How to find my purpose?

We each were given a purpose in our lives and we spend a lot of time debating and thinking about this question. I have found in my own life that it actually does have a lot to do with your experience. Say “YES” to experiences! You may find out something about yourself and your purpose. When thinking about your purpose, it is often about just looking back on what you have learned, where God has brought you, and what God has brought you from. We soon find that those things we have overcame, those struggles that have made us who we are, has given us the equipment to fuel our dreams and gifts, so we can give to them world. If you have learned to paint, learned great things about numbers,  or just have learned to dance… what ever your gift is (not someone else’s, but uniquely yours) people are waiting for that exact thing in the world. The world is waiting for YOU! Its about becoming more of who you are. There is something beautiful that happens when we become more of ourselves. When we rise above our fears, our worries, there is something beautiful that emerges.

Be the only person you were meant to be… and bring your gifts to the world

Love, Stacy Doreen

Holiday Season Cheers & Encouragement

As the New Year is drawing closer and closer there is a sense of renew and new. I have heard over the past couple of days a few leaders point out that during the holiday season there is so much happiness and so much despair. There is heightening of emotions all around. I can totally relate in both instances. I love being around my family and friends. I love being in places where I can be myself and people love me anyway. There have also been a few changes that I was rejecting, honestly. You know when things happen and your like, “No, this cannot be!”… “I will not let it be!” That is rejecting what life is already, something you cant change and that approach, believe me… does not work.Sometimes there is a relief, not being able to change the past just because if we did, those who are indecisive (like me at times J) will end up just doing it over and over again. Life isn’t perfect; changes happen and like seasons after winter, comes summer, then guess what?  Spring…. Spring is coming.

So this holiday season like a friend told me is about giving, giving of time and love. It is a time of giving your presence and also just being in the moment.  God promises all things working out for good. So this holiday season whether you are thinking about what you don’t have or just wherever you are in your season of life, know that it is temporary and we get a chance to experience this holiday… the gift is actually life itself. We get to BE… in life. We get to experience it and therefore if you are reading this, praise and have gratitude for that. We do have control over our emotions. So lets toast to an amazing NEW YEAR and just continued growth and love to spread around the world!

LOVE, like you have never loved before ❤ Stacy 

Share your story …

Many times, I believe what I have to share probably doesn’t mean anything at all. A lot of times it’s a stream of my thoughts not well thought out or prepared or anything. But, when I think of waiting till I have all my ducks in a line or waiting until everything is perfect that day might never come. I heard my pastor speak this past Friday and she said we can share what we do know and then we will be given more. Well this little blurb isn’t much but just thought if there is someone that needed to hear this message like I did Friday… Although, you may not have it all together or think you could contribute. Share what you do have, use the talents you do have right now and share that with the world then you will be blessed with more. You never know who will be touched and inspired and the positive energy keeps going and going like a ripple effect.

There is NO WAY she is insecure too…

Insecurity False Positives (Beth Moore)

A great discussion from the book was false positives. Think of a woman you believe to be really confident and also, “there is just no way she is insecure she has ________, _________, and __________. Think about those things you would fill into the blank spaces. Those are your false positives.

Some examples:

She is married to the most fabulous man in the world.

Prominent false positive: A great man would make me secure

She has a great career and a lot of people the admire her.

Prominent false positive: Being admired and successful will make you secure

She is gorgeous and I would give anything to see THAT in the mirror

Prominent false positive: Beauty will give me security.

She runs the corporation. People do anything for her

Prominent false positive: Power would make me secure.

Everybody knows her and think she is wonderful.

Prominent false positive: Popularity would make me secure.

What are your prominent false positives … as you can see although there is nothing wrong with attaining these things they won’t give us security. They can give us a temporary kind of relief but it remains that we have to work on our sense of security and know that God clothes us in strength and dignity and we can find a security with him. It definitely takes practice and although we will never be perfect the journey with him is worth taking to a healthy and life giving kind of security that we long for.

Do you ever feel insecure? INSECURITY

Oh I hate the word and I hate how it so easily takes over my body and feelings. Its funny we as women are just equipped with it; probably even the women who you feel that don’t have it. Men have insecurities too; they just learn to express it differently than we do. It will always be something to work through because by the time you feel like you are so rockin in your twenties, your thirties come along with new insecurities and when you feel like you are fabulously enjoying your thirties, forties comes along and introduces some new ones. We will always find things to be not so happy about and it’s not easy to just be in the present moment but the more conscious we are to that … the more glimpses of momentary bliss, the best memories can be formed. When we are open and in the moment we get to enjoy life and those are the moments your life will be made up from.

I am going to begin a series on insecurity, mostly my reactions to the book Insecurity by Beth Moore. I would definitely recommend reading if you want some more info. She is great!

“We use guys like mirrors to see if we are valuable” – boy have I ever been guilty of that. I definitely have based my self worth on how much my interest thought I was attractive or desirable. Have any of you ever felt that way? It leads to nothing and it’s horrible. Guys are human too and just because he wasn’t thinking about you doesn’t mean we should forfeit our own dignity and believe the world is over! I remember dating in high school and waking up early thinking about what to wear in the mornings and deciding that through what compliments I had gotten. Hey if he complimented me once on it he probably likes to see me in it. Wow how silly… and so binding and where was I making my decisions from. What kind of stories can you share where you have made this type of mistake? What do you see in the mirror?

THE BUMBLEBEE

Maybe some of you have already heard this before, but this was my first time, hearing this from Joel Olsteen this weekend: Physics and Science says the BUMBLEBEE is not suppose to fly! The wings are too small for its body yet it DOES FLY!

What I find most interesting is that it doesn’t have to be continuously coached to do so, it doesn’t listen to negative friends or even self defeating thoughts.. it just flies; it was created to do so and that is what it is doing. “What are the labels you continue to wear that hold you back from your dreams? When God made you he didnt make a mistake!”

Now some of us were created in a way to serve a purpose but have let what other people think about us, or even what we think about ourselves, to hold us back! Go after your dreams no matter what the case, doesn’t matter if you are too tall, too skinny, too short no matter what it is! As my mentor says… “rise and shine” 🙂

Pass it on xoxo

STACY DOREEN

Forgiveness … Release pain, gain power!

We should all practice forgiveness; we tend to think this only benefits the party being forgiven but there is a part of letting go that comes with experience which makes forgiveness healing for the forgiver.

When we hold on to pain and hurts we tend to sabotage ourselves, we wear pain on our body and it can manifest itself and make you sick as you continue to dwell on those things that are painful. They say if we forgive we can then be forgiven. We are all not perfect and when we accept things the way they are…. just the way it is and isn’t… we save ourselves a lot of stress.

Forgiveness is not to be confused with tolerate. You can forgive someone but you don’t have to condone or tolerate their behavior. We should let go of things and people in our lives that we are not meant to carry. Trust yourself and your gut… we know those things we are not meant to carry and we know if its worth working out. I have heard it said “THE BOAT IS NOT MEANT TO CARRY WATER” If you carry people or issues you are not meant to carry you will begin to sink.

Lastly, forgive yourself sometimes this is the most important part. We can really hold ourselves to high standards sometimes, especially as women. I know I felt like I hated “me” many times for trusting someone that was not trustworthy, for not listening to my own instincts or for doing something I didn’t want to do, out of wanting to not upset someone else. I told myself that I am stupid and only someone that is truly incompetent would make the decisions I had made. This isn’t true, I had to look at reality; I just made decisions I wasn’t proud of. I had to come to a realization; I have no control over anyone else and embracing the power over me would be the only freedom I could get from any painful situation. It’s not the problems we overcome that defines us, the problems we have reveal what we already are. We must learn from and find strength in our pain.  Forgiving yourself gives you power.

Forgive yourself and others and power arises!

Feminism… EMBRACE IT!

Feminism is : not changing roles but valuing them equally …

I like that guys  pay for the first date (maybe that’s just me 🙂  and I like to wear make-up and do girly things… I don’t think we should be constrained by “societal gender roles” and I don’t necessarily think they should be changed! Whatever we choose to do and however we choose to be,  is up to the individual. Like racism, looking at “valuing the races as equals”, its not saying that we have the same traditions, or that we should have the same traditions in order to be equal, but just valuing them equally . This is what feminism is, valuing the genders as equals, but that doesn’t mean changing roles or loosing traditions that you may like.

Just to put to rest the rumors of male bashing and women that don’t want to wear bras or make-up that is does not make up feminism. You must look at the context to truly understand. Feminism is something for both men and women. It challenges femininity and masculinity.

Hope you learned something

– STACY

Follow your dreams, Let go of fear…

Come to the Edge he said… We are afraid they said

Come to the Edge he said… We are afraid they said

Come to the Edge he said… We are afraid they said  once more

They came…. ………………He pushed them

AND THEY FLEW!!!!

Welcome to EXALT HER BLOG

Acclaim. Honor. Empower.

Proverbs 4:8

“Exalt her, and she shall promote thee, she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

I am inspired by many women, mom, my sister, aunts, friends and others who have touched my life… I will highlight some of their stories,  stories of women I have never met, and some we may all be familiar with… ultimately my goal is to inspire!

To exalt is to rise, elevate or honor and this blog is a dedication to the rise of “her”. Her can be “faith” as it’s reflected in this proverb, “your inner goddess“, or just women in general.

For women, exalting “her”, the her within, is extremely important. The only way to real confidence and beauty is to exalt it, from within, because we were made in a perfect image.  To rise or exalt something , as oppose to creating or looking for it, out there,  means that it has always been there, but has grown dormant and its time to be released!!! …. Lets take that journey in honoring ourselves and others.

The proverb above, whether religious or not, proclaims a meaningful message,  it says  if you praise “her”, you will bring yourself honor. If we think of the” her” to mean “faith” then it tells us to have faith and she will guide us and bring us honor…

We can also relate this to men and women; men are told to honor their wives and she will bring him honor. Undoubtedly, the love and honoring of those around us is very important, but I believe it starts with yourself. Honoring who you are and challenging yourself to be a better person, walk in faith and look for little acts of love to share each day, that’s the real goal. This blog  is the result of my passion for promoting those women around me, my duty to share what I have learned,  and my hope to inspire others.