Cotton Candy Queen 🩷🩵🇺🇸

Good morning homies... Are you happy? I mean are you truly happy? Do you wake up with dread not looking forward to what the day holds? Or are you hopeful for what the day will bring? Is there angst in your gut or excitement in your heart? What if I told you it's a choice. That you can choose to be happy. That you can start your day with gratitude in your heart and joy in your spirit. Recently, for a brief moment, I forgot this. I forgot that it is my responsibility to choose how I am going to start my day. That allowing outside circumstances to control my attitude is akin to slavery. To allow things I cannot control to dictate the way that I feel. If I told you everything on my plate at the moment, you likely wouldn't believe it. At a minimum most would say I deserved to feel the way I did. Overwhelmed with anxiety to the point of physical sickness. That kind of stress. But the fact of the matter is this. Happiness is a choice. Because where your focus goes your energy flows. Did you take a hot shower today? Did you eat? Did you have to walk a few miles to get your water today or did you drink it from a cooler or a bottle you grabbed from your refrigerator? Are you trying to decide what you should wear to go to your job or place of business? Or were you wishing you had a pair of shoes to wear because you're barefoot? How often we forget to look at what we do have. And instead look at what we don't have. Don't you realize how incredibly blessed you are? Do you have your sight? Can you walk? Did you wake up today? Most of us can say yes. Well then...why would we not choose happiness? Happiness does not come from what is on the outside. It comes from within. It comes by choosing to focus on what you already have. Not what you don't. Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying you won't feel anxiety or pressure or heartache or pain. Of course we will. It is part of being a human being living in a fallen world. It's quite normal. It's what comes next. It's what happens after you feel these emotions. It's how you choose to respond to what you are feeling. Understand you may feel overwhelmed or anxious or depressed or sorrowful. My question to you is, "Why are you choosing to stay there?" Because if it is true that you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength, and it is, are you choosing strength? Are you exercising your gift of faith to choose to believe and trust the promises of God in your life? There comes a time when we need to dig in. A time to fight with everything we have inside us. And when we get to the end of our strength, it opens the door for the Lord to move in mighty ways. It gives Him the opportunity to prove He is good and faithful. And it allows Him to receive the glory. For when the Lord steps in to fight for His own it is unmistakable. It is how He builds our trust in Him. This is faith in action. This is growth in real time. Repeat this process over a lifetime and you will become unshakable. You will literally get to a point where you expect God to show up. You will know with certainty that He will deliver you or give to you that which you desire. That which you are working towards by faith. It is a spiritual principle. Done in obedience and humility with the right intentions it is as good as done. And should it not happen, it simply means it was not part of God's plan for you. It was not His will for you. For we are told in Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." That is not a suggestion. That is a promise from the Lord to you and me. So I say to you, choose to be happy. Choose to be grateful. For we are blessed beyond measure. Look at what you already have. Not what you don't. Create the life you want to live in and through Christ Jesus and Him alone and He will prosper you. Never lose hope. Only trust and believe. Then take action. Live well my friends. 👊🦏