Are you empowered?

I don't mean ready to conquer the world, or land that gold medal. Are you empowered sufficiently in your own life so that you are doing the things you believe you should be doing? Or are you watching TV every night, getting up dreading your day only to watch more TV come evening?

If the latter description fits you (or something close to it) and this is the best life you can imagine or desire, then I wish you peace. If you know there's more to life, however, but just don't have a clue how to reach a place where you can be experiencing it, then I would respectfully suggest that you are in need of empowerment.

That raises the question: Where does empowerment come from?

Here's the short answer: It comes, and can only come, from within. Want the long answer? It comes from everything your Creator sends into your life with the view of improving you. And that means, quite literally, everything.

Everything that happens to you, all your experiences, joys, disappointments and defeats--is all meant to improve you. To bring you closer to what you are supposed to be, and what you are supposed to be doing.

Now for the bad news: It won't all work that way (to improve you) without your cooperation. This is the reason so many people aren't now, and may never be, in a place of empowerment. To get there, you need to accept the vehicle that takes you. Which is, everything that has and ever will, happen to you.

If you can get to the place of being thankful for even the negative stuff, knowing that it will play a part in your growth towards the best you possible, that is how you get on the vehicle. That is how you accept it. And think about it: can a journey start if you don't get in the car? By foot, perhaps, but it will be much, much slower.

Get on the fast track to empowerment! Find out how everything you've experienced can actually HELP you in your life's quest to fulfill what you are here for.

Is that a tall order? Yes. But I believe in the old biblical saying, that, "Nothing is too hard for God." And it is God, I believe, who ultimately empowers us. The key is to get on His team. Again, it's like accepting the vehicle for the journey. If he drove up to you in a posh limo and opened the door wide, you'd probably jump right in! Why not?

The thing is, he more likely pedals up on an old, broken-down bike, asking you to hop on to a rickety-looking seat in back--and then promises that by getting on his old bike, you're actually fast-forwarding the journey! You are now on the way to finding the true you, the empowered you, the one He made you to be. And faster than you'd ever get there, otherwise, if you could indeed get there at all.

Think the analogy doesn't fit? Many people balk at the idea of "wasting" time in church attendance. (What? Spend good, free time every Sunday in a church? All they want is your money!) But the church is there, you see, as God's vehicle. It's the old bike that looks like it's had better days. And there's a rickety seat in it waiting for you. Same thing with Bible reading. (I've got so many books to read already! And I can't "waste" my time on that one. It's so hard to understand, anyway!)

If you're looking for empowerment to be the person you were meant to be, and to do all the great and wonderful exciting things you were meant to do, then you'll just have to get on the old bike. Trust me. I got on it a long time ago, now, and the journey just gets more exciting and fulfilling every year.

Linore Rose Burkard is an Inspirational Romance writer. She also writes short fiction, and has been a homeschooling mother of five for the past ten years. She lives in Ohio with her husband, five children and grandmother. Visit her on the web at: http://www.LinoreRoseBurkard.com Ms. Burkard also writes a monthly eZine on the historical Regency called, 'Upon My Word! Facts, Fashion and Figures of the Regency' which you can sign up for (for free!). Go to http://www.LinoreRoseBurkard.com/Regency_eZine.html If you are a Christian writer and would like to contribute to Revelations: The Textbook Project,please go to http://www.LinoreRoseBurkard.com/revproject.html