Making a conscience effort to grow up

Today our Bishop taught from 1 Peter 1:3-10. Basically Peter was writing  to tell the church that salvation was not enough to change them. They have to be actively involved in the change. This subject got my gears to grinding. It helped me to understand why some people are in certain situations. They expect others to help them grow up and mature instead of making a conscience effort to do it themselves. So many people feel it's others responsibility to help them grow and to mature, this is where the "helpless mentality" comes from. "I can't do it because no one has been there for me" or "I can't do it because no one ever taught me". How about you take control and you teach yourself. The time for being helpless and ignorant is gone. There are too many resources out there to help you get on your feet.

The American culture speaks of "pulling yourself up by your boot straps" yet we continue to let people abuse the systems put in place to help the ones that WANT to help themselves. My people, my people!!! Stop blaming everyone else and start doing. You will perish from lack of knowledge. Life will pass you by. Stand up and fight for your right to exist and not only exist but to be fruitful and multiply (not talking about having kids, but about having success in life). No more can you stand by and expect someone else to do it for you, the time is now. Stepup to the plate and get it done. Think about it, you are the only one that can do the job that you were meant to do. That should make you feel special, no one else can do it like you can. If God meant for someone else to do it, it would have been done by now. He's waiting on you. TAKE CONTROL!!! GROW UP and MATURE.

Stop wallowing in self-pity, it's a trap from the enemy. Notice this: those who always linger in self pity, usually have nothing going for them. They are miserable human beings who suffer from an addiction (doesn't have to be drugs either) and talk about the some thing that happened 15 years ago. Don't be that person, live in the now. If there is a quality that you don't have, add it. Peter said "and to this add", which means you can tack it on. You can't sew, add! You can't do math, practice and add! You can't read, add!! There are no more excuses.

This may seem like a rant, but as an educator, I see a helpless mentality all over our kids. They feel things should be handed to them and if it's not done for them then they can't/won't do it. What kind future will they have with this mentality? I can tell you another welfare generation that always looks for hand outs!!! Can't have it and won't tolerate it. So if you see me sternly leading a child in the right direction, don't tell me I'm being too rough. Chances are you are one of the people that need to mature a little more to get to the level where you can lead.

Never let

Here's a couple of never let statements that usually help me out in life:

Never let someone make you feel sorry for who you are.

•     It's the way God made you, as long as you aren't doing the things that are opposite of God's will for your life then you are okay. 

Never let anyone violate your right to live

• you have a right to exist and be, never let anyone threaten that through physical or mental violence

Never give up more than you can afford

• people in this world will take from you until you have nothing left. never let this happen always make sure your star player (that's you) is taken care of. 

Never stay in a place that makes you unhappy

• having an unhappy life leads to unhappy, unhealthy behaviors. When you start feeling like this take steps to make sure you are going to be happy, not just in the short term but also in the long run. 

Never let someone dictate the way you look

• DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO!!! If you want to wear your hair natural do it. If you want green fingernails , do it. If you like to wear purple do it!!! Just make sure it's neat and acceptable (you don't want to lose your job). But do things that make you feel great (once again have to be in God's will) and you won't have to deal with having a dreadful life. 

I have more but these are the only ones I could think of at the moment. God never desired for your life to be miserable. So if you see it going in that direction, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! 

Love you like I love myself 

How I feel about retractions

This is how I feel about retractions, blahhhhhhhhhh. Okay if I write something in this blog it's because it's the way I am feeling. My posts are not meant to inform not to get friends, I have those already. This is to help women not to make the same mistakes I have made through out my life. So, to retractions on blogs I say poo poo to you :o)

Have a great night

Be true to yourself and others

Now for all you girls wondering how to really love you for who God made you, here's another key. Don't lie to yourself and stop accepting lies from others. This way you can know the true you and not worry about the untruths anyone else has to say to you or about you. That's pretty easy huh lol

Randomly random

Good Morning,

Today's post is going to be a bit random. My mind is all over the place with my summer quickly coming to an end. I am really not ready for this school year to start. Not because I'm a student and I'm having so much fun (I wish). Being a teacher has it's highs and lows. I think at the moment I am at a low in my career, I don't see any progress in myself or the kids. It's kind of frustrating. So I plan on enrolling in school and getting another master's in educational leadership. Hopefully that will give me the satisfaction that I need, if not I think it's time for me to move on.

Okay that was one thing....next lol. I have decided to wear my natural hair for a month. There is no more relaxed hair, only a thick, tightly curly mass of hair on top of my head that I have not a clue what to do with it. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it!!! I just need to get out the awkward fro stage (my ex's name for my twa). So, after this month, I'm going to go back in the natural hair closet (lol a name a friend gave for wear weave and not your hair) and let it stay under wraps probably until December. I want it to grow as much as possible without me messing it up lol. I can say I have meet a totally different group of people since I did my big chop and went completly natural. I think it's going to be an amazing journey and what a better way to spend my last year in my twenties (Aug. 19, I'll be 29, feel free to email gifts).

So this brings me to my last bit of randomness, turning 29. I'll be 29 in less than a month and this is really messing with my head. I'm still not married, no kids, and I'm still a bit crazy lol. I guess I can't use that as a measure of accomplishemnts but I do. Sometimes, I wonder if that life is ever supposed to be meant for me, or is it just my lot in life to be a career woman without a companion to share it with. My faith tells me keep hope alive, but my experience tells me to forget about it. I know in singleness (not married) I should be perfecting my relationship with God, but this is tough. Maybe I shouldn't be praying about a man and I should be asking God what's my next step. EUREKA!!! I just answered my question lol. So, with this blog I am delcaring officially that I will stop worrying about all that other stuff anf focus on God!!!

So to conclude this randomness, let's recap. I'm sad my summer's ending, my last year of my 20's is officially about to happen, and I'm going to focus on what God wants me to do. That sounds about right lol.

Have a blessed day and remember to love you the way God loves you.

Janae Strickland

Exercise does not equal body abuse

Someone once told me that when I workout I abuse my body, but I beg to differ. I just got off the treadmill and all the stress from the week has been diffused. Exercise is more than keeping you in shape, it's a great way to control your stress level. I know I sound like I'm on a podium pushing the new agenda of "move and stay fit" but truthfully if you just do something physically challenging once a day you will find a since of accomplishment. We all want to feel that accomplished feeling, you know the one that makes you feel like you are floating and no one can touch. For me, I get the feeling of being JANAE WARRIOR PRINCESS,I can conquer the world (cheesy I know lol). Take the stairs, walk the neighborhood, climb Mount Kilimanjaro, do something that will get that heart pumping, breathing faster and deeper, and break a little sweat (it will make you glow lol). Have fun!!!

Getting something off my chest

Well that was a wash, thought it was going to be different but same thing different person. I'm tired of always compromising then feeling like a jerk because I can't do it. I'm sorry if I don't feel it fair that I give up everything and you give up nothing. Relationships don't work that way, it's a two way street. So here's to anyone else who wants a relationship with me, please know I'm good when things are a two way street. I can not understand for the life of me why men think the woman should always be the one to compromise everything. STOP IT!!! That's devaluing her and her accomplishments. Find a way to work it out besides telling her "that's your problem not mine". I'll be 29 this year, single, and proud of it. God has blessed me with so much that if I all have for the rest of my life is to depend on Him then fine. I refuse to not be happy. If you think this is about you, maybe you should think about somethings. If you are trying to be a prospect consider this.....I'M NOT GIVING UP WHO I AM OR WHAT I BELIEVE FOR YOU!!!

The other love of my life

I know I haven't on in a while. I was in Missouri for a family function. A little sad today, I lost the other love of my life. It's okay it was time for us to move on, the relationship wasn't functional anyway. I'm learning to love again. It's funny how God puts someone in your life to love you the way He loves you, and you reject it just like we reject His love at times. Now I plan to move and start a new and a fresh lol. Time to keep loving myself and keep moving forward.

Love you like I love myself

Hard days

Good Morning,

Yesterday was a hard day. That's what it was, hard. All my "loving myself" didn't help either. But instead of wallowing in that dreaded feeling (because that's the way I felt, dread) I decided to look at all the positives. God has blessed me with so much and has taken care of me so many times, there is hardly any reason to stay in a funk. So what money isn't running over in my bank account! So what my pants fit tighter than they did last month!! So what people have backed out of plans!!! It all doesn't really matter. What does matter is that I am living and breathing. I have a roof over my head, clothes on back, shoes on my, a vehicle to drive, food in the fridge and I am  blessed and highly favored. Philippians 4:8 reminds us to think on the things that are praise worthy. Some times we focus so much on the hard things and hard places that we forget about the things that are "pure, lovely, and admirable". So if you are having a hard time or are in a hard place, think on the wonderful things God has done in your life, and watch how things start to change.

Loving you like I love me

Janae Strickland

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at: jstrickland82@gmail.com

Rules to loving you

Good Morning,

Now loving you doesn't come over night lol I really wish it were that easy. There are a couple of rules to this thing. Well really there's only one, but it has a couple of parts to it. So here we go:

The one and only rule to loving you for who God made you is: RESPECT!!!!!

1. Respect yourself. If you can't respect yourself and love yourself how do you expect others to do the same. Respect is more than just talk, it's an action. Walking around putting yourself down all the time, talking about how much you hate your hair, body, nose, etc. doesn't equate to respect. This just enhances the negative feelings you have for yourself which keeps you in a menagerie of self hate. You have to find the positives about yourself. God made you the way you are for a reason, no one else is like you and that's what makes you perfect. Think about it, if everyone talked, looked, and acted the same there would be no diversity, no inspiration, no joy, no happiness. What makes you unique is what makes God happy and hating your unique qualities suppresses the beauty that God has given you. 

2. Respect others. This can only come when you respect yourself. If you can't accept yourself for who you are you can't accept others for who they are.

3. Respect God. He's your creator and all things he created are good. Respect your creator for who He is and what He has done.

So remember, loving yourself doesn't happen over night but it does happen when you learn to respect yourself. When you start loving and respecting yourself, you become a force to be reckoned with. You will find your relationships become a lot better as well.

Love you like I love me

Janae Strickland

If you want to contact me please email at: jstrickland82@gmail.com

It All Started With Loving Me for ME

Good Morning,

As I sit back and wonder this morning, I think about how I have become the woman I am today. It wasn't always easy I can tell you that. I can't tell you how many times I would feel as though I was just stuck. You know the feeling were either way you move it wouldn't matter so you just stay in one spot. I remember one particular instance I was so stuck I even started sinking. I started behaviors that were very unbecoming of a lady (lol if you want to let your imagination run fine). It baffled me for a while, why the heck would a good christian saved girl revert to such foolishness? Then it hit me, I was so focused on working in my own strength that I forgot about God. God was my joy and my strength, not some party, drink or man. God was my salvation, there wasn't anything that is too mind boggling for Him.

So I began to move even though I was "stuck" and "sinking". I realized the stuck issue came because I started working outside the will of God. The sinking issue came when I decided to act on my own understanding. See all the feelings that resulted from being stuck: trashy self esteem, bad body image, no self respect, all came when I decided to lean to my own understanding. Instead of focusing on what God had to say about me, I put precedence on what society had to say about me. I wasn't thin enough, too much of a tomboy, too independent, hair not long enough, blah, blah , blah. I can never fit into this mold because God never intended me to. This is an empowering thought. You don't have to fit into a mold because it was never intended for you in the first place!!!! So I began to pick my head up and walk around boldly. I started repeating the things God had to say about which are always good, pleasant, and lovely. No more self abuse, no more abuse from other people, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I was able to move forward freely. See this journey isn't just about having the best job, the best husband, the best car or the best life. It's truly about knowing and being the best you. It all starts when you start loving you for you.

So start figuring out who you are outside the mold of society. Learn how to live a free life away from the shackles of the world, and learn the what god has to say about you. You can then start loving you for you, and others will see that light.

Love you like I love me

Janae

Loving you for Who God Made You

Good morning,


This has been in my heart for a very long time. I guess it stems from different experiences in my past. I have (up until recently) struggled with body image, type, color, blah, blah, blah, blah....you name it I struggled with it. I always felt as though I wasn't good enough, strong enough, pretty enough, smart enough, you know the usual things women worry about. But I have finally come to a place where all that crap doesn't matter. It all stems from me comparing myself to other people and seeing what I'm lacking, instead of seeing the beautiful person God has made me. I can admit, I'm not all the way there but I'm closer than what I was yesterday.

This is meant to give all of us women a leg to stand on. I'm tired of seeing angry, bitter women who can't truly accept and realize how absolutely wonderful they are. The bitterness inside stops God's glory from shinning through you. Everyday is a different journey, whether or not the same situation presents it's self over again. Attack it from a different approach and appreciate yourself for being the women God created you to be.


Love,

Janae