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Main => Gospel Music Lounge => Topic started by: SisterT on March 24, 2008, 08:46:49 AM
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This is an excerpt from Tony Evan's devotion.
Leaving a legacy to the people in your life is a lot like passing the baton. Legacy is about transfer, and what you leave behind can help someone else go further than you did. What kind of legacy are you leaving behind? Developing and passing on a true spiritual legacy doesn’t just happen. Like Elijah passing on the prophet’s mantle to Elisha, you can share a Christian legacy.
So, the question I ask of you is....What kind of legacy are you leaving behind? Have you even considered it? What impact will your life have on your family's generations to come?
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This is an excerpt from Tony Evan's devotion.
Leaving a legacy to the people in your life is a lot like passing the baton. Legacy is about transfer, and what you leave behind can help someone else go further than you did. What kind of legacy are you leaving behind? Developing and passing on a true spiritual legacy doesn?t just happen. Like Elijah passing on the prophet?s mantle to Elisha, you can share a Christian legacy.
So, the question I ask of you is....What kind of legacy are you leaving behind? Have you even considered it? What impact will your life have on your family's generations to come?
Indeed.
I think about this all the time.
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I know that the legacy of my grandmother Rosie has propelled me to where I am now. I am very sensitive to the legacy I am leaving. God showed me that the principles that we are instilling with our children will go forth for generations to come. So I think about it everyday and I even pray for future generations.
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This is an excerpt from Tony Evan's devotion.
Leaving a legacy to the people in your life is a lot like passing the baton. Legacy is about transfer, and what you leave behind can help someone else go further than you did. What kind of legacy are you leaving behind? Developing and passing on a true spiritual legacy doesn?t just happen. Like Elijah passing on the prophet?s mantle to Elisha, you can share a Christian legacy.
So, the question I ask of you is....What kind of legacy are you leaving behind? Have you even considered it? What impact will your life have on your family's generations to come?
This has been on the forefront of my mind, recently, as a matter of fact. Very powerful and thought-provoking.
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I believe most spirit led people think about these things often. The lord has shown me how he will use me to establish a new pattern in my family's bloodline. I have a segment of males in my family who were womanizers, drunkards and overall hellraisers. None of them were educated men. I have been able to shatter all of those myths as of now but I do recognize that my assignment is daily. I must work at putting aside the tug and pull of the flesh in order to make this mandate come to pass. Most of the challenges in my life has been a direct result of this assignment. The great thing about it though is that I've learned to embrace the challenge. It has also enhanced my faith in GOD tremendously. It has also shown me that without him I can do absolutely nothing...
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Wonderful thread, SisterT.
I, too, think about this daily.
I can't really answer the question in depth at the moment, because my answer is far too complex for my mind to put to words right now... (in other words, my ADD is hard at work at the moment... lol).
But, I have been consciously working on my legacy for years now, after participating in a leadership workshop years ago on successorship. In addition to discussing how we train future leaders and make plans to pass the baton down at church and in the workplace, she discussed what batons we pass down to our children and how we prepare them to succeed in the world. It really got me to thinking about what I will leave my child(ren) when I pass on... what will be said of me when I die. As Bishop Jakes said, I wonder what will my "dash" represent... what values will I instill in them, what habits, what belief systems, what knowledge, what morals... yeah, I think about it all the time.
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A few areas Ive considered it:
1.)A family foundation to fund family reunions, scholarships, etc. that exponentially grows in value and (equity) year after year, and building a huge portfolio of land development projects in our hometown of Sumter, SC using some family members as custodians of properties, trusts, and projects.
2.)Teaching several of my friends how to make money as a real estate investor, or how to buy their next house at an extreme discount
3.)Putting together a deal to get my church a new building
4.)Putting together a deal to get my personal trainer his own commercial space for a new gym.
5.)Teaching freinds how to play the piano and saxophone
6.)Teaching my elder family members how to take their IRA/401k's out of the stock market and put it inito some investments secured by equity in real property and make consistent 16%-100% ROI every year, tax deffered.
7.)Donate to libraries, charities, trusts, foundations, scholarships, schools, organizations in my families name
8.)Sow into men, women, and minsitries that have positively influenced me
9.)Become an angel investor, and sow into the visions of young businessmen and women
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This is very timely. I was going to start a similar post but thought that it may step on some toes. I was going to post in response to a local story where a local Pastor died in a freak accident at his home. The one point that stood out about him is that it was said that he truly lived what he preached. The man said some people just preach the Word, and others actually live the Word that they preach. He said that is what he will always remember. That said a lot. That made me think on this very topic. I personally want to leave a musical legacy that will show what I was about. Over the last few days I have been overflowing with ideas. I have just been hesitant about putting them down. I think that it may be God giving me what I have been missing for a while. Plus he's connecting me to some people that may be finally able to really help me. I want to write songs that teach, and show others that someone else is dealing with some of the same things that they are. I'm not going to limit the genre, because I want to reach as many as I can. That may not sit right with some, but that's ok with me.
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This is an excerpt from Tony Evan's devotion.
Leaving a legacy to the people in your life is a lot like passing the baton. Legacy is about transfer, and what you leave behind can help someone else go further than you did. What kind of legacy are you leaving behind? Developing and passing on a true spiritual legacy doesn?t just happen. Like Elijah passing on the prophet?s mantle to Elisha, you can share a Christian legacy.
So, the question I ask of you is....What kind of legacy are you leaving behind? Have you even considered it? What impact will your life have on your family's generations to come?
I am so glad you asked this!!!
Dealing with the funeral Saturday made me think about the same thing! My Pastor's messages about "purpose and destiny" also put this on my mind.
If I died tomorrow (even today), the only thing that people would be able to say about me is "wow...he sure was a nice guy". For some reason, that does not satisfy me!!
I would love be known as "one of the world's greatest songwriters, poets, graphic designers, playwrights, or choir directors". But in all of the areas I'm good in, there are 25 billion people who do it so much better...making me feel that what I have to offer is "sub-standard", to say the least.
So, if old Hermie-Herm was to croak, my family would have a legacy of being nice to people...which is a genetic trait that runs rampant in the family anyway (even before I was born).
Maybe I can leave a legacy for looking good bald???
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If I died tomorrow (even today), the only thing that people would be able to say about me is "wow...he sure was a nice guy". For some reason, that does not satisfy me!!
For a class assignmet, I had to write my obituary. In it, I had to write what others would say about me when I died. That was an eye opening experience, because a legacy is not what you think about yourself, but what others think about you.
Sure, you may witness to people and spread the Gospel---but do others see that in you, or do they see a lifestyle in action that doesn't match what the mouth is speaking.
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For a class assignmet, I had to write my obituary. In it, I had to write what others would say about me when I died. That was an eye opening experience, because a legacy is not what you think about yourself, but what others think about you.
Sure, you may witness to people and spread the Gospel---but do others see that in you, or do they see a lifestyle in action that doesn't match what the mouth is speaking.
"That would be in the eyes of the beholder", so that answer could go either way.
BUT...If I could just be satisfied with being "the next good guy with a good heart", I'd be okay with the whole thing.
But I WANT to be the next Berry Gordy, Tyler Perry, Ricky Dillard, O'landa Draper, Langston Hughes, and Bill Gates...while SURPASSING anything that they could have ever imagined doing.
I don't see that actually "happening" in my lifetime, but a dream is still a dream! LOL!
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For a class assignmet, I had to write my obituary. In it, I had to write what others would say about me when I died. That was an eye opening experience, because a legacy is not what you think about yourself, but what others think about you.
Sure, you may witness to people and spread the Gospel---but do others see that in you, or do they see a lifestyle in action that doesn't match what the mouth is speaking.
What class was that? I had to write one, too. It was probably one of the most life-changing experience I'd ever had, outside of encounters with the Holy Ghost.
As for that part in bold.... **just waving my hankie and rocking my head from side-to-side, church mother-style**
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What class was that? I had to write one, too. It was probably one of the most life-changing experience I'd ever had, outside of encounters with the Holy Ghost.
As for that part in bold.... **just waving my hankie and rocking my head from side-to-side, church mother-style**
WOW! That may not be the best analogy....I know some church mothers at GPHMBC especially who are the epitome of the part in bold.
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"That would be in the eyes of the beholder", so that answer could go either way.
BUT...If I could just be satisfied with being "the next good guy with a good heart", I'd be okay with the whole thing.
But I WANT to be the next Berry Gordy, Tyler Perry, Ricky Dillard, O'landa Draper, Langston Hughes, and Bill Gates...while SURPASSING anything that they could have ever imagined doing.
I don't see that actually "happening" in my lifetime, but a dream is still a dream! LOL!
If I had to put it this way I would want to be the next Prince, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, D'Angelo, Russell Simmons, Kirk Franklin, Daryl Coley, M.C.Hammer, and Bob Johnson. But without the high heels, bikini drawers, racy lyrics, blindness, schizophrenia(Donny Hathaway), cornrows, weed problem, a really bad lisp, addiction to porn, and bankruptcy. WHEW!!!!!!
Disclaimer: When I speak of certain artists, I am referring to the talent that they possess.
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If I had to put it this way I would want to be the next Prince, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, D'Angelo, Russell Simmons, Kirk Franklin, Daryl Coley, M.C.Hammer, and Bob Johnson. But without the high heels, bikini drawers, racy lyrics, blindness, schizophrenia(Donny Hathaway), cornrows, weed problem, a really bad lisp, addiction to porn, and bankruptcy. WHEW!!!!!!
Disclaimer: When I speak of certain artists, I am referring to the talent that they possess.
HEY NOW!!! At one time I wanted to be the next D'Angelo, too....but (a) I would never be naked on my CD cover (fat or not fat), (b) I would never wear braids or corn rows, and (c) I have always been the "green boy" in the bunch who was scared to try weed no matter how HARMLESS they said it was in high schol! LOL!
But to do what they've done (and honestly to make the money they made too), would be a LEGACY of having talent that "works for you" that I could leave behind. Not to mention the thousands or millions I could leave behind for the Li'l Herm's of the world.
I would take my millions (if I had them) and buy clothes or pay for healthcare for homeless people...I just have that kinda heart anyway. Yet for some reason, the millions pass ME by and I go down in history yet again for being "just another nice guy with a good heart...end of story".
Remember that story preachers tell at funerals about "the dash" between your birth date and death date? Well, my dash is one of them short thangs that might as well not really be there.
Everyone at my funeral will say "that boy was nice...and he sho' could direct a choir", then they'll call for the undertakers and it'll be over in 10 minutes flat!
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Write your own obituary! WOW! Now that is powerful. My cousin's step-mother passed and the only things people would say about her was she was a witch and only looked out for herself. Now if you were around her, she would tell you that she went to church on Sunday and loved GOD!
NOW THAT IS DEEP! Lord help me to do Your Will!
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HEY NOW!!! At one time I wanted to be the next D'Angelo, too....but (a) I would never be naked on my CD cover (fat or not fat), (b) I would never wear braids or corn rows, and (c) I have always been the "green boy" in the bunch who was scared to try weed no matter how HARMLESS they said it was in high schol! LOL!
But to do what they've done (and honestly to make the money they made too), would be a LEGACY of having talent that "works for you" that I could leave behind. Not to mention the thousands or millions I could leave behind for the Li'l Herm's of the world.
I would take my millions (if I had them) and buy clothes or pay for healthcare for homeless people...I just have that kinda heart anyway. Yet for some reason, the millions pass ME by and I go down in history yet again for being "just another nice guy with a good heart...end of story".
Remember that story preachers tell at funerals about "the dash" between your birth date and death date? Well, my dash is one of them short thangs that might as well not really be there.
Everyone at my funeral will say "that boy was nice...and he sho' could direct a choir", then they'll call for the undertakers and it'll be over in 10 minutes flat!
Why does, it seem to me, anyway, that your legacy is based on fame and fortune? ?/? :-\
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Why does, it seem to me, anyway, that your legacy is based on fame and fortune? ?/? :-\
Because it seems that way "to you". You kinda answered your own question, brother. It seems that way to some who don't know me inwardly.
The original question was about leaving a legacy behind.
I don't want to leave one behind that says "he was good at some stuff...but he didn't go anywhere with it because there was always somebody four steps better".
If I had the millions that talents like mine generate FOR OTHERS, I would leave a legacy of being a humanitarian...giving to the poor...helping other struggling artists make it, starting support groups for victims of sexual abuse, and so forth.
But I don't. So, I resolve myself to just being "the nice guy with the good heart". Plain and simple.
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Why does, it seem to me, anyway, that your legacy is based on fame and fortune? ?/? :-\
I have so much to say...
But, I don't want to be misunderstood, or have to explain myself ten times to eleven different people... so I'll just.... shut up and KIM. ;)
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I have so much to say...
But, I don't want to be misunderstood, or have to explain myself ten times to eleven different people... so I'll just.... shut up and KIM. ;)
And besides, my answer should speak for itself.
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Let's keep this clean : )
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The smart ones in the thread would get it Rue Rue.. Come on don't cheat your homies...
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I have so much to say...
But, I don't want to be misunderstood, or have to explain myself ten times to eleven different people... so I'll just.... shut up and KIM. ;)
Atta girl. :D :D :D :D :D :D
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The smart ones in the thread would get it Rue Rue.. Come on don't cheat your homies...
Yeah, da homies wanna know whut U got ta say ;D
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Because it seems that way "to you". You kinda answered your own question, brother. It seems that way to some who don't know me inwardly.
The original question was about leaving a legacy behind.
I don't want to leave one behind that says "he was good at some stuff...but he didn't go anywhere with it because there was always somebody four steps better".
If I had the millions that talents like mine generate FOR OTHERS, I would leave a legacy of being a humanitarian...giving to the poor...helping other struggling artists make it, starting support groups for victims of sexual abuse, and so forth.
But I don't. So, I resolve myself to just being "the nice guy with the good heart". Plain and simple.
Let's start this with, there will ALWAYS be somebody better. So, if you're waiting until the day that somebody writes you a letter or knocks on your door and says, "Hey Hermie-Herm, guess what. You's (int) the bestest (int) in the land, man. Now, come on out here and show the world.", then you'll ALWAYS be waiting.
If you've got the talent to generate millions, then I'd suggest you NOT sit on it. There are people waiting for you. ;)
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Write your own obituary! WOW! Now that is powerful. My cousin's step-mother passed and the only things people would say about her was she was a witch and only looked out for herself. Now if you were around her, she would tell you that she went to church on Sunday and loved GOD!
NOW THAT IS DEEP! Lord help me to do Your Will!
I have done this myself. Of course my program is nothing like HD's work, but it's not bad for an amatuer. I feel like no one really knows me better than me. I adjust the program as necessary...Of course, this may really be for another thread...LOL
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If you've got the talent to generate millions, then I'd suggest you NOT sit on it. There are people waiting for you. ;)
There are a lot of talent-less folks making millions. A lot of it has to do with getting out there, creating your own opportunities and seizing others.
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There are a lot of talent-less folks making millions. A lot of it has to do with getting out there, creating your own opportunities and seizing others.
PRRIICCHH!!
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The smart ones in the thread would get it Rue Rue.. Come on don't cheat your homies...
It ain't the smart ones I'm concerned with.... LOL :D :D :D
Naw, I'm kidding. Actually, it's not even about smart or stupid. It's more about looking for something when there's nothing there, and then making nothing into something HUGE... and I just ain't in the mood for alla dat today... ;) :D :D :D
Atta girl. :D :D :D :D :D :D
;)
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There are a lot of talent-less folks making millions. A lot of it has to do with getting out there, creating your own opportunities and seizing others.
I agree. And I don't proclaim to be the BEST at anything, but I am good at most things I set my mind or hands to (not bragging).
But people who are far LESS talented and live lives that are FAR FILTHIER than anything I could ever imagine (no matter how good they are at "shouting the folks") MAKE IT!
Sezing opportunities...from what I see in this world today....means cutting whomever's throat needs to bleed for you to succeed. I don't want that kinda rep. I'm not made of that.
Case and point. A very popular female minister (now Pastor) sang with Walter Hawkins. She led one of his most popular songs that church choirs still sing today. Who knew back then that she would start a gay church, and be out publicizing that it's RIGHT to be that way. Even in doing the WRONG thing, she still has a following that is huger than LIFE! She is still known for being a good singer (in spite of her doctrinal beliefs). Feel me?
I don't think that GAY is RIGHT by any means....so I'm not defending her on any level. But it seems easier for people to make it than it is for me.
People listen to the songs on my myspace page and write me saying "ooh...that blessed me" or "oooh...doc that needs to be on the radio". But the process to making it happen (especially from a financial perspective" seems to be a dead end highway.
Maybe I'm just more FRUSTRATED than I should be. It may not be taking too long for God, but it's taking too long for ME, and perhaps He is just teaching me to stay in my place. But if I die tomorrow and none of the things he gifted me to do come to "fruition", in my opinion mine would be "just another life wasted". Real talk.
I write poems and share them on LGM...and LGM is blessed! :-\ Do they make it into a book? No! Do they win poetry contests? NO!
I write plays and do them as funraisers for churches where THEY make thousands and I have "the goodness of my heart" as a card to stand on. Tyler and David Talbert are SEEING the fruits of their labor (in dollars). I won't bother to say that I started writing plays before either of them really came on the scene. I won't say that at all! LOL!
But...in response to Sister T's original question...
People on LGM (if they bother to even attend the funeral) will be able to say "that boy was cool...and he wrote some pretty ok poems, too" (end of story).
SIDE NOTE: Doubles, Sjon, and Redy would be able to testify of how I rescued them from an
orchestra pit full of angry pitbulls at the awards show. Some of y'all would testify to the fact
that "that boy sho' did love chicken". Then, Bishop Cole could walk to the mic and say "that's
a rapp....a real rapp".
LOCAL people would be able to say "that boy was nice, he sho' could direct the choir, and his song "great things" tore up churches all over the tri-state area"! Then again, Bishop Cole could walk to the mic and say "that's a rapp...a real rapp on top of a rap" and call for the undertakers.
Legacy ended! Game over. Who wants to leave "that" behind?
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?/?
How did this thread become...
*sigh*
Nevermind. :-\
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Everyone is at different stations in life. The naked truth is when all got saved it was not because we loved Jesus so much and wanted Him. It was selfish reasons. The Word says " We love Him because He FIRST loved us". Once we get saved and build a relationship, He cleans us up and directs us away from SELF. A legacy is left regardless (it may not be the one you want).
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Exactly. It may not be the one we want. Doesn't stop us from hoping wanting or being frustrated because it probably won't ever happen. That's all I was saying. I didn't try to irritate anyone. Of course for some I guess I don't have to try hard. Forgive me for saying anything at all. I pray that everyone here leaves a great legacy somewhere....someway....somehow.
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Exactly. It may not be the one we want. Doesn't stop us from hoping wanting or being frustrated because it probably won't ever happen. That's all I was saying. I didn't try to irritate anyone. Of course for some I guess I don't have to try hard. Forgive me for saying anything at all. I pray that everyone here leaves a great legacy somewhere....someway....somehow.
No need to apologize. Your input is as valuable as everyone else's.
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It's all gravy.
I've been meditating ever since this post started this morning. In some cases (here's where the honesty kicks in) I KNOW I am being selfish. That's the sad part.
It's like Rose said in "Titanic" (one of my favorite quotes). "The people left in the water had nothing to do but wait...wait to die....wait to live....wait for an absolution that would never come".
My Pastor preaches "you can have what you say" and all these other messages that have made me "feel good" in the process of waiting, but honestly I can't see how people who live far worse lives and have far worse talent aren't struggling half as hard. I honestly want to call Don and tell him to destroy all the tracks we've made so far....cancel the BMI membership...and so on.
If the few people on LGM know about the poetry and have been blessed, then one of Y'ALL please show up and speak at the funeral!
If the people in Memphis were blessed by "Great Things" just sing it at the funeral and go in!!
Perhaps that is all that was meant to happen - which would make every Pastor and prophet that has spoken this "successful project AND PLAY that's going to bless people and take my ministry places" a lie!!
And if that's how it is MEANT to be, then I can resolve to let that simply be.
I am just plain out right frustrated with how long this thing seems to be taking to happen. It doesn't seem fair...even though I know God's timing is not ours and everything happens in HIS time! I know that full well.
It's not uncommon to become FRUSTRATED in the waiting process. Maybe I'm the only one to go out on a limb and be so candid about how frustrated I am, but I don't want to leave a LEGACY of always being frustrated, either. LOL!!!
To stretch my funeral longer than the allotted 10.3 minutes, y'all can volunteer as to who wants to talk about the poems and my love for chicken. The program should say 3 minutes each (that's 6 so far).
Somebody who's heard the songs can comment on them (that's 9).
Somebody can comment on the directing...(I nominate Jerrod)....that's about 15!
Then just go and eat an all-you-can-eat meal with Baconators and lots of chicken and maccaroni in my honor.
On the program, put .... Chicken and Choirs .... A legacy of what? SO BE IT!
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This is a gr8 question Sister T, its very important that we don't just live for today but for the future as well. People call my husband and I GEEKS because we invest and both of our kids have trust funds established in their names. Our son has a play..play bank account with us, he is ALREADY learning what money is and how to save it. Our future is brighter because of what we're doing today.
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There are a lot of talent-less folks making millions. A lot of it has to do with getting out there, creating your own opportunities and seizing others.
Two words..........
Paris Hilton.
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LORD,
I apologise for complaining yesterday. What I said did seem selfish; and to some extent, it really was!
I am learning (day by day) to wait on You. But in the process of waiting, seeds of doubt have been planted and yesterday they began to take root. Today, I curse that entire level of thinking.
I know You have a purpose for my life, and you are going to bring forth some GREAT THINGS in due season. I stand convicted, and repent of anything I said that may have been a "slap in the face" after all You've done for me thus far.
HD