Four Key & Important Lessons 2020 Taught Me

While living through a “pandemic” was something we all had to adjust to, 2020 wasn’t  actually that bad. However, I do want to give my condolences to the families that did lose a loved one. Despite everyone wearing face masks, social distancing, and sanitizing our homes and hands, unfortunately it wasn’t enough to keep everyone safe. Although the “pandemic” may have kept us from going out and enjoying life as we normally would, it also allowed us to truly tap into our creative side and turn “lemons into lemonade.” I can’t speak for everyone, but this “pandemic” was more than enough confirmation for me to understand exactly my purpose for being alive. 2020 was a year of both disappointments and blessings in my life, but through it all it taught me four valuable, powerful, and important lessons. That is,

• Have Faith
• Utilize One Good Skill You Excel At
• Follow Your Dreams
• Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

I didn’t think I would ever get to a point in my life were I understand exactly what I want and how to get it, but I did. 2020 definitely opened my eyes and gave me clarity about everything I needed/wanted to know.

Have Faith

I’ve always believed in God. I was practically raised in a  Christian household for the first five years of my life. As I grew older though, my outlook on life changed drastically and so did my faith. I went from having strong faith in God to no faith at all. It was never my intentions to stop believing in God’s work, but going through hardships over and over caused me to lose faith and hope. I tired to stay as positive as I could, but keeping the faith was not giving me results. I felt hopeless and alone. I believed the saying “Gods timing is always on time,”  but I felt as if  I was running out of time and God hadn’t rescued me. I wasn’t on my death bed or suffering from some sort of incurable disease. But even so I still felt hopeless because of everything I was going through. I was faced with financial hardships, mental breakdowns, unhappiness, and overwhelmed & dissatisfied  with my life. I know it may sounds like I am overly dramatic (lol), but I was really in a dark place mentally, physically, and emotionally. After struggling for many years, four to be exact, I woke up one day and decided to have faith & believe again. I decided that the way I was living my life was no longer serving me in a positive way and it was time for a change. I didn’t gain faith again over night, but through trail and error, discipline, and changing my mindset/outlook on life; I began to believe in God’s work again. I had to come to the realization that having faith is what gets you through hard times. The moment I stop believing is the moment my life became worst because I focused on everything that was going wrong. Once I got into the mindset of not worrying, I woke up everyday content with having a positive and productive day. I began to read the verse/scripture of the day. Every verse/scripture I read resonated with me and what I was going through at the time (financial difficulties, being overwhelmed, not believing in myself, etc).  I practiced gratitude everyday, by writing down everything I was grateful for even things I hadn’t received yet. I woke up before my household to have peace and quite so I can spend that time with God. Faith is not about knowing God is here,  but it’s about believing and trusting that God is in control and as long as your in his kingdom your life will always work itself out. Living through a “pandemic” definitely made my faith stronger because my family and I was faced with the uncertainty of not knowing what was going happen. But, honestly putting my faith in God was the best decision I made because it taught me to not worry about situations that were out of my control. That’s  exactly what I did with this “pandemic.”  It’s honestly crazy to think we lived through a “pandemic” and came out better than we were before. During this “pandemic” God has truly blessed my family and I beyond measures. We bought our first home, I gave birth to my now eight month son with no complications, and we moved to a new state and have settled in nicely. Miracles can happen evening during times of uncertainty, you just have to put all your faith in God and he will deliver you through whatever your facing. I want to leave you all with this scriptures:

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬ NIV)

5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place. 6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? 7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies. (‭Psalms‬ ‭118‬:‭5-7‬ NIV)

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— (‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬ NIV)

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭34‬ NIV)

Utilize One Good Skill You Excel At

If there’s anything this “pandemic” has taught me, it’s utilizing a skill I am really good at and profiting off that skill. So many of us are unique and possess so many qualities that we don’t even realize how powerful they are. If there’s something your good at (teaching, designing, creating, selling, marketing, etc) it’s time to put that skill to work. A lot of people have already begin to tap into their special skill and have been quite a success. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but God made you just as unique as your enemy so don’t let what one does keep you from doing what you want/ need to do.  It honestly doesn’t even matter what skill it is, and I think that’s were a lot of us get stuck at. We think we have to have a certain skill in order to be successful at something, but that’s false. At times like this (“pandemic”) we have to keep the focus on us. Comparing yourself to others is not how your going to tap into your special skill.
-Sit down
-Clear your mind
-Grab a journal/blank sheet of paper
-Write down every skill you possess
-Narrow it down to one skill
-Create a plan to utilize that skill
It’s really that simple. I think we have become so afraid of stepping outside our comfort zone we tend to lose sight of the bigger picture.
“Tough times calls for drastic measures,” so with that in mind take charge of that special skill you possess and get to work.

Follow Your Dreams

To often we here people say follow your dreams, but what does following your dreams looks like? I really had to wrestle with myself with this one question because it’s something I have yet to begin(follow my dreams). Honestly I’ve felt like I’ve been living in a dream more than living out my dream. The last four years of my life hasn’t been that great in fact it was the most challenging and some what disappointing years of my life. However, during those years of what I thought was disappointment, it actually was a time of building myself up both inside and out. It was during those times that I learned to follow my dreams or at least the meaning of it. Follow your dreams to me means, living in your true purpose and allowing yourself to do all the things you love with no regrets. Following your dreams simply put, is “living your best life!” The reason most people aren’t living their dreams, is because they don’t truly believe their dreams are possible or even achievable. As someone who grew up on limiting beliefs:

“Work hard to live a happy life.”
“Money is the root of all evil.”
“Go to school, get a good job to live the life you desire”
I can tell you those beliefs are false! Every dream is possible so long as you believe it is and work smart not hard to achieve it. Recently I learned to stop telling myself it will take years to achieve a goal because in reality if you program your mind to believe something will take years to happen, well your going to take years to fulfill that dream. Dreams aren’t meant to dwell on, they are simply meant to pursue. You will save yourself a whole world of regret by living out your dreams. I don’t know who needs to hear this but it’s time to pull out that box of dreams that’s been collecting dust and start living them. Remember God said “I can do all things through Christ that strengths me.”

Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket