#22 Putting the PIECES together

One of the many things I've learned over the years of my life and I'd like to share it with you:

In order to move on  you have to be willing to UNLEARN what are the things you learned wrong in the past by 1. ACKNOWLEDGING what are the things that holds you down, 2. follow by ACCEPTING that you are wiling to change for a better you and accepting or owning what you did was wrong and believe in POSSIBILITY to change- NO MORE big luggage of EXCUSES and extra carry on of Insecurities, 3. Giving yourself permission to forgive yourself and others in order to heal properly, 4.Be WILLING to accept & embrace new change into your brand new you- be willing to learn and accept the uncertainty of what you could be learning from a brand new Courageously you 5. Seek wise council and surround yourself with more wise and mature responsible people in your life that will lead you to be more focus...6. Don't forget to breathe in and out- Reflect on what was, and accept on what is, and faithfully believe on what it will be next. & 7. CELEBRATE LIFE daily  - above all these LOVE OUT LOUD!
Now your time to SHINE ON- the spot light is on you- what will you contribute into yourself and this world at large?

#21 FINDING THE PIECES:

Finding the pieces:

What is fun in life means?

There comes a point in life when the definition of fun is no longer going to late night clubs, hang over and partying, spending money on useless stuff just to please friends or seeking for ...acceptance to fit in the crowd of so called 'being cool', etc...
The fun in life is when you found yourself in the realization and acknowledging the value of life and start contributing the extension of what is part of you to make a difference in your life and others. The fun in life is when you spend quality time to be with your love ones, exploring the world, exploring your quest or journey and grow and contribute. The fun in life is when you find the pieces together & discover to enjoy each of those pieces in within given life time to be effective, to be not only gaining the knowledge but to actually living it and 'being' in the service of serving and delivering the message of what you were born to be in the first place.
The fun in life is looking back saying, " I'm glad that I made a powerful choice to contribute than to criticize; and I thank God for helping me see thru the thick clouds that I made it this far and I cant wait to go to the next dimension of learning a new adventure of the art of life!....".
-Grace Kostamo (author of WAI) 

 

#20 "HEALTH is LIFE- Work from the inside out"

Let's not spend too much time on one thing regarding your physical look and yet you live and feel having an empty life on the inside. Life is all about learning to balance. Maintaining the balance is Self-Control- without it life is not balance.
There's two kinds of health:  1. Your physical health: your body and understanding how it functions and knowing what or which food works for you and body exercising- respecting your physical temple or vehicle by taking care of it and educating yourself how to respect it is key point to better health and better you.
2. Your Inner health: your self-esteem, self confidence, emotionally, mentally (mindset), your level of understanding and the flexibility of it in different stage you go thru in life, acknowledging the discernment of your heart and soul, and spiritually- teaming up with GOD and acknowledging Him- The Master Maker of you! Once you make a decision learning to take care of both kinds of health, Physical and Inner health, your life will enjoy LIFE from the inside out even at times there are challenges along the way, have courage to grow and learn to deal with every decision you make!

 -Grace Kostamo

#19 ROOTS and WINGS

How to Groom your kids:

One of the ways to teach your kids how to live their own lives so they can take care of themselves - to begin with is to teach them the basics- ROOTS.
As the ancient wisdom says, "train up your child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22;6)
Putting our child in different activities they like to do after school is not a bad thing- this teaches them social skills and building team effort. But lest not forget one of the most important key element to teach our kids how not only to survive on their own in this world but how to LIVE OUT LOUD.

Teaching our kids the basic of survival skills like simply from training them how to potty training, how to eat, how to wipe their own butt, or how to brush their teeth and etc, from where they were only toddlers, are very important.  As they grow up and eagerly and curiosity develops further to learn how to cook, how to put away dishes, how to ride a bus, how to drive a car, how to catch a fish, how to teach them compute equation or fraction in numbers i.e. teaching them how to make and save money- collecting recyclable bottles, or babysitting just to name a few; teach them how to tell time, and go to school, discipline them how to behave (or handle attitudes) and say 'thank you' or 'please'or 'sorry', ' I can do it' 'I trust you' etc...;Teaching them self-control, help them develop their character, their self worth and identity, also when they are discovering their limits- encouraging and giving them wings how to teach them to fly and not to pull them down by being so over protective. When we become over protected on our kids because we do nto want to see them hurt or we can not handle the feeling of seeing them hurt, we hurt our selves and our own kids life and we put a scar in their hearts to stop them from growing from the inside out - some parents are over protective that they do not even know that they are and would live a life in a shock if the kids discovered soemthing that they were so afraid to teach- Sometimes the parents is the one who needs to learn to deal with their insecurities first. If our kids sees our insecurities examples, they will end up living in fear just as you have live in fear. Insecurities are walls of lies...DISCOVER the true you! # BREAK THROUGH your walls so you can see the horizon of the brand new free you!! # LIVE in Freedom!! Insecurities can turn any human beings judgemental regardless of their background, age, religion, culture, color, or what not...IF they choose to live that way...

We parents are learning at the same time to learn how to accept every stage we go thru in life as we watch our bundles of joy grow up. We must learn to adjust and give our kids roots and wings so they can spread their wings up high and soar like an eagle. We parents must learn to let go and give our kids a space to express themselves to us that teaches them to trust us as we trust them to grow in truth, and walk in love.  As we teach our kids how to handle attitudes in different stages they go thru in life, we are also teaching ourselves that too. ABOVE all, all this "training our child in the way he/she go", we must teach them the LIFE, LOVE, TRUTH of God in their lives as this gives them the foundation to grow their roots and their identity in Christ, our LORD, for every step of a man makes, God directs them to refocus our eyes set on the TRUTH on how to live a fulfilling life in this world and eternally! For God is the way the truth and the life- thru Christ!

We may teach our kids all the intelligence of this world has to offer by discovering and accomplishing our giftings, this is not a bad thing too- it is the necessity of  how to live to survive- but this is not the ultimate of living life on earth. But without the love of God and having a relationship with God all the days of their lives, our kids will be just living life without a purpose and fulfilment. Teaching our kids the balance of educating them the LOVE of God and who God is and His law of nature, at the same time teaching our kids to develop their God-given talents and how to use it well, and giving God the glory- for God created this universe and everything He made was good. God has chosen you! It is up to you to develop and grow and use and live out loud the gifts He has given you to build His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven- pass it on to your first ministry- your children! Raise our home in order so we can lead one village or nation at a time to live in the TRUTH and LOVE of GOD!       -grace kostamo


 
-grace

#18: There's HEALING in FORGIVENESS

An unforgiveness heart is like a stiff bone that will dry up and break in due time. But when forgiveness is watered deep inside that heart, a river of life flows...not only within thyself but to others that you are connected to. I asked the Lord how to forgive myself and others with the heart of purity, truth and love. It was a process to begin with and still is a process to keep applying it daily so we will not forget what we have learned and what God is teaching us about walking in TRUTH, PURITY and in LOVE. WE ask for healing yet sometimes we forget the motives behind why we want healing. Some of our motives is for self gain or self glorification so therefore we are on and off with the healing process and we get sick or sicker wondering why this and that. Some of us chooses not to beleive that there's power and healing in forgiveness (but there's pure healing as long your heart motive is pure, in truth and in love). Only God can see what's in the heart that defines our choices in life. We human can only tell if those choices of seeds were planted  in good soil or dryland by the fruits of our labour. As the ancient wisdom from the bible said that "You can tell them by their fruits" in how to distinguish who you really are and how you live your life or how you chooses to live your life. Your fruits... a seed can generate many fruits...A fruit of forgiveness, a fruit of healing, believing without a doubt, words that can heal or kill, fruit of love, truth, courage, beauty, gratitude, praise, trust, kindness, mercy, and grace...embrace...and on and on...All kinds of seed planted grow or come with consequenses wherever you plant them. A wise seed investment in a right place is a blessing in which comes wisdom and knowledge.

We can be whole and healed if we ask God how to forgive ourselves and others..He will teach us if we are teachable and willing to live by God's law of nature in truth and love and grace. The miracle we have been asking for is always around and available but we need to show up and live a daily blessing in truth, love and grace. True change happens when your heart motive is in alignment with God's standard.

I give myself a daily permission to forgive myself and others as a gift and mark of love before I leave this place.
God's blessings,
Grace Kostamo

#17: Courage

There comes a time in life that having a large quantity of friends wont matter anymore, and what truly matter most is the few that have the true quality of a true friend that will always be there thru your trials and joy and accepts you just the way you are.
There also comes a time in life when you start to learn to let go and loose faith in people but never hate them. For every individual goes thru a journey of discovery and growth. You just have to learn to let go and forgive and be more. Trust in God only and live in grace to live a brand new free you. The more you learn the more you live from the inside out. The moment you choose to stop learning is the moment you die inside. The world is a big school ground!
-grace

#16: Faith like a Child - Finding yourself

 

 

Believing is not enough. The truth is talk is cheap when part of us still holding on into our insecurities. But when you have the grace to see who you really are, you see more of who you truly are. The power of Believing is like a growing faith, getting out of your comfortable boat, stay curious and explore thru learning to live a brand new free you. Sometimes it is good to give yourself a time to refine of your true self. It is as tho you see yourself like a little child picking up some pieces you find at the nearby ocean shore...and suddenly you start building some creative ideas from the things you found around you. Just like the picture above that I took- a picture of one of my twin girls. She started building a pyramid using different colours of golf balls she found. And she says to me with great confidence and a smile on her face, "Mom, look what I found and what I made!! This is cool! Take a picture of me!!!"

It is amazing what we can find when we start refocussing our whole self to find who we truly are. Sometimes we get caught up with the buzz and chaos around us that we forget to feed our own soul, mind, heart and take care of our body- our health. Sometimes I look at it like when we make time to take care of us, it is like that little child in all of us...just wanna explore and create from whatever we can find and show it to our parents with great confidence that we did something amazing and it doesn't matter what others may think- as long what truly matters is what our Father (parents) says to us. There's something we can learn from  "A faith like a child"- Once again, living a life of free from all the worries, from all the insecurities and having  a faith like a mustard seed that we not loose faith in God- and trust in Him and all we can do is keep learning and growing with an open mind to be able to understand what we really are here for. And CELEBRATE the blessings from all the lesson learned and be more...be more to be grateful- you are more than the problems you create..or the problems you see...
There are times we loose focus to see the truth about why we are here for or to see our own self identity by listening to some confusing temptations that  looks promising or looks like defining our identity and our life purposes- a temptations that are just temporarily superficial. Humans cling towards on negative source to create a complicating matter. We tend to blame others from our own choices of making a stupid decision to cover things up. We humans tend to point out others chort comings instead on to work on ourselves to be the right person for that special person. We create our own problem  or create our own solution to the problem or create our own strategies to success by the choices we make.

Life is all FREE-WILL. Now, the choice is yours. Define your own destiny? what can you change to start experiencing the life in how God sees you? Define the struggles you fear the most and how you can be willing to change to free yourself from all the bondage you carry in yourself? How do you loose that heavy weight of burden inside you to live a  life of brand new free with full of peace and gratefulness? Is it possible to live the dream God wants you to see?

YES, it is possible! But that's another story to share in my next blog update.

One thing for sure to me is that we are all here with different purpose to serve one another and the world, to learn, to grow, to love God and others. Discover yours and be willing to live the message!

-grace kostamo

#15 Redefining True Richness

Redefine richness. Richness doesnt only come from obtaining materialistic or wealth from hard work- those are just by products or help tools or vehicles to get you where you should go. TRUE Richness comes from within you. True richness is more than what we physically see or touch. If you choose to be simply HAPPY with an attitude of living in grace wherever you are and with whatever you have and still yearns to learn, grow and love, then you have found that pure richness within your heart. Be happy with what God has given you...and learn to grow it abundantly! - grace kostamo

#14 So what do you do?

"So what do you do?"
This is the very common question people ask the very first time you get to know him or her. Some feel uncomfortable answering the same question. Others answer it with full self-confidence.

Yes, i used to be one of those who was sooo shy and scared to even go to talk about the topic of what I do. A thought came into my head when aske by someone that same big question of "What do you do?" ...a thought that says, "What is it to you?  is it really important? or are you just going to compare recipees?"...

Long story short, a message to give myself this freedom to live a life of free from any negative thoughts is to learn to accept of who I really am and accept to discover of what I can do with my talents that God has given me. So what do I do? Yes I am an artist, a friend, a mentor, a humanitarian,  and best of all a wife and a mother to four children who keeps me to my feet... this are all what I do but it is not who I AM. It is just PART OF ME..a great deal part of me. The best part about it is I LOVE IT- it is living the dream and I am enjoying living this dream God has for me. The dream is here now...living it and celebrating it with a grateful heart...and my heart and soul find joy in it.

To define of WHO AM I? it is simple..let's not complicate it. I find that who am I is I am ALWAYS LOVED by GOD..and the rest are details!!!

WHAT DO I DO FOR THE WORLD? Simple, living my life to the best of my ability to love God and others and by His grace I find beauty in it no matter what because dreaming with God ROCKS! And so when oneday comes and I wake up to see this dream of life  here on earth would be over for me...atleast I can look back with a great smile that I have found me ...I found that great freedom and gift that defines of who am I...and that God loved me always!

Great questions will always trigger your heart and find great answers! Just do it RIGHT! Live well!

I hope this message has bless you. Stay and live in God's grace and love!
- grace kostamo

# 13 You came for me

I remind myself to wait upon your perfect timing.
I lift up mine eyes unto the hills, where does my help come from?
I go back to your Words and your Promises.
I yearn for your warmth touch of LOVE.
For I am YOURS.

There are times I feel the emptiness and dryness.
I look thru the window to see if you have come.
I still go back to your Words and your Promises.
I am still here yearning to see you face to face.
For I am your bride.

I wanna feel your heart beat and your presence close to me.
The more I seek the more I find you
And the more I know you and your ultimate love
And as you fill my cup with full of life and love
I am melted with your powerful presence of love

What could be better than this?
You are my Everything
I yearn to sit by your feet and hold your hand
You came for me to save me
And because you love me this much

I am yours my sweet Lord Jesus Christ!

by -grace kostamo