Trusting in the Journey

So many times we find ourselves caught up in the circumstances of our lives. We spend to much time fretting or worrying about our relationships, bills, children or jobs. The other day my pastor Bishop Eddie Long challenged us to start enjoying the journey of our lives instead of just looking at where we are now. Maybe this doesn't happen to you but you know someone who operates like this. I have to admit I find myself saying things like " when I get my financial breakthrough I'm going to take a me trip to New York for a Broadway show."

How about instead of just thinking about what it will be like when you get to your expected place you start seeing the end now. Bishop Long's words so stirred my spirit that I came home and allowed myself to daydream about my destiny. I saw myself sitting at a Barnes & Noble book signing for my New York Times bestseller. Then I saw my whole family celebrating together in my new home with me and my new husband. Yes, I am believing God for my soul mate and He is still giving us the desires of our heart.

I can't tell you how many times I have been told to enjoy the journey. If the truth be told if we knew the route we would have to take to get to our destiny we would cry out to stay where we are. Yet, when we stop complaining about our bills, the people we work with, the trouble in our relationship and start living in the finished work we walk in victory.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and at the end of each day He said it was good. (Gen. 1:1) Now, it's important that you catch this...at the end of each day He said it was good. He did not wait until the seventh day when He rested from His work and was finished to acknowledge it was good. Let's start to see each day of our journey as a good day on the way towards our expected end. Start trusting the journey and see the end from the beginning. Start giving praise and thanks in advance for everything that He has promised because the word says "He will not withhold any good thing from us."
Enjoy the RIDE!

You're Closer than you Think

I know it’s my set time for favor but it seems like each day gets harder than the next to see the true manifestation of what I believe. I have been trying to close a business deal for several weeks now. I know I’m close but each day it seems to elude me and the moving parts to make it happen are always just within my reach. My mind tells me this deal may not happen, being an entrepreneur is just to hard and maybe I’m not cut out for this.

While working diligently to pull this deal together that will open up multiple doors for my future I’m surrounded by life. My daughter and I are bumping heads as she wants the liberty to come and go and do as she pleases under my roof. Even as this tug of war is going on I know this is just another distraction to get me off course.

In my professional career I’ve had the pleasure to experience 5 different careers. Each one built upon the next as I was either a pioneer or a forerunner in those positions. My career at one of the leading super markets in the country thrush me into a promotion within culture. I was one of the first people hired into management outside of the company in over 70 years. I was met with opposition on every level as the decision to diversify their management teams forced them to hire from the outside.

Every night for about nine months I went home and cried because of the intensity of what I endured each day. I wanted to quit but I had relocated my family from Florida back home to Atlanta. I did not quit, I kept pushing until I became an integral part of the team.

I believe it’s the same principle in dealing with our daily lives. The greatest difficulty will come right before we give birth to our dreams. That’s why everything but the great wall is coming against you right now. You are in the final push. Maybe like me, that business deal just doesn’t seem like it’s going to go through. Yet, if you keep pushing and keep believing like a woman in labor you will push to your promise.

Determine today to not get down and allow your mind to pull you into what I call stinking thinking. Instead of thinking you can’t take it anymore, it’s not going to happen, the marriage is over, or the promotion is not coming turn your thoughts around. You are about to give birth to your promise. The tougher the challenge the closer you are to your victory. You are closer than you think and God will bring to pass every dream He put into your heart.

Responding in Love

I know most of you have heard the phrase hurt people hurt other people. Sometimes we misconstrue a thing and our response to the particular situation reflects hurts from past wounds. Over the years, I've mellowed out from firing off emails without making sure I had the information needed to make a good decision.
Our very human nature naturally wants to defend ourselves when someone has spoken ill of us and jumped to a conclusion that is not based on truth. Yet, when this happens to me I've chosen to take the high road. When you know who you are and whose you are you just can't respond out of your flesh. You know you are a child of the most High God. You know that no weapon formed against you will prosper. You know the battle the person is going through is not yours it belongs to the Lord.
When you truly are walking in a place of peace and of love you can respond in love. Maybe you write your feelings out to get them off your chest and then delete it. But what you put into the atmosphere should always be a response in love. The only way I continue to be able to do this is because I die to my flesh daily. Which means I surrender my will at the feet of God. Then I can move me out of the way when others wrongfully mistreat me and attempt to slander my name. One day God whispered in my ear and told me softly that He was giving me a new name. That new name is Rita Love, and each day I pray for a little piece of His heart. God is love!

You can't make money and excuses at the same time

For the past month I have been inviting a young man I'd met and identified as a real go getter to a wealth building event. Each time he would tell me with enthusiasm that he would be at the event. He even expressed his urgent need for a Plan B and the desire to make sure his family was secure. Each time just before he should arrive he would call to tell me about some hindrance to him actually making it.
This past Tuesday another opportunity presented itself for him to make good on the previous commitments he had broken. Well, it rained pretty heavy in Atlanta on Tuesday and I was amazed it didn't delay my flight out of the city. About an hour before the event that would surely secure the young man's future for his family he sent me a text stating he wanted the rain to ease up before he ventured out. Now mind you, he was at his job and would need to drive home in the rain.
I sat over 2000 miles away staring at the text in utter disbelief. Was this not a man who had just told me he had desire and desperation to make his family whole? Was this not the same man who had just experienced a huge pay decrease and was possibly facing more in the coming months? Did he actually just use rain as an excuse to continue to be POOR (passing over opportunities repeatedly)?
I’ve become allergic to excuses because the one thing I know is this- you can't make money and excuses at the same time. That check just won't cash.

No good ideas--you can steal mine

Today, a dear friend who has one of the brilliant marketing minds of our time called to tell me one of her game changing ideas had been stolen. Stolen by a colleague she had shared her strategies and concepts with. Not only stolen but put into execution and presented in her presence to her team as though she wasn't there.

I could feel her pain as she explained confronting the thief and how she was met with aloofness and "I thought of this years ago, you just gave it a name." Wow! Another close friend just told me a couple of day's ago to stop sharing everything that God was downloading to me with others. She said everyone is not going to be happy about your dreams or ideas and on occasions like this they will steal them. The thief comes but to steal and destroy.

The friend thought she was sharing her strategies with another believer which made the betrayal even more unbelievable. Well, I've found that believers come on all levels just like non- believers. At the end of the day if you don't have an intimate relationship with the Father you will be tempted, fall and find yourself stealing something that does not belong to you.

While the colleague may get some temporary accolades around these game changing concepts they will be short lived. I've experienced over and over again that even when your enemies look like they are winning they aren’t'. Maybe her day to be held accountable for this steal won't be today or even tomorrow. But it will come.

In the meantime, we must stand on the promises of God about who He says we are and what we are destined to accomplish on this earth. Remember, I said this friend has a brilliant marketing mind and she is a thought leader. I love to just sit with her and gleam from this visionary whenever the opportunity presents itself. So, brilliant, phenomenal women please remember this--you can not share your treasure with everyone. Only release to those who you know in your spirit you should and only release when its time to release. Until then, just keep it to yourself or talk to the trees.
Don't cast you pearls to swine...they'll eat them every time.