So This is...AWARENESS

Welcome to a new month, Freebies! Let's just hop right in, shall we?

Hopefully you were able to read my last blog post about my almost move to ATL. That certainly was a hard pill to swallow, but by God's grace I have begun to carve out a day-to-day routine again. One thing that has been added to said routine is my involvement with CrossFit. The intense workout regime that started out as being a one time thing for your personal viewing pleasure (2 The Streets: The BIG Fight) has somehow stuck and just this week, I officially joined the gym! I went Thursday, with the expectation of learning how to complete a deadlift. We all got our PVC pipes to get the hang of what the correct form was then after a short time, we got to graduate to using a real barbell! It sounds small, but I was excited nonetheless. As we practiced our form, the Coach spoke about a term that was foreign to me - "One Rep Max". She explained that that is the threshold of how much you can deadlift, and the way to find out is to simply keep adding weights until you can no longer successfully complete the lift one time. Upon hearing this, I became intrigued. I was hungry to know what my One Rep Max was and so were the other participants. With that, the course of the exercise plan suddenly changed to cater to our inquisitive souls. I then began to add more weight, going from 55lbs, to 75lbs, to 100lbs, 150lbs, 200lbs...all the way to 305lb. Don't believe me? Just watch...

HOW WAS THIS POSSIBLE!?! I had never deadlifted before in my life! How could I have gone from a PVC pipe to lifting 305lbs in an hour? One thing: awareness of the power of my imagination!

*You: Did she just say "the power of her imagination"? Where is this blog going?!"

*Me: Just stick with me, I'm about to bless you!

That morning, I woke up 45 minutes before my alarm clock. I knew I wasn't going back to sleep, but I also didn't want to get up out of bed quite yet. Usually when I have such a dilemma, I take it as a good time to pray. It was then that I felt the impression of God to take the time to VISUALIZE my dreams. What specifically did I want to do with my life? What people did I want to work with concerning acting, poetry, etc.? What kind of day did I want to have? I began to close my eyes and imagine myself in different scenarios, mentally picturing myself walking out my dreams one by one. As soon as I finished one dream, I felt Holy Spirit prompting me forward saying, "That was a great dream! What else?", as if to say that I could never dream too big for Him; like He wanted a challenge from me - an expectation to exceed. Since I knew I would be doing deadlifts later on in the day, I mentally envisioned myself doing extremely well. I saw myself lifting the barbell. I saw myself successful.

By the time my alarm clock actually rang, I thought myself to such a positive and expectant place, and I was ready to take my imaginations to the next level by speaking them aloud. The entire day, even while at work, I spoke out my dreams in declarative statements. I did not say things like, "One day, I hope to be a sought after figure for my many creative giftings"; I spoke as if I was already there, "I AM a sought after figure for my many creative giftings". Specifically toward CrossFit, I spoke blessings over my physical body. "This body is strong and healthy and can endure. This body is prepared to deadlift today!" By the time I showed up to CrossFit, although I had never done a deadlift before physically, I had done it at least 100 times in my thought life and with my words. While adding weights, I knew I was doing much more than I ever thought I could, but I was not aware of how big of a deal it was. Yesterday, the Coach sent me a picture of the leader board for deadlifts...

By the account of the board, I am 5 pounds away from being equal with the third best female deadlift in the entire gym. In one day, God did through me what most have worked years for! Make no mistake, this is NOT a brag on me. This is a brag on how awesome and powerful God is and how our imaginations and words are too! This is a brag on the strength of His temple (my body), which He made. I now understand why Holy Spirit wanted me to visualize my day's success: He wanted to blow my mind! He wanted me to set a bar so that He could show how greatly He could go above and beyond it. Ephesians 3:20 says, "Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us. By this power He can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine." He is prepared every single day to rock your world, taking the top off of everything you've ever believed was impossible, but how often do you employ your imagination using it to visualize your success? How often do you let that imagination lead you to speak words and declarations of life? I can't say I did it too often myself, but the first day that He led me to do so, I accomplished something that I will never forget!

Let this month be a month of awareness for you - awareness of your thoughts and words. What we think and visualize, we eventually speak, and we shape our lives by our words. The life you are living today is a result of the words you spoke yesterday. Sometimes we feel that we have been around ourselves long enough to confidently say the things that we can do, and even more confidently declare the things that we can't do. At the top of this year, I just "knew" I couldn't design my own website, yet here you are reading from it. A month ago when asked what kind of temp jobs I wanted to avoid, I confidently said, "One where there is heavy lifting, especially things over 50lbs", yet now I find I can lift one me and a half! Maybe none of us know ourselves as much as we think we do. There is so much untapped potential living within us that God is just waiting for us to discover. What does YOUR Freelife look like? Ask God to fill your mind with His thoughts so that you can imagine a better version of yourself, and then expectantly watch for Him to top that. You may find that the "better version" of yourself that you imagined, was actually always there, just waiting to be unearthed. You don't have to wait for someone else to tell you what they see in you. Use your imagination and see it for yourself! Why wait for a random compliment when you can use your own words to bless yourself at anytime? It starts today. Be aware, be fearless, be free!

So This is...AWARENESS,

Mikhaella Norwood

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