I was having a great time with some friends the night this photo was taken. Good times!!!

While reading something today, I was just reminded that everything I’ve ever desired is already in me. Sometimes it’s hearing something for the tenth time. Or in the particular way somebody says something that makes me suddenly have an “ah ha” moment.

The outward pursuit of things is of no value. Yet when I look within myself, at who I am at my core, there is where I find abundance and the source of my life. This quote sums it all up:

“True abundance has nothing to do with anything that I am having, and everything to do with what I am being.

And that when I share my abundance of beingness abundantly with all those whose lives I touch, everything I sought           to have came to me automatically, without my even trying to have them.”

- Neale Donald Walsh

So today I intend to share myself in some way, to do things that make me smile, and to really enjoy living today…no matter what the day brings.

Before I could even catch my breath, he offered me a round of drinks. We held them up, said, “Cheers,” and moved to the music. The place was packed. But we were all smiles as we managed to get a table to rest our drinks on. Then I glanced over to my left and noticed a group of about seven much older guys admiring me. They were all smiles too. I smiled back. Gave them a quick wave and kept talking to the guys at my table.

Oh there’s my friend Trip I told someone. I’ve known him since third grade. I went up to give Trip a big hug and ask how he was doing. He was happy to see me. Then Trip’s friend came up to me, admiring my beauty, and told me that I look like Beyonce. I chuckled and thanked him for the compliment.

Soon I saw my friend Liz. I usually see her when I get there. She was in a good mood too. I introduced her to some of my new friends. And we were hanging out for a bit that night.

Everybody was showing me love that night. And the guys at my table asked me to come back and join them. They missed me that quickly! I was feeling amazing!!! I was going from one good experience to the next. Time seemed to go by really fast.

The Cupid Shuffle came on so I quickly made my way to the dancefloor. To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right. To the left, to the left, to the left, to the left. Now kick, now kick, now kick, now kick. Now walk it by yourself, now walk it by yourself. I was getting it. I was so into my dance moves that it I walked slightly into a guy standing on the sidelines watching. He didn’t mind though. He said, “You can back into me anytime.” I laughed and kept on dancing til the end of the song.

Then one of the guys at my table wanted to dance with me. When I told him I know salsa, he decided to break out some salsa moves and spun me. I did a sexy and graceful fast turn and immediately went into another one. A bunch of people were watching as I was out there having a blast. You would’ve thought it was a dance-a-thon because I lost track of how many songs I danced to in a row. I was like the Energizer Bunny…I just kept on going and going and going.

I sashayed back over to our table and searched for some napkins to wipe off all the sweat from my body. I grabbed a few napkins from the bar and was greeted by one of the older gentlemen. He offered me a drink and I accepted. Then his younger friend asked if I would dance with him. I said that I would. I just wanted to wait for a better song to come on. He waited patiently.

I felt somebody pull me from behind by me belt loop. It was my friend drawing me back to our table for another round of drinks. I was taking it slow so I actually had 3 untouched drinks on the table. They were all mine. I hadn’t even touched them because I was so busy meeting new people, dancing, and talking.

I stayed at the table for a bit and slowly sipped on one of my drinks. Then Derrick, the really hot guy at my table, with his gorgeous blue eyes said he wanted me to dance with him. I immediately flowed behind him as we walked over to the dancefloor. No one else was dancing at the time. So all eyes were on us. It was I slow song. And I rested my head on his shoulders. I don’t at all remember what song was playing. But I felt like I was floating on a cloud. Then we danced for another slow song and he kissed me. OMG!!! I was pleasantly surprised and I didn’t even try to hide it. There we were in the middle of the dancefloor with seemingly everybody watching us. We casually walked back to our table smiling and feeling high.

Then out of nowhere, one of the guys to the right of me leaned over onto our table and told me that I’m a very beautiful woman. Thank you I said cheerfully—feeling grateful for such an amazing night. There were a lot of pretty women in the room that night. Yet I felt like I was the only woman there…for all the attention and love I was getting all at once. It was truly a memorable night!

I noticed that especially this time of year, more friends and family reach out to be close to me. I’ve been to countless events already this holiday season since Thanksgiving. I’m loving every minute of it though. It just takes a friendly phone call, or a quick instant message, or even a shoutout on Facebook to remind me that life is meant to be shared with the people in my life. Today, I’m thankful for friends who keep in touch even when I’m busy or forget to reach out to them.

I had made a new friend that day. We chatted for a while. I found that one of the things we have in common is a spirit of spontaneity. Going out and having fun is definitely a priority. Once we decide we want to do something, we just do it. Not much planning is done. We like to simply live in the moment. So we decided to get together later that night.

As we greeted each other we hugged. We talked and laughed for hours—although it only seemed like minutes. My friend shared with me a few things that happened in the past while I shared some things about me as well. I’m a very intuitive person. So I often pick up on other people’s feelings even before they are spoken. I’m definitely in touch with sensing things. I was discerning that my friend had been hurt very deeply by someone close. Despite the pain I could tell that my friend still has a kind and loving heart. And my friend kept serving me and showering kindness on me.

I was treated with the utmost respect and generosity. I’ve known people my entire life that have never treated me nearly as good as my new friend. I’ll be forever grateful that we met and the meaningful relationship we are developing. You know who you are. Thank you from the depths of my heart. Much love!

A few years ago, I heard about the concept of listening to positive affirmations as a way to change your thoughts to more positive ones. I recognized the importance of focusing on positive things instead of the negative. I began to act on my belief and started to listen to affirmations several times a week.

I’ve noticed a steady progression in my thoughts and attitudes. As I was seeing these positive changes, I learned that I could improve the results. The thoughts that cross your mind each day, all day, and the things you tell yourself are more powerful and influential than any words you’ll ever hear from anyone else. Your own voice has the most power to either build you up or tear you down. With this knowledge, I knew that I needed to make some time to record positive affirmations in my very own voice.

I had been wanting to buy a quality voice recorder for a few years now. I planned to record different topics I want to focus on and play them back to myself each day. Today I actually made the decision to get it done. I went shopping, bought the voice recorder, and got to work recording several inspirational messages to myself. Next I spent hours listening to my own messages. I was very pleased with each of the four messages I recorded. My project turned out great. Now I can encourage myself whenever I feel a need to be uplifted.

Today I’m thankful for the sound of my own voice. It’s powerful. It’s articulate. It’s pretty. It’s unique. It’s sweet. It’s me!

I can best describe the impression as an inner “knowing.” This feeling did not come from the things that I have accomplished or even the things I hope to achieve in the future. I can attribute this feeling of empowerment solely to who I am as a person. Often times I have forgotten that my value can never be determined by what I do. My significance is not even affected by whether or not people like me. How I look doesn’t even factor into my worth as a person. There is only one who knows my true value and that is the one who created me…God almighty.

God made me in His perfect image. My heavenly father created me to be in an intimate relationship with Him. Nothing can separate me from His love. He is the one who will never leave me nor forsake me. To Him, I’m priceless. My worth cannot be measured. I’m so thankful to be enlightened about my worth as God’s child. Thank you Jesus!

As I thought back to when I was shopping for the baby’s present, I remembered the sheer joy I had in going through the isles of baby stuff. Baby’s bring so much happiness into the world. And there were so many things I wanted to get him. After shopping for what seemed like a long time, I finally made my selections. I chose a cozy blue blanket and a soft fuzzy teddy bear for Truitt. I also picked out a colorful gift bag.

At the shower, we also played baby Bingo. That was fun. Then we played a word game where we had to pass a gift around every time we heard the words, “left” or “right.” We laughed and giggled as the gift kept going quickly from person to person. Someone finally won that gift.

Our next game was to guess the size of Katie’s waistline (in inches). I was sure that I wasn’t going to guess anywhere near the right number for this game. Each lady wrote her guess on a small slip of paper, with her name on it, and handed it in for judging. Then one of our friends measured Katie’s waist and announced it to everyone. Finally each slip of paper was read outloud for everyone to hear. What do you know? I guessed the exact measurement. I was the winner! I got a pretty pink and purple journal. I was thankful for that because those are two of my favorite colors. And I needed another new journal too. Hey what can I say, gratitude definitely works.

But the focus of my blogs is not on the bad stuff. I promised myself that this would be a place for me to express my gratitude about things. So, as I spent a lot of time alone today, I tried repeatedly to focus on some positive things. I decided to read something inspirational which is something that I do every day.

One book I’m reading is called, “Thank You Power,” by Deborah Norville. I was encouraged tremendously as I read each page. I decided to do what I read about in one of the chapters. It suggested taking just five minutes to list as many things, that come to mind, to be thankful for. I got out a pen, notebook, and started writing. As I began to write about my gratitude for something, more things came to mind. When five minutes was up, I stopped writing and took a look at my list of thanks.

I shocked and amazed myself when I counted twenty-three blessings to be thanful about. And I really could have kept going after that. Remembering how my day started off and how I wasn’t in the best of moods, I took a look at the list again and I felt impressed with what I wrote about gratitude. I’m also thankful for the lesson that I taught myself:  “No matter what, always find something to be thankful for.”

I had also downloaded many other songs around that same time. I was busy making various playlists. So I hadn’t actually gotten around to listening to “Dance in the Spirit” until yesterday. The more I listened to it, the more I liked it. I decided to listen to it again today. Then I decided to look up the lyrics. As I sat there and listened to the words, and the smooth R&B instrumentals that it’s set to, I could feel myself slipping into my own little dance to the calming rhythm.

Courtesy of LyricsMode, here are the lyrics to the song:

[Verse 1:]
Dance! I’m feelin’ so high that it’s amazin’
I’m drunk in the spirit just like King David
I’m gigglin’ cause it feels so good
Man, I will not stop this if I could
I’m staggerin’ and I ain’t drunk no liquor
I’m loaded and I ain’t got no pistol
I’m movin’ and groovin’ up in this trance
And you would too if you would just dance

[Chorus:]
Dance in the spirit
Dance till I hear you say you can feel it
[x4]

[Verse 2:]
The spirit I feel it, it’s got me open
If the spirit is wet then man I’m soakin’
I tasted and saw that it was sweet
Cause it made me dance with even no beat
And if you can’t feel this, I don’t know why
Shh! Please stop talkin’ you’re blowing my high
It’s cooler then ice and hotter than fire
I’m feelin’ so good man, I’m bout to fly

[Chorus:]
Dance in the spirit
Dance till I hear you say you can feel it
[x2]

Dance with me
Come on, dance like David
[x4]

[Chorus:]
Dance in the spirit
Dance till I hear you say you can feel it
[x4]

Before I knew it, I was “dancin’ in the spirit.” Music can instantly lift my mood. And I was thankful for the spiritual renewal that happened as I started groovin’ in the spirit. You can call me a Jesus freak or whatever you want–just as long as you call me “saved.” Yeah, I’ve got a love jones for Jesus!

Today, I watched a movie called, “The Bucket List.” It was one of those feel good movies. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it when I first saw the movie trailer. But, I kept an open mind and decided to rent it anyway. And I’m thankful that I did. The part I liked best was the ending. It was so touching. It made me cry (which is not hard to do because I’ll cry from watching any feel good movie). Yeah, I know…I really am a girly-girl.

The highlight of my day was that I participated in the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) Spiritual Gifts Seminar, “The Power of Rest,” on the September 2, 2008. I watched as other people believed God for miracles and received them. They all openly praised and thanked God. I joined the video broadcast seminar via my webcam. It was absolutely amazing! God used several people to minister to me about marriage, my life, and different circumstances I’m dealing with. It was truly a life-changing experience. I am so grateful and thankful that God speaks to His children. Thank you, Lord!