Elena Ray

I found this wonderful article the other day and wanted to share it with you.  As you read it, think about your own life truths.  What do you know that you know? ~ Kathy

by Lorene Burkhart

One of the advantages of being 70-plus years old is that I can look back at my life and recognize milestones that I call life truths. What is a life truth? For me, it’s one of those aha! moments when I can see the whole picture instead of just the pieces.

Sometimes when we’re enduring the unimaginable we can feel only our hurt, pain so intense that we can’t possibly …

“I am worried that the crazy broad from HGTV with the flower in her hair is gonna show up on my doorstep and want to see my junk drawer…that’s my nightmare.”

“Grace was in all her steps. Heaven in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love.” — John Milton

Last week I was reminded that my engine runs on love.  Without it I don’t get very far.  Lucky me. Sometimes it humbles me to think that I need it to keep going. Other times I feel like I hit the jackpot.  It is not just quirky line in my character that God doodled during a dull moment.  It his way of reminding me, I can’t do anything without him.

So, I will take a deep breath and admit to you that I have been discouraged. It isn’t just one thing, but many little …

Down the street is a monstrous willow tree. The trunk is 10 feet in diameter and its cathedral-sized dimensions fill an entire lot. It holds court as the most beautiful tree for miles. Everyday, I pass under it just for a moment and let its soft tendrils sweep across my face. Inside this willow sanctuary, I try to breath-in the green and exhale the stuff I obsess about.
You know, what I’m talking about?

I am referring to the times in my life when I am petty and want everything to be fair.
When it has been more important to be right, to be justified, or to be vindicated. I attempt to own up to my struggle to be acknowledged, …

“Yielding to Jesus will break every form of slavery in any human life” Chambers, Utmost

“Throw Mama From The Train” is a movie with a plot that revolves around a blocked, writer (Billy Crystal) and one of his writing students (Danny Devito). Neither man can move on in their life, both blame this on a pivotal relationship in their life.

I get that.  My mind has a million ways to file and process the simple truth.  The truth that regardless of my circumstances or relationships, it is always me who gets in my own way and the old stories that I act out over and over that remind me to stay safe and never risk …

The number three thing you need to know is that You have a Saboteur in your head.

Inside our heads is a voice that stands in our way from making progress with our intentions. I refer to her as “the bad girlfriend”, because if she were a real woman we would have nothing to do with her.

Unfortunately, she lives inside your mind and took resident there long ago.  Maybe you have met her.  She is the voice that encourages you with words like “Who do you think you are?” or “You aren’t a very good mom”. She makes keen observations like “Man, You look old today”, “Wow, you’ve put on a few pounds.”  She inspires you with” You never were any good at that, what makes …

The number two thing you need to know about being a girl is that,  All of us are lonely.

“A good friend is a connection to life – a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.” ~Lois Wyse

Our need to compare, to be the most beautiful, the most competent, and the best mother not only disconnects us from the great signature, but we are disconnected from friendships we are desperate for. The key to this trap is to intentionally Build Our Team.

Women find strength in each other—we are born collaborators who need each other to be at our best. Our weakness is our inherent need to look like we fly solo …

In the next five weeks before the New Year, I wanted to remind you of the things that get in your way, the universal traps that every woman experiences.

Most importantly, I want to help you find the keys to breakout of these common traps and to come into the New Year with full knowledge that you are God’s fierce creation–a combination of power and beauty that crowned our world.

Today, I would like to talk about the trap that keeps us from walking in confidence. Why we often don’t feel beautiful—causing us to seek recognition and affirmation in ways that may not honor our …

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“New requirements require new strategies that demand we get real about what we can handle.”

For someone who almost never gets sick, I was surprised when my ability to stay vertical came to a crashing halt. I didn’t resist. I accepted the time as a kind of reprieve from real life. I share this with you not to garner your sympathy, but because we women rarely take time to just be, meditate and refresh. If we get sick, we see it as a frustration, something to get over quickly and efficiently, so …

“Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.” John Barth…