The simplest key to happiness is not money or prestige. It isn't even any form of religion, including Christianity. There are too many miserable believers in the world. The key is not found in the opinions and actions of others either. So what is it?

The key to happiness is gratitude. I can't be miserable and grateful at the same time. I can't resent someone I genuinely appreciate. I can't complain while listing all the reasons I'm thankful.

Breaking it down to health, life and strength are not enough. Be specific and keep the things that you're happy about front and center. Start your morning by listing the things, people and circumstances you appreciate. What you focus and speak on will grow. So starting right now, today, grow your happiness with your gratitude. On Facebook? Let's chat!

A beautiful soul is one that is willing to accept some pain for the benefit of others, who will sacrifice for those who need her/him. You see, the things we're taught to value mean nothing when bad times come. Money cannot save you. Sometimes, even friends and family can't help. But who you are on the inside is what counts when you go through a storm.

When I was young, my soul was filthy from experiences and bad decisions. I didn't think or act the way I should. But through great teachers, I learned values, morals... I learned where strength lies. It isn't in possessions that can be destroyed or stolen. It is in the soul that has been redeemed and transformed.

Your love is worth more than your money. Your life is worth more than your possessions. Your integrity is better than your gifts. Your loyalty, your faith and your kindness can save a life. Develop the core values of good living if you hope to be joyful and live an abundant life. Otherwise, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?!!!

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Who you are and what you stand for is your choice. No one else gets to define the parameters of your life. Sometimes that can feel like a heavy burden when there is so much stimuli in the world vying for your attention. But no one else has the authority to choose for you.

In the midst of everything, you must be willing to do the hard stuff. Ask yourself who you are, what you believe and what you want out of life. Then, when you figure out some of the toughies in your own life, you can add other things without the stress.

I spent many years lost. I didn't know what to do or how to behave. I wasn't sure who I wanted to be. After I began learning about God and comparing Him to what I've always known, it wasn't hard to decide what I wanted my life to be about. I preached for over 10 years, but it wasn't as much about the platform as it was about the ability to touch and change lives. That's what I want out of my life, for my pain to have purpose. The only way that can happen is if I use it to empower other people. I want to build people, to give someone a reason to hope. I'm 37 and I'm living my dream and walking in my purpose, even when I'm wobbling. Now, you have to make that same decision to regain control and define yourself. Then free yourself to walk it all out.

For more inspiration, visit Officially Lacresha Hayes, or follow my blog. For business help, please visit Lanico Enterprise.

More and more people are writing me asking about esteem issues. They have pasts and problems. They have people that make them both seem worst than what they are. They want to be free from all that bondage in life. I'm not quite sure when or how things shifted to this place in my life, especially since I have to work out my own freedom daily, sometimes falling miserably short. Still, here we are.

I don't have a three step process to building healthy esteem, but I can tell you that it is a process. It's going to be different for everyone, but the beginning is the same for us all. We have to want a better life. I'm not talking about a passive thought, but a constant, nagging urge to be free. I think it's imperative that we don't miss the fact that everything in life begins when we make a choice. Christ died to free us from every bondage, yet there is a yoke awaiting our necks at every turn. It's so easy to get tangled up in the world that by the time most of us wake up, we're constricted to the point of suffocation. And that's how some of you feel right now, like you might just suffocate if one more thing is asked of you, if one more thing is taken from you, if one more plan fails you. You feel like a failure, but you have known success. You feel weak, but look at all you're holding on to. You must be pretty strong to do that. You're fighting for your family, fighting for your finances, fighting for your health and fighting for your life. You wrestle against this feeling of suffocation in vain, trying to deny it exists, but you feel like you might spontaneously combust any day now. If you want to be free from that, you have to understand and let go of how you became that way in the first place. 

Whatever you're feeling right now, know that you can feel and actually be free. It won't happen overnight, but it can and will happen if you continue to work toward it. For more information or inspiration, visit Officially Lacresha Hayes, or connect with me on Twitter. Also, please subscribe to Blog P3.

Over the past decade, I've written many grant proposals and helped set up many businesses, many of which are still in operation today. I've met some amazing people with unbelievable stories. I've even had the joy of sharing in bringing wonderful books to the market through my publishing company. I've won awards, been celebrated and traveled over the country as a professional. However, in all of my successes, I've never been happier than I am today, right this moment.

I received an email, a photo and a 3 chapter sample from a young lady who read my book, THE RAPE OF INNOCENCE, three years ago and then immediately began writing her own. She finished her book a few weeks ago and guess who she wants to partner with her to get the word out there about date rape and date rape drugs? Yes, she chose me. The email touched my heart and I wanted to share a little piece of it, as pasted below.

... was painful and humiliating. I wanted to die to kill myself but fear of the unknown stopped me from trying. I happened upon your book when a friend gave it to me. She'd received it as a gift but didn't want to finish it since she'd never been abused. My life changed from chapter 1. Your story saved me. I cried with you and began to journal my own book as you said you did. I studied you and followed all your work until I felt strong enough to believe on my own. If you will, please consider my book for publication and be my partner in helping college students where the fight is still going on at Grambling and other colleges I'm sure.

The challenge is being content in whatever state you may find yourself in because you understand the seasons of life. No one is always up. But neither is anyone always down. Be encouraged today and everyday.

As writers, you've probably already discovered the industry is challenging, albeit rewarding. A writer must find content, organize it properly and then relay it to the audience via the written word. There are all sorts of technical issues and to top it all off, there is the daunting task of marketing and promotions on a budget. I know your struggles, writers, and I feel your pain. But please finish this post if you hope to have a long career.

I know you feel overwhelmed with all your responsibilities. I know you want to connect with others because writing is such a lonely job. But don't lose your mystery with all the access readers, other writers and curious people in general demand through social media and GPS tracking and location services. Everyone wants to know everything about you, but it can be hazardous to your career to give them too much too soon.

We live in a time of fads that come and go overnight, literally. There were times when fads lasted for years, but now there are so many new things beckoning our attention, we move on more quickly. I'm not sure where this break neck pace is headed, but it can't be good. As an author or writer, it's difficult not to become a victim of a fad. By no means is it a bad thing to catch on during one and ride it out, but most of us want a lifelong career and income from our pieces. Thus, we have to find a way to outlive the fleeting fancies of readers today. If they get all of you in the first book, article or interview, there will be no reason to return. That's the beauty of mystery. It keeps us coming back. Mystery will cause you to outlive fads. Mystery boosts you to iconic levels. If you plan to last, you must maintain some mystery.

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Lately, things are going great. I can't imagine being more blessed than I already am. People are coming together to support me and the vision I have to help others on a personal and professional level.

For those who are out of the loop, these days, I'm blogging in about five places, writing articles for various literary agencies and doing videos to encourage those who've been through hell with abuse and family issues. I have new books out and a new business, Lanico Enterprise. But I could do none of that without those who have been in my corner.

Anyway, I'm seeking influencers and associates to help move my career along. For those of you who have been following me awhile, you know about my illnesses and the setbacks I've endured because of them. This time around, I plan to have a team to catch my back if I ever have other setbacks. After all, the work I do must go on, with or without me. I'm just a servant and I love it. I love serving you all, being with you and sharing your life, learning from you and being inspired by your victories. That is what it's all about. YOU are my motivation!

To learn how you can be a bigger part of my work, or to connect with me personally, please send me an email or use the Contact Us form on this website and let me know what your interests are or what part you can play in the vision. If you want to sow a seed, please use Paypal email address of [email protected]. Thanks a ton! 

Round 3

Coming to the conclusion that I need God was the easy part. Reconnecting with Him much more difficult, not because of Him but because of the state I was in. I was trying to “find” God, but God was never lost, and had not departed. Thus, again I was spinning my wheels. I was looking outside of myself for an answer that would only come through making peace between myself and God.

Right after I began going through repeated hospitalizations and E.R. visits, I began to lose faith. It began to feel like this illness would always be in my life and I’d always be miserably sick and barely able to function. And so, even before the doctors began to give up, I’d given up. I was praying for death and release versus healing and restoration for a time. While my whole church family labored in prayer with me to be healed, I was so broken and confused by pain that I was in direct opposition to those prayers. I wanted only for it to end.

While not preaching or trying to convert anyone in this book, I find it necessary to talk about the role of faith and speech in healing and wholeness. I remember something my Physical Science teacher used to say in school. “Just because you can’t see gravity or don’t believe in it doesn’t exempt you from the effects of it (gravity).” In the same way, whether or not we believe in God does not change the fact that He exists and He is Most Powerful. Often, when people are diagnosed with chronic illnesses, either they cling to God more desperately or reject Him more definitely. But either way, most sick people have very strong feelings about faith, a case for it or against it. And the list of people proclaiming supernatural healing grows by the hundreds or thousands each day. Yet, growing as rapidly are those who became disillusioned because they were diagnosed with a disease. In their mind, their faith should have protected them from ever becoming ill. They feel that God has failed them and allowed some awful evil to come into their lives by way of sickness and disease. And so, they create a horrible cycle, speaking negative words with worsening results until it culminates into some form of death.

Whatever condition you are in spiritually will create either a circle of blessing, healing and wholeness or a circle of loss, destruction and depression. Fortunately, God isn’t like mankind. He is easily entreated. He never holds grudges or anger. He never holds the past over our heads. He never hides away. He presents Himself moment by moment as a real option in our lives. Though He’s never in need of finding,  He still must be sought.

There are those, who in false humility, assume they cannot wait until everything falls apart to run to God. Guilt won’t allow them. They ascribe to God humanly characteristics like pettiness and cruelty, mockery and grudges. They believe God won’t hear them when they know they need Him most, but it does not matter what has transpired in the past, God has made Himself available to all at any time through prayer. This all may seem like a long detour, but bear with me because I had to make those prior points to get to the meat of this chapter.

When I became ill, I was in a sinful relationship. I was separated from my godly husband and making plans to marry another man. I was in adultery. I was shacking. I was lying. I wasn’t faithful at church. I was backslidden. I was depressed. And in that low place, though I knew God and had previously preached the Gospel, I felt completely alienated from Him. I didn’t know how to boldly approach the throne of grace to find help in troubling times. I didn’t know how to accept His goodness or grace. I didn’t feel that He was with me or for me. I felt like I was an enemy to God and thus, I was rendered powerless to believe the scriptures applied to me too, that I could be healed too.  

(All rights reserved. Copyright 2012 Lacresha Hayes)

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There is nothing more important than finding out the truth about yourself. It isn't easy to look inside ourselves. We are pressured on every side, but if we never assess ourselves, we'll never know wholeness on the level God first intended.

There is beauty and ugliness in each of us. We have weaknesses and strengths. We have fears but find courage. We are human. But each person also has their own unique make up and offerings for the world. Unfortunately, too many pass on without making the mark they could have made or living the life they could have lived if only they'd taken a moment to face the truth of themselves and had exercised the courage to change or get rid of the things that hindered them. It may be too late for millions of people, but it isn't too late for YOU!

Today doesn't have to be like any other day. It can be a day in which you choose to ask yourself the difficult questions. What do YOU like? What makes you happy? What saddens you? What ignites your passion? What makes your heart skip a beat? Does anything outrage you? Are there any injustices you wish would go away? How do you feel about yourself? What do you want to change? What characteristics do you secretly admire and wish you had? These are the kind of questions that change the path and purpose of your life and make life worth living. I love you and I hope you will take the things I share seriously. I don't do this for money, because I don't get paid to blog. I do this to make a difference and share my experiences in life. I once asked myself all those questions and frequently re-evaluate myself. I know how powerful the right questions are. After all, I was born into brokenness, raised in dysfunction, dropped the ball a million times and yet God mercy led me to a place where hundreds of thousands of people are touched by my life. It can and it will happen for you!

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