God’s Package Does Not Arrive Overnight

When you say a prayer earnestly and put faith behind the prayer. God, is packaging up your blessing and sending it on its way to you.

The key to receiving your blessing is not put a time limit on God. You can’t click overnight delivery while asking God for anything. But he does get your help moving; the real question is, will you be available when your package arrives?

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Some answers come quickly, while others take time. Can you stay in faith long enough to receive the gift he has for you?

Something we never know is what God has to do way out in front of our lives to move the right people, right timing, proper resources, for our blessing to manifest. If we learn to have faith in our daily walk, do the work before us to allow our benefit to come.

What comes is always more than we imagined. Why? Because we stay in faith!

Of course, you cannot sit on your fanny and expect God to put the package right in your hands while you sit on the couch. Do what your heart tells you to do daily.

If you get enough prayers going, do the work before you. It’s imaginable that blessing will begin to come in all the time. How exciting!

The Bible says, “you have not because you ask not.” Begin to imagine the life you want where the money is not the problem, resources, education, connections are all not the problem.

Begin to believe God for everything you desire in your life. Walk daily in faith and begin to see your life change in ways you never thought possible.

For example, I had asked God to publish one book in 2019, just one. I published 8 in 2019 thank you very much. I did the work, and God put in my heart stories that I put to paper. I have already published 2 more books in 2020.

Remember, God does not run an overnight package service. What he does run is a miracle service if you do the work and believe.

  1. Start praying for the life you want!
  2. Write down these prayers and read them daily!
  3. Do the work before you. No matter how small a step you take, take action!
  4. Let God know that you believe with all that is you every day. 

Do these few things every day. Don’t lose hope or faith even in the darkest moments of your life. It’s hard, but that mustard seed of faith can move mountains.

Never worry about how! God has you.

Questions or commments:

 

Plan B Hell NO

This is a quick look at the first chapter of my book, Plan B Hell NO. Of all my books I love this one for many reasons.

Shatter your Plan B and give way to success! 

Chapter 1

Learning the Difference

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”—Nelson Mandela

We are going to cover some perspectives that if you lean the difference between these ideologies, you will learn the first steps in unwavering faith.

You must change your mindset of lack in this first set of ideas that cause doubt. We don’t have the right resources. Learn when thinking of what you can do, say to yourself, “we just burned the boats now what?”

What to learn before you throw plan-b out:

  • Activity vs. Productivity acquire the difference!
  • Resources vs. Resourcefulness.
  • Failure, delays, obstacles, on the other side, is your success.
  • Unwavering faith!
  • Visualize, see yourself already having achieved your goal.
  • Gratitude is grateful where you are now and thankful for what is coming.

Learn to master these few things, and you will rocket ship your success.

First set: Resources vs. Resourcefulness

Where most folks fail in endeavors is their belief of a lack of resources. “I don’t have this; I don’t have that.” Ultimately, nothing begins, or they don’t finish what they started because they sold themselves on the fact “I don’t have.”

Here is what is lacking. Resourcefulness! It’s not a lack of resources; it’s a lack of ingenuity that causes you to fail. Some of the most beautiful photography does not get shot from a $10,000 camera but a $100 point-and-shoot or a smartphone. It’s not the gear; it’s the eye of the photographer. Take a look at what some of the top YouTube channels shoot with; most will tell you they started with a phone or a point-and-shoot.

We are learning to plan and execute with precision. Meaning, we learn to organize yourself for production. Days are about the output from hour-to-hour. We’re going to get into this later in the book.

So how do we learn to be resourceful?

  1. The most obvious is research. Learn everything there is to know about what you want to begin. Your knowledge needs to be you are the news organization’s first call when they need a professional opinion. The what you do does not matter, the knowledge base you have is unmatched.
  2. Learn to make do with what you have temporarily. If you need a tool to perform your job but do not own one, can you rent, borrow, a joint venture with someone who does. For example, I am a photographer, when I need a camera Lens, I rent it. If offered a job that requires a lens that might cost me tens of thousands of dollars to purchase, I rent it!
  3. I currently have a full-time job. I don’t have time. Can you get up an hour early? Give one hour a day every day, and at the end of the year, you’ve invested 365 hours to your new endeavor. If you’re more inclined to succeed get up at 4:00 AM. You would be in good company, Bill Gates is up, Dewayne “The Rock” Johnson is up, and so is Warren Buffet.
  4. Can you swap for things? If someone has something, you need to see if they’re willing to accept another form of payment from you. It’s a long shot, but long shots win at the track every day! You dare to ask for what you need.
  5. Bend the rules of any situation. BEND NOT BREAK. Bend rules to accomplish. We never bend the rules to destruct or harm. Ever! Think outside the normal.
  6. Learn to play several hands. Double down when you can. Never rely on one solution when others may work as well.
  7. Communicate with potential clients, vendors, or angel help. Learn to voice yourself to get what you need. You will be amazed at how many good-hearted people are out there if you present yourself well.

When you think about resourcefulness, think about people who have defied all odds to achieve.  We’ve all heard of or seen Escape from Alcatraz. Arguably a prison that should be escape-proof but turned out not to be.

We’ve all heard stories of cancer recovery; you’ll never walk again, obstacles placed before folks that didn’t listen. They defied the odds and overcame incredible adversity. Where there is a will, there is a way. Pardon the cliché, but it’s true.

Resourceful people also have patience. Where many fail is, they get frustrated because change is not immediate. Resources may be moving around with the help of the Universe to align themselves with you.

I told this story in a Podcast. Think about patience this way. Say you want a job, not just any job but your dream job. You pray about it, visualize it and know you can do it. You start losing faith, so much so eventually you give up. What you did not see was that your dream job that could have been yours currently occupied by someone that had you waited just a bit longer would have been available because that person retired. God was going to steer you to this job after a deserving person was able to retire with a bang. They earned that for years of service.

God was letting someone retire with the fanfare they richly earned, and he was going to put you in it because you stayed in faith, you made it. You got frustrated and moved on. How stupid do you think you would feel if you had this knowledge after you lost the opportunity?

Opportunity can come quickly, or slowly. If your faith stays true to the course, you’re on, when the knock-on opportunities door comes it will be more than we ever imagined. Imagine the wisdom you might have received from the person exiting your dream job. What did you miss because you could not be patient?

At this point, some of you may be saying, “but I’m not that clever.” Everyone can be clever. Here are some ways you can learn to quiet your mind. When you do this, it’s incredible how much your thoughts will begin to serve you instead of stress you.

  • Meditation is fantastic, and anyone can do it. What this practice allows you to do is to slow your mind down. Declutters your head so you can organize your thoughts and be receptive to receive new ideas.

If you want to learn to be more resourceful, learn to meditate so your mind can clear a pathway to new thoughts.

If life is not set too well right now, meditation can help you find peace. Living in your mind will cause us to live in fear, pain, and anxiety. Our thoughts wander off into the abyss of negativity.

Meditate to get in touch with your soul. When we live from the soul, all things are possible. During meditation practice aligning with God, the divine source will release your energy. Bring into our lives joy, happiness, and oneness with the universe where real peace can live.

Connecting with Devine Energy:

As part of healthy meditation practice, we can cleanse our bodies of toxic, life-draining anxiety. We can see what our deepest desires for health, family, relationships, all in our minds. When you believe in your soul, that’s when things begin to materialize.

It’s a simple process. Find some meditative music. Use headphones if possible. You can find lots of meditation music on YouTube®. Find a relaxing position; I like to lay down on my bed flat. Breathe deeply in through the nose and out through the mouth. Deep cleansing breaths relax!

As you begin your meditation, don’t worry if your mind moves in thought. It will take some time for you to get to a point in your meditation practice that you can control your thoughts. It’s ok.

Begin to connect with God, ask him to come into your life, and only pray to him. Release your cares to him. Then show him through your mind, see yourself receiving blessings, see yourself in the state that you want to be. Visualize in your mind, your deepest desires and then tell God how grateful you are.

There is a reason it is called a meditation practice. It will take a bit of time for the mind to clear trash thoughts. It’s ok. Continue this practice daily. Several times a day if you have the time. For sure, before bedtime.

Connecting to Devine source will open your life to wonderous new blessings and peace.

If you want to be resourceful, learn to open your mind, declutter your head so you can find new ways to achieve your goals.

Second set: Activity vs. Productivity

Massive in changing anything about your life. So many people tell me they don’t have time. They can’t fit another thing in their day. My short answer, “you don’t know how to manage your time.” I usually get a lot of expletives shouted at me. Hear me out before you hit the refund button.

You will need to indulge me in an activity. First, get two pages of a daily calendar that starts and ends with your work times. You need a daily view that breaks up the day hour-by-hour. Then what I want you to do is HONESTLY write down what you do for two days literally by the hour.

Yes, you can do it, and yes, it’s a pain in the ass. How bad do you want to change?

Chronicle your day, I mean from bathroom breaks to screwing around on social media. Chin-wagging with friends, talking on the phone, you get the idea. Be honest; this is not a test but will be an ah-ha moment. “Holy crap, I waste a lot of time.”

We can find you somewhere close to 20 hours per week. I promise you will be amazed.

So, this is what activity will look like now let’s talk about what productivity looks like — time-sensitive projects, client fires, things that are typically out of your control but do take time. Of course, we must adjust for issues as they arise. The point to all this is once we get distracted, we immediately get back on task.

What a day looks like filled with production:

  1. Set times that you can do routine daily tasks. For example, email. Can you make two times a day for email? Morning and afternoon. Daily try and identify how much time you spend on email. Most emails can wait for a time.
  2. Give each function of your day a set time to start and complete. Never leave a task incomplete for the day if you can finish.
  3. Learn to keep distractions to a minimum. Let friends and family know that if possible, call you at designated times.
  4. Social media is a killer of time. It boils down to is looking at what your sister-in-law cooked for dinner or is a success your passion? Also, keeping up with friends during the day, why waste productive time? Social media eats time with NO benefit to your success.
  5. You have 24 hours in a day, you need 6 hours of sleep, leaving you 18 hours! Now tell me you don’t have time! Get organized with time. Time is a friend or foe.

Invest time for yourself. Imagine after a year of one hour a day; now, you have 365 hours invested in your freedom. Knowledge is freedom.

Change your perspective about sacrifice. If you feel you must sacrifice anything, you’re in the wrong mode. If you think you must surrender to realize a dream you have. Ask yourself why?

What you put into a thing, for example; getting up earlier to begin your day. Some would say this is a sacrifice. NO!

Anything you do to further your life is an investment, not a sacrifice. Learn to invest in your success. Everything you do that facilitates your life experience is an investment that yields a net result.

It’s not a bloody sacrifice to have a happy life. You don’t have to give up anything to have a happy life. You gave up an hour of sleep to further your life and that somehow realistically is a sacrifice?

Look at actions you’re engaged in that you feel is a sacrifice. Then HONESTLY ask yourself why you feel that way. My guess is you’re not adequately managing your time. Don’t get pissed. We all suck at managing time. Activity vs. Productivity!

Visualize what you want. Not just about material things.

  • Happy
  • Relationship
  • Body
  • Mind
  • Soul
  • Work
  • Home

See where we’re galloping off to here? It’s an all-encompassing visualization of our life. See the life you want to have. We do this in our mind’s eye.

The best time I have found to do this is during my meditation practice. Follow these simple steps:

  1. Have a place where you can quiet your mind without interruption.
  2. I find it easier to de-clutter my mind with soft meditation music or outdoor sounds like crickets, ocean, rain, this type of sounds are soothing.
  3. Begin to see with eyes closed focus your mind on what you desire to see change. See yourself happy, in a happy relationship, new job, new body, focus until you smile. Stay in that state-of-mind for as long as you’re comfortable.
  4. Do this practice at least once per day.
  5. When you begin to believe it, the Universe will start to manifest your dreams.
  6. Have patience and gratitude. Lock in your faith!

Gratitude for where you are, what you have today lets the Universe know you’re available to receive blessings. Demonstrate your true faithfulness in this life. Then learn to be grateful for what is coming, what you can’t see but desire to be a part of your life.

Be happy where you are and for what is coming, and miracles will abound.

Focus on Gratitude every day. Take moments out of your day to thank God for what you have and what you cannot see. Give praise for the life you have.

Click Here to Check out the Entire Book available at Amazon

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Resources vs. Resourcefulness

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your future. Make your hope. Make your love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.”—Bradley Whitford

In my research, the one common denominator that stood out to me more than anything. Peoples fear a lack of resources. We don’t have the right equipment. I don’t have a proper education. We don’t have enough money.

All great excuses if you don’t want to win. Throw in the towel before you even get in the ring.

Let’s dispel a few things.

The definition of resourcefulness as it appears in the dictionary:

noun

the ability to find quick and smart ways to overcome difficulties.

“his films show remarkable technical resourcefulness.”

You are learning to become clever. If you say you can’t be clever, I am going to scream.

Yes, you can!

Let’s work a couple of scenarios:

You want to start a photography business. You have no gear or at least not too much.

  • Some of the gorgeous photographs taken with a smartphone. Apple®, for example, has photo contests for its products.
  • Have you seen how many commercials shot on the phone? YouTube®
  • Pentax® introduced a new point-n-shoot and shot all the national promotional commercials with it.
  • Rent gear. Several cool shops offer this service for any camera you can think of including Cinema cameras. I should know I rent equipment all the time.
  • Free editing software. I use an editor called Resolve®. It’s free and very robust. Even pay software is not that expensive to use.

With a little research, you can get smart enough to start your business. Besides, most great videographers prefer simple equipment. You don’t need a $50,000 camera to shoot incredible shots. It’s the eye, not the gear! The expensive gear will come, be great the gear companies will come to you!

How about relationships. Who says you can’t find the right person? Say your supper, shy. Social occasions, you freeze, cold sweats, and disaster.

  • In chapter one, we learned volunteers. Do something you are passionate about that helps people. My guess is you do something in your life that you do well, and the shy you fade away. Helping others is a great way to get out of your head.
  • Teach people something. You can go to the library and offer a class. Can you potty train a puppy, do you cook well, can you bowl, what can you do that you could teach someone else to do?
  • Read to kids at the library. Kids are funny and will keep you on your toes.

Find something that will help you strengthen yourself to have confidence. Then we go out and tackle the big fish. Use things you’re comfortable to do to help you develop.

Most people I meet that are shy are afraid of social interaction. Why? Because of a lack of being in that environment. I get there are clinical issues that can go beyond this simple process. What I am suggesting is if you’re comfortable, to try simple things like volunteering. It’s easy to exit these situations if needed.

The more we can put ourselves in situations that allow us to grow from our fear. The less likely we are to fail.

Resourcefulness is fun to challenge the mind to find solutions to the impossible. My favorite comeback when asked what I am doing at work; “I am making Ice Cream out of dog shit.” Talk about resourceful, forget about it.

However, let’s stop for a second. You would have to be resourceful to make ice cream out of dog poo. The extreme that I want to take you too. If we lack in resources, then we better learn to make this ice cream.

How pray-tell do we achieve this smelly task, you ask? Knowledge, read, research, we learn how. Did you know that Warren Buffet reads much of his day? Other veracious readers include Bill Gates and Mark Cuban. My thinking is if these guys gather this much knowledge, seeing what level of success they enjoy. Well, there is something to the power of education.

When we have a lack of resources, maybe gaining knowledge that shows us how to be resourceful to overcome an obstacle will serve us well. Even if we have the resources, would you not prefer to solve a problem vs. writing a check cleverly?

witty, clever, smart

Something I have learned along the way about having funding for a business. Of course, who would not want a million in the bank to begin a business? However, many who start a business with funding often fail. It makes you complacent. Take more risks in advertising, or we need this piece of equipment. When reality says no, you don’t.

Let me share something with you that I thought was one of the most profound statements ever. Robert Stephens, the founder of Geek Squad®, made this vague statement; “Advertising is the TAX you pay for being Unremarkable!”

What does advertising do it begs people to buy your stuff cheaper than anyone else? Have you ever seen a Cartier® commercial that says; THIS SATURDAY ONLY WE’RE BLOWING OUT ALL OUR ENGAGEMENT RINGS AT 50% OFF OUR LOWEST PRICE. Are you kidding me? Cartier® does not even open the store on Saturdays. If you can’t come during the week, you can’t afford to shop there. Moreover, they’re remarkable!

Think about that metaphorically. You could apply this statement for every aspect of your life.

 Are you remarkable?

  • Remarkable Human Being
  • Remarkable Spouse
  • Exceptional Parent
  • Outstanding health

This statement speaks to resourcefulness. People are much more impressed with cleverness than they are any amount of money.

I could hire a ghostwriter, or I can write my books myself. Writing requires me to be smart. If I can’t keep you engaged in the book, I won’t sell to many. Amid this, I still hold down and everyday Joe job that is a stepping stone to my new life.

Learning to become resourceful will help you gain a great many new skills when no choice exists but to do something or try something. As you journey into that abyss, you will retain more because your focus is more.

You can teach yourself to do just about anything. The question is how bad you want your dreams to come true. Are you willing to invest in your success? The question applies to any aspect of your life. A great deal of what I’m writing sounds like a business success story. This information is all-encompassing.

The only way you can ever expect to win is to have more knowledge than the other guy. Allow you the resourcefulness to amaze. When you can solve issues without having to buy your way out or in, my friend that is genius. Who would you do business with a talent or a dude that has a lot of money (keep in mind money comes and goes)? The genius has a higher long-term yield.

Apply this to a relationship. Who will win the girl? The clever man or the guy with money? The clever man will have to work much harder and do even more spectacular things to win a girl’s affection. A good woman is going to weigh out and respect more the guy who must come up with unique ways to make the girl feel special. Money might buy you a good time, may purchase good food, but a resourceful guy wins over the heart.

If people can see your ability to solve problems consistently, that will take you to the finish line every time! Money comes and goes. Intelligence if forever.

I go back to the photography business. It’s not the gear; it’s the photographer’s eye. You can see the subject in a way that inspires. You can give a $50,000 camera to someone that never guarantees a Pulitzer prize.  For that matter, a decent photo.

Being resourceful solving issues, seeing life in a way that you embrace challenge you don’t freeze because things get tough. Seeing the opportunity in all things is our minds destination. For years, I did not, and gave up. No more!

Today I am always looking at how to improve a bad situation. Looking to be resourceful helps me hone my skills.

This is a Chapter out of Tying it All Together. Link to Amazon

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