Realizing our Potential

I have decided to use the travel time between the house/school and the hospital as a time for reflection and personal growth.  A very altruistic idea- I know.  Currently, I am listening to Joel Osteen's Becoming a Better You.  And considering the current position of my life, it has some very timely lessons.  Osteen states that God has given each one of us the power through the DNA of our ancestors to become champions.  When we say that we can't we are limiting that power.  Each day we need to open ourselves up to the amazing possibilities that God has set before us.  But, we as people have to do our part.  Accepting mediocrity in our lives will not get us where we are supposed to go.  By maintaining a positive attitude and opening ourselves up to the possibilities we can allow change to take place.  As a counselor, I have often heard I can't change this, my mom was like this and her mom before her, so I am going to be the same way.  No, you don't have to accept this.  Yes, you may have your parent's DNA running through your veins, but you also have that of Daniel (spent the night with Lions and was unscathed) and Sampson and David.  Settling for the status quo is not doing ourselves justice. 

As a young girl, my mother told me I needed to be a secretary.  My guidance counselor in high school told me that the best I could hope for was to be a sales clerk at JC Penny or Sears.  But, I set a higher standard for myself.  It was through sheer determination I am where I am today.  Each day I thank God for all the blessings he has bestowed upon me.  Many people say, "Tanyia, how can you be so up beat.  Your husband it so ill.  He is in and out of the hospital and, yet, for the most part you carry on and seem very upbeat."  Well, I am.  I have hope and I meet each day with knowledge that today is going to offer me unknown challenges yet at the same time unknown rewards. 

I have learned that laughter and humor are two medicines that no doctor can prescribe.  And, these are the most important antibiotics around.  On the days when I choose, yes choose, to fall into the the Whoa is me syndrome, negative things are amplified.  Now, don't get me wrong, negative things happen every day, but it is how we view them that changes our mood and being.  My mother used to call this making lemonade from lemons.  If we expect good things, they will happen.  But it is how you view them.   For as long as my husband has been ill, we have had set back after set back.  The cancer has spread from his abdomen throughout his body.  But, we are choosing to hope for the best. Most days he is in good spirits and when he is not our immediate family are the only ones who see this side.  It is our job to point out that we are working on maintaining positive attitudes.   We have faith and know that the power of our bloodline enables us to fight on.  And, therefore, we are choosing to continue to praise and thank God for our many many blessings and we have faith that the best is yet to come.  Because when he is with us nothing can be against us.