Persecuted for Success

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

My mother started with this poem by Marianne Williamson in a speech she prepared for a group of speakers at a recent conference. I was intrigued and elated to hear this poem, because it speaks to a recent situation that my wife and I faced in our life. I truly believe that God has a destiny for all of us and it doesn’t include, toil, strife, or lack. Success can be a very threatening thing to your peers.

The best gift you can give a person other than the word of God and love; is opportunity, the opportunity to change their lives, the opportunity to learn what you have learned; the opportunity to shine. Let me first define my definition of success. Success is a relationship with God, a Godly relationship with your spouse. Your children are raised knowing and living the word of God. You are running your business or working by the word of God. Success is not just money in the bank, but success doesn’t exclude money in the bank. True success incorporates all the above mentioned. In my opinion you can’t be successful and lack one of these traits.

As you give opportunities to people who come into your life, things will not always work out the way you envision. All we can do as children of God is present opportunity for people to succeed, but it is 100% up to the person receiving the opportunity to capitalize on the opportunity presented before them. God gave everyone of us a passion; he gave everyone of us a vision of what we want to do with or life; he gave us dreams. A lot of time we attach ourselves to the dreams of others, hoping to gain, wealth, recognition or prestige. When you attach yourself to the dreams of someone else you are missing what God has for you. I am not saying that you can’t do anything you set your mind to, because you can. We are made in the image of the most high, our minds have unlimited power. In many cases God appoints us as the supporter or the ladder holder for the vision that he has for someone, in this case you are in line with the call of God. Sometimes your supporting cast or your ladder holders will make an attempt to fulfill the vision that God has for you, because they feel they are better equipped for the job, or they believe that the only way to success is through them. When this happens, confusion and failure is at hand.

When someone fails at a new opportunity that they were given, they automatically blame the person who gave them the opportunity. When you blame others you don’t learn and you don’t grow. In my short life I have made mistakes, and have experienced so much adversity, so many set backs. I have lost homes, lost cars, lost friends, been on welfare, and that is just the half of it. Where would I be today if I blamed other people for my struggles? Where would I be if I blamed other people for not being able to provide for my family? I tell you one thing, I would not be writing this blog. It is easier to blame others for your mistakes; it makes you feel better to blame someone else. It makes you look better when you are explaining the situation to someone else or your spouse. Blaming others is just another way of making an excuse. I heard a pastor say “Excuses are nothing but nails used to build a house of failure”. Believe me when I say, when you blame others it does not hurt the person you are blaming, you are hurting yourself.

As a leader and a business owner I have been blamed, judged, dragged through the mud, and made to be ungodly. Of course as a leader I had to learn how to lead and made mistakes on my journey. I believe that is apart of being different. When I say different, I mean not conforming or doing what others do, not following the crowd and breaking away from the herd. There comes a time in everyone’s life when a decision has to be made, the decision to settle for an ordinary life or to do better. There is absolutely nothing wrong with an ordinary life, I know a lot of people who are very happy and would not change a thing, but some people are destined to achieve more. God won’t let them settle for ordinary. It is not in their blood, it is not part of their make-up. I think those type of people are persecuted, blamed, talked about and made to be arrogant or ungodly because of their un-dying, burning desire to succeed and never quit no matter what. As mention in the above poem we are to never shelter the greatness that God has for us, we should never shelter our talents and desires so that others won’t feel bad. People will hate you, talk about you, but never stop, never give in. There is nothing wrong with reaching for a better life for you and your family. People will persecute you for your success, but don’t fall for it, don’t be fooled. Live life the way God wants you to, and don’t be shaken by haters. Remember on your journey there will be pain, there will be, adversity, there will people who will walk out of your life, let them walk. You will have to sacrifice, not everyone will understand you, they don’t need to they have no idea what is in your heart. It is hard to understand something that you don’t know. You will have pain, but you have to push through the pain.

In conclusion I leave you with a quote from Lance Armstrong.

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.”

Grace & Blessings

Do your finances play a role in you health?

We eat right, we exercise, and we do what ever it takes to take care of ourselves so that we may live a longer life. But do our financial situations whether good or bad play a role in our health?

The idea for this blog came from a client we were interviewing about the possibility that he may lose his home. For the clients protection we will call him Jim. Jim is 30 years old has a wife and 4 children, and appears to be in great shape. As we talked, Jim began to tell me about his chest pains and that he has been to the emergency room a number of times as a result of the pain. Before he was faced with this financial road block his health was fine. Jim’s chest pain is obviously stress related. The number one reason for ER visits is chest pains, followed by stomach and abdominal pain, and back symptoms. These are no doubt stress related.

As in Jim’s case thousands of people are losing homes, losing jobs and losing investments they have worked most of their lives to accumulate. When the going gets too tough and life's financial obligations exceed your ability to cope, stress becomes a threat to both your physical heath and your emotional well-being.

So what do we do? We get prepared! Just as we get educated on dieting and seek professional help to get in shape, we need to do the same thing with our finances. Too many people who are in great shape fall short and suffer heart attacks due to stress related financial events.

Here are some things you can put into action along with a plan to insure your good health.

Stop trying to control what can not be controlled. Many things in life are beyond our control; particularly the financial markets, the closure of a major bank, and a company closure or downsizing. Rather than stressing out over them, focus on the things you can control such as the way you choose to react to challenges, and how you will prepare & protect your family by educating yourself.

Educate yourself. Too many people panic and cause undue stress in their life due to lack of education. Get sound guidance. There are companies who can help you turn your finances around and help put you in a healthy financial position.

Focus on the positive. When financial stress is taking its toll, take a moment to reflect on all the things you appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. Remember the only thing in life that can not be replaced is life. No matter what material things you lose in your life, no matter how low your credit score drops, or how many homes and cars you lose, or how much money you lose, it can all be repaired or replaced, but your life can not. This simple strategy should help you keep things in perspective.


For more information or getting started with your financial roadmap contact The NRE Group Inc. 1-888-218-4331 or financialroadmap@theNREgroup.com

Are you feeding in to the Recession?

We are no doubt facing challenging times in our financial markets. Talks of recession, depression and hopes that the spiral into depths, rivaling the 1930’s will not return. I recently read an article that compared our future economy, if we don’t do more, to unexploded land mines.

So my question is; are you feeding in to the recession? What are you doing to protect not just your finances, but your mind? Every where you look and everywhere you turn we are flooded with the doom and gloom of the world markets and how terrible everything appears. Now I am not suggesting you be uninformed about world events or the financial condition of the world. What I am saying is we should not let these negative events drive us to fear. Most people in the world are afraid of what might happen, not what is happening. We live in a fear driven society. Most of the steps and preparations we take in life are out of fear. We were not born with a sprit of fear, we learned it.

As we listen to the latest reports on the news, as we listen to the reporter explain how we are in the worst market since the great depression of 1929, this is the fear that is setting into most Americans. What the news is not telling us is that during the great depression a number of people made millions. How? Opportunity. Let’s look at a few examples. What do you like? Clothes, shoes, cars, what ever it may be look at the following examples from that point of view.

Example #1: Let’s use something simple like a pair of designer jeans. You walk into a crowded store with hundreds of people shopping. You can barley move and every cash register has a line extending to the doors. You go in to purchase a pair of jeans. The price tag on the jeans is $150. You and many others purchase the jeans and walk out elated.

Example #2: Same store same jeans, but the difference is there are ten people in the store including the employees. The store is slow; the same jeans that were once $150 are now $65. Due to a lack of sales, the store is forced to mark down the jeans in a attempt to sell them. Would you buy them? There is a reason why only 5% of Americans are financially free and the other 95% are in financial bondage. The 5% buy when the jeans go on sale while the rest of the economy retreats in fear and are terrified to buy, like in a recession. The 95% buy everything at or above market value, because everyone else is doing it.

You don’t need to be a 5 percenter to enjoy life. This blog is not about getting rich, it is about eradicating fear from your life and deciding for yourself whether you are going to feed into this recession or those to come.

Replace that fear with motivation. Don’t let fear hold you hostage or keep you in bondage bombarding your mind with questions of uncertainty. We need to take control of our finances. If you need help, get with a sound financial group who can help you create your financial road map. There are a number of companies that provide services free of charge.

Don’t let fear plan your future. For more information or to get started with your financial road map contact The NRE Group Inc. at 1-888-218-4331 or financialroadmap@theNREgroup.com