Good evening, my lovelies. 😊
Guess what I did today?
🙏
💪
😎
😁
Yep, I slept in. 🙃
😆
No, that’s not the big story of the day today. I had a hard time sleeping last night, so I was restless, and I got up earlier than I have the last little bit, tired, but unable to sleep.
Oh, that’s not the big story either. I’ll get to that shortly. 😁
Did some dailies. Saw Heather off for the day. Started trying to do some online questions, but the real Focus today was facing fears and getting stuff done.
What did I get done?
New Zealand visa application submitted!
I finished going back through every single section, making last adjustments. I went through all the documents, combining PDFs to other pdfs. I significantly edited the documents I had previously attached, deleting them editing them, and reattaching them to the application, and guess what else I did?!?!?!
I am now the owner, executive officer, soul member, etc, of Lift the World, LLC, a brand new South Dakota business. I would have organized it as a benefit organization, but I didn’t see that as an option in South Dakota, and I’m not quite ready yet to go the route of making it a non-profit organization. Too much stress, for now.
But I finally did it! 😊
There’s a part of me that wonders if maybe God’s direction to go to New Zealand was pretty much just to get the fire lit to start the organization. I would not have registered the business today had it not been for that Visa application. I was specifically looking at ways that I could prove to the country of New Zealand that I was not planning to stay in their country past my Visa time, and I figured it would prove my sincerity decently well to show them my intention of returning to start this organization.
Without the visa application as the impetus, there’s no way I would have started it today, and probably not for months and months, if not longer.
So it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the next direction I got from God was to not worry about going to new Zealand, that the design for the little nudge to go to New Zealand was only to get me this far.
That said, I do think there’s more to it. I do think the Lord wants me in New Zealand for some reason, and I’ll find out what that is.
With the positive changes I’ve seen in myself the last 2 days, an additional one is that, though nothing has changed circumstantially, my concerns about going have lost all their potency.
It just feels like a done deal at this point. It feels like what’s… next.
And I’ll understand soon.
Or maybe I won’t.
But it honestly doesn’t matter.
I’m moving forward with a sincere heart, trying to follow my best understanding as to what the Lord would have me do, and that’s what matters most to both Him and to me.
If I’m in error, and it’s crucial, He’ll guide me in a way that will alter my course toward the needed path.
Otherwise, I fully expect I’ll be in New Zealand again in 2 1/2 months. 😊
And… I’m actually getting a little… excited? 🙃
I can still feel little nerves deep down when I think about being alone for 6 months and in an area of perhaps much greater temptation with only the safeguards that I personally choose to put in place for myself.
But as I’ve worked to push through the obstacles and worked to follow the lord as best I can, my disposition toward going has been changing.
🙏
Amazingly, I don’t care much about what it’s going to cost. 😶 I’m losing my concern for the prolonged solitude and proximity to addictive dangers… I’m just… walking a path that feels like… what’s next? …that it just is.
So yeah, visa application submitted, and Lift The World officially, legally, organized.
Boom.
🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳
🙏🙏🙏
Chatted with Hans a little bit when he got home from work, talking a bit about Taoism, the Tao Te Ching and the beautiful truths found in eastern traditions (and the beautiful truths found in many traditions all over the world and throughout history).
So many teaching similar principles and values but from perspectives that add depth and richness when brought together into one whole.
🥰
I love it.
After a day of really big personal successes, I headed over to my little soaking pool project. Hans had found a plastic cup that I could use as a drain plug and head brought it over to the soaking pool for me, so I grabbed that when I got there, and it was the absolute perfect size for the job, so that was great. 😊
🙏
And then I sent probably the next hour and a half or two hours? Listening to uplifting podcasts on YouTube while continuing to excavate the bedrock from my little soaking pool area.
To my surprise and delight, after managing to pull away a chunk of bedrock that had been challenging to break free, upon looking down where that bedrock used to be, there was a large opening in the bedrock, probably 3 in wide and maybe two or three feet long that was just gushing spring water.
The flow was so strong that I could drop a rock perhaps the size of a grape right into the opening in the bedrock, and the current would quickly push it all the way to the side, not letting it sink down into the opening itself.
So cool. 😎
That was super fun to see. As I’ve been excavating down, with the water getting deeper, it’s been harder to see the Springs bubbling up because the water has gotten deeper, but wow! The crack is deep enough that I need a flashlight, i think, to see how far down it goes. I don’t think it goes very deep, and I think the current is flowing from the side and not being pushed straight up, but still, I would bet that the big opening is maybe a couple feet deep? I’ll test it maybe tomorrow.
Anyway, I stayed there until I got myself a little chilled, spending a fairly significant amount of time mostly submerged in the water and then headed home.
Listen to More podcast stuff. Chatted with Heather and Hans a bit. Ate the lovely dinner that Heather made, and here I am, caught up now on the journal and in bed.
With the slight detour of realizing that my electric cooler was at 44° instead of 32° and had an error, that error I realized very quickly was because it was overheating, and it was overheating because I had managed to block all the exhaust vents that blow the hot air out and away from the cooler.
Oops 🙃
So I shut it off completely, grabbed my little portable fan, and set the fan blowing on the cooler to help speed up the cooling process, and then fired it back up.
Seems to be working as it should now, though it’s odd to me that when I said it for a particular temperature, it allows it to go like five degrees warmer than that temperature before it’ll kick on and bring it back down to the set temperature.
🤔
🤷
Gratitude to My Father:
- I’m grateful I was again able to power through fear today and just do things that needed to be done. I didn’t have quite the motivation today that I did yesterday, in terms of positive excitement, but neither was it a mild PTSD day, for the most part. I just was able to plow on through.
- I’m grateful, and pleasantly surprised that the 260 something dollar visa fee that I was expecting was waived?. My total bill for today was something like $61, or something like that. Maybe they’ll charge me more later? But on the screen for fees, two of the three fees were completely waived. 🙏
- I’m grateful for the fun little surprise of the super powerful spring gushing out when I pulled that chunk of rock out of the way. That was super cool. I feel kind of like I’m making a Roman bath. 🙃
- I’m grateful that my body is still able to play in the creeks and ponds like this. These are my soul places.
- I’m grateful to have made meaningful progress toward my lift the world goals today. 🥳
- I’m grateful that the nudging to go to New Zealand also brought about the circumstances that got me to finally legally start the organization.
We. Celebrate. Successes!!! 🥳:
- Lift The World!!!
- New Zealand!!!
- Facing fears and pushing through!!!
Reflections on Where I Can Improve:
- Hmmm… I definitely could have been better at focusing in and getting some work done today. I didn’t get a single online question answered today, and today was the cutoff, so I’m likely going to get a warning of demotion this week (meaning that they’ll move me to the edge of being demoted but not fully demote me just yet.)
Thought of the Day:
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
~ Lao Tzu
Hand of God In My Life Today:
I think mostly, just the change in my emotional fortitude and relative positivity. I’m just… So much more positive, and it’s all come from returning to God.
Love and hugs!
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 