Forgiveness is such an easy gift to give, right?

           Saying "I'm sorry" is only the half of it.

Hello everyone, long time no talk.  I hope everyone had a lovely CHRISTMAS and a memory filled holiday with family!!  I have to say that I enjoyed myself very much and my mother touched my heart in many ways this year.   With all of the joyous wishes I come back to the purpose of my post which is "Forgiveness".

To be forgiven is one thing but when it's time to forgive it seems as if we completely forget how, we want to be forgiven right away but forgiving someone for wrongdoing seems next to impossible!!  Ehh, I believe it's our human nature and self defense mode but we must be very careful not to dampen the terrible effect that unforgiveness and bitterness have on our lives. 

So, how many times do we look back on our lives ( on a regular basis) and remember a time when somebody caused us a little pain and in that moment feel a little anger, a little frustration, a little seed of bitterness rising up?  There are days when this may happen and then there are days that this may seem ridiculous and the thought of unforgiveness is irrelevant because you just "KNOW" you've moved on.... Right? 😏   I am basically saying that if the days happen when that little bit of annoyance pops up out of nowhere, then chances are you have NOT fully forgiven and you have NOT fully moved on and chances ARE you are NOT fully free from poison. 

Let me take it back to scripture when the soldiers were crucifying JESUS, now... After being beat with a cat of nine tails, having a crown of thorns placed on my head, my skin nearly one hundred percent ripped from my bones, hands and feet nailed to a cross for committing absolutely NO sin, that being me, I cannot honestly say that my heart would have felt warm with forgiveness and soft with love but wasn't it in that very moment that JESUS Christ Himself prayed "Father Forgive them, for they know not what they do"

Allow me to take it a step further... How about we remember a time in which WE caused pain to someone else?  A time in which WE did wrong and when WE were the ones needing forgiveness?  How much lighter did it make your heart when the "victim" truly forgave you?  A weight feels lifted and feels as if life can proceed, SO if we know how that made us feel, shouldn't we give the same feeling in return?  

I say all this to focus on a very important PRIORITY in life and that is "forgiveness".  For without Jesus' blood there would be no remission of sin and without YOUR forgiveness, there is not a CHANCE to lead a healthy life...for with poison streaming through our veins, life becomes death.  

I just challenge us all to pack a backpack with a mirror and a light and travel deep within to reveal whether or not we are sugar coating our poison or if we are clean from the debri of bitterness. 

Xoxo, 

Kimmy. 

M

Thanksgiving and tree decorating!

     Thanksgiving has been LOVELY.  Time spent with family is always special and a day set aside to give thanks is always nice too!  Turkey, ham, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, dressing, stuffing, green beans and pumpkin pie.  I ate too much!   My family has a tradition of decorating the tree for Christmas on thanksgiving evening and I am struggling.
     I CHALLENGE YALL to take a close look at your life and pick out the things you are thankful for. (Which should be everything)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!

P.s.
Yall say a prayer for my kitten snow, my mom rocked over her paw. *sad face* 

 She seems ok haha.

Strength. Lost.

 Do YOU have REAL strength?

     Let me first and foremost focus on the real importance of most issues in human beings today, in 2014.  We have absolutely no courage, no strength and no change.  Life is like a solid cycle, conception, birth, growth, death, and it's as if this is in EVERYTHING.  Relationships have this cycle, plants have this cycle, in some aspect, jobs have this cycle!  With this cycle we face so many different waves of things and we forget where our true strength lies and where our past was, present is and future will be, we get lost.
     Ask yourself, "Am I strong?" "Do I stand UP for what I believe?" "Do I practice what I preach?" "Does my life mean ANYTHING?" "Who am I?" "Am I making a positive difference?" "Am I doing with my life, what I love?"  After answering these questions, you will either have two things unfold, you will be able to answer each question and identify who you are OR you will not be able to answer the questions in which in return, shows that the answer to the questions are "no".  Are you strong, or have you lost it?
     If you wake up every morning not liking something about your life, why is it that you are still accepting it, better yet why is it that you have not decided to look at the situation in another light?  I only ask this to help you understand the complacency that we TOO OFTEN settle in.


"Life has no remote, GET UP AND CHANGE IT YOURSELF"

     BETTER YET, why do we choose NOT to look up to a Higher CREATOR amongst our cycles of life?  Let's work on paying attention to the THINGS and people that matter, can we do that? Can we actually make a change?


YES. 

The right time came.

       The moment that I stepped foot on ALABAMA soil again, was as if I arrived on an entire new level of change.  Again, I began school in August of 2013 and was steady keeping the pace, at first I was exhausted and made it from day to day and slowly began to adjust.  Months of school went by and I was growing in knowledge and skill but it seemed like I was getting more and more exhausted.

     I'm going to add a small side note that upon growing up I was only around selected few and my private school was rather small, in fact I graduated in a class of three!  So, entering Paul Mitchell the environment was a bit of a shock and adjusting seemed more difficult than I had thought.  From day to day I began to really get weary of the entire situation, I was feeling burnt out, tired, annoyed, anxious, overwhelmed and DONE.  By the time of spring 2014 I was so "lost" per say.  I had lost my vision, my focus, my ambition, my direction, my skill, my excitement and sort of even felt angry!  I had a car accident in the spring and after it I decided to take a 90 day leave period to heal.
     My accident had delivered to me a sprained spine, head trauma and a lot of nervous pain and more anxiety, a healing break was the only choice I had.  Much needed rest and time to gather my thoughts, my choices, my decisions.
     I absolutely love cosmetology.  I love the beauty industry.  I love hair and makeup.  I love fashion and trend.  I love helping people.  All qualities that came to me day after day in the sauna, day after day in the shower and day after day in my every day routine.  I was excited to get back in September and start again.  It has been a couple months and this is what I want to say;  life has NEVER been better, for me.  I have several clients who come to me regularly and I am still a student!  Life is pleasant, sweet, calm.  Do I still remain tired from time to time? Always! My vision gives me drive.

{A short thought} ~ The difference between CAN and CANT is one letter.

The "T" in "can't", stands for "trust."

Today is Friday, thank God. 

Today I write with rememberence of a specific memory at a time in my life before the decision of school, I was facing adversity due to so many things, (including a man) Spring 2013.  I recall getting my gym bag ready, each and every day and HITTING that gym, it was my only form of stress relief and was the best way that I knew how to cope.  There were days, in fact I believe every day that I repeated to myself on that treadmill, "I CAN DO THIS!" I ran my first 5k that Spring in 22 minutes and while I was running I repeated to myself "I CAN DO THIS!"

Sometimes it is a matter of ONE letter, because I could have went home every day and sat on the couch and said "I can't do this."

The real problem always lies within ourselves, if we do not TRUST GOD and our own self, if we do not TRUST our own character, ambition, self worth, we will repeatedly tell ourselves "I can't do this."
Then we get to the WHY of why we tell ourselves "can't", maybe it is because of a lack of confidence or confusion but I am telling you, from a very typically procrastinate, sad and depressed (at the time) point of view that I COULD do it and I did.  I pressed through and I made it through a very ADVERSE time in my life, I did it, I made it, and so CAN you.  Trust yourself.

Life in full color.

Summer 2013?  It had been QUITE a while since I actually saw life in FULL color!  Life was drab, boring, no excitement and felt as though a piece of me was missing.  Life was mundane.  Have any of you ever felt that way, or should I say, are you CURRENTLY feeling this way?

I can remember my Aunt asking me what kind of degree I would consider if I were to go ahead and get back at life, full swing, I replied with immediate excitement "Cosmetology!"  In that moment I can remember seeing a little bit of color, maybe a deep maroon or violet, but nevertheless, COLOR!

And when I say "color" I am referring to light, life, excitement, skill set, COLOR!  Life began to actually happen and things began to unfold like a skilled Christmas shopper shopping for the right size/fitted shirt for their grandma, brother or niece!  Life was handing me sweet cards and all I was doing was keeping up, steady moving.  

AUGUST 5, 2013 I began cosmetology school at Paul Mitchell the School Huntsville.  In the beginning, I knew life was about to pile up but I wasn't sure just how MUCH, after all I was excited, overwhelmed, passionate and it felt good!  At the time I was working 7 hours a day and currently still am, after finishing an honest day of work I planned it all out to have just the right amount of time to get to school and it worked! Life was (and might I add, still is) GOoD. 

  {Hope ya'll caught that there at the end}

A little side note...Trying to keep the positivity alive.

Oh Happy Day!!

     Have any of YALL ever seen the movies "Sister Act"?  Well, if you haven't you're missing out!!  These movies are filled with a story about teens who seem whipped but with a little courage, and adversity, Whoopi Goldberg keeps positive and helps to give these teens a fresh, inspired, NEW start.
     Why is it that every single time we decide to start a new chapter that a whole wave of adversities appear and it's almost out of nowhere?  Allow me to just reassure you that this is when you know you are making a change, it's a positive sign.  Am I the only one who thinks every day about what I have overcome and how much further I want to be in one, two, three weeks? I hope not.
      It's as if every day I become a little more aware of life.
      Below is a picture I took in DISNEY World this September, 2014, on our family trip... Walt Disney stated exactly how I'm feeling..

    

courage. adversity. new - Philippians 4:13

 Phillipians 4:13

OH YES! I am definitely, from the inside out, a Christian.

    It is as if one day I woke up and found courage, one day I woke up and found adveristy and one day I woke up and everything was new.  It was'nt until after, that I realized I was simply living life and isnt it within the very walls of life that you must apply courage, to even the smallest of situations, we face reoccuring adversity and each and every new day is begun with a new start?
     (Good! I am so glad that we can all come to agreeance that these above statements are accurate, so that I can finish with my post. *big smile*  lol)
     If you are reading this and you have NEVER applied courage or you have NEVER woke up and found adversity starring you in the face, if you have NEVER decided on a new start...well, this is not the blog for you!  MOVE along.   BUT! if you are the person who feels as almost daily you force that courage THROUGH the adversity and make diligent strides towards that new beginning, please enjoy my blog.
    

     It was the summer of 2013 that I was facing serious adversity within my own walls of life and I had to really break through, make decisions and primarily follow the arrows in which life was pointing me.  I remember I was having several stresses within my job, my spirituality felt stagnate and I can also remember feeling simply sad.  There are several factors that play into these adversities, of which I may or may not name throughout my post, just know I was at a low,  in the life of Kimberly Patton.
     I remember my mother (who always ends up having my back) encouraging me to take a 4 week trip with her in which we, together, would travel to several different states and visit family, see the country, find self purpose renewal etc.  BUT in all reality it was going to be a chance to travel to my inner self and dig deep, to clear my head and make room for God's voice.  OH YES! I am definitely, from the inside out, a Christian.  In this moment though, I was lacking or maybe it was that I was moving, I never can tell.  I feel as though if you know Christ and seek Him, you are always moving.
     Let's just say that I agreed to the trip and I am not going to expound on the happenings or events within those 4 weeks but it changed my life.  I have a great family from which my initial push for furthering my education came.  I had currently obtained my CDA- Child Development Associate Credential- and was employed for U.S. Army Child, Youth and School Age services, a job in which I fully enjoy but like I said, was facing adversity. 
     Ok OK, I could go on and on but I'm losing my focus!


     In August of 2013 I began college and a NEW start to life, with it came a NEW set of ADVERSITY and a NEW found COURAGE.

Courage. Adversity. New

cour.age    -noun-

: the ability to do something that you know is difficult or dangerous

Full Definition

: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty


ad.ver.si.ty  -noun-

: a difficult situation or condition : misfortune or tragedy

Full Definition

: a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune


new   -adjective-


: not old : recently born , built or created
: not used by anyone else previously
: recently bought, rented, etc.

Full Definition

1. : having recently come into existence :


(all definitions came out of Merriam Webster Dictionary)