A New Beginning. As this had a very different meaning back in 2011 when I started this post it is interesting reflecting on where my inspiration was coming from back then vs. where it is coming from now. In 2011 I was between jobs and decided to try something that was very new to me and something that I found I was horrible at. I joined a group that had an interesting concept and a good part of it was an extensive study in positive thinking. This group was designed to educate and transform people to be the best they could be thru training materials and trips all over the world to enhance your life experiences. Besides support on a daily basis from the staff and teams the goal was to convince other people to join the group and pay the same money that you paid to get this great inspiration and enjoyment out of life and you would be enriched by the experience of offering it to others for a healthy chunk of money. It was so well organized - it pulled you in before you knew you were pulled in and a sales person I was not. I got more frustrated month after month - trying really hard to believe that I could sell and make lots of money and live happily after. I spent money in hopes to make money - but the making money part never happened - not a penny. I think that this lasted 6 or so months and thank God I was able to go back to a real job and was able to come back to the planet earth. The neat thing about it all was that it was not a bad experience at all. I spent a lot of time working on improving my outlook on life and being a part of my destiny and the positivity was contagious. Many people believe that I was doped - but I don't believe that I was. I spent every day on the phone with the individuals on my team and they were all genuine people looking for the answers in life and the ones that were good at selling were indeed making some pretty good money. I don't regret the experience - but I was missing the whole meaning of life and I was searching for all the answers and they were right in front of me and had been for a very long time - I just shut down the REAL spiritual part of my life - for many reasons - but not at all a good place to be. The only thing that was missing was my faith in God.....The Bible was not part of the reading material, or my life, at that time. I was not centered on God - I had rebelled for a very long time against "religion" - so it just was not a priority in my life any longer. It was centered on making money and getting out of a life situation that was making me very unhappy and all that positivity and learning helped me to keep it at bay and pretend that my life had purpose and that everything was going to come together just fine if I believed in myself and kept up with reading all the right material.. I started to go back to church. After going to a yard sale at a church in my neighborhood - I just felt that the gals that ran the yard sale were so sweet I thought "why not".....I followed thru and went to church the next day. Everyone was just as sweet as could be -and I really enjoyed the sermon. The pastor had a great sense of humor and spoke the truth from God's word and it wasn't so bad. The Church was magnificent with some of the most beautiful stained glass windows I have ever seen - simply magnificent. It just felt that that was the part of myself that was missing in my life and so I went back over and over again, getting more comfortable with worshipping and then I was offered an opportunity that ended up changing my life in a way that I had not expected. I was asked to take over the pianist position at the church because the person that was there took another position and they knew that I played the piano and they were as excited as I was. It had been a very long time since my last church position - so I was nervous but more than ready for the challenge. What an amazing journey this opportunity took me on.......To be continued.........