Have you ever been on some vacation in some nice hotel is some new city and hated to leave and step back into your "regular life?" It doesn't happen to me all the time, but when it does I take it as a need to make a change in my "regular life," so that I have the "remarkable" at home with me. Those changes could be BIG or small, a new location, a new career or something far more simple like a recent change that I made in my throne (bath) room.

One the most inexpensive ways to spice up your bathroom life is to change your toilet bowl seat. My roommate bought a new one for us and it has surprisingly made my day. Pictures provided below because I just know you want to see it =:-).

MizJAI

A little bathroom inspiration. Life isn't all about work. And let's face it there are certain things that you just have to do like brush your teeth, eat, use the bathroom. You might as well enjoy something about it. Alright that's it for my toilet talk.

What is your dream-speak? that of nightmares or hope? What is the conversation that your heart exposes? Are you talking HOPE or Hell? Which of these "Hs" are you talking?!

And here is the last one. The "H" in faith has a meaning too = HOPE in & HEAR the Word

Keep the promises in your ears.
1) Go where the Word is . . . Sermons, Bible Studies, and Television shows are just the beginning, but they are necessary.
2) Bring the Word with you . . . audio cds, dvds, and mp3 recordings of your favorite scriptures are the next level. You need to walk with the Word in your ear, so that you can hear and hear and hear. Faith only comes this way (Romans 10:17).
3) Put your word on it . . . record yourself saying your scripture of the day, your pocket scripture, your birthday scripture and keep the recording with you. This step changes you because you take the time to say and hear. Your Pastor cannot live for you. You have to do some things yourself; like your secret time with God, your personal Bible study, doing 'homework' so that what you hear at church sticks with you.

So there it is. Are you talking HOPE or Hell?

That's it. Thanks for sticking with me and as usual feel free to leave your comments as you see fit. But remember this, consider each step of the process to be a part of a whole that limps when one of the key areas is missing. You want to have "it" all, then take the time to do "it" all. An exceptional life requires exceptional action . . .

MizJAI
Things to use the faith process for: exceptional joy, exceptional travel, exceptional impact on your industry, exceptional relationships, exceptional service, exceptional dreaming, exceptional living, (you add the rest). . .

Faith is not a secret. You can see it if you want. You can touch it if you choose. You can live in it and it in you. It is up to you. Faith is not an outfit that you save for special occasions. It's your heart, the way that you live, and it becomes your style. What do you do? You faith.

Faith is the thing that changes the dream into a tangible form. You faith that fire right out your chest and into reality. Faith is the truth taking shape in your heart in such a real way that you can't help but live your heart's desire out loud. Faith allows you to see things that others cannot. To know things that others do not. To find things that others have yet to discover. On this side of heaven F-A-I-T-H is.

My personal goal is to make sure that it never becomes a catch word for me. That I live the kind of dynamic life that God wants me to live, that I never hold back the hand of God in my life, and that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit be more than just a Sunday morning thing, but a pulsating part of my life. That being said, I know that there is at least one more action required in order to keep the process of faith alive and kicking . . .

MizJAI

Do you remember your dreams? The ones you had when you where little and bold and free to say just about anything? The dreams you had when the slightest thing you did was cute? Do you remember those dreams, when you said you wanted to be president, when you said you wanted to be an astronaut? I am not about to suggest that you quit your job and join space camp (well, maybe some of you should, for real), but I am suggesting that you (we) recapture that passion and that freedom and that idea that you could actually be whatever you set your mind to.

Set your mind to be happy, set your mind to be fulfilled, set your mind to be free, set your mind to dream and set your will to live your best life (I say this a-lot).

Faith doesn't work without action. What does it matter that you dream of being an architect but you never complete the studies. It's OK to make changes as long as you make them for the right reasons. Did you change your dream because your heart changed or did you change your dream because you where afraid of the cost to get there? Do you still want it for the right reasons? Is there someone you need to find? Where have you been? Where is that passionate version of you who thinks he can change the world one child at a time, one patient at a time, one case at a time? Where is the fire that used to drive you and inspire the people around you? Where have you been?

Find her. Find him. They have work to do.

Faith dies when there is no action. Once you figure out what you (think you) want to do, then begin to walk it through the faith process of:

F-Finding and Studying it in the Word to build more faith and awareness
A-Asking and Confessing it to build more confidence and certainty
I-Internalizing it to anchor it on the inside of you, and
T-Training and Taking Action in order to develop skill and build momentum.
Yes, it's time to do the work that will give your dream legs and prepare you to live it out loud.

It doesn't cost anything to research (well time, but you have to invest something into designing the life that you want). Find out what you need to know how to do in order to be a _____________, in order to create a _______________, in order to ________________. Get started on your research today while it's fresh on your mind. If you want to be an entrepreneur and you don 't want to quit your job, there is a way. If you want to be a writer and a lawyer, then do it. If you want to be a doctor and a dancer, then have at it. There is room for ALL your dreams, when you train, plan, and take action.

Where have you been?

MizJAI
I've been in Alaska and had a terrible time getting internet connection, but I'm back now.

I have noticed that a lot people use the word faith loosely. Some throw it around like a toy and regard it only as a last resort, "Well this didn't work, so I think I'll try faith."

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about taking the effort to ensure that faith is central in your life. Taking the steps to be focused on it without being spooky. Taking the time to Internalize your F-A-I-T-H.

The I in F-A-I-T-H is INTERNALIZE. Last post the tools came up. Let's start back with Tool #1: Pocket Scriptures.

By now you have been Finding & Studying Scriptures as well as Asking & Confessing. A pocket scripture is simply taking the scripture that truly speaks to you and putting it on a notecard and placing that notecard in your wallet, back pocket, on the visor in your car, the mirror in your back room or whatever works for you. This is not magic, this is simply you keeping the word on who you say you are in your face, so that you remember to act like who you say you are. I started doing this when I was college.

I always wore blue jeans, never carried a purse, so everything that I needed was in my jean pockets. My back pockets however, where always empty, because I think it's too easy for people to pick your back pocket (nobodies watching it). Anyway, I did alot of walking then, 15 minutes to this class, 15 minutes to that class, waiting in line to buy lunch, waiting in line to buy school books, you get the picture. I could leave my dorm room happy and sure of myself. But by the time I arrive at class I could be nervous, frustrated and afraid to speak. I had some hard nosed professors and a lot of small classes where I could not hide. I didn't want to anyway, but I don't want to make a fool of myself either and I didn't want to be afraid to speak up. So I started keeping my favorite scripture in my back pocket (I would switch out once I knew it by heart). And when the fear would grip me I would grab that pocket scripture and do battle in my mind. You see, I want to enjoy my life and fear and foolishness are not a part of my pleasure. Feeling good in my own skin and having the guts to go for the dream is. So I ask you, what's in your back pocket, wallet, purse, whatever? You know what I mean.

A scripture to start with,
"God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind (2Tim 1:7)." Are you acting crazy? because you don't have to . . .

-MizJAI-

I had that desperate look in my eye. We needed help back then (we still do but it was more painful--to me--back then). I often felt that without somebody's intervention the doors could close any day now. I mean I was doing everything that I knew how to do, working 20 hour days, covering as many positions in our young company as I could, praying, working out as my single outlet, and falling apart on the inside. The non-profit program that my family built (are building) had such massive need and yet the response to support seemed minimal to me . . . I was caught up in these thoughts until she interrupted me. She was the newest member to our advisory board. She pulled me aside for little more than seconds, and said more to me with her eyes than anything else, but her spoken message was this, "It will be OK. Don't look like that, it will be OK." Then she squeezed my arm and walked away. She was a successful entrepreneur in my town and had taken a moment to notice and respond to something in me. For years I pounder the words she said and the words that she didn't say. I considered the challenges she must have faced building, maintaining and growing her business locally and nationally. I studied the concern in her eyes and I learned something. There are those who respond to need, but overwhelmingly people respond to success. They (we) want to be a part of something that works and works well.

And when I learned that I changed my focus to the fact that we are successful at raising children and in turn I changed my look and my conversation to focus on "whatsoever things are good." My conversation about New Hope also changed, I told the stories of our success. I quit allowing my face to tell the story of my personal struggle, it tells the story of impending success. And you know what happens now? People ask me, "How can we help?"

But wait a minute! I don't want to gloss over this truth right here! I changed the way that I pray. The Bible says that I can "come boldly come before the throne." I learned that a portion of that boldness comes from confessing the words that I know God will respond to. I discovered that "God has an expected end for me (Jer 29:11), and that good success is an option for me (Joshua 1:8), and that men would give into me pressed down shaken together and running over (Luke 6:38), that greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world (1 John 4:4), that God is giving us a new thing and that now it shall spring forth (Isaiah 43:19), and that in unity we cannot be stopped (Genesis 11:6), and that I can do all things through the power of the Word that strengthens me (Philippians 4:13), and the list goes on and on. These are the thoughts that I chose to flood my mind with. I set a few moments aside a day to study the Words that encourage and build me up, and I take the time to restate them in MizJAI speak so that they stick to my soul and come out of me like flowing waters when I need them.

Said plain, after I ask God for something in my life, I now spend the rest of my time finding more examples of the promise that I need and want in my life and I make my confessions my conversations. This makes me bold and causes me to fear less and less and to stand harder and stronger and with more grace and expectation!

But that's not all. The third part of the process is easy and fun, but crucial to long term success of any kind, I'll see you guys next week.

MizJAI

It turns out that God weighs in on more areas of our lives than we have ever taken the time to notice including fame, fortune and careers, as well as our relationships. Let's find out about that now.

I work with children and young adults and I notice that almost all of them want to be filthy, stinking rich; they want to be famous; they want a man (a woman); and they want to live big. And a few of them have the career goals that they believe will give them the life: athletic star or music star. Then there are others that want the careers that make them feel important where they believe they are giving back and making a good living: science based careers like psychologist, biologist, doctors, as well as business owners and real estate moguls.

I am excited by their dreams but I noticed that for a lot of them without intervention and specific skills it could easily become a fantasy, "something that I wanted once upon a time." And the same could happen to anyone us. But when we find and study the promises, it keeps our minds clear about where we are going, it keeps our hearts fresh about what God thinks about it and it's step 1 to keeping the dream in front of us. Here are two tips to help you move the dream out of fantasy land:

1. Know that God wants to get involved in your life and He has a plan to bless you. "I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11 NIV

2. Get excited about wild, crazy and exceptional success and don't fear prosperity because God has a plan for that as well. “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Deut 8:18 (NKJV)

God has made you so many promises. It is time to rediscover them and to make that discovery a constant part of your reality. Finding and studying the promises keeps you focused and your spirit ignited. I gave you two scriptures above that are perfect for the Business-Minded. Get a Journal; label it "my success journal"; from the front to the back write every scripture that you find that relates to your success, wealth and the dream; flip the book over and from the back to front write down every idea that you have through out the course of the year. I use a small journal so that it can fit in my handbag because ideas come at any moment and I want to be ready, because I now know that ideas are often the beginning of my answered prayers.

In the next post we'll discover the most important conversation of your life!

-MizJAI-

Christians say the word alot. And when life becomes a real challenge so does everybody else. But what makes faith more than just a catch phrase to sling or avoid? What makes it more than just another 5 letter word?

I have a dream in my heart that is burning me up on the inside. I'm trying to tell you about it and all you can say is Pray and Have Faith. What good will that do me? I told you I have a dream in my heart and I need the hook up to make it a reality. Who do you know that you can tell about me? What money can you give to help me? Make this process fast and easy man because I'm frustrated and tired. Help me out! That's what I want from you, but here you come with prayer and having faith.

I have had those words slung at me a time or two. And when I say slung, I mean I thought the person was using those suggestions as a "get out of the conversation quick" card. But no matter why I am told to pray and have faith, the power in the truth doesn't change. So I decided to take advantage of this prayer and faith thing, and you can too. It turns out that to God, praying and having faith isn't a suggestion but a mandate. It turns out that there are at least five things that we can do to impact our faith and create an explosive and dynamic prayer life. The kind of life that responds to the spoken words we utter and shapes them into reality. It happens everyday anyway. But with correct knowledge we can better shape our futures. It turns out that faith is an action, so let's get to the bottom of what we need to be doing in order to activate our F-A-I-T-H and explode the impact of our prayer lives because there is work to be done, dreams to be living and people to reach out to:

5 Keys to Maximizing Your FAITH & Applying Dynamite to Your Prayer Life
F- __________________
A-__________________
I- __________________
T- __________________
H-__________________

Well, I am out of time for today. So we will have to take this up on Monday. I'll see you then.

-MizJAI-

They wore their masks with absolute commitment and dedication to the facade. He thought to himself an idea that was so deeply buried he could not even hear the thought, but it was there. A very real and telling part of him, "If I can make her think that I'm the man, then maybe when I look in the mirror I'll believe it myself." But he wasn't the only one with these buried ideas that barely registered consciously but clearly guided their everyday relationship choices. "If I can make him remember me as the Diva, then maybe I can find value in me too. I just need somebody to say it. Say it. Say I'm pretty, say I'm hot, say you like my dress, say you love my legs, maybe I should show a little more. Ok, that's perfect, I'm ready. Let's go." Let go into the lion's den and see who responds to me.

He wore this mask that looked like a man, but was really an angry boy. She wore this mask that looked like a woman, but was truly was a lonely girl. We enter into these relationships with the images and not the realities, and we beat each other up with our insecurities. I used to want a hero to save me. But my weakness could only attract a weak man and a strong God, but I chose the weak man over and over again. So now, in the darkest places I change my mind and I seek the One who made me, I seek His love to minister to me, to heal my brokenness, to restore me. And in the light of day when I am strong again with the power of God's love and clear with the blessing of His deliverance, I seek relationships with a whole heart, now. See, I'm a superhero myself, and I need a strong man with a big heart and a real relationship with the power of God's love to heal and deliver him from his own pains.

I'm not saying that from now on we have to be perfect and the people we love have to be perfect. I am saying that we have stop choosing relationships to feed and camouflage the worst in us. I am saying that we have take the mask off and let God deal with our hearts. The hearts that where broken as children when we were molested. The hearts that were devastated when we were betrayed. The hearts that were embittered because of bad relationship after bad relationship. I'm saying it is time to tell ourselves the truth, to deal in the harsh reality of the lies that we may have been living. I'm saying that it's time to grow up, to get close to Love and allow Him to deal with us intimately and honestly. It's time for us to trust God to grow us past the pain.

Pull the box of who you really are out of the closest. It's time to face heaven with the truth and come out as the real, honest and free person that God made you to be, mask free and whole. Remember, this is a process, so deal with one issue at a time, but set your will to see yourself, to do better and to get help.

My preferred help of choice is a Bible Believing Church that teaches the Practical Application of Gospel, one that keeps it simple, sweet, Biblical, real and practical so that I can get it. I have tried counselors and psychologist, but I get further with the Word which is Jesus who is the Son of God who is Love. So the Word is the greatest love letter ever written, once we understand it.

You can keep looking for love in other people, but I have finally learned that if I don't find out what real Love is then I won't know when I have encountered a hustler that calls himself a lover, when I have experienced lust that simply calls herself love, when I have fallen for lies that mask themselves as truth, when I have chosen out of my weakness instead of God's strength. Real Love waits for you. Real Love pulls the best out of you. Real Love never contradicts the God in you. Real Love loves you back for eternity. Real Love builds you up. Real Love challenges you. Real Love won't stop searching until He finds the best you. Real Love highlights your beauty. Real Love fights for you and not against you. Real Love loves real and Real Love brings integrity and standards and grace and freedom and honesty and excitement and happiness and joy and patience and everything that you truly need . . .

-MizJAI-

"I have these yesterdays that creep into my future. I try to walk in new dreams but I have this old pain that just gets in the way. I seek after new moments but it seems to be the old me when I get there. I'm looking for something new but it never seems to arrive." Have you ever felt like that, as if you were slowly slipping away even though you try to hold on and wait for something to change. What if that something that needs to change is you instead of all the things around you?

Some people have a tendency to wait for someone to save them from their lives. It's that woman again waiting for her knight in shining armor to ride in on his white horse and scoop her up from her boring, underfunded, overspending life. Waiting for him to love her in-spite of her broken heart. Waiting for him to complete her. It's that man waiting to start his real life once he finds a wife. It's that anxious need to be loved and yes rescued from lonely nights. It's that need to find our answers outside of ourselves instead of within. God lives on the inside of the righteous and our answers are where He is. He's in the Word and He reveals the truth about us. So let's get real.

Have you ever been bored and overworked and thought that if you had a (new) mate all would be well? Well, before the singles get all anxious and the couples get to switching partners and start responding to that next person who pays attention to them, listen to what's going on with you. If there was no mate, what would you do to get yourself out of your funk? What would you do to save yourself? How real are you willing to be with you?

Maybe your prince charming wants a woman who knows how to ride alongside him. And believe me, even a capable and whole woman will need to be rescued on a bad day. There is room for romance, but I'm just saying there is room for you to take full responsibility of your life, your joy, your finances, your future and your heart. Stop holding back and waiting before you start your life; write your book, release your album, launch your new business idea, or at least improve on you by learning or doing something new like horse back riding, painting, traveling, singing . . . like worship, Word and fellowship so that God can expose your weaknesses and your strengths and heal what's broken. So that when you find that woman she finds a whole man to love.
Let's get to the business of really living, there is an entire world out there that is big enough for your best dream. You just get yourself ready to walk it out.

MizJAI

My dad told me a story a long time ago of a man who owned a diamond mine. He had owned and worked that mine for years and never dug up one jewel. On the day that he finally sold it. The new owner uncovered diamonds in his coal. The lesson was to never give up, your answer may just be right around the corner if you dig a little deeper.

Some say, "Stories are nice but what about reality? Life isn't lived in a mine." But what if it is? What if all we need to do is recover, regroup and reenter our lives with a fresh mind and new ideas about how to get the results we want. We just may find what we have been digging for all along.

Recovery is not about running away. It's about getting your head together so that you can rethink and reshape the entire situation with a renewed mind. You may discover a better way to lead your team, a better way to use technology, a better way to organize your dream, a better way to sell, a better way to live. You just may discover how to get the best out of your old mine. That's what's going on with Susan from the previous post. She's tired, drained and in that state she can't see that every idea and every obstacle has prepared her to solve impossible problems in creative ways. And when the solutions come a new level of freedom and finances follow.

Recover, then discover a new way to mine, but never stop digging.


-MizJAI-

It was like a slow dance with all my worst nightmares. I was angry, jealous, tired and quite a bit out of control. My wildest dreams were the furtherest from becoming my reality, or at least it seemed that way, and I was very close to empty, and then he walks in. I had always hoped that the next time that I saw him, I would be at the top of my game. I would be the star in his sky, so famous that he couldn't hide from the shadow I cast, but instead, I couldn't find the shadow fast enough. I needed a place to hide but he had already seen me.

"Candy, is that you?" I wanted to say, "Que? No entiendo?" but I was certain that he knew it was me and that English is my first language, so I turned and smiled,

"Hi Charles. What a surprise . . ."

I used to live for an emotional revenge. Everyone who has ever hurt me, tossed me aside like I was disposable, disregarded my attention and affection, I held it in my heart knowing that one day they would face me again and I would have my emotional revenge. I mean, on the surface I forgave. Based on what I understood at the time, I forgave. But now I know that to truly let go, I have to release them out of my heart and let me live without this list of people that I need to prove something to.

I know that revenge belongs to God and that the best kind of revenge is good living. It's just that I used put a lot of hope in my "enemies" or "painful others" seeing my good living. But that energy is distracting, redirecting some of the best of me on something that doesn't elevate me. So I decided to let go. That moment described in the beginning of my post happened in my dreams. I awoke, wrote it down, and called it a nightmare. I refuse to live for revenge in any form. Today, I decide to live for something more. I live for the dream, I live for the love, I live for the faith, I live for God. I live . . . for real and for free this time around.

Why don't you make a revenge decision today and live by it from now on. I hope you make a great one.

MizJAI

Did you know that you are meant to last forever. The truest parts of you are: your spirit and your soul don't die, although there are some days that you hurt so much you think they will. But don't fall for that, they actually live forever.

Knowing that, make sure that you make choices to ensure that your eternity is relaxing and beautiful and all things lovely. Check your heart for your first love, your love for the One who created you. It is amazing to me how we know that the intelligent things that we use daily like cars, airplanes, and medical equipment have a creator. Yet we are confused as to the idea that the intricacies of the human body, the way that air surrounds us, the way gravity grounds us have a Creator too. No matter your religion (Christian, Muslim, Buddhism, Atheism, etc.), it seems that there are so many intelligent creations that require a better author than simply a random bang. My Pastor says, "God is that which nothing greater can be conceived of," after you reach the limits of your best thoughts and ideas, there's God standing there with the truest and most life changing solutions, if you let Him. Of course His #1 answer is His son (John 3:16), and everything else floods in after . . .

Allow yourself to have the ultimate gift: tap into a love that lasts forever (Rom 10:9-10) and find out what love really is (I John 4:16, I Cor 13: 4-13), and then you can give your man or your woman the best of you and the best of you just gets better with Love.

-MizJAI-