equips us with knowledge and tactics to respond to the opposition. He wants us to know what’s coming, not to frighten us, but to properly prepare and arm us so we have a better chance at being victorious.   That is the responsibility of a great coach.   He makes sure that he does everything

Pour your heart out to God and thank Him dearly for listening.   The Psalmist David knew one thing about God; He loves to be turned to.   God is always looking for someone who is looking for Him.   And more so, He is looking for people to trust Him.   David poured his heart out to God and while still asking for God to rescue him, David was already thanking God for his provisions.   How do we thank God while still asking him to help us – by praising him.   Praise is “thank you” in God’s language.   Prayer: My Father, my love, how I need you.   I need you to guide me and to show me the way you want me to go.   I am lost without you.   You, who knows my beginning and my end.   You, who wants the best for me.   Lead me by your blinding light so my feet cannot go astray.   Lead me by your love and show mercy on me as I stumble left to right, trying to get it right Father.   Make those who oppose me observe your glory as you take me higher.   Help me to be obedient.   Strengthen me by your s

Let me caution you before we go any further that the Road to Success is not the road to riches.   Riches and success are not interchangeable or equal.   Though some would argue that riches are the gateway for success, it is not so.   Let me define a unique group of people our society currently concedes: The Unsuccessful Rich.   This group of individuals has acquired money through a source of minimal work or value.   It is a fact that anything obtained without effort, sacrifice or labor is treated as carelessly as it was acquired.   Our eyes are on them as they spend so frivolously and wastefully, riches without purpose; finances without direction.   We watch on as they destroy themselves through various indulgences, and through exorbitant spending trying to fill voids that riches or material things will never fill. Perhaps the pursuit of riches alone is its own destruction. When we desire riches without a framework in which those riches can serve the greater good, we have given money d

Whenever I start to question whether or not I have made the right decision to write, speak and lead...or whether I am worthy or deserving, capable even to bring the vision to pass...whenever I get ovewhelmed and anxious - I close my eyes and breathe deeply, concentrating on breathing deeper still and I get in touch with my life force.  And then I see even clearer that there is no other way. Destiny or Death. And then no other questions need to be asked because I know at the core of my being that I was designed for greatness.  I have tried on many shoes and no other shoe fits me.     -MKO

We all have fixed in our minds, to some extent, that we are individuals on this journey and that we must take care of ourselves if we are to survive.   Our survival instincts, our natural response to any type of threat is to strike back - blow for blow.   Sometimes we end up hurting others.   All the time, we end up hurting ourselves.   We are not soldiers.   We are not fighters.   We are not designed to be enemies.   We were made to be friends, companions.   There is no wonder why we are so vulnerable to one another, no matter how hard we try to keep people at bay.   Someone slips through the cracks and seeps into our heart and soul.   We feel them.   We care for them.   We were designed to love one another.   However, we do not always honor our design or our designer, which means, we are not really honoring ourselves. Delving deeper into our interconnectedness – we all have been open, vulnerable, hurt, down, recovering, and trying again.   No matter who you are – someone has lied t

There is time Something about when you were a child gave you the right to be care-free, daring, inquisitive, and most of all the, time to dream.   As we put years behind us, we begin to age with society.   We accept that at 20, we press through college; at 30, we plot our career paths; at 40, review our retirement plan (or much sooner for a plan that might actually work); at 50, we re-focus on health and maintaining a decent quality of life; at 60, we concede our mortality and journey to find our own peace and understanding; at 70, we ponder, reflect and create a bucket list to live out the desires of our hearts, etc. The point is this: There is a societal progression that has been collectively adopted as the journey through life.   You know if you are doing the things you are supposed to be doing because society and everyone in it will be reminding you of your responsibilities.   Whether you should be in school, or working on a new project, or finishing something you’ve been workin