The Birth Your Dream Event Series Backstory

MP FB event cover 505x266As you may or may not know, the Lord has had me in a season of obedience, since 2018.  In May, I hosted my first Ordering Your Steps (OYS) women’s workshop, entitled “A Mother’s Perspective”.  I must admit that it was a struggle initially, because being who I am, I wanted to control all the details and I had my own expectation of the outcome.  However, my lesson in obedience required just the opposite.  I had to listen to the Lord’s direction and allow Him again to Order My Steps!  Let’s just stay that the event was very interesting.  In my eyes, I can’t honestly say it was successful, but I am confident that it was just what God had planned.   In September of the same year, I began writing Order, Organize & Obedience, another very interesting experience, one I’ll never forget.  Ultimately, what God revealed to me, had nothing to do with the book itself.

DYM graphic 800x800-02In 2019, my 2nd Annual OYS event, “DeClutter Your Mind” was absolutely AMAZING!!  This time, I found it much, much easier, just to let God do what He does best.  He orchestrated every moment, from the idea to the event itself.   The Lord began to show me more and more about how the overall mission of Order Your Steps is evolving into more than just the opportunity to minister to individuals one on one, but to have the opportunity to reach women in many other areas of life.

Then around the middle of last year, I was asked to accept the position of president of our Business and Professional Women’s Federation (BPWF) for the DC Jurisdiction of our church.  The mission of the BPWF is to strive to provide business minded women with an opportunity to put their professional abilities to work to achieve their dreams and God-given purpose.  This was right in line with what the Lord has shown me as He expands my role as owner of Order Your Steps, to reach even more women.

door lightIt was shortly after my appointment that I was listening to a message by Bishop T.D. Jakes.  He was talking about how the Lord will show us our dream or purpose, but we must do the work to achieve it.  “The Door is Open but You Gotta PUSH”!  He used the analogy of a woman giving birth and although the womb in open, we must push really hard to birth our baby.  By the same token, we must push really hard to birth our dream.  The Lord continued to impress upon me to share with my audience, who are primarily women, the idea of putting forth all of our efforts, through the pain, frustration or disappointments, to birth what He has put in us.

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As a result of the Lord’s prompting, in April, we will host our 3rd Annual Ordering Your Steps Women’s Workshop, entitled “Birth Your Dream”.  This workshop will focus on tapping into our God Given gifts and talents that just waiting to burst through, those things that God has put in us that are waiting to be birthed.  Whether a promotion, a thriving ministry, starting a new business, etc., we must acknowledge the Lord as the true owner of our career, business or ministry and view ourselves as just a steward over it.   We want this event to spar and ignite the participants to take at least one step closer to their goal, dream and purpose.

In January, 2020, I was reading my daily devotional from the Spirit of Prophecy bulletins by Marsha Burns and this is what it said:

Expansion is the order of this season.  You can reach higher, go deeper and search wider to know Me more intimately and to accomplish that what is set before you, says the Lord.  Refuse to allow a sense of not being capable to cripple your efforts.  Go forth with courage and expectation.

Isaiah 54:2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.”

Once I read this, I soon realized that what began as one event, would become a three-event series.  Again, the Lord has orchestraed every moment according to His plan.  Therefore, in the works is a July 18th “Live Your Dream” networking event, which will be an opportunity for all current and potential entrepreneurs to get to know each other.  This will be a chance for us to share our successes and lessons learned.  It is critical that we support each other and not compete with one another. We are much better together!  Then on October 10, we will host the BPWF Women’s Conference entitled “Pursue Your Dream”.  Stay tuned for the AMAZING details that are evolving as we speak

We are sooooo super excited about what the Lord is doing through us.  We will keep you posted as we proceed.  Tickets for our Birth Your Dream April event will go on sale on February 15th, in only two more days.  You don’t want to miss it!  We hope to see you there…

A Little Backstory

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As I mentioned briefly a few weeks ago, my new eBook, Order, Organize and Obedience is a tale spanning four decades of my journey with God to find order in the chaos of my life.  It begins in August of 1979, as I’m returning to DC from Austin, Texas, after only five months.  I will take you through my life in Corporate America, into my life as a wife and mother and all that I learned along the way.  I had always known of God, but I never really knew God truly for myself.  Over time, I have realized that my steps have always been ordered by Him through the good times and the bad.  This can especially be seen as I recount how the Lord orchestrated my leap of faith culminating into the birth of Order Your Steps.  Order Your Steps was not only a business, but a ministry that God had ordained for me. He has not only allowed me to share God-given gifts and talents, but to also be able to share His Word through my testimony, which you will find a few sneak peaks in my blog over the next few months.

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As my story begins, it’s Monday, September 17th, 2018 and I’ve been up since 7 am.  It’s now a little after 8:30 am and I’m finally here!  I’m sitting in front of my computer, ready to start the writing of my book, but now what?  Where do I start?

Early on, during the inception of my own professional organizing business/ministry, Order Your Steps (I’ll explain more about that later), one of my objectives was to write a How-to-Organize eBook.   I started to write a blog entitled Finding Order in Corp USA.  Its primary purpose was to share my life at Xerox, as a backdrop to owning an organizing business.  But what I discovered was that people were more interested in me and my mission, versus learning just about my career and organizing.  So as Order Your Steps continued to evolve, I focused on my blog posts and the eBook took a backseat.  But now I believe that the book has taken the forefront and I’ll try to explain why.

Have you ever been in the midst of a God Set-up?  You probably have, but you just didn’t know it at the time.  I’m realizing that I’ve had numerous Set-ups throughout my life, but let’s just talk about this year, for now. I’ll give you a little backstory how this particular Set-up unfolds.  My last organizing session with a client was on September 7th.   So, a few days in, I decided that God was giving me a period of rest, which He’s done before.  So I didn’t really worry… at first.  I just started to look forward to my next scheduled appointment, which would have been the 12th of September.  But then, as the 12th got closer, the client rescheduled, and then another client rescheduled and then another.  Now, I must admit that I was becoming a little concerned.

Interestingly enough, Order Your Steps turned 7 years old on Sept. 13th and the number 7 in the Bible represents “Completion”.  I knew in my spirit, with an assurance that Order Your Steps (OYS) wasn’t over, but that we had entered our year 8, our Year of New Beginnings.  Since 2018 began, I felt that my business/ministry was evolving into its next phase.   In a few days, I’ll be 62 and I must say that although I really truly love my job, it has always been rather labor intensive, i.e. walking lots of steps, lifting boxes, carrying clothes, etc. etc. etc.  So you can understand that now that I’m 60’something and to be truthful, even when I was 50’something, I’ve needed periods of rest from time to time.  The Lord would always provide His strength and stamina and then He would set aside a time of rest.  However, it’s now 11 days in, with very few client organizing sessions on the calendar?!  I don’t believe that I’ve ever had 11 days straight without an appointment, that I can remember.  God always had another client on the horizon, seemingly coming out of nowhere … Thus, the Set-up!!  There’s obviously, maybe not so obvious at first, something that I should be doing, during this “time of rest”.

September has been a rather interesting month thus far and I’m acknowledging the push from the Holy Spirit to do something productivity, so I’m writing my book.  I’ve realized that even when God says “Be Still”, He doesn’t mean for us to stop moving!

Available for Pre-order, scheduled for release in June, 2019.

What do you think thus far? 

I welcome your comments!

 

 

Our New eBook Cover Reveal!

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My graphic designer, Inked Designs by Elayna, and I discussed a few different concepts, however, Elayna had suggested a bull’s eye from the start.  Initially, I was a little concerned that it may not fit with the theme of the book and then the Holy Spirit led me to this scripture:

My question: What are God-worshipers like?  

Your answer: Arrows aimed at God’s bull’s-eye. 

They settle down in a promising place; Their kids inherit a prosperous farm. God-friendship is for God-worshipers; They are the ones he confides in. If I keep my eyes on God, I won’t trip over my own feet.  Psalm 25:12-15 – The Message (MSG)

It was interesting to discover that this scripture was the basis for my book for the beginning.  The Lord continues to show me how to worship Him for who He is.  I must focus only on Him for guidance and direction and He will always Order my steps.  This journey has been and will always be about what He wants of me,  much more than what I want from Him for me.

Order, Organize & Obedience is a tale spanning four decades of my journey with God to find order in the chaos of my life.  It begins in August of 1979, as I’m returning to DC from Austin, Texas, after only five months.  I will take you through my life in Corporate America, into my life as a wife and mother and all that I learned along the way.  So please join me on my journey of Order, Organize & Obedience, with all the twists and turns, up and downs.  As a bonus feature, there’s organizing tips too.

Available for Pre-order, scheduled for release in June, 2019.

Next Post:  “A Little Backstory”

The Journey of Obedience – Journal Entry #2 (March, 2018)

I don’t know about you, but when things don’t go as I plan, I normally want to change the plan (which is a NATURAL thing to do??).  However, when we’re in the midst of a SPIRITUAL Journey, the rules change!  The Lord will ask us to do things that are a tad uncomfortable (like WAITING until He tells us to take the next step!).  He takes us out of the realm of reasoning and into the spiritual realm of FAITH.  Contrary to popular belief, when we operate in faith, it does not mean that there’s the absence of doubt.  I’m now two months into this new journey and I’m struggling!

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, …  II Corinthians 4:13 NKJV

So, I ENCOURAGED myself with this Facebook Inspiration post…

EVERY DAY….. Your journey will only get Better!!

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… knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.    II Corinthians 4:14 NKJV

Resurrection power come forth, as we speak to all the lifeless things in our lives!

Then, as the month draws to a close, this Facebook memory pops up!!!

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DO YOU?????

 

NEXT JOURNAL ENTRIES (April, 2018)

Organizing Project Complete!

This project was to organize an entire home, from garage & family room to the upstairs bedrooms.  I met my client at a vending event that I attended to share info about ShelfGenie and Order Your Steps.  She arrived just when the event was beginning to shut down.  She passed by our booth and she said that she really needed to get her home organized.  However, she simply took the info and said that she would call me.  Arline, ShelfGenie franchise owner, said “Did you get her phone number?”  Please understand that God always Orders Your Steps…. I kinda chased her down and got her phone number.  AMAZING!!   A few weeks later, I did her FREE in-home assessment and the rest is history!   😀

She’s been truly AWESOME!  She’s been very patient with me and has worked diligently throughout the entire organizing process. However, at times, it was simply overwhelming for her, but she stuck with it.  Although, there were times that she just couldn’t get her homework done, she was always ready to work when I showed up.

Once motivated, she began doing other improvements to her home, i.e. painting, deck refinishing and replacing patio doors… I mean BIG stuff.  She is living proof that once you start to establish more organization in your home, it promotes an Order to your life were also times that we had an opportunity to discuss her work life…It is all about Order!!

HOORAY!  We have finished the bulk of our project, and now we will need to do some fine tuning to a few areas of her home. We will establish a maintenance program that will enable her to continue what we have started.  Our official project wrap-up was last Friday. It felt like we were closing a major chapter of her life, which I guess we have!  I appreciate how the Lord has allowed me to minister to her during this last few months.  Moving forward, I will check in with her by phone or preferrably a pop-up visit every other week or so.  In addition, we will have a two-hour organizing session once a month and then we’ll just see what happening from here!   😀

Here are a few rooms that we did… Take a Look!!