Faith

Part 1: What is an extraordinary life?

Welcome to Hustle in Faith. This podcast is dedicated to helping you find your trail to a happier healthier you by discussing topics regarding Christianity, health & wellness, beauty & so much more! I’m your host Tosha Johnson.

This is Episode 83. When I decided to discuss this topic it turned out to be a lot more material than what I bargained for so this is going to be a 4 part series. Be sure to check out the journals I created that inspired this series :

Prayer and Gratitude Journal for Women of Faith: A 3 Month Guide to Prayer and Gratitude

Prayer and Gratitude Journal for Men of Faith: A 3 Month Guide to Prayer and Gratitude

Prayer and Gratitude Journal for Adults & Teens: A 3 Month Guide to Prayer and Gratitude

All right, so let’s get into this series…

What is the extraordinary life?

It doesn’t take a genius to see that we live in a very troubled world. I barely even watch the news anymore, because it’s too depressing and frustrating. While thinking about previous conversations I have had with other people and myself, I was reminded of how we can live an extraordinary life in such a sinful world.

The answer typically given is, “Just follow Christ (John 10:10).” This answer may be obvious to the person who said it but incredibly vague to the recipient if you don’t know what an extraordinary life is and what the blueprint/game plan is in obtaining such a life.

No one purposefully sets out to live a mediocre life. We all had dreams and aspirations when we were kids and then we got older and succumbed to the mental attitude “I just want to survive.” We allowed the negative mindset of those we chose to surround ourselves with and the negative circumstances we encounter in life to dampen our spirits, our desires, and our zeal for the extraordinary life.

Sadly, many of us become so distraught with life that we don’t even have the zeal to pursue the answer of identifying what an extraordinary life looks like and how to make it happen for us. Although we can’t stop negative people and circumstances from entering our lives, but we can stop them from holding us “hostage” in our pursuit to be happy. In other words, we can change our mindset so that our goal is to thrive and not just survive in this sinful world.

Just so we are all on the same page, an extraordinary life is when we transform our lives to the point that we embody and reflect the attributes of Christ. To help us to understand what an extraordinary life looks like, I will discuss a few attributes of Christ. There are many more listed throughout the Bible that I will not be able to discuss due to time constraints. However, the majority of the ones that I will focus on are listed in Gal 5: 21, Matthew 18, James 1, 1 Cor 16 and Deuteronomy 31:6.

Attaining ALL of Christ’s attributes are important. However, I’m going to focus on what I consider to be the top 12. Nine times out of ten, if you’re able to obtain these attributes, it will reduce the time it takes to gain the other remaining attributes.

These attributes are:

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness (generosity)
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-Control
Forgiving
Wise
Courage

For the next episode, we are going to take a closer look at these attributes. It’s going to be an uphill battle that we will have to fight throughout our lives to obtain them, but it’s worth the fight.

Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode. Don’t forget to download the free goal setting planner and grateful notes on the website. If you enjoy Hustle in Faith’s content, please consider becoming a supporter by donating to help offset the cost of producing this show.

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook and Pinterest. Remember, if you’re everything to everyone then you risk being no one. You never know who you will inspire, see you in the next episode!

Are you running away from your blessings?

One of my favorite movies and by the way my favorite play is the Lion King. Even though it’s a children’s movie, there are so many lessons that can be learned from Simba.

One of the saddest scenes in the movie is where Scar kills Simba’s dad. Scar basically tricks Simba into thinking he caused his father’s death and the only thing left for Simba to do was run away. See Scar had to convince Simba to run away so Simba could run away from his blessing of becoming king.

Satan uses this same tactic today. He bombards us with a variety of “tests” that are meant to instill negativity so we can run away from the blessings that God has in store from us.

The most frustrating thing about the situation is that God will NOT allow us to move forward in life until we pass the test He places before us. Regardless of how depressed you may feel or how bleak your circumstances may be, God has a plan for your life (Jer 29: 11-14).

Even if you have been on the run for years, you can still redeem your blessings just like Simba did, but you have to be willing to do the following:

Surround yourself with positive people who will uplift you. Misery loves company. You’re already feeling down and out, so don’t seek counsel from people who aren’t heading in the direction that you want to go in life.
Admit when you are wrong. One of the main reasons Simba ran away is because he felt guilty. Mufasa, his father, warned him not to go into that part of the land. Simba had no business being in that area.

There are plenty of times in my life where I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t moving forward until I took a look at where I was and who I chose to surround myself with. Early on in my career, I chose to go to lunch with co-workers who would often attempt to wear me down about why I didn’t do or believe in certain things. Now I’ve never been one of those Christians that are forcing Jesus down your throat or praising God every 5 minutes.

However, if they asked me to happy hour so I could go get drunk with them (by the way, these are their actual words not mine), I would always say no. By the way, I always thought that the term “happy hour” was an oxymoron because getting drunk seems like an incredibly depressing way to spend your free time.

Anyway, I would always say. “No, I don’t drink,” which led to this whole long discussion about my faith. Now even though I was not trying to change them, they thought that I was “weird” and tried to change me. Again, we live in a backward world. I never understood why my choice to remain sober was an issue, but anyway, I allowed my insecurity to get the best of me and compromised by going to lunch with these co-workers.

God already showed and told me, “Tosha, they don’t accept who you are, leave them alone.” Yet, I chose to unnecessarily put myself in situations that caused me pain. I was constantly feeling defeated until I started to do my next point…

3.) Remember who I am in God’s eyes. I got tired of feeling defeated. My co-workers were doing everything in their power to emotionally bully me. Constantly blaming me for their own shortcomings, critiquing my work or choice of words, giving me extra busy work, accusing me of not being a team player because I refused to do their job at the last minute, not wanting to sit by me in meetings or giving me weird/ unfriendly looks.

All of this happened because I was truthful in how I responded to their questions, in why I didn’t want to do, believe or behave in certain ways because I was a Christian. Satan goes out of his way to get you to forget who you are.

Simba forgot that he came from a royal background until he took the time to remember the advice that his dad gave him and then received further confirmation from Nala which gave him the confidence to do #4 which is to fight back.

4.) Fight back. I don’t care how far gone you think your life may be. You can redeem the time you have left by fighting back. Don’t accept the negativity that others project onto you. Life and death are truly in the power of the tongue. You have to be willing to fight for your happiness in this world.

In order to win the battle, you must allow God to lead you in your quest to fight back. You’re going to start seeing how those evil people’s deeds and thoughts don’t affect you anymore. Don’t get me wrong, it will still make you angry and you do have the right to defend yourself (The Bible tells us in Eph 4:26 … “to be ye angry and sin not…”) but their actions won’t leave you feeling trapped and depressed. The reason many of us feel this way is because we know deep down we’re living settled for lifestyles.

Simba knew he wasn’t meant to wander aimlessly through life. He knew he was meant to rule. He got tired of living away from his family. However, he couldn’t step into his destiny until he learned to control his mind. I was trying to fight Satan using my own strength. Once, I went to God and asked Him how to fight back I was able to start winning my battles and defeat those demons.

5. Last but not least, you will finally obtain and maintain your goals through humility. Simba was mindful of all the troubles he wen through in life in order to get to the point in time where he became king. He didn’t allow his newfound power to get to his head. He shared his knowledge and experiences with others.

We must let our light shine as well. There’s nothing new under the sun. There will always be evil in this world, but through God’s grace and power we can defeat them because it is the circle of life.

What is your purpose in life?

Podcast Link: https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e3qmqn

I’ve had some interesting events happen to me within the past couple of weeks that have led me to think about my second act in life and business. I’ve been wondering more and more lately what my purpose is in life. God said in Jer 29:11-12:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare, and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

It caused me to reflect on some of the situations that I have been in that have been incredibly unfair. It’s caused me to seriously wonder if maybe He hadn’t gotten around to creating my plan yet.

However, after speaking with my mom (she always brings things back into perspective for me) I realized that the reason I was feeling this way is because I was mixing up what society deems to be my purpose in life with what God’s purpose is for my life.

Society’s purpose for me

Society’s purpose is to focus on our career, finding a spouse, making a lot of money, buying a big house and having children.

Yet, even if you achieved all the aforementioned, it will still not bring you peace and happiness. In case you don’t believe me, think about how many celebrities you believe are truly happy. Not many.

The majority of people spend their lives chasing waterfalls. They jump into relationships, careers, etc. because this is what society wants you to do. This will instill Satan’s negative traits inside of you in the event that you aren’t able to attain them. Then you’re left wondering, “What’s wrong with me?”In reality, there’s nothing wrong with attaining or not attaining these things.

The real issue is when you place things such as this above God’s plan for your life. If you really want to find out what your purpose is in life, then you need to get in touch with God’s word. We can only obtain the attributes of Christ when we conform to Christ’s likeness. Only in Christ can we have attributes such as love, joy, peace and happiness.

God’s purpose for me

Our real purpose in life is to grow into Christ-likeness.

When we focus on Christ we can enjoy the abundant life that He came to give us. In other words, Christ came to give us a little bit of heaven while we’re still on earth. The only way we can conform to Christ’s likeness, is to be truthful to everyone we know, be ready and willing to fight whatever battle God requests us to help Him fight. We can only do this by staying properly dressed in our armor.

Once again, our purpose in life is to conform to Christ’s likeness and help others to do the same. In other words, throughout our way of life and God’s word, we are to teach others the truth. Therefore, we are not to go along with people when they are wrong.

We are to firmly tell them the truth even if we must stand alone in the conversation. We are not to lie to people so we can keep their friendship or so that we can be a part of the crowd. God already warned us that we would be persecuted for following Him (1 Pet 4:12). However, if we draw near to Him we will find the much sought after wisdom and peace that will eventually lead us to our purpose.

How do you study the Bible?

In today’s episode, I share with you how I study the Bible. Below are some of the resources that I mentioned:

Be sure to connect with us on our Facebook and Pinterest. Remember, if you’re everything to everyone then you risk being no one.

You never know who you may inspire. See you in the next episode!

In order to be notified when new content is available, please be sure to subscribe to my podcast on Anchor, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Music.

The Hidden Trap of Ambition

“A goal without a plan is just a wish” is one of my favorite quotes.”

Although this quote has merit, I let this seemingly innocent quote get out of hand. I’m one of the most ambitious people you will ever meet. My mom told me, ever since I was a child, teachers would view me as intense. I had a desire to learn and conquer whatever concepts and challenges were placed before me.

As I grew older, I immediately realized that you have to keep your quest for perfection in check. You have to have a balance in life. I don’t know about you, it’s a constant struggle for me to stop being competitive and not compare myself with other people. This downfall is even more troublesome since we’re in the age of social media. We’re bombarded with ads about people making millions online, pictures of beautiful families traveling the world on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.

If you don’t watch yourself, you’ll start to feel like God made a mistake. It seems like everyone is moving forward in life, while you’re sitting on the sidelines waiting for God to tell you it’s your turn to enter the game. While waiting on my turn, I learn that God does not immediately put us into the game until we have accomplished the specific purpose and goal that He wants us to achieve.

Instead of sitting on the sidelines looking at other people and wondering what happened to you, you need to turn your focus to the playbook (aka the Word of God). Learning the playbook will ensure that we know what to do when He calls on us to enter the game. Below are some points that I learned from the playbook of life:

Teach yourself to be content

Yes, you heard that right. I’ve been teaching myself how to be content. There’s nothing wrong with having goals, but when you allow the goals to control you that’s a problem. If you have prayed for something, then let it go. Have faith that God will bring your desire to fruition. Instead of constantly praying for the same thing over and over again, give thanks that God has already granted your request and tell yourself that it is just a matter of time before my blessings materialize.

If you know you’re putting God first then you need to realize that the delay in you receiving your blessing could be Him teaching you a lesson in contentment. God wants us to be well-rounded individuals, not spoiled brats. If He gave in to our every whim, we would never appreciate how good He is to us.

Plus, He doesn’t want our lack of contentment to rub off on those around us. The perfect example of this is marriage. I spent most of my twenties thinking that I couldn’t be happy unless I found Mr. Right. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my life at that time, but I could have had even more fun if I had gotten rid of this faulty thinking. It didn’t help that folks inside the church tend to think something is wrong with singles who aren’t married by a certain age. Check out my podcast Defying Expectations because I go into much more detail about how I got out of this mindset.

Anyway, I used to think that my life wouldn’t truly begin until I got married. I thought I needed someone else to complete me. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Through my focus on the word of God, I have learned that if you need someone or something to bring you happiness then you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Contentment is not something that will automatically come to us. Even Apostle Paul had to learn this attribute. Surely, since he had to learn contentment, we must teach ourselves to embrace this concept as well.

Embrace and enhance your creative outlet

Many ambitious people tend to focus on being the best in their profession. However, many times our jobs may not necessarily align with the purpose and destiny God has in store for us.

This is why we must take time out to study His word. In doing so, I guarantee you’re going to uncover all of those hidden talents that God been waiting for you to discover.

Embrace being a unique Christian

When you’re a Christian, you must quickly grow accustomed to standing alone. Many times you cannot play the corporate game. All of which means that you will lose some friend, be hated by co-workers, etc.

I’ll never forget when I first started working in the corporate world. I had someone ask me to switch some figures because they expected the sales figure to be higher. I worked for a bank y’all so I knew right off the bat this was wrong.

Needless to say, I made some enemies. However, my integrity was more important to me than this person who wanted me to fudge some numbers. Although this door closed because I would not play by the unwritten corporate rules, I quickly learned that when God allows one door to close, this will bring you closer to the one that He intended for you to open all along.

I ended up getting a better job three 3 weeks later making more money. What’s the moral of this story? Focus on being a unique Christian. If you put Him first, He’s going to make sure that you are taken care of so your relationship can continue to grow.

These three things have helped me keep my ambition in check so I can focus on living the extraordinary life that He desires for me. What do you to keep your ambition in check? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode. Don’t forget to download the goal setting planner and grateful notes on the website. If you enjoy Hustle in Faith’s content, please consider becoming a supporter of by donating to help offset the cost of producing this show. Be sure to connect with us on our Facebook and Pinterest. Remember, if you’re everything to everyone then you risk being no one. You never know who you may inspire. See you in the next episode! In order to be notified when new content is available, please be sure to subscribe to my podcast on Anchor, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Google Play Music.