Adoption Reimagined: Don't Ever Quit

It sure has been a minute since I last updated about my book, Adoption Reimagined. I haven't quit! I have made progress towards my publishing goal.

How about you? What goal did you make in 2023? Did you make it a priority or get distracted and put it on the back burner?

I got distracted, I admit, but I never put it on the back burner or threw in the towel. I continued to make plans, decisions and steps that directly related to my end goal.

I tried to write every morning. I continued to gain knowledge about adoption by talking to others in the adoption arena. I read other's stories. I made a logo. I worked with my publisher every month. I added a marketing expert to my team. I let others read my manuscript to critique it and make it better. I had photos made to launch my book. I have sent all the chapters to my editor for final review.

Every step was a step towards my goal. Your goal may not be to write a book. What is your goal? What steps have you made towards accomplishing your goal?

I have been working on this book for about 5 years. So, never ever quit! Never give up! Just keep moving forward because steps towards your goal is progress.

I also added some cheerleaders, prayer warriors and encouragers to my team. Who do you have that can support you, encourage you and kick you in the pants if needed? We are not meant to DO life alone! It was not good for Adam to be alone. We are created to be in relationship with one another.

Challenge

• What is your goal?

• What choice can you make that keeps your goal a priority?

• How can you eliminate distractions that take you away from your goal?

• Who can you add to your team to help you with the details so you don't get off course with the minutia?

• Who can you ask to cheer you on and pray for you?

Whatever it is you are struggling with, I would love to be your cheerleader and help you plan the next steps that are right for you.

Let's chat! Call or Text 817-992-3177

Adoption ReImagined Excerpt: Chapter 4 Brain Health (Part 1)

My goal in this chapter is to explain what might have contributed to shaping your brain’s pathways and give you strategies to repair the broken pathway between the automatic systems in your brain and the logical, thinking part that helps you respond appropriately to drama, stress and disrespect others exhibit. I want to give you coping skills that make the ‘jump’ from involuntary reactions to intentional actions that are shorter in duration and less intense.

The human brain is so much more complex than a computer because we can pull from the past while living in the present and it affects our future. That is why being content and settled is so hard, we can’t put aside those bad experiences in the past. They affect our thinking, our actions and reactions.

Adoption is one of those circumstances that can lead to so many feelings and questions. Many times, even the answers and facts can’t satisfy because they cannot erase the previous feelings and long held beliefs. Logic from our neocortex does not help override the emotions we have created.

I have a very wise friend who deals with several mental illnesses who said, “Prepare your mind in the stable times for the unstable moments. Fill your mind with good things like scripture, music with positive messages, books that encourage and TV shows with wholesome messages. What you put into your mind,” she says, “will come to the forefront in times of panic and mania.” She practices surrounding herself with good people she trusts that understand how to help, encourage and support. She is open and honest with those people. She spends time with them volunteering, eating, shopping and worshiping together.

Reimagine your adoption by saying this below. Write it. Post it on a sticky you can see easily. Take it to heart. If you have learned emotions from your previous experiences, whatever they are, you can also avert them, recreate them and refocus on different ones, too. Try it 30 days!!

Adoption is a fact in my life. Adoption is not a guide. Adoption is not an obstacle. Adoption only has the power I give it.

Gifts are to be Shared

Your gifts are dangling right in front of you; grab them!

Has Satan written you off as a slave because he knows you are part of the 96% of people who make goals, but never make a plan of action of achieve them? How are you doing on those things (we won't call them Resolutions) you wanted to do for the New Year?

Do you want to be a mom with more patience, but don't memorize Scripture about patience or ask someone to pray for you? Do you try it on your own? Do you want to have a better prayer life and stand in the gap for your husband and kids, but you don't set a timer to remind you to pray or write down specific prayers when they cross your mind? Do you want to be a better cook for your family, but do not prepare with cookbooks or shopping lists? Do you have regrets? Do you use words like 'should have', 'could have', 'if only'?

Change that recorder in your mind. Tell Satan he has no hold on you anymore. "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world,"1 John 4:4.

"Has Satan written you off as a slave?"

I heard that in a song yesterday. If only 4% of people who make goals ask for help with those goals, I wonder how many women stay trapped in the lie that they have nothing to contribute to anyone. Satan is sneaky that way. He will keep feeding you a lie that you do not have a gift, time or talent; therefore you do not ask for help to find it or to use it. Are you a Christian guided by the Lord that strives to use her Spiritual gifts (maybe unrealized gift at this point) OR are you a Christian distracted by Satan because you do not PURSUE your goals by making a plan and asking for help? You are probably one or the other.

Do you trust God has made you with special Spiritual gifts to further his Kingdom or do you float around with no direction, no goal, no passion thinking you are nothing special...Satan loves this attitude and has written you off as a slave.

Choose today before we go forward, to pursue your Spiritual gift given to you from the heavenly realm. Don't float around lost, unfulfilled and confused in the playground of Satan.

Erin E. McEndree is a Life Coach who helps struggling women understand their story and step into their purpose by helping them identify their God-anointed gifts. Her specialty is helping women with adoption issues free themselves of pain, guilt and fear. For more information go to www.steepedinpurpose.com and shop the store for programs that can help you plan and execute your ideal self.