by Coach Tina | Aug 1, 2017 | Gratitude, Growth
Nobody could have told me ten years ago, when I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom crying my eyes out that one day I would look back and declare it one of the best days of my life. NO ONE could have told me that! Yet here I am thanking God that “He worked it out for my good”.
Sitting on that floor I remember declaring “my life was over!” Those words couldn’t have been more prophetic if God himself had said them. I had just found out my husband was having another affair. My heart was broken. We had been down this road before and “I” was still trying to mend that pain. “I” was determined to move forward and put my family back together. “I” thought things were going pretty good and there we were again, in the same situation. I couldn’t understand it.
Didn’t “I” matter? Didn’t the kids matter? What would people say? How would “I” explain this? How would “I” cover this up? Why had God allowed this to happen to “me” again? He wouldn’t put more on me than I could bear, right? Then why did it feel like I was going to die under the pressure of all this pain. I didn’t know how to be a single parent. I didn’t want to be a single parent! But there I was looking at a picture 
of my family with tears rolling down my face knowing that was about to be my life.
That day was one of my rock bottom points (oh there were many and I’m sure there will be more as God molds me into what He wants me to be). I found myself in a place where all I could do was look up and call out to God. All I could do was depend on him. This was all new to me and not only did I not know what to do, I didn’t know who I could turn to for help.
But now I can look back and say “ALL things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”. You see that day “life as I knew it was over”. that was the day God started revealing my purpose to me – I just didn’t know it. That was the day He started removing the covers from my eyes. That was the day He opened my heart so I could draw closer to Him. That was the day I stopped looking for other’s to fulfill happiness in my life. Now if I had of been God, I would have handled it differently. I would have never put me through that kind of pain (who am I kidding, I had to go through it again before it finally registered). Thank God I’m not God!!!
So, when you find yourself in that place where all hell is breaking loose in your life and you feel like you can’t go any further, remember God has a way of turning it around. What you are going through is preparing you for your greater. It is just a line in your testimony. Watch God make it good. Watch God make you better because of it.
Until Next Time,
by Coach Tina | Apr 14, 2017 | Encouragement, Gratitude, Growth
I’ve always wondered why we called Good Friday “good”? I mean this day was filled with sorrow, darkness and death. Yet we celebrate it and call it “Good Friday”. Many of us have the day off work. We may cookout or go to the beach. We celebrate a day we should be mourning! I mean a man – a righteous man died on this day…..
As Christians, this day represents the basis of what we believe. It is the backbone of our belief. If not for the period we call “Good Friday thru Resurrection Sunday” we would have nothing to base our belief on. But still why “Good” Friday?
It was said in olden times it was actually called “God’s Friday”. Okay, that I can get with! But Good Friday? Then I began to think. I was a good Friday. It was the day when pain and peace came together as one. It was the day that suffering and rejoicing united. It was the day that my sins were forgiven. It was a good day for me at least.
Although Jesus knew His assignment before even coming from heaven, Good Friday was the day He solidified His love for the Father and for us. 
I love my kids and I’ve always said I would die for them. But let’s be honest there are times when they make me mad, do something I don’t approve of or even say things that hurt my feelings. It is those days I question whether I would die for them and to think of dying a horrific death like crucifixion. Yeah, on those days, I would have to pause and think about it.
Although I would think about it as it relates to my kids, I probably wouldn’t even consider it for someone that has really hurt me, used me, or mistreated me. I’m glad I’m not God or y’all would be in trouble. I mean think about it – there are some people who have mistreated you and you probably wouldn’t even give them water more less give your life for them. Let’s make it even more relatable – you have people you haven’t spoken to in years because of something somebody said they said about you. Fact is you don’t know if it’s true or not but you walk around with that grudge like it’s the bible. Okay I got off track (but someone needed to read that- Let it go).
So even though we may look sideways at the person that has mistreated us, Jesus didn’t. He died for the ones that believed in Him and the ones that didn’t. He died for the ones that treated Him well and the ones that hated Him. He died for ME!! The one that have at some point broken every one of the ten commandments. Now that right there is a true example of love.
But why “Good Friday”? When you look at it with our sinful eyes, there is no good in His being beaten, spit on, nailed to a cross, forsaken by His father, tortured and then dying on top of all of that. There is no good in that. But when you look at it from Jesus’s view, the good was He accomplished what God sent Him to do — save a dying world… to provide a way that we would be saved from ourselves…. He did it for ME. And now that “it was finished”, it was the day He was going back home to His Father.
So the “good” part of Good Friday is that He loved me enough to die for me. The good part of Good Friday is God loved me enough to let Him. The good part of Good Friday is now I can repent of my sins and have a chance of seeing God. The good part of Good Friday is while I was yet a sinner Christ died for me that I may not have to see the true wrath of God and receive the punishment that I deserve. The good in Good Friday is that I have an opportunity to get things right here on earth so that I can return to God. So happy Good Friday!!!!
Until Next Time,
by Coach Tina | Nov 24, 2015 | Gratitude
This is the time of year when everyone walk around saying what they are thankful for. Many people will lie and express gratitude for things today and complain about them next week. Some will mask reality to prevent family members from seeing just how out of control their lives really are.
What are the masks? You display an attitude that everything is great, when actually you just received notification that this is your last week with the company you’ve been with for 15 years. You show a welcoming smile, when actually under your breath you are complaining about providing food for people that you really don’t like. You go all out of the way and make this grand feast with all the trimmings, yet you know the light company is coming to cut your lights off Friday. You arrive at family dinner, not because you want to but because you’ve been told it’s the right thing to do. You secretly wish the holidays would hurry up and pass so you can return to your life as a recluse.
Really, what do I have to be thankful for?
For many the holidays are merely reminders of all the pain they have experienced throughout the year. As others are walking around complaining about spending time with family members, they are reminded how their loved one is no longer here. While others are complaining about people coming in making a mess of their homes, they are reminded how they lost their home in foreclosure last month. While some are complaining about only having only one day off work, they are reminded of the pink slip they received six months ago and how no prospects of a job
seems near.
Really, what do I have to be thankful for?
We walk through life complaining about what we don’t have instead of being grateful for what we do have. We compare our lives to the lives of others but we never compare our blessings to the blessings of others. Why is that?
One reason is many of us don’t know what a true blessing is. We think having a lot of money, a big house, lots of materialistic items constitute being
blessed. When in actuality having your health, having a sound mind, having the ability to love and to experience love are the true blessings. If all the material things in life was to suddenly disappear and you only had your health and a sound mind, you could find a way of replenishing all the STUFF. If you have the ability to love and to experience love you will realize those things never really mattered in the first place.
Now don’t get it wrong we all would like nice things, at least I like nice things. But could you imagine how better this world would be if the “nice things” we showed gratitude for were the kindness we show to others? Like the smile we offered to the person we pass on the street just because. Or the kind words we gave to the person who was mean to us last week? Or the forgiveness we offered to that person that hurt us? Or how we showed love to that person that never showed love to us? Those are the nice things we should focus on.
You see true gratitude does not come from the outside it comes from within. We must learn it is not what is provided to us but what we have to offer to others that provide the true opportunities for thanksgiving.
So be thankful for what?
Be thankful that things are as good as they are. Be thankful that you have been given another day on earth to do something good for someone else. Be thankful that even if your life is not as you would want it to be, it’s better than they life of those walking around not knowing what they have to be thankful for.
Until Next Time,
Tina
of my family with tears rolling down my face knowing that was about to be my life.
