Living a Healthy Life

Hello Dearie!!! 

I purposefully decided to seriously start living a healthy life; that is eating and drinking foods/drinks which will benefit my body and exercising more of course. I am reminded that my body is the temple of the living God so I should treat it right!!

I have also decided to not be so hard on myself; if at first I don't succeed I dust myself off and try again. I focus on making my meals interesting and exciting, you know, something I would Love to eat any day, any time. I also ensure to include my son in this journey. For the exercise, I also don't go too crazy like in the past. I am learning Ballet Yeah!!!! So I try to focus on body strength, yoga, ballet barre, Pilates kinda exercises.

Here's a quick peek at a few healthier choices of food:

 I am also focusing on incorporating anything into my life which will help develop my mind, soul, body and spirit to live with purpose. With this being said I am much more careful about what I watch, read, what I do, people I associate with etc… I am just being more mindful about my life in general. This will in fact bring about a positive change to my aspirations. One important thing which was shared with me from a leader of a foundation I decided to volunteer for was this; “how far we get in this life will depend upon who we choose to associate with”. If there was one thing I remembered from this first meeting was this simple statement. This statement is so true. We ought to learn to align ourselves for our blessings. Yes, Christ promised to bless us but we can’t just sit around at home and expect the blessing to fall unto our lap, we must get up and do something. Faith without works is dead! We have to take the first step and then we will see God manifest Himself in our situation. God is usually waiting for us to make the first step of faith, and then once we step into the ocean He opens up the waters for us to cross through. His provisions are already along the path He is calling us out into. But if we never step out or hold out our rod like Moses did, how can we expect to see the wonders of the Lord????

!!! Please!!!! It just doesn’t work like this.

Another important thing; there might be some people in your life who just need to leave. Or maybe I should put it this way; you need to leave them, her or him alone and say goodbye! They may just be preventing you from moving into your blessing. If the people in your circle aren’t smarter than you, aren’t more experienced than you, aren’t wiser than you, aren’t persuading you to push towards this goal that you truly desire, then they are the wrong persons in your life at this moment. You should not spend too much hours associating yourself with them anymore. I get it, there have been there, you love them and you never want to depart. I know how that feels, but if you want to excel, sometimes you need to cut certain persons off who are not helping you produce much fruit. Everything including people in our lives is for a season. Sometimes we choose to keep them around longer than they were meant to stay. Some persons have already reached their expiration date and we are still holding unto them, and we wonder why we are not progressing. It might just be that you are adopting their attitude and being comfortable! We can’t expect life to happen if we are just Comfortable! Life is not for those who sit there and watch it pass by, but for those who get up and make things happen for themselves.

If there are persons, unhealthy food habits, activities, relationships, organizations or any other thing in your life which should no longer be a part of it, it’s time to let it go and leave it behind. I believe if we aren’t where we desire to be it’s usually because we prevent ourselves from moving forward. Rather, we choose to hold unto too many weights which aren’t going to benefit us in this new chapter God is calling us to. All we need to do is decide to turn the page with courage and faith and trust that in this new chapter God has an amazing plan for us. It may involve a lot of new people, new and healthier food decisions, new challenges, new and great opportunities, maybe a new house, a new country, a new organization, a new book, a new and healthy relationship and many other New! 

NEW BLESSINGS!! 

Quit holding yourself back, stop biting your nails, get up from underneath that sheet and turn that page!! Everything will actually be Great! Just Trust that where ever God is leading you to is perfect and the timing is on point!! 

Life is waiting for you to choose to walk in it with Faith!

P.S

Please remember Dearie, the only one holding you back from starting this new chapter, whatever this may be is YOU! Yes YOU!!! You can be your own worst enemy or your most powerful motivator! Choose Life today and decide to live life with Purpose.  

Mommy my Ear Hurts

My son suffered from a cold which for some reason gave him an ear infection. You know that thing we learn in Science class (not my favourite class in the world) ; how the nose and ears are some how connected? Well this situation proved it to be true for me, because sometimes we never truly grasp unto a teaching/saying etc until it hits home.  

He had been suffering from the infection for only a few days. He handled it well I must say; didn't complain much ( I really think he got this from me hahaha). I kept him home from school to allow him some personal and quiet time to accommodate the healing process. I would also spend some time praying for his ear, the cold and the additional symptoms which accompanied it . I truly believe the first thing we should do as moms and dads is to pray for our children before we take them to the hospital and give them medication because the Almighty is our master physician. While covering him in prayer I would plead the blood of Jesus over his life, reminding God that He is the true healer. He said to bring all our burdens to Him and He will give us rest. I believed God for my son's healing. I know this may seem small but I do not hesitate to tap into the realm of heaven for complete victory in this life. He said nothing is too small that He can't handle, so I took the opportunity to reach out to heaven knowing that He would touch my son and restore him to perfect health. Humbly enough my son just laid there every time I prayed for him as if he understood the power of what was happening. 

One morning, during this same week, he woke up complaining about the aching ear. He said one thing to me which melted my heart; "mommy my ear hurts, pray for me". I was so stunned I asked him, "what?" He said it again; "pray for me" and he just laid there waiting for me to begin. I was amazed at this little boy. At his tender age he understood the importance of prayer. How prayer could bring about healing to his painful ear. I, without hesitation reached out to touch his ear and prayed for it. 

This made me realize how much our children pay attention to how we handle situations. If I had handled this with fear, giving him medication and rushing him to the doctor (which is not wrong if it is necessary), he would have missed the opportunity to understand the significance of prayer in his life. Instead he was able to not only know I pray for him but to see me in action, praying for him. He is watching everything I do and if I do not seek Christ first in any situation that's what he will adopt. As parents it is our duty to train our children up in the Lord, in the way they should go, so when they get older they will know the importance of seeking the kingdom of God and His Righteousness first before making any decision.

When we think our children aren't taking notes of how we live, they are. They wont use a physical note pad and pencil, but will use their hearts. We should be careful what we do or say, how we treat them and how we treat other people. Lets give them something positive to take into the world, to share with someone else as they grow up. Let's be mindful that Christ has called us to be Kingdom Parents; where we seek the Lord first in every and any situation for His total guidance. 

P.S

Becoming a Kingdom parent is as simple as seeking God out with your whole heart and operating from the foundation of His Love. Remember His greatest commandment is to Love the Lord with our whole heart , our whole mind, our whole soul and our whole strength and the second greatest is to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

The Crocodile Bit my Back

When your son wakes up from a dream crying non-stop and tells you "the crocodile bite my back", what do you do? The first thing as a mommy/daddy you would do is immediately comfort him.

I must admit I was a bit broken with sadness when my four year old woke up crying and mumbling this complaint " the crocodile bite my back". I could not understand what he said at first but when I did I quickly began comforting him. I had to let him know he was no where near an area where a crocodile could get to him. Then the dream became funny to me! I'm here thinking, "a crocodile?"  I laughed in my thoughts. "How could that be? Why would he of all things, think of a crocodile!!! hahaha", I continued to joke about his dream trying to analyse the whole scenario.

Then suddenly I heard God speaking to me! "That's not something to laugh at. It's not a joke. Your son told you a crocodile bit his back, you should cover him in prayer and rebuke this dream." I went ahead and prayed over him; covering him with the blood of Jesus Christ and praying against any attack over his life. Anything the devil and his demons had planned for him was broken by the blood of Jesus Christ that morning through my obedience to what God instructed me to do. It also made me realize my fault, laughing at something that  should be taken seriously, God rebuked me immediately.  Too often we joke, laugh and slack off, when we should actually be praying and covering our children, husband, family, etc.. with the Blood of Jesus Christ.

Again I was corrected; "if I can give you dreams who says he can't be given dreams too". He is human just as I am. He isn't too young for God to give him a vision to share with me or to caution him so me as his mommy can begin praying against! We should not take these things lightly. Had I just comforted him like every mommy/daddy should do and ended it here, who knows what could have happened to him later on. We never truly know what the enemy (the devil) has in store for our children, so we can't take anything, especially negative dreams for granted. These are in fact notifications from God to us to prepare for the enemy's attack.

I just want to encourage us as parents to take time to talk to our children, listen to them and pray with and for them. Don't discredit anything they say as insignificant;It's just a bad dream, a bad day etc.. because it's not. That's just what our enemy wants us to believe. The devil is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Let's always remember that his goal is really to kill, steal and destroy everyone but especially our little ones. If he can get them while they are young then that's a bonus for him; he can easily destroy their future, the man or woman Christ has already destined them to be. Our children belong to the Lord! Let's cover them and up hold them in prayer! If you don't, then who will? 

P.S

 Set time within you busy mommy and/or daddy schedules to cover your children in prayer. Pray without ceasing and trust that God will take care of them. We have an enemy among us who is always strategizing to take our children from us. 

Jump in Faith -- Say No to FEAR!

False Evidence Appearing Real! (FEAR) That’s our Fears! So that’s what we are truly afraid of? Really? It’s funny how we can become so afraid of ….. NOTHING!!! Funny and yet interesting huh?

In the book of 2 Timothy 1:7, we are reminded here by Paul that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Yet still we adopt what God has not given us into our lives, holding unto it like it is ours. What Paul was really telling Timothy was that when God created him, He did not craft him with a spirit of fear, but in fact He took the time to perfectly design him with a spirit of POWER,LOVE and a SOUND MIND! One important factor we need to remember as we carry on through life facing “fear” is that God created us out of His own image. Fear was never and will never be a characteristic of our Creator. He is a mighty, powerful God, full of wisdom, knowledge and strength, to name but a few.  The spirit of fear comes only from the devil. It is his duty to stir up this evil spirit in our lives to distract us from whom Christ has created us to be; people of power, wisdom and love.

This spirit will enter our lives, once we allow it to, and will begin to cause destruction. Why though? That’s because nothing of the devil is good. Do you remember his mission? It’s to Kill, Steal and Destroy. Once this foul spirit welcomes itself into our lives, it will first attack our way of thinking; the mind. We begin to attack our own dreams and aspiration by discounting our ability to successfully pursue them. We talk ourselves out doing things we were created to do. We can cook well, but we persuade ourselves out of pursuing studies in Nutrition or Culinary Arts. We are designers and inventively create inspirational designs but we hide behind our computer or home office doors; never giving ourselves the opportunity to share our work with others. This is also being selfish because we are holding our gifts and abilities to ourselves when we were created with them to share, help, inspire and impact other lives. This list can go on and on and we know it. But we are just stuck! Why, because we have allowed ourselves to become deceived by the devil and his lies. We tend to somehow believe everything the devil says to us more than what God says about us.

Let’s get back to the mission of the devil. He came but to kill, steal and destroy. If you allow him he will Kill every dream you ever had, Steal your talents, skills, abilities, knowledge, finance etc. and purposefully Destroy your passion to be that; chief, designer, singer, writer, manager, dancer, blogger, mother, wife, lawyer, actor, technician, entrepreneur,  you name it. If we give him just a small opportunity to invade and pervasively manipulate our positive and powerful mindset he won’t waste any time. When he gets to the mind his mission is to deceive and manipulate how you think, to eventually destroy everything God has created you to be. He does this by making you believe his lies. He would actually encourage you to think contrary to the word of God; for example God words say “I can do all things through Christ who give me strength” Philippians 4:13, the devil will begin to test you and ask you questions like; "you really think you can do that?" Then he continues to negatively interrogate you by stating;" you can’t do that, you are too young, or you are too old. You will fail, can’t you see? Leave it for “John/Jane” to do, he/she does it better anyways. No one will hire you. No one will like you. No one will love you. You will not get that loan approval. You don’t have what it takes to pursue that degree." He will go on and on just to see how far he can wheel you along with his plan to kill, steal and eventually destroy your purposeful life. Please Don’t Let him!

One of the things I realized about the devil is that, he must really love math/computer science. He always comes up with the “what if” formulas. It’s just so funny how we would at times set our minds and hearts to pursue something great and he comes in with “what if you fail? What if you are not accepted to the school, or for the scholarship?” I have learned and I am still learning that if I continue to allow the devil to hit me with his “what if” equations I swear I will go crazy because I am not a big computer science or math person. When he says “what if …..” I would hit him back using his own tactic; what if I become the best dancer ever? That’s what we need to learn to do. We need to learn to fight and even when we are knocked down; we get back up again and knock the devil off. Playing a little game of kick boxing with the devil will absolutely strengthen us. We just have to never back down because clearly he won’t. When you get knocked off, get up and knock him off in the face, showing him whose boss!

Let me encourage you a little. Do you know what God’s word says? I love this verse the most so I will share it with you. When you fully understand it, you will start living that purposeful life Christ has created you to live. Here I go, 1 Corinthians 2:16 “As the Scriptures say,“Who can know what is on the Lord’s mind? Who is able to give him advice?” But we have been given Christ’s way of thinking.” I must state though that to fully understand this verse you will need to read from verse 6-16. The last part of the verse states “but we have been given Christ’s way of thinking,” This way of thinking comes through connection with Christ. Once we have connection or a relationship with Christ we have access to his ways of thinking. When the devil comes up against us with his aim to distract us from what we have been created to do we can raise up our standard against him with our thought life. We can decide to think like Christ and begin to confess positive affirmations over our lives (spoken words are powerful). We can tap into God’s divine wisdom through access due to relationship and declare what is rightfully ours; our dreams, passions, skills etc.  We are Christ workmanship, wonderful are the works of His hands, everything God created is good and that includes you and me! Do not discredit yourselves, destroying your dreams because of false evidence that seem to appear real. God is able to bring everything into completion, so whatever you know that God is calling you to do, step out in faith and do it. Do not believe these lies of the devil, they are not real, they are in fact false. The devil has the unique ability to take false evidence and transform it so that it appears real. He is a master illusionist, but if you decide today to trust God and His wisdom He will guide your heart and mind.

Take the leap and JUMP! Jump out in faith because God promises to never leave and never forsake you! Start that project, start this application, apply to this school, start this business, start this blog, start eating healthy and exercising, start this foundation, start this New Venture! The one you have been holding off for tomorrow !!! Yes this tomorrow which never seems to come!!? By doing so you will not only improve your life but others also. God will be with you all the way! Don’t let the devil kill, steal and destroy your dreams! You are called to live a life with Purpose, so start living it Today!

P.S

Hey! Remember you can do ALL things through Christ who gives you strength! Just trust His ways and Jump! Someone needs You!

Stop the Blame Game

         Stop the Blame Game

I have said in the past and even people say it too… The reason why our spouse or your spouse failed/got caught in his/her mess was because he/she had an open door. While this may be true in some essence, where were you? Where were you to cover him in prayer and to pray with him about the issue? Maybe God revealed it to you but you were too caught in your own world to see these red flags. I say this because too often we play the blame game. “It was your fault because you allowed it to go beyond what it was supposed to. You didn’t watch out for yourself, or prevented it from happening. You are so weak. Why can’t you just change? I warned you about it but you didn’t care”. We grumble and complain on and on about what our spouse has done wrong but don’t take the time to speak positive things, to speak life to and to prayer for our spouse. Why???? I believe it’s just one factor at play here…… SELF!!!!!

It’s always about us. How we feel, what we want, where we want to go, why it needs to be done for us…. It’s all about us, when really it should be ALL ABOUT CHRIST! Everything we do should be about bringing glory and honor to God. (Ref. 1 Corithians 10:31 and Colossians 3:17) We are instructed by God’s word to bring honor to Him. “That everything we do should bring glory to Him”. So when we are faced with situations where our spouse has failed us in one way or another we have no one to blame but us. When we get married it’s a vow to love and cherish. It’s not a, “your thing” but an “our thing”. Why do we fail to remember the vow we made before Christ? Please do not even for one second point a finger at your spouse, look at your own life. Reflect upon your life and assess where you have fallen short in the call placed on your life as a spouse. Yes being married is practically going into to ministry automatically. We are to show others how to love sacrificially. We are to stand and support our spouse not destroy them. Stand in the gap for him/her, for the weaker vessel, and the weaker one isn’t always the female. Women and men in this marital journey, your marriage is stronger when you get on your knees. Instead of calling all sorts of evil on your spouse speak life. Believe and begin to speak into your marriage what God says about marriage in His word. So that open door your spouse might have fallen from is partly due to your poor and negative attitude to truly and sacrificially love him or her. What I love about God is that He is a God who is merciful and gives a second chance.

Start NOW!

YES!

NOW!!!

Ask the Lord to forgive you

Ask Him to teach you how to become a Kingdom wife or husband, one with purpose, to love your spouse just as He loves you.

Once you do this with a sincere and willing heart you will receive the help and direction you need. Just be obedient to whatever He is instructing you to do.

Always remember to spend time in prayer, every minute or second you get. Always spend time covering your spouse in prayer and covering your marriage. Put on the full Armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-18)

Speak only Godly life changing affirmations into your spouse’s life and over your marriage.

Always Pray Together!!!

 Through the process you also must allow God to work within you. YOU MUST. It’s no joke. I am serious. It’s not only your spouse who needs to change for the better; YOU DO TOO, sometimes a lot more than your spouse. Stop the blame game, it’s annoying and immature. It’s about time we grow up and accept responsibility for our poor and negative destructive actions. Allow God to change you through the process, trust in Him and watch how things will fall in place without your assistance this time. One thing we need to learn to accept; God does not need your assistance in fine tuning, and re-building your broken marriage. It’s broken in the first place because of your stubbornness, because you rejected His offer too be the Head of your marriage and home, even the very decision to get married to your spouse. At this point this mess you’re in is truly because of pure pride, selfishness and disobedience; trying to handle things in your own personal therapeutically worldly way. We have forgotten that Christ is the truth and the life…He is the only One who can save your marriage in spite of how messy it is. Even if you may think it’s irreparable, that’s a stronghold over your mind and I break it in Jesus Christ’s name. It is broken. The bible reminds us in Matthew 19:26, “Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”. What??? Do you think He is lying because you have tried it in “man’s way” and they failed you? Please go back and read this verse and this time allow it to sink in deep into your soul and spirit even into your bones and marrow, deep down into your thoughts and heart. 

 “With man this is  impossible , but with GOD ALL things are Possible.” 

I hope this time it made some powerful life changing impact to your thought life. Begin to speak it into your life and marriage. With God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. Forget about what people have said, because if God says it’s possible then IT IS POSSIBLE!!! End of story!!!

This change will only first begin with YOU!! What will you decide?

Like God told me before I began the process with Him. Choose between me or your husband? In order words whom will you serve? Man or God?

Only God can restore your marriage!

Only God can turn your mess into a beautiful message!

Only GOD CAN MAKE ALL THINGS NEW!

And remember it’s not about You!!! It’s about the glorification of God!!!!

Other Reference: Ephesians 5:21-33.

Speak the word into your marriage

P.S

I am not only speaking to those with big marital issues. I am speaking on all marital issues big or small. It’s those things we consider insignificant which can have a destructive impact on the marriage. So please do not discount the little things God is speaking to you about to change. Get to changing them now!

A New Walk

I think the most obvious way to introduce yourself to someone new is by a friendly handshake, a smile and sharing your name. Well the funny thing is I can’t actually do that but I will try my best.

                 Hey there! I am Donna. Donna A. Boyd-Burton.

It’s such a pleasure to meet you!!!!! 

Quick facts about me!

                                Love the Lord

                                I’m a 28 year old female who is still learning what my true 

                                 purpose is

                                Love to dance and help people

                                Have a four (4) year old son

                                I'm married

                                I'm an Administrative Professional

                                Love to learn and travel

                                Love to be creative and explore new ways of doing things

                                I am faithful in whatever I set my heart to do

                                Love the world of Arts

                                Love to keep things organized and great at it

It’s not my first time blogging so I am not truly new this world. It’s always interesting how we are able to share and help each other just through the stroke of a few keys on your computer. How our life experiences can help so many people. Isn’t it funny how our situations may also seem a like? It’s all so interesting. That’s why I have decided to returning to the “world of blogging”. I wouldn’t consider myself to be a writer but I have a passion to help people, so I write. I realize that maybe if I share with you what I am going through, you will realize you are definitely not alone in this…. Life can become so unpredictable but if you have someone to share your pain, joy, happiness, sadness, accomplishments and the like with, it makes it worth living.

..........How It All Began………

One morning while lying on my bed, I was pursuing my purpose on this earth and it just came to me. Hahaha I KNOW RIGHT!!!! But yeah this light bulb just went on in my head. It all made sense. HELP. I am here to help people. “But how”, I inquired to God! “How am I to help people? I have nothing in my hands. I am but one person, with no money, in between jobs, my life just doesn’t seem like one which is capable of helping anyone.” But one thing I have realized is that these are the moments in our lives when God wants to do the best work in us. So I accepted this person whom God has created me to be; a helper. When I sat down and reflected over my life He revealed to me all the times I helped so many people and how happy I was when doing it. I realized also that this ‘thing’ you truly enjoy doing and excel at, is what you have been created to do. So I am choosing to follow my creator, since He created me, He would know what’s best for me and I choose to help people in any way possible as He leads.  

Immediately after this light bulb went on in my head, and I understood why I am here, the definition for the acronym HELLP came about – Helping Everyone Life Live Purposefully. So I am here to help anyone who needs a little encouragement, who needs someone to be real with you, who needs someone to help you get back on the right path, who needs someone to help you understand how to live life with a purpose.  I will do my best, streaming from my own life experiences; failures, mistakes, accomplishments, joys, etc…. to help in the best way I can.  What I love about this whole thing we call life is that no one is perfect, so we should not be too hard ourselves, because there is always room for positive change, to be whom we have been created to be.

P.S

My blogs will not be limited to just one or two subject lines, but really just expressing and sharing as my heart leads how to life live on a whole with purpose.