Obstacles are the things that interrupt us and seem to stop us from moving toward our goal. The baby starts crying in the middle of our much needed sleep and we get up to feed and care for her. The food our family eats doesn’t prepare itself…someone needs to cook it. Laundry unwashed and stacked in piles is far less useful seems like an obstacle getting in the way of other “more important” things. If our lives are less organized than we need them to be, obstacles appear more frequently. Our disorganization increases the number of obstacles in our way. The tool you didn’t put away last time you used it is now very hard to find. This makes the next project more difficult to accomplish because half of the time available is used up looking for tools.

There are other more significant obstacles also. The nagging thought in my head that says I’m not good enough to get the job I want is a significant obstacle in my job search.   What I believe about myself stands as a testimony about what I can and will achieve. When I think I am insignificant or useless, my presentation suffers. People around you and I will believe the messages they receive from us. Valuable, or not.

I believe that I am a significant valuable person created in the image of God. My only judge is the God who made me for a purpose. My job is to pursue my God and find the purpose, the very reason He created me. I also believe that when I was born, I was fatally flawed. My ancestors made a very poor decision when they chose to disobey God who told them the only thing they really needed is a relationship with Him. Adam and Eve chose to believe a lie:  “God is not good. He is hiding the truth from you. You can be like God knowing good and evil.” Evil we have come to know far too well. The key problem is that by learning evil, we’ve lost the ability to know good. The only way we can get back to knowing good is by knowing God. God provided the only way that we can know good by offering to us a gift that removes the fatal flaw. Redemption. Only God can forgive us for our rejection of Himself. The only redemption available is for God Himself to take upon Himself the consequences for our rejection of Himself. He did that. John 3:16 Do you believe? Once the fatal flaw is removed, we can move forward with confidence that God our Heavenly Father has completely and totally forgiven us through the blood of Jesus Christ, God Himself. Being totally forgiven makes us totally free to pursue God and His plan for our life. Is that plan to be wealthy? Maybe. Perhaps not. The freedom to grow and to change and to love gives us the strength to overcome the obstacles we face every day.

If you set a goal for yourself to swim across the English Channel and only swim half way, did you win? Better hope for a life boat to pull you out of the water if you choose to quit. If you set a goal, make sure you are also making the commitment to complete the goal. Don’t quit.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

For life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won if he’d stuck it out.

Success is just failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt.

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far.

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit!

-          Anonymous

 

Success is closer that you think … if you just don’t quit.

 

Adjust. When things don’t go quite the way you expected them to go, make sure that you adjust early if changes are required. Waiting till later almost never works very well when the market shifts and we go from a hot market to a cold one. Your strategy needs to change. Your funding sources need to change also. Buying and holding Real Estate works very well in a cold market, if you have a funding source available. 

Did you know that investing in Real Estate in a cold market can be far more lucrative than in a hot market? If you have money in a bank account collecting 1% interest, team up with a local investor who can get much better returns on your investment. Owning a mortgage on cash flowing properties can provide significant returns in a slow economy. Providing funds for the investor to do business solves the investor problem of a funding source. Providing homes for recently displaced home owners who have been through foreclosure solves the housing problem for that family. Buying the property at newly reduced prices solves the problem for both the Investor and the Bank who really can’t hold on to a property. Win – Win – Win – Win – Win. Contact me if you need more information on buying a mortgage and getting your money to work for you.