Category Archives: Motivation
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.” — Zig Ziglar
Our dreams and ambitions hinge on motivation. These stories inspire that motivation to help boost your goals.
Keeping perspective on the purpose
Who says the first of the year is the only time we can begin new things? It’s Spring. A season of renewal and the perfect time to make a fresh start on those dream/goals most of us have abandoned since the first of the year.
I am right there with you.
So I blew off the dust on my crumpled up plan and renewed the vision by starting with one step. This new website. Then I took another step. A video blog.
It’s difficult to persevere in our discipline when progress is slow, distractions are mounting and the dream is yet too far out to see. Here’s an idea that may help you get back on track with your purpose.
The Dream Team
Accomplishing a dream isn’t just about how we spend each day but also with whom we’re spending it.
Everyone needs a dream team. A team of people you dream with; a core community who encourages dreams into reality.
I believe who we surround our life with reflects what we believe about our own heart. Who they are, is who we will also become.
“He who walks with wise men will be wise.” Proverbs 13:20
It is okay to be selfish and hang around people who will make you better.
Pruning off relationships that are not adding to your life is essential to pushing through the problems and pressing into the promise.
It’s easy for my days to become unfocused, distracted, and wasted. Yet, I have responsibility to use my time wisely. So I hand-selected wisdom as accountability, while I hustle out the details of my dream.
Together, we expect breakthroughs and snafu’s. We climb the mountains side by side, and scout new horizons ahead.
We’re the high-five waiting after a cleared hurdle and a strong hand reaching out through the struggle. We speak sunrises into the storms and cast vision and victory into perceived defeat.
Everybody is dealing with something. There will be things that frustrate you, things you don’t understand.
We can’t see God’s best if our team is weak. Evaluate your inner circle and who you’re investing in. Get the right people in your life. Those seeds you sow will create the harvest you need that will not only take you out of the valley—It will lead you to a new level.
You need a crew to help you navigate uncharted territory. You need aviators to co-pilot the rise out of ruins.
When you have a great team, no matter where you are in life, no matter what comes against you, you won’t be alone. You will not be forgotten. The star of the team, God, remembers you. He never forgets the dreams He’s put on the inside.
Stack the deck of your dream team and prepare to soar into your destiny.
Perennial Prayers
Your deepest desires are for companionship and a noble purpose. We were woven with love, to give love and we’ve been clothed in armor to carry out a calling.
But are you masking your true passion behind a facade of good looking pursuits? The battle between head and heart is lifelong.
Prime your purposes in perennial prayers in proximity to God’s promises.
God’s promises have no expiration date. He loves nothing more than to keep His promises, as He watches and waits for the moment to be called upon.
What are those promises?
You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God’s favor] shall shine upon your ways. Job 22:28, AMP
And this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken! Isaiah 59:21, NLT
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Psalm 84:11, NIV
We doubt God because we doubt ourselves. His capacity to give is far more greater than our capacity to receive. He’s waiting to answer our prayers, keep His promises and perform His word. When we stand on His Word, He stands by His Word. So what are you waiting for?
Discovering Joy in the Journey
What I love about the ring of a new year is the hope that’s swirling in anticipation of a do-over. All those leftover disappointments from last year hit the reset button.
It’s uplifting to be around people who believe they can begin again.
However, by the time this post is published, statistics say one in four people will have already abandoned their mission for the year. And unfortunately, these numbers show it will be the same goal that’s been spoken and broken at least ten different times now.
Over the years, I’ve picked numbers and words, scarier dreams and SMART goals. Some are successful, while others get tangled up in small setbacks before Spring. Interestingly enough, 60% of all new year’s resolutions will be dumped by June.
Has this already happened to you?
Perhaps you started the year flying high on your hopes that these coming weeks would be your best ones yet, but no sooner had the party favors been put away, your goals plateaued leaving you on autopilot for a repeat of last year.
The devil is constantly trying to run us off the promised land God has for us.
Pastor Steven Furtick with Elevation Church says this, “resolve cannot change what routine created. In other words, the faith to step out is worthless without the faithfulness to stick it out.”
Powerful. Let those words marinate in your mind awhile. It took me a couple days to soak this in.
There are so many nuggets to draw out in Mr. Furtick’s sentences, but what it says to me in this moment is that reaching a goal is less about the final destination and more about the journey to get there.
New mantra: To rejoice in established routines I walk out today as they develop the faithful habits I need for the following months. This will lead to the goals I plan to conquer that eventually fulfill the dreams God has for my future.
If the mind isn’t satisfied and celebrating in the incremental advances in the moment, we will lose sight of why this goal is tangible and meaningful today.
The end is only a conclusion to the story; the real adventure is in the peaks and valleys. If we’re not grateful for where we are, we won’t appreciate goals when we reach them.
Beware! The devil is constantly trying to run us off the promised land God has for us. There is no room for regret in a life full of God’s good things, so turn over these stones of setbacks and allow them to become the wisdom you need for tomorrow.
Jerry Jenkins, author of nearly 200 books and most notably known for writing “The Left Behind” series and Billy Graham’s autobiography, has a great take on goals and success.
“My father had long counseled me that the popularity of goal setting as a means to success was good only to the extent of the definition of success. “Be the best you can be at what you’ve been called to do,” he said. “And you’ll be more of a success than the person who is the best in the world at it but is not working to his potential.”
So my aim became to obey and let the results fall where they may.”
Remind yourself that God’s promises will come to pass and you have been gifted to carry them out. Give yourself permission to try again, and then pick up that God-given assignment and start, no matter what month we’re in. Drop the pressure to perform and be confident that you already have what it takes to carry out His work. Give Him your best and the rest will be blessed.
The Risky Right Thing
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The next best thing is the wrong thing and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” That’s from Theodore Roosevelt.
Have you ever heard Roosevelt’s story before He moved into the White House?
His bride died after giving birth to their daughter… just hours after his mother, who lived in the same house, died of typhoid fever.
Historians say Roosevelt wrote a large ‘X’ over February 14, 1884 in his diary and then penned, “The light has gone out of my life.”
Though this pain wore at his heart for a season, I think it may have actually fueled his strength to persevere in unexpected circumstances.
Twelve years later, in 1898, Roosevelt was elected governor, and in 1900 vice president, and then upon McKinley’s assassination in 1901, at forty-two years old Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest president of the United States.
Be encouraged in your struggles and pain today that God has given you the ability to overcome. Do something with the choice you have. And if your decision brings even more hardship, step back and start again.
The more mistakes you make means the more chances you took. A life of chances is what creates courage to carry out success.
Take chances in your career.
Get ridiculously risky with love.
Embrace vulnerability and expose the raw truth.
Strength for future favor can come from your circumstance if you press through the pain and persevere.
Allow the unexpected to fuel a life without regrets. Do something.
May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. 2 Thessalonians 3:5
…because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:3
Lay Me Down
Jesus changes things. The cross is living proof.
What was once a symbol of shame, guilt and disgrace has been transformed into a sign of love, faith and hope with Jesus on it. Today the cross is an emblem of His promise.
This dream-driven, career-consumed culture encourages me to ‘find myself’, follow my passions and enjoy the success. Some of my pleasures have worn off quickly. Others have taken years of chasing flashing fantasies until the heart awakened to find these pursuits could not fill the emptiness.
When I stop stuffing my life, independence caves to the reality that the world preaches moments of happiness, based on happenings. If I truly want to save my life, I need to lose it.
There, on a path in search of the Savior alone, I experience the remarkable peace offered through the hand of Jesus.
With outstretched arms and worn out knees, the Spirit shatters a sorrowful soul that’s been chasing the shadows I call success.
Maybe the truth is that what I really wanted was presence. His presence. Presence of others. To be present.
While opportunities are around every corner, undeserved favor can only be found in the Potter’s perfect plan. Tucked behind the mercy of a Wonderful Maker is purpose for the crumbling clump of clay I’ve been tirelessly tossing at every whimsy.
When I’m willing to deny myself, I show the world, “Jesus is King”.
There’s the part in Exodus when God told Moses to throw down his staff. That staff represented a way of life and identity for a shepherd. In fact, God later used the same staff to perform miracles and save a nation. But before I go there, let me share this discovery:
Whatever I’m willing to release to God will be the very places I receive deliverance into the promised land.
The promised land is that place I consider ‘successful’ today. In my career. In my relationships. In my health.
When I throw down my ‘way of life’ – the possessions, position of power and performance – and surrender it to God’s will, I find freedom! That’s the change that Jesus offers me.
The willingness to lay down my life is how God breaks the bondage that ties me to this world. This allows God to transform the heart and raise it up for His work. When Moses gave his staff – his identity and career- to God, the Almighty used what was given to Him to also transform and deliver others out of slavery.
Cards on the table here. I have some things that need pruning to reflect what matters most in my life.
I have been elbowing my way through the weeds of selfish living in a single life.
While I have a deep desire to reflect the selflessness of Christ, by being present with people and God the Father, I struggle sometimes with scaling the rungs on a career ladder.
The difficulty for me that this place of single-life living actually gives permission to have a laser-like, me-centered focus. The world encourages single people, like me, to embrace success and dreams because of the freedom from things that often get blamed for holding achievement back.
I think about Jesus. Single. The Son of Man was about His Father’s business.
This is the life I was meant to live. This is the legacy I was created to carry.
About a month ago, I heard a statement that stuck, “success doesn’t come from striving”, from Amy Groeschel, an amazing woman of God and wife of Lifechurch.tv pastor Craig Groeschel.
I believe I’m already living His plan, mostly unaware and confused, because the world stresses a different definition of success.
So now I want to ask you, what is important in your life? How does that align with what Jesus says should be most important?
What are you investing your time in? Is there anything in your life that Jesus is asking you to give up? What would happen if you laid it down and allowed God to have His way with your future?
As I lay down my ‘staff’, with all the struggles, stress and strife tied with the world’s vision of success, I am picking up overwhelming joy, unfathomable peace and the light burden of Christ that I was meant to live.
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:30).
The Shield of a Smile
With an end of the rough, twisted rope in a tight grip around my throat, heartbreaking tears exploded from within and covered my face. I didn’t want to die, but the pain of betrayal, a failing career, and grieving words haunted my heart too much to stay alive. It was August 18, 2011.
Self awareness made me a spectator with a front row seat, watching this nightmare unfold. Pain and deeper suffering kept me a helpless victim who lacked willpower to overcome the demons that had lured my emotions to act that evening.
The chair beneath refused to roll away. The energy was gone to do anything more than collapse in a pool of tears. Crawling up the stairs and out of the pit of my basement, I found a phone and called for help.
It was the first time since elementary school that I had climbed into a bed with my parents to feel the comfort and strength of their bodies next to mine.
It was a long drive the next day, as the reality sunk in and I admitted myself into a psychiatric facility. Mom and Dad couldn’t sugarcoat my trauma anymore with, “it’s going to be alright;” clearly it wasn’t.
For months I had been reaching out, however, a recent move narrowed the options of people close enough to care. As the sorrows grew too heavy for my heart to bear, I scoured our self-absorbed society looking for the land of listening ears, but it was parched of people who would pause.
Even the hospital wasn’t as interested in lending an ear as they were in prescribing an absorbent amount of prescriptions. That’s when I checked out of the psychiatric facility and invested my income into a Christian counselor.
We don’t need more breakthroughs in anti-depressant options. We need to break down the burdens with love.
Many consumed by depression are reaching out, yet we’re not listening. In our fast-paced, dream driven world, we’ve flown right past the shield of a smile and never stopped for a second listen.
This lifestyle of self-consumption has drenched the messaging in our minds to spit out, “what’s in it for me”. What prevents us to pause is the idea that we will lose ground in our schedule or success. Yet, none of us will take our dreams with us when we die.
God created community to care for each other. The measure of success in heaven is in hearts.
We’re too rushed to hear the tears falling. Our eyes too focused to see through the shield of a smile. And we’ve become too narrow-minded to notice the fear in a friend standing in front of our face.
Success is measured by love. It doesn’t simply talk about love, it walks out love.
How can you live love today? Who can you be a friend to? Where can you pause and notice that pain in someone else?
Or maybe it’s you we’re searching for. Speak up, reach out, I’m listening.
People Over Plans
It’s only a few days now, and no, I’m still not ready for the ever-important appointments that have been set with some of the largest publishers around the country. My perfectionist, people pleasing personality is not happy about it one bit.
It’s saying, ‘try harder. You still have time. Don’t you dare go there un-prepared. Don’t let these people down by wasting time at the table with one sheet. Your future is hinging upon this.’
I stressed over the content. I strained my eyes at the screen. Then I got on my knees in surrender. ‘I can’t do it, Lord. I don’t know what to write and I can’t create something out of nothing. I give up. I’m not staring at the keys and a blank screen any longer until you tell me what to write.’
My body collapsed from the physical exertion and pressure I put on myself. I let out groans and sobs only the Spirit could understand. And then I began to praise.
Some minutes later, in state of mental exhaustion, I found myself staring at the ceiling in awe of a wonderful God, who created the heavens and earth and all things in it, and then stitched me.
Your plans have become your priority, but what about my people?
My ears perked up, ‘Oh God. I pushed people out and prioritized my plan for these appointments because I thought you opened this door for me?’
I did. And I can close it too. Desire me, seek me, pursue me and I will give you the desires of your heart. I will open doors no man can open. Trust me.
‘I understand. I’m sorry God for making this about me and my wisdom. So now what?’ I asked.
Make the chapters about (Beeeeeeeep. I can’t tell you this or it will ruin the element of surprise when the book is released ;-)). But let’s just say it is brilliant! What else would you expect from the greatest Author ever?
So I wrote down what He said and I let out a sigh of relief from pressure to perform.
There will be no book proposal to hand publishers. And to be honest, I’m not scared. I have seen God create pathways in my life where man has said there is no way. I am confident His work will be done here.
What I did do though is spend the next few days sharing moments over meals, movies and music with friends from all walks in my life.
I made people my priority over plans.
Ps. Last night, I fired up the oven and whipped up a batch of muffins for a friend in celebration of this new-found freedom.
If the stale, all-purpose baking mix was any indication of the last time I had stepped behind a stove in the name of service, good Lord! I suppose I made up for this shameful admittance by the number of ingredients I included in those gluten free, raspberry, lemon, poppy seed muffins. I only required my friend to try one, so 
she could taste the intent of my heart that had been resurrected in the name of love for people over my plans.
Just in case you’re wondering… I whipped up a batch of flourless oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies for her family instead. I couldn’t leave our story on stale muffins. 😉
I am…
There is so much power in these two words, ‘I am’. And what comes after those words makes a huge difference!
The ‘I am’ in your mind, determines the ‘I am’ in your life.
God can create someone wonderful in you, but if you don’t believe it and start speaking it, your feet won’t start walking in it.
Walking out of the sanctuary after church on Sunday, I ran into two friends. Both of them are successful musicians. It’s Nashville, most people in this city are famous for something. My two friends asked how I had been doing.
I was honest about the sadness in my heart. The enemy has been persistent in pummeling in all parts of my life. My day job is piling up projects (Thank you Lord for a job!). And on the side, I’m struggling to perfect a book proposal for agents and publishers, with less than two weeks before the pitch. This could change my life… No pressure.
One of my friends looked at me and said, ‘your day job is what pays the bills, but that’s not who you are. You are a writer. You spend your mornings and nights writing, that’s what writers do.’ He learned this from his friend Bill Conti (I’m a bit of a buff at film scores, enough to know Bill did the Rocky movies. When my friend said Bill Conti, I was all ears!).
I realized in this moment, yes, I am a writer! I write most days and when I’m not, I’m 
searching the deeper parts of my heart to prepare for the next time I do. No publisher or agent can take that away from me, even if my project doesn’t get the support I want.
I love how Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). His life was already determined for greatness, just like ours. And here He’s claiming it! I am the way…
These words are powerful!
I couldn’t get home fast enough on Sunday to update my online profiles.
Where do you work? Writer, at trishakeehn.wordpress.com and I’m working on my first book.
I recognize I am so many other things as well, but just wrapping my mind around this truth has taken the pressure off my proposal project. As the minutes tick-tocked their way to sundown, I spent the rest of the Sabbath basking in God’s presence.
So who does God say you are? If you don’t know what God has created you to do, pray for Him to reveal that. Let me know you’re praying and I’ll pray with you… there is power in prayer when we petition in numbers!
If you do know what that is, I would encourage you to see yourself in it already. Take those small steps and claim victory in it! Just because you haven’t reached your end goal, doesn’t mean you haven’t already achieved the title. Starting is half the battle.
Maybe you’re hesitant to tell others about this dream. Maybe you hear the enemy criticizing your confidence saying, ‘you can’t’.
Well, my friend, remember the enemy doesn’t come after anyone who’s not a threat. If you hear his fear trying to make you too small or your dream too big, chances are you may be close to claiming it! Soldier on! I am…