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Thursday, August 31, 2017

Note to Self

God blesses me to talk to people all over the world. Sometimes they share their struggles with me and our hearts are instantly connected by pain or circumstances. During these times, I want to say something to help them in some way. Usually, I travel back in time and think, what would I say to my younger self. What did I need to hear when I was going through a similar struggle?

When I can answer from a place of love and understanding, then I can connect on a deeper level. The situations may not always be the same, but the pain is exactly the same. We’ve all had those moments of fear, uncertainty, loss, grief, heartache, and unworthiness. While I’ve experienced all of these emotions frequently, I’ve also had the amazing feeling of defying the odds and overcoming them all. That’s what I want to share with the world. 

If I could somehow speak to my younger self, this is what I would say….

Be kind to everyone—especially yourself. Everyone is fighting some type of battle. Laugh every chance that you get. Allow your light to shine out into the world. Smile. When you smile from love and compassion and wish others well, they get a little glimpse of your soul. And that is what they will remember about you. 

The love and acceptance that you so desperately seek from others are inside of you. You hold the power. When you love and accept yourself, exactly as you are, then your scars and imperfections will never have the power to hurt you again. It really doesn’t matter what other people think of you, what do you think of yourself? Acceptance is a process. Give yourself some grace while you go through the process. 

This too shall pass. Whenever you are going through a challenge, just know that it won’t last forever. Every trial is happening for you and not to you. Our trials strengthen us and help us to grow into the person that God created us all to be.

Be authentic. God created you exactly as you were meant to be. He didn’t make any mistakes. Embrace your life and become the person God created you to be. He didn’t intend for you to be like anyone else, nor to be influenced by the world. We all have unique gifts to offer the world.

You could have died, but God spared you for a reason. You are alive to love and be loved. When you open your eyes every morning, thank Him for the glorious gift of another day. 

Every day strive to be the best person that you can be. Relax and know that you don’t have to have it all figured out. The Lord is your Shepherd. Seek Him and His guidance and He will help you. 

Don’t compare yourself to others. No one is better than anyone else. We all have flaws, fears, insecurities, negative thoughts, and heartaches. God didn’t create us to be perfect. Our flesh has imperfections and sin. That is why we need Him. He is our Savior, and He is in our hearts. 

The ones who treat us the worst in life need our love and kindness the most. We need to recognize the hurt in them and react with love. While we can’t control how anyone treats us, we can decide how we will treat them. A smile and a prayer can change someone’s life. 

Pray more and worry less. God is always in control. When you feel overwhelmed pray and study the scriptures. The most important relationship that you will ever have in life is one you have with God. The closer we get to Him, the more we love others and ourselves. 

You can’t even imagine how God is going to bless your life. Follow Him, beyond your comfort zone and into deeper waters. One day it will all make perfect sense until then, trust the Lord with all your heart. 

Love and blessings, 


Candida

Friday, August 25, 2017

Are You Happy With Your Life?

Are you happy with your life? Do you live with passion and purpose? Do you strive every day to make your life better and the world a better place?

When we take a moment to really think about the tough questions and evaluate where we are in our lives, then we can move toward our goals. Ignoring the warning signals and continuing on the wrong path is suffocating to our soul. Regardless of where we are or where we have been, God always gives us an opportunity to turn around. Just because we find ourselves on the wrong path doesn’t mean that we have to continue going in the wrong direction. At any time, we can decide to change. 

God doesn’t beat us up when we make mistakes. He loves us unconditionally, and He wants us to enjoy our lives. Serving God is one of the greatest joys of my life. It feeds my soul to help others. When we take the first step toward the Lord with our whole heart, then He will help us with every step after that. While it won’t be easy, I promise you it will be worth it. Decide today who you will serve. 

Love and blessings, 


Candida 

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Ten Tips For Overcoming Chronic Pain

I will never forget how it felt to lie in the bed afraid and in severe pain. Day after day, month after month, I searched for ways to alleviate my pain. At one point, I could barely walk, my speech was slurred and I had such a hard time trying to communicate with my brain. As my doctors discussed my future, all I could think was God did not bring me this far to let me down. In my heart, I knew He had a plan for me. One night as He took me on a journey of remembrance through my career, I came willingly in my heart to do it all. The interviews, the videos, and I promised Him that if He would help me overcome it all that I would share my knowledge and testimony of healing with the world. 

Fast forward to this moment. I am not in any pain. Not only did I workout this morning for 45 minutes, but I also walked three miles. Three miles without pain. There is something wonderful about getting a second chance at life. I don’t take the moments for granted. As I listened to the bird's chirp and enjoyed the gloriousness of the morning my heart praised Him. This morning my request was the same as usual. God, how can I help other people? 

  1. When we focus on a cause or a power bigger than ourselves it gives our life purpose. I’ve read many times, as long as we have a strong enough why we can endure the pain and hardships and find a way to transform them. Our lives should never be just about us. 
  2. Take inventory of what we are putting in our bodies each day. With every bite we should ask ourselves, is this helping or harming me? Eliminating gluten, dairy, and  limiting sugar and processed foods made a huge difference in how I feel. I have also added in a superfoods smoothie. When I start my day with superfoods from all over the world, I just feel better. 
  3. Exercise every single day. When I walk it clears my mind of stress and worry and helps me to pray. Once I’ve cleared my mind of the negative thoughts then I’m open to positive, creative thoughts. Yoga also helps me to relax— physically and mentally. 
  4. Get up and go to bed at the same time each day. If I get too much or too little sleep it makes me feel bad. After a month of getting up at 5 a.m. and going to bed at 9:00 pm., I feel so much better. Now I’m even starting to wake up before my alarm goes off. 
  5. Seek natural treatments. Chiropractic adjustments, massages, laser therapy, and osteopathic adjustments all help me to heal my body. Our bodies are self-healing. We just have to give them a little help.
  6. Homeopathic medicine, vitamins, and supplements help me so much. After my surgery, when I couldn’t use pain medication, turmeric and caffeine helped to ease the pain. I also take fish oil and vitamin D daily.
  7. Ice. When I’ve really overworked my hands, shoulders, and back ice helps to ease the pain. Taking a moment to stretch during the day also helps. 
  8. Drink more water. I have so much trouble with muscle spasms. When I don’t get enough water, my muscles cramp.
  9. Practice gratitude. When I pause and enjoy the moment, it helps me to be present. The more gratitude that I cultivate in my life, the more joy that I have.
  10. Pray without ceasing. Life can be so extremely hard. There is nothing that we will ever face that God can’t help us with. I’m learning to surrender it all to Him and put my troubles in His hands.  

Bonus tip: Visualize healing. Every day as I lay in my sickbed, I visualized myself walking without pain. I saw myself standing in front of hundreds of people, wearing high heels, and delivering my message flawlessly. I became obsessed with healing. I researched ways to heal my body, read books about it, and believed wholeheartedly that God was going to bless me to overcome it one way or another. 


Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. This article is in no way meant to give you medical advice. These tips have helped me and others, and I just wanted to share them with you in hopes that they might help you as well. Please talk them over with your doctor. 
Love and blessings, 

Candida

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Why Our Feelings Can Be Dangerous


Sometimes our situation can seem so hopeless. Especially when we focus on our heartaches and magnify them. Our minds have the ability to take something small and turn it into something big. Every thought that comes into our mind is not the truth. In fact, most of them are lies. 

Most of our thoughts are based on our feelings. When I’m feeling afraid most of my thoughts will be centered on fear. We can’t make decisions just based on our feelings. If so, we would never do anything that we don’t feel like doing. Honestly, I don’t “feel” like writing. I never “feel” like getting out of bed at 5 a.m. I don’t “feel” like working out or eating clean. I never “feel” like going to work or church for that matter. But I do them all anyway. 

We have to make ourselves do the right thing. Every day there is a warfare going on inside of us. The enemy cannot destroy us. He can’t make us do anything. He can, however, encourage us to self-destruct. The person often standing in our way is us. We are the ones who make the wrong decisions day after day. We are the ones who chose to take the easy path. We are the ones who decide to only do the things that make us feel good—in the moment. 

When we decide, however, to do the things that need to be done, regardless of how we feel about it, then we can advance in our lives. Phrases like “I don’t feel good”, “I don’t feel good enough”, and  “I don’t feel like doing that today” are dangerous to us. Especially if we allow them to be our excuse. I used to have a really hard time getting up at 5 a.m. because my first thought every morning was “I feel so sleepy”. 

The truth is that our thoughts can change rapidly. We can go from happy to sad in an instant. Instead of allowing our thoughts and feelings to run our day, we need to decide how we are going to spend our days and ultimately live our lives. If we always wait until we feel like doing certain things, then I am afraid that the time to do them may never come. Every day we should plan our day, and live our life based on our goals and what needs to be done, rather than our feelings about it.

Love and blessings, 


Candida

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Be The Best That You Can Be

It’s so easy to get weary in well doing. Most of the time, we expect the reward as soon as we complete the task. If we eat healthy for one day and exercise, then we expect to see results. When the results are not immediate, we often get discouraged and give up. If we would continue, however, we would eventually see the progress.

Writing and sharing my journey takes patience. Sometimes it takes me years to write a book. From the idea to publication is a lengthy process. By the time I’m finished with a book, I’ve usually read each word, what feels like, a million times. In the beginning, I resisted the process. I didn’t want to spend the time writing and rewriting. Once the idea was on paper, I wanted to abandon it and move onto something else. I quickly learned, however, in life, there are no shortcuts. If we want the results, then we have to be willing to do the work. End of story. 

Instead of fighting against the process, I am learning to embrace it. My goal is to show up every day for my Lord and use the gifts that He has given me. This morning, I didn’t have a thought. I sat and stared at the blinking cursor on the blank page for several minutes before anything came to me. I could have closed my laptop and declared writer’s block and went back to bed. That’s what I really wanted to do. But I’ve learned to be patient and wait for it.

Every day we should seek out the challenges. The only way we can grow, both physically and mentally, is when we are challenged. When we push our muscles to their limit then they are forced to expand. It’s the same way with us. When we continuously do the things that are hard for us, eventually they will become easier because we will become stronger. We can’t gain any additional strength without pushing ourselves. 

Our only competition should be ourselves. When we try to do more today than we did yesterday, then we create an atmosphere for growth. Progress is outside our comfort zone. Every day we should strive to be the best person that we can be. We should challenge our limitations and limiting beliefs until we overcome them. 

What will you do today to challenge yourself?

Love and blessings, 


Candida 

Monday, August 21, 2017

The Compound Effect


Do you want to live your whole life and never reach your full potential? This thought came to my mind yesterday and hurt my feelings. It forced me to evaluate my life and ask myself some really tough questions. 

Do you like where you are right now in your life?
Did you live your life with purpose today?
Did you reflect God or use the gifts that He gave you?

If I’m being honest, I would have to say no to all those questions. While I’ve been doing better lately, still I’ve found myself slipping back into the same routines of comfort. When I pick the easier path, I deny myself the opportunity to grow and to take another step toward discovering my potential in life. 

Most of the time, though I don’t realize what is happening. All it takes is one bad decision to get me off track. Because the one leads to two and then three and I before I realize what is happening to me, I’m completely away from where I want to be. 

I don’t want to barely get by in my life. I don’t always want to choose the path of least resistance. Every day I want to live joyfully—with purpose, love, and passion. In order to do that I have to be consistent with my efforts. That’s the really hard part. Because as soon as we are making progress and moving toward our goals and dreams, the resistance always shows up. The resistance is what usually gets me because it comes with tons of wonderful excuses. When I continue to move forward, despite my circumstances, then I’m able to overcome the resistance. 

Overcoming our challenges is hard. Living a life without passion and purpose is even harder. When we are faced with the choice we have to choose which one feeds our soul. Going with the easier option might make us feel good in the moment, however, it will cause us more heartache in the long run. The good news is that we don’t have to make the choices by ourselves. God knows all about us and our situation. We should seek His guidance in all matters. He knows whether or not we are on the wrong path or if we are just experiencing resistance. 

When we make bad choices we feel:

Fatigued
Melancholy
Unmotivated

When we make better choices, however, we will feel:

Energized
Joyful
Motivated
Creative


God gave us all the power of choice. We get to decide how we want to live our life. What we tell ourselves will either lift us up or tear us down. We are all capable of so much more than we realize. Today let’s ask God for guidance and then do what He tells us to do. It’s often not the big decisions in life that hurt us, it’s the daily choices we make that will either move us closer to goals or further away. The Bible tells us to watch and pray. So often the devil lures us onto the wrong path a little at a time. If he tried to do it all at once, we would recognize him and resist. Usually, the things that will help us the most are so simple that we overlook them. 



Have a wonderful day!

Candida

Friday, August 18, 2017

How To Overcome The Victim Mentality


Do you ever feel like a victim? Does your situation feel overwhelming or hopeless? Do you feel stuck, afraid, and surrounded by pain? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I have good news for you. You can transform your life. You can overcome your circumstances. I did and you can, too. 

Years ago, I viewed my life through the lens of a victim. My situation seemed hopeless. After all, there is no cure for Amniotic Band Syndrome. Therefore, I didn’t see any way for me to be able to overcome the challenges of my daily life. Every hardship made me feel helpless. I often wallowed in self-pity, feeling as if I was the only person with this particular challenge. At times, I felt as if no one else had ever experienced my degree of pain. 

When a new challenge occurred it usually took me to my knees. So many times I went to bed and pulled the covers over my head because I felt as if I couldn’t deal with my circumstances. I never thought I could be healthy or strong. My body constantly reminded me of my weakness. 

Then one day everything changed. The day I realized that I could have died changed my life. Most babies die from the trauma of Amniotic Band Syndrome. From that day forward, I have viewed my life differently. I am not a victim! I am an overcomer! The bands attacked me and yet God blessed me to survive. Every day that I live is a blessing. I get to love and be loved. 

Yes, I still have daily challenges. We all do. Every single one of us has struggled, will struggle, or is currently struggling with something. No one is exempt from hardships. It is how we decide to view our challenges that truly makes a difference. Our trials happen for us and not to us. Without the challenges of living with the scars caused by Amniotic Band Syndrome, I don’t think I would be the same person. Living with scars has taught be about compassion, strength, perseverance, love, joy, gratitude, etc.

Every day when my eyes open, I am so grateful for another day. When I’m able to cultivate hope and live joyfully despite my pain, then I’m able to overcome my circumstances. We don’t know what we are capable of until we try. 

Ten tips for overcoming our circumstances:

  1. Find the joy in each situation.
  2. Never give up. Keep trying. 
  3. Trust God to give us what we need, when we need it. 
  4. View the situation as it is—not worse or better.
  5. Remember God is in control. He created the world and us. 
  6. Always have hope that our situation will get better. 
  7. Ask God for guidance.
  8. Do what we can to help ourselves.
  9. Keep a gratitude journal.
  10. Brainstorm ways to overcome our situation.

Romans 8:28  (KJV)
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.


Regardless of our situation, it’s how we view it that truly matters. If we see ourselves as a victim, then we will act as a victim. We should all chose to see ourselves as warrior’s for God. The enemy continuously attacks us. While we might have battle scars, we are still alive. Let’s live with purpose and fight a good fight. 

Love and blessings, 

Candida

Monday, August 14, 2017

Today, I Get To

How often do we go through out our days, complaining about all the things that we have to do? I am so guilty of this. So often I make my to-do list with a mental sigh of all the things I have to do that day. This morning as my alarm clock buzzed, my first thought was I have to work today.  Before my feet hit the floor, however, I changed my mindset. I get to work today. It is a privilege denied to many. 

I remember what it felt like to lie in bed, day after day, and wish for the health to work and the ability to walk without extreme pain. Now that I am able to do those things, I will not complain about them. The enjoyment of our lives is based on our attitude. We don’t have to wait until something wonderful happens to celebrate our lives. Every day we can start our day with an attitude of gratitude and enjoy each moment. Can you even imagine how our lives would change if we enjoyed each moment?

So often we go through the motions of life. How often do we eat our food without even enjoying it? How often do we experience blessings without even appreciating them? I do it all the time. God blesses my life and instead of thanking Him, most of the time, I don’t even recognize the blessings. That breaks my heart. 

From this day forward,  I want to manifest more gratitude and truly enjoy my day. This beautiful day will never come again. It is a gift and I want to receive it that way. 

Today, I get to…
  1. Read my Bible
  2. Pray
  3. Write a blog
  4. Exercise
  5. Work
  6. Go for a walk
  7. Cook for my family
  8. Drink my favorite coffee
  9. Fix my hair (I remember a time when my shoulders were traumatized and I could raise my arms over my head.)
  10. Live, Laugh, and Love

What are some things you “get to” do today?

Have a wonderful day!


Candida 

Author shares message through Zippy the zebra