2012

Wow, it has flown by in a blink! This entire year!
What are some things that have happened in this last year that were incredibly memorable for you?

1- My "baby" turned 14 **sigh**
2- We moved into a HOUSE ( still a rental, but a HOUSE nonetheless)
3- We went to Florida for a family/friend vacation for a week close to Christmas (something I have wanted for 15 years!)
4- I've been changed. God has taken me through a journey I will never forget, and He has once again, changed me. I won't go back.
5- I have learned the value of ministry, and how I feel without much of it in my life. This year, I have taken quite the break, and I have not liked it all that much. I want to be much more involved in ministry/outreach this next year!
6- I have led a team of 42 amazing Scentsy consultants. That's no small feat, and it wasn't always easy, but ever so rewarding.
7- I learned the value of relationships.
8- My marriage has never been better - I LOVE YOU MIKE!
9-I got fired. LOL. Long story...AFTER I hurt my arm.
10-I traveled to Minneapolis for Scentsy Spring Sprint, went to MOA, got invited to speak at this next years EVENT!
11- I went on a six day fast.
12-I dressed up like Gramma Gooey on the candyland game, for our church halloween night, and totally loved it!

THERE! 12 things in 2012 that happened to me, things that will change my future, and some that already have.

As I sit thinking, I am amazed by God's grace every day, and how it does amaze me!
I am certain, that this year will be bigger and better than the last!!

God bless you all in 2013!!!

Blessed...

Good morning!! 
I am writing this morning, because my facebook status being this long, well, it would probably clog up some of your news feeds ;0)
I am blessed. Let me tell you why.

Remember in October I went on a fast? Well during that time, God compelled me to take back my time. Stop being so "busy" and get more things done. Stop wasting time, and get more done. STOP letting your day just go by without doing anything meaningful, BUT I was busy!!! 

I also found this blog by the amazing Allison Dalke, and she would write posts on "The Sunday 7". She talks about Sunday nights being her planning night for the week, and I thought this was really amazing. Sitting down one night a week to plan out my time, so that I am not losing control of it. Hmmm. Good idea, how to implement this. 

I started to start planning, and as a person who is NOT organized naturally, it comes really difficult to me. AND THEN, there's always the "I planned something for this time, and someone unexpectedly comes over, needs a phone call for help, etc etc" and then I would get so upset at the fact that my "plan" wasn't working. I had a lot of excuses LOL.

I also disliked my planner. It is seriously a dollar store one, and I only have about 10 different ones from the dollar store, and none of them do the trick. There's not enough room, the lines are too small, they don't all have the monthly at a glance calendar that I need, then the days split up, I was just frustrated, but I was doing it!  So then, I found ERIN CONDREN. OH MY GOODNESS. Don't even remember HOW I stumbled upon them in the first place, but it was after my fast and after I was already getting frustrated. The planner LOOKED just like what I needed to plan my life EFFECTIVELY. PROBLEM? It was $50-70 dollars, and since I had been using $1 planners, this was a hard pill to swallow. 


So I wanted this planner, but I knew we were already going to Florida and I knew that I shouldn't be spending the money. BUT that didn't stop me from creating my cart over and over again on their website, and of course I couldn't stop at the planner ;0)

When I discussed this with Mike, every time he came up with something. No, you can't spend that much money on paper, you can't buy it before we go to Florida, you can maybe get one in the new year.  There were a lot of things that got in the way. He really never stands in the way of business decisions, and I talk to him about most of those, and I was kinda wondering why REALLY he was so anti planner.  
LITTLE DID I KNOW......

"If we would only give the same amount of reflection to what we want out of life that we give to the question of what to do with two weeks' vacation, we would be startled at our false standards and the aimless procession of our busy days."  

**Quote by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (Taken from Michael Hyatt's FREE ebook on Creating Your Personal Life Plan, which I am just beginning to read,.  This quote hit my where I live. )

As a perfect example, I just came back from Florida with my family and our great friends.  Before we left, we had a few PLANNING nights. We planned what to do, looked through brochures etc. Our family had our OWN planning meetings. THEN when we were there, every night we sat down and planned out our next day. That was so important to me. 

Why wouldn't you do this with your day? I am so easily distracted, that if I don't have something down on paper, it is super difficult to keep moving. Not get sidetracked. As the wonderful FlyLady says, I am a "Sidetracked Home Executive" or a SHE. 

SECRETS
My crazy friend Cheryl, had found out I LOVED this planner, and had started talking to my UPLINE (Amazing SSD - Christy Ridders) and I don't know how this whole things went, but sounds like Cheryl approached Cassandra and then things went from there! THEY SCHEMED to get together and buy me a planner!  Mike knew about this, and was being super resistant!!! 

So last night, Cassandra had wanted coffee with me, and so I went, expecting to be just us, and then all of a sudden Julie sits down with her family and I kinda got confused. Then Cheryl shows up which I was like WHAT? What are you doing here? Then I was REALLY confused, cuz Cheryl is not on my Scentsy team, so now I was really wondering. 

They had bought me the ERIN CONDREN planner. I am blessed. What a great group of friends, and their special notes touched my heart. OF COURSE they made me cry. (PS they gave me a planner before that, wrapped in the hardest to unwrap EVER tape, and it was a planner, but just surely not the one I had wanted) My thoughts were thankful, and I would sure use this one, and I loved the scriptures in it, but it still wasn't an ERIN CONDREN. THEN they handed over the real present, and it WAS!!! They have no idea how they have helped me become a better leader, all through one silly little thing, that stood in the way of my perfect planning lifestyle, this beautiful planner!  

So thank you for the beautiful gift, which is not just a gift, but a SUPER special one at that, that will help me fullfill my roles as a leader of my team, and the roles that God has called me to. 

I AM SO BLESSED 

Maria, Where did you go for a week?

Where did I go?

I retreated. Away from the world, and all its pressures, away from my friends, Facebook, phone, and even my family.

I spent time alone. I fasted. For those of you not familiar with this, I didn’t eat, since Sunday night. A series of events drove me to this point in my life. Let me go to the one that drove me with all the push.  I have what I believe to be systemic candida. You can Google it.  It is not easily treated by doctors, and I have had this and some severe symptoms of this for over 3 years for sure. Lately, I was getting to the point where I didn’t know what else to do, and I have tried all kinds of things, and they didn’t work properly.  Maybe give me relief for a week or two, and then they were back again. I wasn’t sure. I looked up some info on it recently, around two weeks ago. The one lady said to do a fast, a 30 day fast actually.  Just drink water, and your body will heal. Kill off the bacteria (yeast) in your body. YA RIGHT! Go 30 days with only water, you have GOT to be kidding me! LOL   But the idea didn’t leave my mind. But then I got to thinking, if that was something that I could do, then I would do a spiritual fast, and get the physical fasting benefits. BUT I endeavoured to make this a SPIRITUAL first fast. In order to do this, I needed to set a time/date, and proceed from there.  Well, all of you, my wonderful friends, know how much I correspond by email, Facebook inboxes, Facebook itself, text messages etc. I am never without my phone, and always checking my messages etc.  I am on top of that (prob one of the only things I was on top of in my life, LOL) So in order to do this effectively, I had to retreat from everything. AND as I write this, I am 5 days into my fast. 5 days of not eating, 5 days of reading my bible, praying, resting, and focusing purely on God, figuring out what He would want me to do next.  I spent time at the lake, at the church, driving by myself, and in my bedroom.  I prayed, read my bible, read a bible based book on fasting, and some amazing other things.  I let the world know I was going to be “GONE” so that I wouldn’t be bombarded with emails, as for once I was thinking only of myself, and God.  I didn’t want anyone to be upset that I didn’t answer their emails or texts in  a timely manner.  SO Mike, my amazing wonderful special husband, took over assistant duties for me.  Taking my phone where he went and I am so grateful there were only a few things that he did have to deal with. What an amazing GEM of a hubby I have, so seriously.  Whose husband would take care of the schooling for the entire week, take care of my business that needed attention, take care of the house, the 14 year old, and move the microwave into the garage so I didn’t have to smell what they were eating.  He even went as far as to eat in the garage so that I wouldn’t be affected. He wanted me to succeed on this fast more than I did I think. So if you would have asked me last week if I thought God called me to fast, I would have said “Well kind of, it’s a way to weaken my flesh so HIS spirit inside me would grow strong”. That’s about it. I didn’t think of it like, God called me to do this fast for Him. He loves me so much, that on Monday morning, He confirmed his will for me to fast for the week. That’s another long story….and some pieces are special for only me. If you want to know what God has done for me during this fast, talk to me &I will tell you what I want others to know:) 

So far, the MAJOR thing that has come out of this is that this is my ESTER moment. I am in the kingdom for such a time as this.  If you have never heard the story of Ester, again, ask and ye shall receive. 

I am seeking God’s face on many things, things that I never thought of to begin with, but boy is He changing my life right now. I am so happy to know Jesus on a more personal level.  PS: my body is doing ok, I am really sore from laying around, sitting around, just praying and reading and not doing anything else, and my energy levels are LOW….BUT Isaiah 58 tells us that after you fast, “VS 8: thine health shall spring forth speadily.” So, I am declaring it. I WILL be better, after this fast!

Keep smiling.

Keep following.

More good news to come.

Praising God for His ULTIMATE goodness,

Maria

Ester 4:14  For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?