Never Give Up On Your Dreams

on Sunday, December 28, 2008

Richest African American Woman in the World



Langston Hughes said“ Never give up on your dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that can’t fly.”

44th President of the United States of America



Many people never achieve great dreams. They either give up or fall short of making their dreams a reality. Some reasons cited for this failure is because of short sightedness, small vision, settling or getting off track.

Bold dreams change you as they change the world around you. I desire to help and inspire to you to realize your dreams for I am a firm believer that dreams CAN come true! I want you to dare to dream what seems an impossible dream and let me share with you how to make it come true.

Check out my new book titled Dream Makers versus Day Dreamers. Release date Jan 30, 2009. In the meantime take a look at what others have done with the dreams birthed inside of them.




Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams."

He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School.

He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.




Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He was subsequently defeated in every election for public office until he became Prime Minister at the age of 62. He later wrote, "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never -in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up.''



As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a captain and returned a private. Afterwards, he was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. He later became the 16th President of the United States of America.



Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.

Henry Ford could not read nor write, failed and went broke five times in business before he succeeded.

As an inventor, Thomas Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn't fail a thousand times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps." Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive."

R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York City caught on.

Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry.

Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life. And this, to the sister of one of his friends, for 400 francs (approximately $50). This didn't stop him from completing over 800 paintings.

F. W. Woolworth was not allowed to wait on customers when he worked in a dry goods store because, his boss said, "he didn't have enough sense."

When Bell telephone was struggling to get started, its owners offered all their rights to Western Union for $100,000. The offer was disdainfully rejected with the pronouncement, "What use could this company make of an electrical toy." And how many people have a telephone today?

Sigmund Freud was booed from the podium when he first presented his ideas to the scientific community of Europe. He returned to his office and kept on writing.

Rocket scientist Robert Goddard found his ideas bitterly rejected by his scientific peers on the grounds that rocket propulsion would not work in the rarefied atmosphere of outer space.

An expert said of Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation." Lombardi would later write, "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up."

After Carl Lewis won the gold medal for the long jump in the 1996 Olympic games, he was asked to what he attributed his longevity, having competed for almost 20 years. He said, "Remembering that you have both wins and losses along the way. I don't take either one too seriously."

Babe Ruth is famous for his past home run record, but for decades he also held the record for strikeouts. He hit 714 home runs and struck out 1,330 times in his career (about which he said, "Every strike out brings me closer to the next home run.").

Hank Aaron went 0 for 5 his first time at bat with the Milwaukee Braves.

Stan Smith was rejected as a ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because he was "too awkward and clumsy." He went on to clumsily win Wimbledon and the US Open...and eight Davis Cups.

Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, and Jimmy Johnson accounted for 11 of the 19 Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1993. They also share the distinction of having the worst records of first-season head coaches in NFL history - they didn't win a single game.

Johnny Unitas's first pass in the NFL was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Joe Montana's first pass was also intercepted. And while we're on quarterbacks, during his first season Troy Aikman threw twice as many interceptions (18) as touchdowns (9) . . . oh, and he didn't win a single game. You think there's a lesson here?

Charles Schultz had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Oh, and Walt Disney wouldn't hire him.

After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, read, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." He kept that memo over the fire place in his Beverly Hills home.

Astaire once observed that "when you're experimenting, you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, that you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion." And here is the reward for perseverance: "The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style."

After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?" It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.

When Lucille Ball began studying to be actress in 1927, she was told by the head instructor of the John Murray Anderson Drama School, "Try any other profession."

The first time Jerry Seinfeld walked on-stage at a comedy club as a professional comic, he looked out at the audience, froze, and forgot the English language. He stumbled through "a minute-and a half" of material and was jeered offstage. He returned the following night and closed his set to wild applause.

After Harrison Ford's first performance as a hotel bellhop in the film Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, the studio vice-president called him in to his office. "Sit down kid," the studio head said, "I want to tell you a story. The first time Tony Curtis was ever in a movie he delivered a bag of groceries. We took one look at him and knew he was a movie star." Ford replied, "I thought you were spossed to think that he was a grocery delivery boy." The vice president dismissed Ford with "You ain't got it kid , you ain't got it ... now get out of here."

Woody Allen: "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying. Eighty percent of success is showing up."

Michael Caine's headmaster told him, "You will be a laborer all your life.

Charlie Chaplin was initially rejected by Hollywood studio chiefs because his pantomime was considered "nonsense."

Decca Records turned down a recording contract with The Beatles with the evaluation, "We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on their way out." After Decca rejected the Beatles, Columbia records followed suit.

In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after one performance. He told Presley, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."

Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him "hopeless as a composer." And, of course, you know that he wrote five of his greatest symphonies while completely deaf.

Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college. He was described as both "unable and unwilling to learn." No doubt a slow developer.

Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, was encouraged to find work as a servant by her family.

Emily Dickinson had only seven poems published in her lifetime.

18 publishers turned down Richard Bach's story about a "soaring eagle." Macmillan finally published Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1970. By 1975 it had sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone.

Jack London received six hundred rejection slips before he sold his first story.

21 publishers rejected Richard Hooker's humorous war novel, M*A*S*H. He had worked on it for seven years.

27 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss's first book, "To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street."

Whew! After reading all of that you should be inspired!

www.candacehouse.com

© Candace House 2008, All Rights reserved.

Birthing The Wind

on Wednesday, August 22, 2007




“As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O Lord. We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind.” (Isaiah 26:17-18, NIV).


Has God given you a spiritual vision that you seem to not be able to bring forth? While talking with Marilynn Griffith yesterday on Today’s Breathing Room I was reminded of my opening text. We were discussing among other things, people who were trying to make their visions come forth before time. There are a lot of people that are keenly aware of the vision but yet in still are not able to execute the vision God has given them.

God wants to give each of us a spiritual vision. He not only wants to give the vision but the purpose and objectives of it. He doesn’t stop there but also wants to reveal the plan on how to bring it to past. First you have to become pregnant with vision and it follows a natural process just like child birth. As you experience the "birth of a vision" you will become a co-creator with Him instead of a spectator.

The natural birthing process which brings a human baby into the world is similar to the process of the birth of a vision in the spirit world. You will experience the following stages as you give birth to spiritual vision."Conception" means to create. A spiritual vision is first created in your spirit by God.

When we first receive a spiritual vision, it is in "embryo" stage. Remember the embryo is a basic cell of life. God develops our spiritual vision as we grow in Him, just like the development of the human embryo. The basic cell of life in the human baby is the embryo, from it all the basic human features are developed. If you try to change the embryo, deformity or death can occur to the child. The same as in the spirit.The vision will grow and develop as you mature spiritually. Its features will not be the same as yesterday, last week, or last month. The same as the child growing within the mother. However never forget the basic vision which is the divine purpose for which you are called.

As the body of a pregnant woman stretches in the natural, so does your spirit house the vision . If the vision does not develop within you it will die. The vision is with you constantly. It becomes a vital, living part of you. It draws from your own life source as well as from the divine source which conceived it.

There are certain things a pregnant woman will deny herself of. These are things that would be detrimental to the development of her child. So to must you do the same as your vision develops. You may have to deny yourself of your own plans and ambitions. You will have to sacrifice time to fast and pray.Ecclesiastes 5:3 says, “For a dream cometh through the multitude of business.” The meaning of the word "multitude" is great. "Business", according to one Hebrew meaning, is travail [difficulty]. So a dream or vision can be seen to come through "great travail.” In natural birth there are facts about travail that parallel the spiritual travail which births a vision. Natural travail is a time of intense, concentrated effort to birth the child. This time of travail is also called "labor.” As in the delivery of a child, a spiritual vision is birthed by intense mental, physical, and spiritual concentration. As you are reading this concentrate on what God wants to birth in your spirit.

I remember with my middle child I was so tired of being pregnant. It was August, the hottest month of the year. I wanted Bryant out by any means necessary! I started thinking like a crazy woman! I created all kinds of scenarios in my mind of how I can get him out NOW! The craziest thought I had was to throw myself down the stairs and that would surly make him come. I told my doctor what I was thinking and she wanted me to be treated for depression. She said plenty of women fell into a depressed state when they were only weeks away from giving birth.
So too are we when the vision the Father has given us is taking to long. By any means necessary becomes our motto. We start rehearsing in our minds ways to bring it to past because we are tired.

We know that physically forcing the child into the birth canal before it opens can kill the child. The same is true in the spirit world. Let God take control of your life. If you try to birth the vision in your own strength it will abort the plan of God. Everything within you may cry out to push and bring the spiritual vision forth with natural abilities. But by self-effort you can destroy the vision. Peter cried out to Christ, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man," (Luke 5:8, NIV) when he realized what Christ was calling him to do. He knew the vision was too great for him to fulfill by his natural strength and abilities.

The Time of Transition

In the natural birth process there is a time during labor known as the time of "transition.” It is the most difficult time of travail right before the birth canal is open to permit the birth of the child. Also when God births in you a spiritual vision you will experience a time of transition. All transition means is change. The vision God gives you is going to require change in your life.

It will call for new commitment and dedication. It will call for strength and fortitude. During this time you must remember where your help comes from. We know that it comes from the Lord.

Why should you remember this? Because you will experience pressure in every area of your life. The heat will be turned up 7 times hotter. Everything within you may cry out for relief from the spiritual birth pangs of what God is bringing forth. This is the point where many fail to receive the vision. Over and over again God has brought His people to the time of transition to birth His vision within them. But because this transition was too difficult many have turned back.

They just couldn’t take the pressure. The heat was on! It required changes in their thought patterns and lifestyle, which they were not willing to make. They could not abandon self-effort and the traditional way of doing things. They could not set aside their own ambitions and desires to embrace the plan of God. This is the same thing that happened to the nation of Israel in my opening text.

We are told in Isaiah 53:11 that God witnessed the travail of Jesus Christ and was satisfied. A vision was fulfilled that day on Calvary ... a vision that had been promised since the fall of man into sin (Genesis 3:15). Through travail, the vision of redemption from sin became a reality.Travail is a painful experience, but it is only through travail that the vision can be birthed: “... yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery? Says the Lord. Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery? Says your God?” (Isaiah 66:8-9, NIV).

The Birth

The end of the travail is birth. We must guard against going into labor prematurely as well as a delayed birth. Both of which can result in death, Both in the natural birth process and in the birth of spiritual vision.

After birth in the natural world the child continues to grow and develop. After the birth of your spiritual vision it will continue to grow and develop. It will have new features and form, but they all must develop from that basic cell of spiritual life which is called the vision.

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