Category: Writing

Just…breathe.

It has been a long week. Long year. Good yikes, let’s not even mention the words ‘2020’….*shiver*…

In learning my new job, folks kept telling me to ‘just breathe’. ALL week, ‘Just breathe, Cassandra. It will be okay’. For the life of me, could not figure out why everyone kept telling us all to just….breathe.

I kept saying, I can breathe, just have no idea WHAT I AM DOING!!!!!

Finally, yesterday, I decided to stop arguing and just…..well…..just breathe….*shrug*.

I took one calming breath, and wouldn’t you know, ALL my anxiety passed. Just like that. I was able to think(who woulda thunk that!?), learn and take care of the issue.

It’s amazing how taking the time to:

Stop.

Breathe.

Focus.

Begin.

Turned my whole day around. The day wasn’t bad. Just long. Exhausting. Working with a fever has been no great shakes, believe me.

Yet, doing so has really helped me. It has forced me to, give extra time and care to myself. It has forced me to be more tolerant of my mistakes and the mistakes of others. It has forced me to, get more rest. It has really forced me to, see how much I had been pushing myself.

I love working hard. Makes me feel as though I have earned my keep. Being so sick, I have been taking stock, to see where I can work smarter, not necessarily harder.

I liken it to doing too much exercise. Yes, exercise is good for you, and necessary. But, doing too much, too fast, too hard, too early only breaks us down. I think we all over do, over exert, at times, in our lives. I think we over exert thinking the extra effort is what is needed to get us over the top.

Sometimes, it does take that little extra. Many times, though, we have already done all we know to do. All we can do, is the best we can do. It’s hard to not want to dig up the plants, though, to make sure they are growing. That, WE are growing.

The bible says that it is:

Zechariah 4:6-8 –6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

God and Life just asks us to try. THEY will do the heavy lifting. Trying is not always easy. Trying when you are alone, seems awfully lonesome, at times. Trying when you seem to be the only one, seems awfully lonesome, at times. Trying when all the trying can be trying and you are so tired of trying to keep on trying….*sigh*.

Yet, in ALL the struggles, in all the aloneness, in all the loneliness, there is great comfort in knowing we ARE growing. We ARE going where we need to be going.

What’s more, we do NOT go it alone. We have our posse:

God.

Life.

Yikes!

Egads!

One another.

Our family.

Our friends.

Ourselves.

So, just…breathe. Just, take a breath. Close your eyes. You have and are doing all you know to do. This is enough. It is all that is required.

ALL things have their end. Good and not so hot. Hang in there. For just a little while longer, okay?

You got this. We can. We will. Make it. Together.

God believes in you. Life believes in you. I believe in you. Jaybird says to tell fear, doubt, discouragement and whatever is keeping you from keeping on to go kick some rocks!

KNOW, of a surety that you ARE:

Loved.

Seen.

Heard.

Respected.

Cherished.

Keep it moving.

His and yours,

Cassandra

Be encouraged, today.

Be encouraged, today. The week is at it’s end. You have done your part. It’s time to put down the tools, the boxing gloves, whatever you have been using to blast through your mountain and get some rest.

The sun, SHALL rise, again. The dark is nothing to fear. Light and Day are the same, far as God and Life are concerned. Do not fear, the quietness of evening. Let it come. Allow the quietness of night, to blaken you. No idea if this is even a word but sounds comforting to me: blaken. Like a warm blanket, soothing the soul.

Be encouraged, today.

Jaybird

#YourLifeMattersToMe

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Celebrate your growth.

Time to celebrate!

You are:

Living, not surviving.

Loving, not hiding.

Receiving, not repelling.

Accepting, not resigning.

Standing, not complaining.

Fighting, not retiring.

Look at you! Growth looks good, on you!

Keep going. You can do this. You WILL do this.

with you.

Cassandra

Real talk: Just because you don’t know your way around, does NOT mean you are lost.

So, I admit it, was ready to kick my laptop across the room. For the life of me, I could not remember new terms, process the old terms I thought I knew, get my brain/fingers to get some act right.

FINALLY, a gracious, patient peer walked me through things I ALREADY knew. Only, I am so new, I don’t know what I already know. Know what I mean?

It is soooooooooooooooo easy, to get down on ourselves, for not KNOWING fast enough. It takes time. To, learn. To, grow. It takes, time, for seeds to take hold, to take ROOT, to get GROUNDED.

ALL we are required to do is to, try, work as best we can, and ALLOW the growth to take place.

I am learning to:

Laugh, at my mistakes.

Embrace, the icky ‘I have no idea’ feelings.

Be patient, with me.

God and Life will ALWAYS make sure we have people/things, in place, to help us as we grow. We growin’ peeps!

Cut yourself some slack, already!

Til you get there, throw yourself a Dance Party, cut up with God and Life, rejoice in the fact you are LIVING, NOT SURVIVING!!

YAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!

*Cassandra cuts a rug*…..*Cassandra getting down so she has caused God, Life, Yikes!, Egads! and The Host to come down and join her Dance Parta!!!!*

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

*Jesus tosses His Crown on The Throne, whisks Jaybird in His Arms and does an intricate twirl*

Dance Parta, yall!!!

We got this!!

Never, ever, ever, ever, don’t you dare EVER give up on you! Too much wonderful, in you, for that.

Tell pity, to kick rocks. Tell frustration ‘I laugh at thee!’ and keep it moving.

dancing with and for you,

Cassandra

A funny…

This ALWAYS cracks me up.

Unfortunately, true story, also…

Hang in there! Keep doing you, looking up, looking out for one another.

Jaybird 😎🤷‍♀️

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Cassandra

Real talk: Tell the pity party to kick rocks!

Nothing like a raging fever, frustrating work situations, and a really LOUD neighbor, to help one to embrace tough times, while continuing to stand, joyfully.

It’s super easy, to stand when all is well. Let me tell you, I wanted to have a really, really, really nice pity party, this morning. Work was, well, work. Learning a completely new job has been…..

Yikes!

Egads!

Hey, needed yall for this post. What a morning we have had, eh?

Anywho, was contemplating:

A good crying jag.

Tossing my laptop over the porch rail.

A good cup of coffee.

Needless to say, am still typing so the laptop is still here. Settled for drinking my water, instead. And, laughing at my rough morning. Embracing all the ickies which comes with learning new things. Good crimeny learning new things, can be such a pain!!!

I told pity party to go kick rocks! I have come too far, to settle for only getting this far, know what I mean?

It’s crucial to understand the hard times won’t always be so blasted hard. The hard times, in the meantime, are strengthening faith muscles, increasing our patience, strengthening our standing muscles. Hard times work FOR our good, not in spite of, despite of, or might of.

We got this. Even the hard this’! We CAN and we WILL.

Keep going. If you are thinking of having a pity party, tell pity party to go kick some rocks! Turn the pity party into a praise party, at the very least. If you are too tired for a praise party, homies and homettes, you just too busy!

We can do ALL things, through Christ who loves us.

ALL things, work together for the good….

See? Standing on God’s Word and not on my discomfort.

It’s ok to not feel ok or be ok if not feeling ok. Okay?

His and yours,

Cassandra STRONG

#YourLIfeMattersToMe

#KeepGoing

#KickRocksPityParty!

Don’t let your circumstances sweat you.

Standing today, has been beyond hard. Has been near impossible, or so it seems.

Nevertheless, I have gotten so used to standing, no matter what, no matter why, and no matter who, that I find myself standing: AUTOMATICALLY.

Standing, when it’s hard, when it’s easy, no matter what, and doing so, EVERY day, will build muscles you have no idea you had.

I have not been well. In fact, a time or two, have actually wondered if I would be meeting mom sooner rather than later. NO joke. I can admit the fever, that has decided to come visit,…whew. I mean, whew, literally.

Have always appreciated the phrase ‘fatigue makes cowards of us all’. I can identify with this, today. This fever, I admit, for one half second, I WANTED to throw just a tiny, itsy bitsy, wee, kinda sorta pity party.

However, my spirit just would not go there. Too used to standing, I imagine. I scraped my way out of bed, drank my water, played my music in the background, worked best I could, and stood.

Even though I felt awful, all day, I rejoiced, ALL day. Rejoiced My Father, was with me, fever and all. Life, was with me, fever and all. Yikes! and Egads! took the day off and basically said ‘good luck with that’ when they took one look at my feverish face.

I rejoiced, as I am LIVING, not surviving.

I no longer, focus on how long things will take. I am no longer bothered by who will, or who won’t, or who can’t, or who didn’t.

All that matters, to me, now, ALL that matters, is letting people know, letting YOU know, that your life matters to me. I pray for you, every day. EVERY DAY. If your eyes read these words, they were written, for YOU.

Keep going, beloved. Keep going.

Life may be hard, right now. You may be alone, right now. Work may be tough, right now. You may not have a job, right now.

Whatever your, right now, may be, right now, KNOW these things:

God SEES you. God LOVES you. God CARES DEEPLY for your life.

Your life, matters to me.

YOU, matter.

Your thoughts, matter.

Your heart, matters.

Your broken pieces, matter.

Your hopes, matter.

Your dreams, matter.

You are NOT your broken pieces.

You are MORE THAN A CONQUEROR.

You are all of these things, and so very much more.

Keep going, beloved. Think on THESE things. Think not on what you don’t yet have, what you may never have, and on and on. You have NO idea what God and Life has in store for you.

If you hear nothing else, HEAR ME:

You do NOT have to earn love. It is freely given to you. ALL you need do, beloved, is to RECEIVE it. ALLOW love in. Yes, it can be terrifying. Not knowing if love will return to you. It will. I promise, it will.

Love YOU, first. Allow others, in. Don’t you think it time? Life is so short.

Be encouraged. Be encouraged. We got this. I got you. God and Life has us all.

His and yours,

Cassandra STANDING ALWAYS

Rest.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=L9FgijQEDG0&feature=share

You have worked hard, today.

Time to do you, right now.

You have served others.

Rest, now.

Remember, the outcome of today’s effort has NOTHING to do with you, beloved.

You have done all you know. If you have not, go back and give it. If you have, enjoy some you time.

😎

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Real talk: Keep going. You CAN. You WILL.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p66Jp6ervRA&feature=share

Real talk: It is IMPERATIVE to continue to stand, AFTER a particularly hard fight, a stressful situation, when one is not feeling the greatest.

I can admit to ALL of those in the past 10 days. I can also admit that standing, today, was truly difficult. I just don’t feel well. Have not felt well for some time. Chronic things have been kicking my hind end.

I did not, want to get up, for work. I did not, want to fight with learning my new job. I did not, want to let anyone know I was truly struggling, today. I did not, want to put on my music. I did so, and it just didn’t soothe me or get me going. I turned it off….smh….

Yikes!

Egads!

I know! I know! Big mistakes.

I got up. Got the day started. Got to working. Fought myself, ALL afternoon. Fought, until I began to lean on my strong foundation of:

God’s Word.

God’s CHARACTER.

God’s Deep and Abiding Love, for me.

Before then, ALL I could stand on, focus on, rather, was how very tired I felt, how AWFUL I felt. Turned on my music, which helped me refocus on work and standing, correctly.

Before I knew it, I was bebopping, rocking my job, and kicking it with Yikes!, Egads!, God and Life. They were all just waiting on ME. I was waiting for a rescuer….smh.

It’s okay to not feel well. It’s okay to be tired. NOT okay to not rely on our foundation. It is when we really don’t want to stand, that we MUST. We will make poor choices, in these moments, if we rely on ourselves.

If you don’t yet have The Father, as Your Protector, well, just lean on folks who care for you. Let someone know you are tired. Let Life know to give you a break, already. Call out to God and ask Him ‘what’s up with all this God stuff, anyway?’. He will hear you. He will answer. He will come and chop it up with you.

In the meantime, keep going. You got this. I got this. God has us all.

Don’t forget to:

Read something positive.

Watch something positive.

Listen to something positive.

Handling business with you,

Cassandra VICTORIOUS STILL!!

Already there.

I was just laying down, in my bed, alone.

My heart is so full. So full.

No, I am not writing from my home on the ocean.

No,I do not yet have a mate to spend my life with.

No, I have not yet mastered my new job. It is hard. It has made me cry. It has made me want to quit. It has made me question EVERYTHING about me.

Yet, I am grateful that I can write these words, from my own spot.

Yet, I am grateful I can yak with my twin, with my big bros and sis and friends.

Yet, I can be frustrated, feeling like a complete idiot, learning this new job whilst working from home.

It can become easy, beloved, to focus on the hard, to concentrate on what we don’t yet have, to become discouraged on what we have not yet:

Obtained.

Overcome.

Won.

Earned.

Until, we:

Obtain.

Overcome.

Win.

Earn.

We have ALREADY won.

We are MORE THAN conquerors, through Him that loves us.

We stand, victoriously, shakily, relentlessly, repeatedly on SOLID FOUNDATION:

God’s Word.

God’s CHARACTER.

God’s Deep and Abiding Love.

HE, has got this. HE, has got us. HE, goes before us. HE, stands beside us. HE, guides us. HE, provides for us.

ALL He needs us to do is to TRY. NOT to show Him anything. But, to show US what He has given, what He has ALREADY put in us.

Our efforts, ONLY helps activate our faith. That’s all. We have already won, beloved!

Keep going. As will I…

Cassandra FREE