Restarting this blog of mine after a year absence was tough. In the last year I suffered major writers block, which is extra crazy because I ONLY write about me. How do you go blank on yourself? Conventional wisdom would suggest that YOU live YOU every single day. When I finally had the itch or inspiration to write I told God and myself I would only write when I was inspired to write. When I felt something stirring inside of me so powerful my only release would be a new blog post.

And with that being said, the blog has been active a month, and this is published blog post #2 LOL! God may not be the fastest stirrer LOL!

Today was a pretty amazing day, I should have known right when I laid down to sleep that an alarm would go off in my head. Loud, booming, powerful voice…..ITS TIME TO WRITE.

Tonight I had the privilege of joining #TeamML6 (more on that later) as we fed the homeless at the Downtown Rescue Mission here in Huntsville. There were about 12-13 of us who came together to do a tiny bit of giving back to those less fortunate. I was a little nervous at the last minute because I thought “what am I going to do, if I see someone I know”. Living in this town 15 years  and being one of those people that are connected to everyone around town I had this fear that I would see someone and how would I react.

Well sure enough as soon as the women were allowed to hop in line for food, I noticed a familiar face. It wasn’t actually a local face, but a face from a lady I knew growing up in Indianapolis. I’m 33 now so that would put her right around 40 cause if I remember correctly she was graduating high school when I was in 5th or 6th grade. During those years in Indy I went to a S.D.A (Seventh Day Adventist) school and if you know anything about the S.D.A community especially the black S.D.A community, there’s not many degrees of separation. We are all connected!

Now I don’t know her story, and I’m not going to even attempt to connect the dots. I know that she left Indy and came to college here in Huntsville but that was at least 20 years ago. There’s no telling what could be going on presently. All I know is that clearly she was hungry and in need of a plate. She even came back up for seconds. From her looks I could tell she had fallen on tough times. I don’t think she recognized me though, but I didn’t go out my way to jog her memory either.

All of this made me realize how blessed I am currently. I have been without a job for going on 2 weeks. My last position was on a contract and when the contract was up, there was no renewal. I have no issues with that, that’s the nature of corporate America.

I told God after my last work day, that I was not going to stress over a job or anything else for that matter. I know that “faith without works is dead” so I have to be applying for jobs and doing my due diligence while believing that God is going to bless my efforts. I also know the definition of insanity is “to do the same thing over and over expecting different result”. So my plan is to do what I need to do, but I am going to go about the process differently.

In a concentrated effort to avoid laziness I established a routine:

So everyday I get up at 7 am, my kids call me at 7:20 every morning to say good morning while they are in the car on the way to school with their mother, I spend 20 minutes in devotion/prayer and another 20 minutes doing the exercises from this quick cardio burn I found on YouTube. This gets my day started right and keeps my mind functioning properly and keeps me from being jobless & depressed. Just jobless.

A friend and I were talking and she mentioned Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them”

I’ve heard that verse 1000 times before but it definitely took on new meaning and has become my motto. So to keep this verse top-of-mind I started a 8-to-8 plan. At 8:28 am, 2:08 pm, and 8:28 pm I have my alarm set on my phone to go off loudly. When it goes off I have to immediately knock out 20 push-ups, say a prayer and recite Romans 8:28. Its my way of staying focused. It’s hilarious though cause you never really know where your going to be during a day and inevitably I end up doing push-ups in Kroger, or saying my prayer while being in the drive thru at Regions bank, but the best one was saying the bible verse right before I ordered a McFlurry the other day. (M&M in case you were wondering what flavor) Wherever I am at at those times within reason, I have to knock out all 3. You should have seen me run out noon church service today. I was like Cinderella with the glass slipper trying to get out the building an near my car so that I could do my push-ups, prayer and recitation without being noticed.

Thru all of this though I have yet to miss a meal. My daughter had a great birthday, I paid tithe and offering, I spent money helping out others that were in a jam. Heck I’m headed to ATL on Tuesday to drive a friend to a job interview he has. He was going to have to rent a car plus go solo. So I told him nonsense, I’ll drive my car, so now all you have to do is focus on nailing this interview.

Now I know I need to get a grip fast or I’m gonna be on $0 but honestly I don’t care. God knows my situation, he knows what I am in the midst of. All I can do is be the best me and ask God to bless my efforts when HE sees fit. If you are doing your part I see no issues with holding God at his word. I am not challenging HIM, I am merely saying “God in your WORD you promised this…and I know you never go back on your WORD, your promises hold steady..so…” Whatever door God chooses to open for me is the one I am going to walk thru.

To finish the thought about my routine: I spend 2 hours daily on a job search. I’m not going to be stressed out over Careerbuilder, Indeed and Monster all day long. My job hunt gets exactly 120 minutes per day from me. The rest of my day is spent working on projects for me or about me. I’m taking a online Public Speaking course, I am working on getting the the #TeamML6 charity off and running, I’m doing some social media marketing an consulting for a few independent artists. I am also reading a book on how to parents connect with their children better. My kids are at the age where their individual personas are beginning to show and so I cannot parent each of them identically. I have to learn how to parent according to each child’s strengths and weaknesses. None of these projects are putting any $ in my pockets (yet) but I am feeling good daily knowing that I contributed to something and not just punching a time-clock. When you know there is a calling over your life, playing the corporate America games will never give you the satisfaction you desire.

So until the day comes that I am working, I am going to continue to work on me. One of my favorite quote is “You either get busy living, or you’re busy dying” and my last couple jobs I nearly died I felt that purpose-less inside. I am determined to live from this day forward. Everyday for me is about living.

Most importantly I am counting my blessings because instead of feeding the homeless tonight with 12 of my friends, I could have been in the chow line myself. Grace and Mercy. 

Okay that’s it. Its 1:09 am. I’m out. This was fun.

-Tee