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My Book “UNSTOPPABLE. It’s a Choice” published

25 Apr

Greetings Friends,

I know I did not post anything for a while. It has been an extremely busy time lately. There are many changes! Before I continue, I want to announce that I moved my blog to my new website http://becomingunstoppable.org

I encourage you to go to the website and subscribe there, so you receive my blog messages and updates. I probably will be discontinuing blog here, so visit my new website and subscribe, so we can continue the journey together.

There you will find Blog as well as videos from my interviews and speaking events, information about the book, photos, and information about public speaking and coaching services I offer.

In my Blog, I will share messages of inspiration, faith and some self-management tools that will strengthen your faith, empower you to handle your own challenges and will equip you to break through the obstacles, while you are in the process of creating the life you are longing to live.

In the Menu, you will see the Blog tab, which separates into two separate categories – Faith & Stories of Answered Prayers and Self Management /Life Coaching.

picture with the book

 

The great news is that my book ‘Unstoppable. It’s a Choice’ is now PUBLISHED! I began receiving feedback and reviews from readers. Friends, I don’t know if I am still dreaming or is it really true that my manuscript is an actual book. I must tell you that my road to this moment was long and even painful at times. My seven-year writing journey began when my brother’s cry for help reached me.

In April of 2007, I received a text message from my brother, which shook me to the core of my being. It was very disturbing. I knew something really bad had happened. As I was wondering what I could do to help him, a clear thought came to me “Write him a letter.” It was an inspiration/direction that I needed to write him about my own recovery after the car accident; write about the source of my inner strength and tenacity, how I was able to not give up no matter how hopeless it seemed, and what was behind my successful achievement of goals that others claimed to be impossible. Even though my brother was by my side for many years and watched me making decisions and working toward my goals, he never knew the reasons behind my relentless perseverance, which ultimately brought me to the life that seemed impossible to ever attain. And now, I was inspired to tell it all to help my brother not to give up and recover from his own adversity.

I never considered I could write well. But my love for my brother and urging feeling that I needed to do that won my insecurity. So I got on my computer and wrote him a long open conversation from my heart. My brother responded very positively to my offer to write him letters and asked me to keep writing. So I did. After a while, brother opened up to me that he was in such dark hopeless place that he didn’t see the way out. Even thoughts of suicide began coming to him with persistence. But now, he got out of hopelessness and had the hope and direction in life. “My little son still has his daddy alive because of your letters, Inga. Continue writing and publish a book to help other people,” he added.

I never thought I could write a book. But, I decided to write and publish it, just as brother encouraged me. I believed if this saves the life of at least one more person, if it makes a difference to someone else, it will be all worth it. I did not have the editor nor did I have the money to publish it. But, I believed it all would come when it’s time to publish it; I just needed to do the work – write it. So, I began working on it using every free time-frame to write. There were many difficulties and obstacles to complete this book and publish it. It was a long seven-year consistent and relentless work to bring this book into existence.  And indeed, when the manuscript for the book was complete, everything necessary for the book to be published came – everything came at the same time. It’s just incredible how the Lord provided!

It turned out that when I was ready to edit the manuscript and was wondering where I could find a good professional editor, at that time the company where I work at as a Public Relations person, hired a temporary contractor for certain project. And, to my surprise, Bob was a seasoned professional editor and has worked with the former President of the U.S. and other known public figures and companies. Shortly after his arrival, Bob agreed to edit my book once the funds arrive.

I needed $10.000 to cover editing and publishing expenses, and I had no idea where I could get the funds from. So, in my prayer I brought my need before the Lord, asking Him to help me with funding if it’s the right time for me to publish this book. Few weeks since the prayer, I met for lunch with an acquaintance of mine, who after hearing my updates on the book, a week later handed me an envelope with a check for $10.000 saying “I know this money belongs to your Unstoppable. Go ahead, edit it and publish it to bring it to the world.”

The Lord doesn’t stop astounding me! And, He showed it again – all things are possible for Him. Circumstances, money, people’s hearts… everything is in God’s hands. What is required of us is obedience to His voice and faithfulness to the work that He entrusts us to do. And the rest… whatever seems impossible becomes very possible when the Lord provides.
I put all my heart into this work. I wrote it with love and much care, revealing my true story. Beginning with the story of my car crash, I share how difficult the recovery process was after losing my legs and the use of my left arm. I share what gave me hope and determination to restore my life. Going against circumstances and opinions of others, I aimed for goals that seemed beyond my grasp. Finally, I traveled independently from Europe to the U.S. to implement my dream. The narrative is intertwined with a love story that brought me even more emotional anguish than the car accident. At that point, I felt totally broken and no longer had I the strength or desire to fight for my life. But, I had to ask myself whether I was going to allow other people’s choices to break me and my destiny. I made the choice to get up and continue on. With the Lord’s help, I picked myself up, returned to the US and continued pursuing the life I desired to live.

While I was writing this book, I saw how my decisions not to give up and be unstoppable in my pursuit totally transformed those tragedies and hardships that I faced. It really shows that it’s not what happens to us and not other people’s choices determine our future, but our decision what we’re going to do with it all that ultimately determines our destiny. The entire book shows the power of our decisions that are made by us, once we stand at the crossroads of a choice.

The book includes my real letters to my bother, which are written in a coaching style. So while sharing my story, I coach the reader, who is facing any type of difficulties and desires to improve his or her life.

Be it a life-altering adversity in your life, or this monster called depression, obstacles that make your goals hard to reach, bad decisions in the past or any hardships that you face, reading the book you will find a roadmap how to trust the Lord in the midst of troubles, how to overcome depression and thrive again, how to break through hardships, overcome obstacles and achieve any goals, ultimately creating the life you desire.

My hope and aim for this book are to inspire, encourage, ignite faith, and give practical knowledge that will equip the reader to overcome and succeed.

Some of the reviews can be found on my website http://becomingunstoppable.org/about-the-book/reviews/
The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, GoodReads.

 

Now that my book is published, I follow my calling and purpose to fulfill my promise to God which I made 17 years ago, and reach out my hand to those who are struggling and going through hardships, who desire to improve their lives but don’t know how, who experienced adversity and need to recover from pain and continue on.

I and my friend and Associate Anzhelika Polyak (another Lithuanian, whom I met in San Francisco in one of the events where I was a guest speaker at the Christian Church)  are establishing a company ‘Becoming Unstoppable’, which has a mission to make a difference in people’s lives by bringing the message of hope, sharing a personal testimony of the living God’s power to restore the broken and turn the impossible into possible. Along with the message about faith, Becoming Unstoppable shares practical guidance and self-management strategies/tools to empower people to keep on going and break through any circumstances to create the lives they’re longing to have.

Since my car accident, I have done a number of public speaking engagements and interviews in Lithuania and in the United States for TV programs, radio and publications for inspirational purposes and I am looking forward to continuing sharing my message.

If you would be interested in having me as a guest speaker, please connect with me.

I can be reached via Admin@BecomingUnstoppable.org, or my information can be found on the website www.BecomingUnstoppable.org

 

These are my updates. I hope, reading my message you were encouraged.

By for now, hope to see you on the Becoming Unstoppable!

 

Inga

 
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Posted by on April 25, 2018 in Christianity, Faith, God, Inspiration, Life Coaching, Miscellaneous, Motivation, My Life, Prayer, Uncategorized

 

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How to be Resilient, How to Recover from the Adversity? Step 3. Your Focus.

14 Jan
How to be Resilient, How to Recover from the Adversity? Step 3. Your Focus.

Focus on what you have and what you can do. Focus on the solution, not the problem.

After the affliction or generally during hardships, it is crucial to be aware of your thought patterns, what you are focused on. Naturally, we grieve and are longing for that which was lost. And yes, we do need that time to grieve. It is important though not to stay there longer than we need. At some point, it’s imperative for the focus to be shifted away from the tragedy to the newness, from the problem to the solution, from the limitations to abilities and opportunities. What you focus on will have a significant impact on your journey to recovery.

While we’re going through a hardship, normally we don’t think about what’s far ahead because we are focused on what’s going on at the moment, how we feel at that time. Would you agree that naturally, we think about the problem, often focused on analyzing how difficult it is rather on our ultimate destination?

But it is imperative to keep our ultimate destination in mind, not the problem. How many times have you heard sayings like, “I got bombarded by so many problems that I didn’t have the energy to continue,” or, “The challenges I encountered were too much to bear,” or, “I got so tired that I just couldn’t do this anymore.” And you find out that they gave up on something they were just recently passionate about. There might be different reasons why they gave up on their pursuit, but overall it all comes to the same point: their difficulty overpowered them. For the most part – because they put so much attention to how difficult it was – more attention was paid to the challenge than on the ultimate goal. When we face any difficult situation, what will determine what’s next is:

  • How you are going to look at the situation (choosing the perspective),
  • What you are going to focus on, and,
  • What you are going to do about it.

I believe putting your focus on the wrong aspect of the situation is one of the fastest roads toward failure. It’s very easy to give up when you focus on the obstacle or difficulty you are facing. Why? I am sure you have noticed in your life – the more you think about the bad situation and how difficult and painful it is, the worse it seems. Negative thoughts become more and more dominant and darker, and your problem snowballs into something bigger and more challenging. It reaches the point to where it seems irresolvable and you might say to yourself, “I can’t do this.” And here you are, you have arrived at a different destination that you first intended to.

I want to share an excerpt from my upcoming book “Unstoppable. It’s a Choice”, one of those special moments that set a direction of my journey of recovery.

“I don’t remember exactly when this happened, but it was soon after this marveling revelation. One day my mom and I were walking outside enjoying the beautiful spring day and we saw a young guy in an electric wheelchair, sitting alone, enjoying the weather as we were. We walked up to him to chat. He was approximately my age and he was completely paralyzed up to his neck. He was not able to use his legs or his arms and he had a hard time speaking. Like mine, his life had changed in a heartbeat when he got beaten up by a gang, resulting in total and permanent paralysis. This young and handsome guy was sitting in a wheelchair with no ability to move his body, even having difficulty speaking. Were that not enough, his family had abandoned him, forcing him to stay at various Rehab Centers and nursing homes, all the while being taken care of by strangers. As he was sharing his story, a thought came to my mind “See? You could’ve been in his place. That is what Rose was talking about.”

That moment it seemed as though the entire world has stopped. Suddenly, the astonishment of my new revelation of how well it ended for me overshadowed the horror of my loss. “I am so blessed! In addition to the miracle of not breaking my neck, though I had a strong head injury, I can think clearly, I can express myself easily, and I can move!”

I wanted to shout out with happiness. It seemed like my eyes were opened and I saw with clarity how fortunate I was. While talking with the young man, my mind was captured by the astonishing facts of my blessings. All I felt was gratitude. After we ended our conversation, my mom and I continued walking toward the lake. I was completely astounded with what I had just realized.

“Wait a minute,” I thought. “I have a clear mind and I can communicate. And while I do not remember many things due to the brain injury, I can think and express myself the way I did prior to the accident. I still have my right arm functioning. What if I still can be independent? I could learn how to do things with one arm, and then I could take care of myself independently. I can move my body freely, so I will walk again wearing prosthetic legs. I won’t really have to depend on others. My body is not the same anymore, but I am still able to use what I have left. I will do everything in a way that I can. The important part is that I can! I am blessed that it ended the way it did. I will come back to life.”

I was so consumed by my sudden realization that I didn’t hear what mom was saying. And as I was having this inner dialogue, I felt how everything was changing within the core of my being, specifically in what I noticed and how I perceived my situation. Instead of looking at my losses and limitations, I saw how much I actually was able to do.

Instead of despair, I felt enlightenment. It felt as though with every breath, I was gaining the hope that I would have a way out of this hopeless place in my life. As I was being rolled in the wheelchair through the forest, in my mind I was building a strategic plan to end this rolling in the wheelchair business to bring myself back to life. “

The time in a Rehab Center was the most painful and difficult time I can remember. But, it was a pivotal time.  The realization that I have so much to be thankful and how much I was able to do, transformed the way I saw my new life and the way I felt about it. I understood that my life experience will greatly depend on what I focus on. Since then, I began changing my thinking.

Instead of thinking that I no longer was able to do something because I did not have my legs and could not use my left arm, I looked from a different angle – I can think clearly, I can move my body and I still can use my right arm – there must be a way for me to be self-sufficient, how can I use what I have to achieve what I desire? I focused on the opportunities and possibilities rather than what was destroyed in my life and how many doors were shut because of my physical limitations. Instead of dwelling on how I no longer could go out of my home and do the work that I used to be able to, I looked from a different angle – what are the possibilities for me to go out of my home, how could I manage things independently, and what kind of work I could do in my situation? And then, while focusing on my abilities and opportunities, I was seeking for the solution to build my future rather than dwelling on the problem and grieving about what’s no longer there.

Imagine a race with hurdles. When an athlete runs close to the hurdle (obstacle), he jumps over it and continues to run. When he gets close to the next hurdle – he overcomes this as well and races until he reaches the finish line. The interesting thing is that while the runner sees every hurdle ahead, his eyes are not on the next hurdle, but where the finish line is. His focus is the destination, not obstacles on the way. I know this because I used to be an athletic runner when I was a teenager. We were taught not to focus on the hurdle, but always to focus ahead where the race was ending. Why? Focusing on the hurdle most of the time resulted in the failure to overcome it, and the chances of winning were reduced. The major focus was the final destination; hurdles were just obstacles along the way which we needed to overcome and continue on running no matter what until we reached the finish line.

That’s the mindset I had when aiming for my goal. My eyes were set on my ultimate goal where I was going, and difficulties were something I needed to overcome so I could continue my race until I reach my final destination. Obstacles are there to be overcome, and not something that could stop me.

Now I see that I unconsciously had the same thought pattern every time:

  • During difficult times, I never focused on hardships, no matter how difficult or painful they were.
  • My mental eyes were always directed toward my final destination.
  • The immediate focus was on the work I had to do to attain my goal.

It’s one of the most important key points in self-management that played a major role in my ability to break through the obstacles or handle hardships when it felt unbearable.

Now, after a while, I can see that such mindset, by concentrating not on the problem but on its solution, strongly and consistently moved me forward. Managing my focus empowered me to aim and achieve goals that others said were unattainable for me. And then, this skill empowered me to move across the globe from my family and establish my life in the United States even though at the time of my decision I had no place to live, no work, not a lot of money, and even no right to live and work in America.

If I had looked at those challenging situations as if they were insolvable problems and focused on how difficult it was, I know I would have been stuck and it would have taken much longer to achieve my goals. In fact, most likely I would not have reached them at all. If I had focused on my limitations, what I have lost and what I could not do anymore, my life would be miserable. In comparison, focusing on my abilities and opportunities and solutions empowered me to attain life’s transformation.

When facing a difficult situation, instead of being worried or stressed out about the problem, begin immediately to focus on the solution. And then, make every effort to solve the problem the best way you can.

In my next message, I will share how to focus on the solution and how to find it.

Meanwhile, be Unstoppable. It’s a Choice.

Inga

Step3 postEN

 

 
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Posted by on January 14, 2018 in Christianity, Inspiration, Life Coaching, Motivation, My Life, Personal Growth, Self Development, self Management, Uncategorized

 

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How to be Resilient, How to Recover from the Adversity? Step 2. Perspective.

13 Dec
How to be Resilient, How to Recover from the Adversity? Step 2. Perspective.

Step2 postEN

Now that I look back and analyze myself what empowered me to recover my life after the devastating crash, I see there were several aspects that worked together intertwined. I talk about my faith a lot because the Lord has given me the strength, tenacity, opportunities, courage, endurance and a blessing in everything I aimed for. I would not have made it without the Lord. But then there are other aspects that I don’t talk much about – besides the Lord’s intervention and His blessing I work with myself a lot. There are several components that helped me to recover from my personal adversity:

  1. God’s blessing and unshakable faith
  2. Self-management
  3. Personal Action and relentless effort to do the best I can do under any circumstances.

Self-management plays a significant role and I want to elaborate on that aspect.  Overcoming deep depression, emerging from hopelessness, breaking through the impossible odds, achieving goals and positive mindset is not a coincidence, but it is a result. Or, in other words, it’s the fruit of my efforts that nobody sees. It’s the result of hard relentless work.

Have you thought about why some people give up and others overcome seemingly insurmountable situations which confront them? Why some people get depressed and give in to circumstances and others refuse to give in and find a way to improve their lives? Is it that some are stronger than others? I don’t think so. I believe that what sets those people apart is their ability to manage themselves.

What is self-management? It is the skill to master your perspective, your thought patterns, your thought focus and your feelings. It’s the ability to manage yourself. When you have the skills necessary to manage your inner state, you will be able to respond to life’s events in a way that empowers you. It is imperative to be able to manage your outlook and your inner state at all times because you make different choices and different decisions depending upon how you view a situation and how you feel at the time your decisions are made. Would you agree that you make different decisions when you feel hopeful, confident, tenacious, strong and determined, and make entirely different decisions when you feel hopeless and helpless, defeated, doubting and pessimistic?

There was a time in my life when I realized that in addition to God’s blessing, my experience greatly depended on how well I managed myself. My biggest eye opener and probably one of the most significant ones was when I realized that my experience about one or another event depended upon how I choose to look at it.

I learned and realized that thoughts and emotions don’t just “happen” to me, leaving me powerless against them. I choose what I think and what I focus on, what meaning I give to the events and what I am going to do about them. Nobody and no event has the power to make me feel in any particular way unless I allow it. I am the one who chooses my response, and that depends on my perspective and my interpretation of what it means to me.

We always in our mind communicate to ourselves what things mean to us, how we feel about occurred events and what we are going to do about it all. When we are doing well, we are excited and think about how thrilled we are that things are going well,  what it took for us to achieve success, and having an even stronger belief of what is possible for us, we move on to another venture. Likewise, in the event of various complex circumstances, we weigh our current situation, ask ourselves why it happened, and make conclusions and decisions for the future. While we are thinking about one or the other situation, we feel certain emotions. It’s easy to see the good side and feel positive emotions when the circumstances are in our favor. But it’s more challenging to feel positive if it’s a painful and difficult event for us.

One of the combining details that affect our inner state and our subsequent decisions is our how we interpret it and how we communicate it to ourselves. Depending on our perspective we will give the meaning to that particular event, and from there follows our emotions and decisions what we are going to do next.

Having the same event, we have a choice of how we will look at it and how we will interpret it.

  • Is this a punishment or is this a lesson for me?
  • Is this a crash or is it just the end of something that will be replaced by something that really needs to take place in my life?
  • Is this an unrecoverable tragedy or is it a test for me?
  • Is this a loss or an opened opportunity to have new and better?
  • Is this a dead end or is it a challenge for me to find a way because I know there must be the way?
  • Is this too much for me to handle or is this opportunity for me to overcome a new challenge and become stronger?
  • Is this a problem or is it a challenge for me to find a way, to improve and create what I want?

Let’s take a very simple example. Let’s say Dave come to work and finds out that he was let go. What is he going to do about it? It greatly depends on his perspective. He can see it as he’s not good enough and they are getting rid of him, it’s a big problem, it’s the end of his security and well-being. How will Dave feel? Most likely he will feel defeated, not needed, self-insecure, stressed, fearful for his future, not confident to look for another well-paid job. But what if this is an opportunity for him to get a better position? What if this door closes, so he would open another door to have a career that he really wants? Maybe this is an opportunity for him to apply for the position that he always dreamed about or maybe even create his own business? How will Dave feel having this perspective? Most likely he will feel having a new beginning, intrigued, excited about the change to a better, opportunity to learn new things and improve, eager to take action, curious, hopeful. Having this kind of perspective will make him feel in a whole different way and a very different behavior than in the first case. A person can have two different perspectives about the same situation and both of them will create totally different outcomes.

Let’s take a gambling game. It is just a game, nothing more.  But how we feel about it depends on how we look at it and what gambling game means to us. We can look at it as a fun time with friends, the excitement of a mystery of what’s going to happen next and a great opportunity to gain an unlimited amount of money with no effort and work.  Also, we can look at it as a waste of time, opening doors to something that can bring a great destruction into our lives and it is just throwing away our money that we can spend on something more meaningful.  It’s all how we look at it will make us feel about that object or any event.

What if we look at circumstances or occurred events as just the facts? The fact itself can’t make us feel in any particular way.  It is just a plain fact same way as an object. It’s how we look at the fact will shape our attitude and our feelings about it. Events, the same way as objects or activities are simply neutral matter and they have both likes and dislikes, depending on what it means to people. Our perspective is the foundation of what meaning we give to the event or any circumstance, and depending on that we will feel about it in a particular way and will choose what we are going to do about it.

 

Perspective depends greatly on our beliefs. We have a choice to believe that everything that happens in our lives is in God’s control and everything happens for the purpose and for the better. We also may believe that there is no God, life is whatever events happen to us, it’s all about luck and most often life’s not fair. We may believe that with our decisions we can shape our destiny, and we may believe that all life’s events and circumstances are out of our control; therefore, it is meaningless to work hard and make the effort. We may believe that we are not good enough and are not really worthy of love and strong family, and we may choose to believe that everybody is worthy and can have it, so we do as well and we will have it when the right time comes. We may have a belief that we will not succeed anyway because we are not worthy of success or we are simply not as lucky as others, and we can believe that success is not a mere luck but a result of our efforts and we will be blessed and will succeed in everything we aim for.

These are just several examples of general beliefs about God, life, love and us as people, which shape our perspective.  Belief is nothing more than what we are convinced about, which we can choose as well. I cannot stress enough how critical it is to pay attention and choose your belief and perspective.

In order to show it better and make it more real, I will take my own life. The car accident that I was involved in was something that I could have never expected nor was I ready for such drastic event. I was 22 years old, and this event was a major turning point in my life and my family members. The result of that crash was that I lost a person, who I was dating at the time (he was killed), and lost everything that made my life fulfilling.  In addition to losing it all, having multiple injuries and losing both of my legs and having my left arm fully paralyzed, made me totally helpless and not able to take care of myself at all.  From being active, joyous and having strong potential to be successful in life, suddenly I found myself helpless in bed not being able to move or do anything independently, except see, feel and speak a little bit.  My life was changed overnight.

There were many different opinions on why it happened, questions about my destiny and advice what I should do with my life at that point. I have heard people had ideas that God has punished me. Others said probably this was my destiny and I should just accept it. “Such is your fate…he broke your destiny” was a very common conclusion, implying that I needed to accept it and give in because there was nothing I could do to get it all back or make my life better. I also had to hear advice not to try so hard pursuing my dream, because what I wanted was unrealistic. I disagreed with them all and decided to fight for my life because I had a different belief.

Today, one of the things I am most grateful for to my Creator is that from the very beginning I had a positive perspective about what had happened and faith of what my future would be like. I had unshakable belief that my life’s under God’s control and therefore, I will not fear. There was a reason why I got into this crash and also there is a purpose why I survived, even though I was given 30% to live.  I believed there must be a serious reason why this had happened. Even though I didn’t understand many things, but I believed there’s a purpose in everything and Lord was going to restore my life. I didn’t believe that this event happened for me to spend the rest of my life being in regret and depression, watching how my life passes by in sadness and restricted lifestyle.

I decided that I would not be a victim and wouldn’t spend my life continuously thinking about what had happened. I refused to be in self-pity or collect sympathy from others. The decision to restore my life no matter how much effort it would cost fueled me with unbreakable determination. I had a very clear understanding that my destiny was not going to be “broken” because of the event that had happened. I believed I could change my destiny the way I wanted and with God’s help that’s exactly what I was determined to do. I was going to live a full life in spite of my injuries. My understanding about it was so bright and clear, as if I were given a palette of paint, being told that I could draw only black or gray house, and I knew that I could use all the colors I wanted, and paint not only a house, but also blossoming gardens, green trees, colorful flowers, bright yellow sun, blue sky…

I did not know how my situation could possibly resolve to a better, but I knew that I would live well. I completely ignored people’s sayings “Such is your fate…” I did not listen to what anybody said about my position in life and their opinions about my goals that I wanted to achieve. I always had a vision of how I wanted my life to be, believed that it was possible to implement it and did everything I could do to make it become my reality.

I set the goals for myself, which step-by-step transformed my life from not being able to speak, move or do anything independently to traveling from Europe to the United States by myself and building my life all over again. I had a vision that I would live a fully active lifestyle in spite of my injuries, consistently worked toward my goal, and today I get to live my dream that seemed nearly impossible.

Now, after a while, I clearly see that if I also believed that God has punished me, I would have spent the rest of my life in misery, thinking that I would not have anything beautiful in my destiny. If I also had looked at my circumstances “realistically” as many did, I would not have even aimed for goals that I did. If I had agreed with people, who had their own beliefs about destiny and told me that I should just accept what had happened and let it be the way it was because such was my fate – probably I would still be spending my days being stuck at home having no access to a full life. If I believed that we can have only that, which circumstances allow, I still would be imprisoned by the walls of my home, watching how my youth pass by me and all I have is a dull existence.

My belief shaped the perspective that gave me hope and empowered me to take action to change my circumstances and create the life that I envisioned.  My perspective about this event and my future gave a birth to the attitude that I can’t and won’t give up on my life, but will take action to improve everything. My beliefs strengthened and encouraged me that I would succeed. I did not allow my loss to ruin my desire to live a full joyous life. Opposite, my loss gave a birth within to a burning desire to live and aspiration to achieve my dreams. I did not allow my desperate situation to destroy my faith. Opposite, my faith became stronger than it ever was. My adversity revealed to me the values that I never saw before. My belief and attitude made me strong, persistent and unstoppable.

 

As all of my above examples show, the same situation can have totally different outcomes, depending on which perspective we choose. Some beliefs are unconscious, and they come from people’s backgrounds, religious beliefs, experience, philosophy or other people’s opinions and their experience. We might be surprised how our beliefs are affected by other people’s beliefs or philosophy. Furthermore, based on that we make decisions that shape our lives. But the good thing is that we can change it at any time. If we are aware of our beliefs and our perspective, we can manage it and choose the response that will empower us.

If you believe that God does not give you more than you can cope with and there is a reason for everything, it will give you the confidence that you can manage it, and the solution is ahead of you. It will give you tenacity and encourage you to handle the adversity in the best possible way. After some time you might even see that particularly this difficult situation was for your good because it directed your life path toward your dream, it tested you, developed necessary character traits and gave you more wisdom. To be honest, I was shocked when I realized this in my own life. That’s why I am grateful today for all those hardships.

The quality of your life and your destiny is determined not by the events that take place in your life, but what you do afterward. While you do not have control over other people and a lot of times you do not have control over what happens in your life, you do have a choice of how you look at it all and what you are going to do about it. Depending on your perspective and decision what you are going to do next, you will have subsequent events and this way you shape your destiny.

Therefore, pay close attention to your beliefs and your mindset. What do you believe about the event that is going on right now in your life? What does this mean to you?

Choose wisely. And, Be Strong. Be Determined and Relentless. Be Unstoppable.

Blessings to you, until the next time.

Inga

 
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Posted by on December 13, 2017 in Christianity, Faith, God, Inspiration, Life Coaching, Miscellaneous, Motivation, My Life, Personal Growth, Self Development, self Management, Uncategorized

 

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How to Be Resilient, How to Recover From the Destruction? Step 1. Know There is a Purpose Behind it All.

01 Dec

When the adversity hits us, the hopelessness brings enormous pain and feeling of devastation. But what if it’s not the end? What if there is hope? What if you know that there is a particular purpose behind this hardship and that it’s not more than you can handle? You are strong enough to take it. Take it and emerge with triumph.

 Step1 postEN

Lately, I’ve been surrounded by a lot of adversity in the lives of people who are dear to me. During the week of the firestorm in Sonoma and Napa Counties, California, many of us have been affected by it one or another way. Watching the devastation that the fires have brought into people’s lives was heart-wrenching. I was shocked and bewildered. My heart goes to each person and families, who lost your loved ones, lost your home and everything you held dear. How I wished I had my legs and my both arms functioning so I could be helpful to those, who were in need! Then, I began hearing that some of my friends have lost their homes and everything they had, someone got seriously ill, someone got their house foreclosed and were forced to leave their home while preparing for a heart surgery, someone got into the crash and got paralyzed… My heart was torn watching their pain. Their lives took a sudden turn that they could not anticipate nor could they possibly be ready for such adversities. I wish to be able to help, but there’s nothing much I could do. But, maybe there is a way I could reach my hand to those, whose lives were changed due to adversity, who goes through a hard time?

I haven’t lost anything at this time, but I know the taste of losing everything and anguish of grief. In my personal life journey, I have had to rebuild my life few times from devastating destruction, both tangible and emotional. The first time I came face to face with devastation was when I woke up in the ICU without my both legs, my left arm fully paralyzed and multiple severe injuries throughout my body. Losing nearly half of my body at the age of 22 and no longer able to function independently was devastating. My destiny seemed destroyed.

At that point, I faced the crossroads of my destiny – am I going to give in or am I going to fight for my life? Which way do I continue – left or right? Give up? Or fight? I had a choice.  I decided to reclaim my life no matter how much effort it would take.  Since then, my life turned into an incredible journey.  But then, after breaking through the insurmountable obstacles, and being only a step away from achieving the life that I relentlessly worked to attain, I faced the second crash, which brought more pain than losing my legs. Overnight everything was destroyed. Fruits of the hard work and continuous efforts to rebuild my life were ruined. The treachery, loss, and destruction of my new life broke me inside and nearly made me give up. I just did not have any more strength.

Realizing that it’s not events or other people’s choices that can break my destiny, but my choice to give up, with the Lord’s intervention, I picked myself up and resolved to attain my vision in spite of it all.

It’s been for over a decade that I live the life I desired to live, despite the devastation, the loss, the physical limitation and ongoing challenges. But I don’t want to enjoy my life for my selfish reasons. During the process of my recovery from adversity and other hardships, I have learned a lot and acquired experience and knowledge which I want to share with others. My passion has been to help others overcome difficulties, change/improve their lives, and share my testimony of God’s power to restore the broken and turn the impossible into possible.

My upcoming book “Unstoppable” contains my story and everything that empowered me to overcome the adversity and reclaim my life, but I don’t want to wait until it’s published. This fire disaster and hardships that so many people face, inspires me to begin sharing with you lessons I have learned, my source of endurance and everything that helped me to restore my life, so anyone could take it and use it in their lives. I am eager to share what will coach, ignite faith, inspire and equip you with knowledge of how to recover from adversity, break through hardships, overcome obstacles and achieve any goals, ultimately creating the life you desire.

 Since my faith in Jesus Christ has been the source of my strength and is the rock-solid foundation which I stand on, I will talk a lot about faith. I am not going to preach, but I will share how trusting in the Lord strengthened me, gave me the right perspective on events and hardships, gave me the courage, tenacity, and fortitude. I will also share what I call ‘self-management tools’ because, in addition to prayer and faith, our results will greatly depend on our mindset, attitude, personal character traits, discipline, personal standards, and actions. Just as my book contains both aspects, my posts will reflect the Unstoppable.

When the adversity hits us, the first stage is the shock. Have you felt that while you are in the state of a shock, you don’t feel anything? You are in a survival mode and there is not much pain or grief. I remember myself, I was feeling pretty well even though my both legs were severed. I felt fully determined to recover physically and rebuild my life.

But then, after the shock goes away, we come face to face with consequences of the destruction. That’s when the reality hits. The grief and anguish is enormous. And then there is a question – and now what? How am I supposed to live further?

At that point, you are at crossroads. This is a crucial moment, which can determine what’s next.  It’s important to understand that it is critical to not get panic or anxious, but be strong during hardships because your future circumstances will greatly depend on how you are going to handle the adversity.

One way of the crossroads – give in and indulge in self-pity; begin to think and act as a victim, blaming the disaster or other people for your brokenness.  Another way – resolve to reclaim that which was lost.

  1. Accept the new reality;
  2. Focus on the solution, what must be done to emerge from destruction;
  3. Do everything you can, do whatever it takes to improve your circumstances.

You are standing at the crossroads of a Choice. Remember, you have a choice. It’s going to be up to you which way you will continue. You have a choice to have unshakable faith or dive in into hopelessness. You have a choice to surrender to the hardship and go with the flow, and at the same time you have a choice to resist the destruction, be resilient and relentlessly aim toward your goal.

How to be resilient, how to recover after the destruction?

The first step – check your beliefs. Your belief system will lay a foundation for your mindset. The reason I begin with the mindset is because it will determine further decisions and actions, which ultimately will determine how you will handle the situation you are in. Since my beliefs are based on Christian faith, I will talk from a perspective of Biblical values and teachings.

My first advice for this time will be – trust that God doesn’t make mistakes; If He allowed that to happen in your life, then there is a purpose in it. According to the book of Job in the Bible, without God’s permission the enemy cannot do any harm to those who love the Lord and live according to His commandments. The enemy can do only as much as Creator allows him to. Moreover, in the story of Job, we see that God allowed Satan to bring calamities into Job’s life for a certain purpose.

 So, by faith, relying on the Bible, we know that what had happens in our life is not more than how much the Lord allows. So, knowing that, it brings a question- what for God has allowed this in your life? What purpose the Lord has through this trouble in your life?  Maybe you need to start looking sincerely for the Lord? Perhaps God stopped you, and you need to re-evaluate your values and who / what is the center of your life? Or, maybe there is something that you need to see and learn? Maybe you need to grow in faith? Can the Lord test you as He tested Job? Whatever that is, trust that the loving Creator is not going to allow his child to go through destruction with no reason. And, if this was allowed in your life, with the Lord’s help you will overcome.

 What helped me tremendously to recover after the shock of losing my independence and everything that I held dear was my faith that if my Heavenly Father allowed this car accident to happen in such a cruel way, that means there had to be a serious reason for it. Here is the excerpt from “Unstoppable” about the moment when I realized something that made me feel strong to accept the tragedy and conquer it:

“One day, as my friend Martynas was visiting, our light conversation turned into a discussion about my major questions – why it had to be so cruel. I knew I could be open with him and I shared with him my thoughts and how I felt.

After listening, he looked at me and said, “Inga, I don’t know why it happened the way it did. But what I do know is that God did not leave you then, and He is not going to leave you alone now. He would not have allowed you to appear in this position if you would not have been able to take it. With God you will handle it.”

              It felt like someone enlightened my mind and suddenly I got a very clear awareness: God is love. His purpose was not to torture me. He knows what I can and cannot endure. He never abandoned me and He showed me that He was with me the entire time. If He saved my life, even though I was not supposed to survive, and used His power to heal me so rapidly, there must be the purpose behind everything.

              Martynas reinforced my belief that there was a divine purpose in everything that had happened, that the Lord was with me. I was strong enough to take it. In fact, I wasn’t only going to live through it, but with the Lord’s help, I was going to have a victory.

              It felt like someone gave me a drink from the spring of life and suddenly, I felt alive. This was the first time I felt strong enough to accept the consequences of the crash. But I felt strong not just to cope with it, but to emerge from the tragedy and triumph over it. Since then, my life became an amazing journey.”

Since then, my life took an extraordinary path. It’s incredible what the Lord has done over the years. After some time, I did see why the Lord allowed this car accident and why this ended so cruel. Seeing what purpose my Creator had behind this tragedy, I sincerely thanked Him for it. Today, even if I could go back to change it all, I wouldn’t.    

It is natural that we react negatively to problems and adversities. But if we focus on what had happened and constantly think how bad things are, we make it only worse for ourselves. What we focus on expands. We need to have discipline over our mind, and not allow ourselves to drown in the negativity and fear, and direct our thinking into a different direction. In my life, a lot has changed, when instead of the question “Why did this happen to me? ” I began wondering “What is this for? What’s the purpose behind it?” Instead of feeling hopelessness or a victim of other people’s choices, I began feeling strong and confident. I began seeing troubles from a whole different perspective, which empowered me to change those destructive circumstances and, see the benefit in it all.  

Knowing that this is allowed for some purpose and this is not more than you can take, how do you feel? What thoughts come to you?

You are strong enough to accept what happens in your life. With God’s help, you will go through this. What does not break us makes us stronger, right? 🙂

Moreover, we believe that everything works together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. So, even problems somehow work out for the good. (Romans 8:28) This is a great mystery to me how it works out that way, but I noticed it in my life time and time again. I will share about this some other time.

In the meantime, – What is the purpose of this adversity in your life? What is behind this?

 

On this note, I will end my message to you.

You are strong enough to take this. With God’s help you will recover.

Inga

 

 

 

 

 
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Posted by on December 1, 2017 in Christianity, Faith, God, Inspiration, Life Coaching, Miscellaneous, Motivation, My Life, Personal Growth, self Management, Uncategorized

 

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Thanksgiving. The Lord Made This Year Extraordinary.

29 Nov
Thanksgiving. The Lord Made This Year Extraordinary.

Amazing Things that the Lord has done in the past 8 months, made this year extraordinary. May these testimonies of how the Lord answers prayers and how He turns the impossible into possible, encourage you and strengthen your faith.

Thanksgiving is my favorite American Holiday because it’s the time when we can stop our busyness and think of what we are grateful for. As I reflect on the year that is about to end, I feel pure gratitude. It was an extraordinary year. Finally, I see my dream and my goals coming to a fruition. The vision that I had several years ago is turning into reality. The entire year is full of ongoing testimonies how God has a perfect timing, how he can change circumstances around like in a chess game and how He can perfectly arrange every detail in our lives.

The new year of 2017 began with focus and disciplined ongoing work continuing editing my book “Unstoppable”. On my days off from my primary work, I worked with the content up to 10 and at times 15 hours straight. It wasn’t easy. Interesting coincidence – I finished editing process a night before my move with a friend to a new apartment! With that, I opened a new chapter. 🙂

I am grateful for the new apartment that Anzhelika and I got. It’s quite a story how we got it, a testimony how the Lord can change circumstances. When I went to my Apartments manager to ask if I could move to a 2-bedroom apartment on the first floor, she said there were no apartments available, and there would be no openings in the near future. But I knew the Lord could re-arrange the availability and suggested to my friend to pray about it.  If there was Father’s will that we would move in together, He will make it happen. So we began praying for God to make apartment available for us if there was truly His will for us to live together. In my prayer, I also asked the Lord to arrange apartment that would have at least one room’s windows facing the West because I wanted to see sunsets in my home. It brought us happy smiles and astonishment  when despite manager’s assurance that there wouldn’t be any availability in many months and maybe even in a year or two, in 2 weeks one apartment became available for new renters – 2-bedroom apartment on the first floor and, it had all windows facing the West.:-) People are surprised why I don’t stop when someone says “No, it’s impossible”:) That’s exactly why – God whom I believe and worship has the last say in any situation. He can change any circumstances. We love our new home!

Anzhelika stepped out in faith and moved to Santa Rosa, leaving her secure job. Seeing how the Lord was leading us, blessing our work together based on the “Unstoppable”, and how He gave us the apartment, we decided to trust that the Lord would provide a job for Anzhelika in this area. Anzhelika, contrary to her personality of making sure she has everything securely lined up and in order, to her surprise she felt totally at peace, even though she had no idea where and how she would get a new job. And, the first miracle was instant – it turned out that her company had a branch office right here in Santa Rosa, and her employer did what they never did before – they allowed her to work from the branch office and work there as long as she finds a new job. Then, after weeks of searching for a new job, Anzhelika received an offer to join one company that she liked. When we prayed to the Lord about this new offered job, we told Him that we wanted to be sure it is from Him. ln order for Anzhelika to know this, we asked for three signs: the same or higher pay, the flexibility in her schedule in case she needs to travel with me for the “Unstoppable” and the last, that they would wait for her to return from vacation (the vacation could not be canceled). And, after the interview, Anzhelika told me the news – they offered a higher pay and much better benefits than she had before, she would have flexibility in her schedule and yes, they were willing to wait for her until she returns from vacation, even though there was another candidate for her position, who was more experienced in the field and could begin work as soon as the next day! So, that determined the decision.:-)

There was a valuable lesson in this. It’s easy to say “I trust God can provide” while you are in Church and have everything you need. But, it is not that easy to say it when you have nothing and to remain at peace, having unshakable faith that no matter how desperate it seems – the Lord will provide. I have experienced this time and time again, and now I got to witness it again – the miracle of how the Lord provides happens when you receive Lord’s revelation and direction to do something, you don’t wait for perfect circumstances to do it, but instead you step out in faith into the unknown trusting that God will provide, and do what you have to do. The Lord is never late, and He provides. Those who wait on the Lord and trust in Him will not be ashamed.

Then, On June 2nd I received the disABILITY Champion Award from California Human Development for being a role model to people with disabilities and all who seek to overcome obstacles to lead self-sufficient lives, and for vital support of CHD’s disABILITY Services programs through my work at Disability Services & Legal Center.  It was quite a surprise to receive a letter that I was nominated and chosen to receive the award. I never aimed for any awards or special acknowledgments. I just love life. And, I make a continuous effort to make the best out of what I have and improve my life, to fulfill my purpose. But it was thrilling to stand on a stage with the Senator Mike McGuire and receive the award. Thank you, CHD!

Then, my Mom visited me in California again. I was so happy to spend a quality time with Mom; living a half-way world away from my family is a very high price to pay for the life I’ve chosen to live. It was heartbreaking to leave my family and I long for them daily.  But, now we had fun! Thanks to Anzhelika’s family, we got to visit Yosemite. The majesty of Yosemite mountains and waterfalls are breathtaking! And then, for my Birthday, Anzhelika, Mom and I went on the adventure – luxury 10-day vacation in Jamaica! Exotic island, bright sun, turquoise water, palm trees, swimming with dolphins… That was quite a vacation, which will definitely stay in our memories forever.

When 17 years ago I woke up in ICU without my legs and with severe injuries throughout my body, I would have called that person crazy, if someone had told me that I was going to visit exotic Jamaica island and swim with dolphins.:-) I could not even dream about swimming with dolphins; it seemed beyond the possibility for numerous reasons. And now, when I was in a water giving a kiss to a dolphin Susie, it brought me to tears.

It inspires me to say – if your life had an adversity or even a tragic turn, don’t rush to make the conclusion that you are broken, that you will never experience delightful moments, or that your destiny is destroyed. Never give up on your life. You don’t know what the future holds for you and a lot depends on you. It’s not the events and it’s not other people that can ruin your life, but it’s your choice to give up. Choose life. Choose to fight for your life no matter how hard it will be. It’s not going to be easy. It will require relentless effort and a lot of times pain and exhaustion. But it’s going to be worth it.

Then, after delightful vacation and seeing off my Mom back to Lithuania, I went back to focus and disciplined daily work with the book, doing the second round of editing with another editor, and this time focus was on grammar and polishing it. I had to go through entire over 200 pages manuscript, checking every sentence, every word. After countless hours of work, on October 30th I submitted the manuscript to the publisher. Finally.. It’s hard to realize that it’s being in the process of becoming an actual book. It all came from an inspiration, from an idea. I never considered myself to be an author. Never. I had no idea how to write a book! But I followed the inspiration and did what I was inspired to do.

This project was quite a test of faith and my faithfulness to the work I had to do. It was 7 years of hard relentless work not knowing how in the world I was going to publish it. I had no editor nor did I have the money to publish it. But, I thought if the Lord directed me to do this, then He would provide and the editor and the money when He sees it’s time to publish it.

And here you are. When the time was right, the editor, who edited former President’s book and is an awarded writer,  showed up in my life through my work and he agreed to edit “Unstoppable”. I began praying to the Lord, thanking Him for bringing the editor, but now the question was – where the money was going to come from? I had no idea. But I knew the Lord could do the impossible, and I asked Him to provide the money to pay the editor and to publish it.

In several weeks, I met with a person with whom we haven’t seen each other for a while. After hearing the last updates on the book, he said he would like to sponsor the book publishing. I told him not to rush to this step because this was a lot of money. I suggested going pray about it first. A week later, he invited me to meet with him again. As we were having lunch, he handed me a check for $10,000, saying “I prayed about it and I know this money belongs to the “Unstoppable”. Go ahead, edit and publish it.” With my eyes full of tears, I accepted the check. And, got to work. Now the  “Unstoppable” is in a publishers hands. It will come out Ja-Feb of a New Year, 2018.

I am also so grateful that the Sonoma County fires did not reach our new home. At some point, we were surrounded by fires, and whichever direction wind would blow – the fires were going to get closer to us. I am blessed to have Anzhelika and her family, who were our shelter during the week of fires. We all prayed for the Lord to protect our home, and our home was not touched. Praise be to God… My heart goes to all families who lost their homes and everything you had. It’s heartbreaking. I would like to be helpful at least in some way so I will begin a Blog How to Recover After Adversity, where I will share steps that helped me to recover after the crash and other hardships I had encountered. I hope it will be a blessing to those who will read it.

 

And now, as we are about to enter into a new year, my friend and I are wondering, what 2018 is going to look like?  What’s next?

 
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Posted by on November 29, 2017 in Christianity, Faith, Inspiration, Miscellaneous, Motivation, My Life, Prayer, Uncategorized

 

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Amazing Testimony. The Lord Knows Your Every Need.

27 Jul

Dear Friend,

It’s been a while since I wrote something on this blog. Life has been very busy with work and my project of preparing my book to be published, and other things.

But I never forgot about you. And now, when I wrote one of my latest testimonies to share it with others, I rush to share it with you as well. It is an amazing testimony about how the Lord takes care of our needs. I hope this will strengthen your faith and the Lord will speak to you.

Just recently, my friend made a birthday gift to me,  a vacation to Jamaica. 🙂  So, my mom, Anzhelika, I went on our vacation. On the way to our destination, my manual wheelchair broke. Just as I began saying in my mind “Lord, why…? How am I going to move around in that gigantic resort in my broken wheelchair?” A thought came to me, “Go online and search for wheelchair rentals in Jamaica.” While we were traveling, I found a company in Jamaica that rents electric wheelchairs and began communication regarding the rental.

There was exactly the type of wheelchair that fits my needs, and in addition to the electric wheelchair for my daily use, the representative emailed me the picture of a beach wheelchair as well. I was so happy to learn they had it! When we were making reservations at the resort, we asked the manager if they had a beach wheelchair, and we were told that there was wheelchair access to the beach, but the hotel did not have a beach wheelchair. So, seeing that there was a way for me to obtain the chair to get on a beach sand was thrilling. But as I looked more carefully at the picture, I saw that due to my physical limitations it would be extremely challenging for me to get into it. Plus, the cost for both wheelchairs for a week would have been over $800.

To be honest, it was hurtful to know that I would not be able to get to the beach. For many years now I no longer say in my mind “God, I wish I had my legs…” but this time it was painful that I would not be able to go on that white sand beach and see the Caribbean turquoise sea. But then, I ‘swallowed’ the pain and decided that I would focus on all other things I would be able to enjoy. The resort was fantastic, and there were other fun things to do. I did not say anything to anybody nor did I pray. I just knew the Lord knew it all.

And, what do you think?:)

Upon our arrival, on the next day, we went down to the pool area and spent few hours enjoying our time. On our way back, I looked where Lifeguard station was and I could not believe my own eyes – there it was – a beach wheelchair! Anzhelika and I came to the lifeguard and I asked if that beach wheelchair was available to use. The lifeguard enthusiastically responded, “Yes, it is! We don’t know much about it as it’s new, we’ve never seen this kind of a wheelchair. Hotel bought it and it just got here yesterday. Just let us know when you want to use it and we’ll bring you to the beach!”

The hotel, which never had a beach wheelchair, purchased it and delivered it on the day I arrived.

As I am writing this story to share with you, my eyes are full of tears of joy. The Lord knows everything. He knows your every need. He knows the deepest pain of your heart. He knows your every thought. And, He comes right on time and is never late.

Be well, and until the next time.

Inga

 

 
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Posted by on July 27, 2017 in Christianity, Faith, God, Miscellaneous, My Life, Prayer, Uncategorized

 

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Make Your Life a Masterpiece

18 Jul

Now, as my major event is over (one of my duties at work is organize annual fundraiser), I am happy to be able to focus again on editing and improving my book “Unstoppable”. As I was editing my last chapter of the book, which summarizes many experiences and lessons about choices, I was inspired to share a part of it with you. 🙂 I hope you will enjoy it. Please leave me your feedback, it is truly very valuable to me.

 

…I don’t understand many things. But what I do know that it’s not what happens to us and not really what people do to us what determines the quality of our lives, but how we respond to it and what we choose to do about it. Sure, we don’t have a choice of what happens to us or what other people’s choices are, but we always have a choice what we are going to do afterward. We always have a choice to complain, blame and spend our lives in misery and regret. But we also have a choice to get up and shake off the dust, accept the responsibility and relentlessly move on creating the life we desire. And that will make us either a victim who blames someone else for the unhappiness, or it will make us the unbreakable fighter, who gets to fulfill our intention in spite of all because we never stopped and never gave up.

I do know that we can achieve anything we set our minds to, if we truly desire it, do whatever it takes to achieve it and have unshakable faith that we are going to succeed. I do know that all things are possible with God if we believe. I don’t understand how it works out that way, but I’ve experienced this countless times and now I do know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are chosen according to His purpose, just as it’s written in the Bible. This has taught me a great lesson not to be stressed or terrified when things don’t go my way; all works together for good – even problems.

I also know that our own daily choices and decisions create subsequent events and ultimately direct our destiny one or another way. Sometimes, our one choice – ONE Single Decision – can literally direct our life journey one or another direction. Painful ad even devastating mistakes have taught me to be very careful with decisions I make. Also, our daily, weekly, monthly choices compounded deliver their results as well.  They may seem quite insignificant, and even they may not even appear like choices. But they are. And, those little choices repeated on a continuous basis over time soon will deliver its fruit.  Every time we decide to do something or not is a choice. We stand at those crossroads many times in life. They might not even feel like crossroads; yet, they are.  And the choice of which path we take literally directs our destiny.

 

You may make numerous mistakes yet and will fall down, but it’s not your mistakes what show who you are. It’ s whether you choose to get up each and every time and learn from your mistakes that show who you are. It’s what you choose to do with all that happens in your life that will make your life worth living or miserable.

Don’t waste your precious time for things that don’t matter. This way you will only create the life that doesn’t really matter. Use the given time to design a purposeful and fulfilling life. Make your life count.

Lay a firm foundation for yourself that you will always make a choice that will align with your purpose. You will always make a choice to overcome and do the best you can under any circumstances. Make a non-negotiable decision that you will never give up, no matter what it takes for you to take another step.

 

Remember, it’s all about the choices you make. We all have choices, and we are going to have what we choose.

 

I have learned that our destiny will greatly depend on whether we choose life according to the Lord’s will or life according to our own ways. What I do know is that living in a righteous way before the Lord God and trusting Him wholeheartedly at all times is going to bring a much more secure, fulfilling and purposeful life. And after all, we will have a joyous life that will last the eternity for our soul’s existence does not end the journey here on the earth. By bringing you my experience, I want to inspire you to choose wisely. Our Father God has His will for us and yet He has given us a freedom of a choice.

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

 

So, I invite you to take a deep breath with me. Let’s you and I choose life. Let’s continue on creating the lives that the Lord has called us to live.

Life is not a rehearsal. You get to do it only once.

Life is like an art.  Your decisions shape and consistent daily actions create this unique piece of art.

Make your life a masterpiece!

Inga

IngaMIV_1

 
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Posted by on July 18, 2016 in Christianity, Faith, God, Inspiration, Miscellaneous, Motivation, My Life, Uncategorized

 

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Incredible Testimony of the Power of Prayer and God’s Mercy and Grace

01 Apr

I want to tell you one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had in my life. It is not some exciting achievement or celebration, but it is the most sacred and special experience, which touched me at the core of my being. It has taught me great lessons and has shown me again God’s mercy, grace and the power of the prayer.

First, I want to say my most sincere thank you to my fellow followers of Christ from San Francisco “Hand of Help” and “Russian Gospel Temple” churches, Sacramento “God will provide”, Santa Rosa Calvary Chapel “The Rock”, Modesto church as well as my friends and co-workers at Disability Services & Legal Center. While my Dad was on a verge of death and I was flying back to Europe to see him for the last time, you together carried me through this most difficult time for me.

While this was such a horrible unexpected turn in my life, those several weeks were incredible at the same time. It still brings me to awe when I think of it. I want to share this with you so it may serve you, strengthen you and your faith.

 

In November of 2015, I received news from my family in Lithuania that due to serious heart issues my Dad was driven to the hospital by the emergency. My father has had numerous issues with his heart, and I thought this was one of those cases when after some treatments he would return home. This time, however, my Dad did not return home. His condition appeared to be more serious than we could imagine. After some time, when Mom told me he was already able to speak, I called my father on his cell phone. During our conversation father told me the truth – Doctors told him that his heart was beyond any chances of improvement. He could die anytime, and the only way for him to extend the time of his life was the heart transplant surgery. I asked him what the predictions were of how long he would have to wait for the new heart.

“I don’t know Inga…”, my father helplessly sighed. “Doctors don’t know exactly. They say maybe two months, maybe ten months, maybe two years… it’s unpredictable”

Right that moment I knew exactly what I was going to do. After our conversation, I immediately got down on my knees before the Lord my God and prayed asking Him to give my father a new heart soon to extend the days of his life. I could not see myself losing my father; besides, he was not saved for the life after death, and I pleaded with my Lord to give him more time to have another chance to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord. I felt strange to make that kind of request because it meant someone else had to die. But I knew Heavenly Father is righteous and just God, and He does not make mistakes determining who and when needs to go. I trusted the Lord. Fully realizing that only the Lord God has the power to extend the days of his life, I surrendered my request to Him.

Next week I received a phone call from my Mom.

“Daughter”, I heard Mom’s trembling voice. “Our Dad is already with the new heart. It was very unexpected. The donor’s heart came in quite unexpected in the middle of the night and they did the operation on the emergency basis.”

“What? Already?!”

I could not believe this. Even though I prayed for it, it was hard to realize this was really true – after the prayer my Dad received a new heart in less than a week!

We all praised the Lord for the miracle, which brought many in astonishment, including my father. Being excited about this beautiful miracle and a gift of a new life, my Dad and my Mom and brother made every effort toward Dad’s recovery.

 

However, bewilderment came upon their hearts watching how first significant improvement started going backward: Dad’s other organs were failing and he would refuse to eat. When he was driven back to the ICU, medical specialists started doing again all kinds of tests to understand what was going on. Not long after, I received my Mom’s phone call. Barely holding tears, she told me the news – Dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, stage 4. He would not be able to go through another surgery and besides, cancer was at a stage that was beyond chances to win the battle. Later it turned out that cancer was there already for a while; only it did not manifest itself drastically. However, when Doctors gave my Dad medications to reduce the immune system in order for the body to not reject the new heart, it created perfect conditions for cancer to spread its tentacles. And now, the question was just a matter of days.

Fatal news just paralyzed me. I did not know what think and what to do. I couldn’t see myself continuing my life without seeing my father before he passes on, but I did not have any extra money to travel across the globe to my homeland, and I did not see how this could possibly happen. For a moment, it felt I again appeared in a hopeless spot. Yet, throughout the years the Lord my God has taken me out of the most desperate situations numerous times and opened up opportunities where there were none. He has turned the impossible into possible time and time again. So, the very first thing I did was I went on my knees before my Lord.  I prayed in tears to my Heavenly Father that I wanted to see my Dad, and asked Him to arrange circumstances somehow in such a way that I would see him  before he leaves this life. I beseeched the Lord not to take Dad’s life until he knows Jesus, which was my prayer for many years and so He keeps him alive until I see him. I fully surrendered myself and the whole situation to the living God.

 

Lord’s answer showed up right on the next day – after finding out what was going on in my life, my sister in faith Viktoria called me and asked me if I would not consider going home to be with my Dad. I responded that without any doubts I would go right on the next day if I could, but I did not have financial resources to travel to Europe from California and I did not see how this could be possible. Viktoria firmly encouraged me and even urged me to go. She added “Don’t worry about finances. We all within the church will collect it and will ask friends in Sacramento church to help you with this. Go ahead and look for the airline ticket and get ready for the trip” And, she started reaching out to brothers and sisters in Christ raising funds. My other girlfriends posted my need on Facebook with my PayPal account, asking people to support me during this time to help me obtain the ticket to go home. After I told my Mom that I was going to fly back to Vilnius, she urged me to come as soon as possible.  Dad was getting weaker with every day.

I started looking for the airline ticket to get on the flight as soon as possible. What a surprise it was when I started looking for the ticket – normally the roundtrip tickets at this time are $1,500 – 1,800 and above, and I found the roundtrip airline tickets for $1,169! After Doleris.com made the discount, my total ticket price $1,145! Since there were only few available seats left for the date I needed to go and funds were still in the process of being raised, my friend Svetlana offered her credit card to purchase the ticket for such a low price.

To my astonishment, in two days enough funds were raised to pay for the ticket.  Furthermore, my friends Svetlana ad Viktoria took further initiative and continued reaching out to raise more funds. Thus, in few more days more funds were raised and I was able to give substantial amount of money to my Mom and brother to help them with the funeral costs when the time comes. Upon my return, I received even more financial blessing from my fellow Christians from the local church I go to and few other churches in San Francisco and Modesto.

I was just in tears watching how my friends and even people whom I personally did not know showered me with love, care and so much needed financial support.

They carried me through this difficult time and through them my request was fulfilled –

despite how impossible it seemed for me to go back to EU, after the prayer trip arrangements started happening immediately on the next day, and four days later I was on the airplane flying back to Lithuania to see my father.

During 23-hour trip, I had a lot of time to think, and I was observing and analyzing the latest events. After the prayer, it seemed like circumstances took life upon themselves and started changing in my favor. Observing how after the prayer my situation turned around just in the matter of several days, it taught me again the lesson – fight your battles first of all on your knees. Because it’s the Heavenly Father who has the power over all circumstances and people’s hearts. The living God can get you out of the most hopeless situations, and He can open any doors you need no matter how impossible it may seem at first.

I will never forget how shocked and pleasantly surprised my father was when I showed up at the doorstep in the hospital. He had no idea I was coming, as I wanted to make him a surprise. After I told him how I was able to come, my Dad was deeply touched by the kindness of people and asked me to thank each person who made it possible for me to purchase the airline ticket and come visit him. Therefore, using this opportunity I want to thank again each and every one of you who did not pass by my need, but responded and helped me to see my father say goodbye.

 

And now, I want to share with you what struck me the most. I have experienced so much mercy and grace of God in my own life and I heard many stories about it, but this one touched me at the core of my being.

When I arrived and on the next day saw my Dad, along with my joy of being able to re-connect with him I was deeply emotionally struck. My father was always my rock and it was unbearable for me to watch him now so helpless and in pain. When I returned home from the hospital, I immediately went on my knees before the Lord my God feeling broken and confused. I prayed in tears asking Him to explain to me – if my Dad already had cancer and he was going to die from it, then why all this heart transplant surgery was needed, why the Lord answered my prayer and did such an incredible miracle by giving him the new heart in less than a week…what’s the point of all of this. While I was praying, a thought/feeling came to me “Remember your prayer” .

Those words were like the lightning that brightens up the dark sky – that moment I understood everything: for many years, my prayer for my father was asking God to give salvation to my father and not to allow him to die until/unless he knows Jesus Christ and has the eternal life with the Lord. Knowing my father, if he got to know earlier he had cancer, I know he would be angry and bitter and there is no way he would have listened about the Lord. So, the Lord did not allow my father to learn about cancer no matter how many tests were done few years ago and now before the surgery. And now, when my Dad started having serious issues with his heart, the Lord God gave him a new heart sooner than he could have ever expected, even though chances to receive a donor’s heart soon were so minimal. Thus, the living God extended my Dad’s life to give him another chance to receive salvation for his soul, and this way it was a personal experience of God’s love to him. Receiving a new heart in less than a week after the prayer was an astonishing miracle to my father as well as to everyone else, and, this time, my Dad was not laughing about God or the power of the prayer; in fact, he agreed that it’s a divine miracle.

 

When I learned the news about cancer and few churches in the Bay area started praying about my Dad’s salvation, at the same time my brother in Vilnius started seeking arrangements for someone from the church visit my Dad to talk with him and pray for him, hoping that Dad would accept Christ and prepare his soul for the eternal life. All circumstances were arranged in his favor, and a brother in Christ, who does the ministry of Evangelism sharing the Gospel with people, agreed to come see my father on the next day. While my brother was arranging this meeting, he had one concern – there was no privacy because there was another patient in the same room where Dad was and besides, doctors were constantly coming in and out. He could not imagine how this would work out, but he also could not even foresee what a surprise was ahead! Brother said he could not believe this himself – on the day when the Minister was available to visit my father, the other patient was taken out to the operation room for many hours and doctors ‘somehow’ also stopped coming in like they normally did, and my Dad had full privacy for as long as they had the conversation! And, after few hours of discussion and finding answers to questions, my Dad asked if they could pray for him because he wanted to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  My brother and Mom shared that after that prayer my Dad became so much more at peace.

When I arrived, I found him already saved and at peace. On the second day of my visit, after my prayer the night before, I told my father that the true reason why the Lord God gave him a new heart was different than we thought – all of it was done to extend the days of his life so he would have more time to accept Jesus Christ.  Dad looked at me with this deep look and calmly said

“Yes… I know. You are absolutely correct.”

Dad added that he was wondering at times if he was dreaming or this was all true that everything suddenly turned around to good. I confirmed with him that everything was real because that’s how much God loved him.  We started praying together again. I surrendered him to the Lord’s care and asked Jesus to let my Dad know that he’s going to be well and give him peace about what’s ahead. When at the end of the prayer I opened my eyes, I saw my Dad looking up and around as if he had seen and observing something, and then he looked at me. His eyes were full of light! I’ve never seen this brightness in the eyes of my father.  He looked at me so deeply and said,

“All will be well. All will be well. And, I will not worry about you anymore either.”

He said it as if he had a firm awareness that he was going to be well and that he did not have to worry about me because I was being taken care of. I reassured him there was absolutely nothing to worry about for the Lord God watches over me and protects me. He peacefully sighed. And, that moment I understood that this was my last conversation with my Dad.

And so it was …

On the third day of my visit, he was no longer able to speak and have a conversation. My father passed away three days after I left Lithuania.

He crossed the bridge into the eternal life just a few weeks after he received salvation for his soul.

 

I cannot even describe you how much better and at peace I feel that I got to see him. Lord is never late. I arrived on time, while he was fully present and able to hold the conversation. We had the opportunity to talk, and hug each other and pray together…  While it’s heartbreaking to not have my father here physically, I thank my Heavenly Father in tears for He heard my prayer and fulfilled my request.

My Dad’s last sentence that I heard was “I am glad it’s all coming to the end, and that it’s such a good ending”

How can a dying person say this?

He was talking about his soul because he knew he was going to a good place to be with the Lord.

 

Having gone through this experience, I want to encourage you to pray for your loved ones. I know it can be discouraging to continue praying for them, especially if they laugh at it or reject you for your faith. I sure did feel discouraged a times, because we want to receive the answer to the prayer soon and see the difference quickly. However, this taught me how important it is to continue praying for people regardless whether we see the answer quickly or not, because the Lord God is faithful to His word, and He will save the person according to our prayers. My father used to laugh and be sarcastic about prayers and reading the Bible, and at times his salvation seemed to me like a hopeless idea. Yet, I put my trust in my Lord that He could do the impossible and my hope was in Him. And, my Lord answered to prayers which He heard countless times – He did not allow my father to die before he knew Jesus and had the eternal life with the Lord.

Doctors were absolutely shocked how come they did not see he had cancer. They all stated that this was the first and the only case in many years of their practice when they did so many tests prior the heart transplant surgery and did not notice such a serious thing like cancer. They firmly stated that if they had seen the least sign of it, there is no way they would have performed heart transplant surgery. Yet, they did not see cancer which was at stage 4! Why? Because it was the will of the living God to give my Dad a new heart to extend the days of his life and give him one more chance to receive eternal life with the Lord.

You know, when he and I prayed, my Dad’s request to God was not about his health or anything else; he said the only thing he wanted to ask God was about other people so that others would have this kind of chance as well, just as he did.

 

With that, I want to say  – may his prayer be fulfilled. And that is my wish for you and for people you love and care about. I want to encourage you to pray for your loved ones. May the discouragement will not be stronger than your commitment to fight for your loved ones, so they also find the most precious jewel of this life and spend the eternity with the Lord. None of us are guaranteed to have tomorrow. Pray for your loved ones until you receive the answer.  Base your faith not on the experience how and when you see your prayers answered, but lay your foundation on the Word of God. Faithful is the Lord and He fulfills His promises. We only need to put our unshakable faith in Him.

 

I hope this was a blessing to you.

Trust your God, and… Be strong. Be determined and persistent. Be unstoppable.

Your Inga

 

 

 
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Posted by on April 1, 2016 in Christianity, Faith, God, Inspiration, Miscellaneous, My Life, Prayer, Uncategorized

 

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My Interview on the Radio Show “Magnificent Mind” with Steven Campbell

06 Jan

Happy New Year to you! I hope and wish that this year has started well for you.

As the new year just stepped in into my life, today I had a pleasure to be the guest speaker on the Radio show with Steven Campbell on KOWS 107.3 FM (Sonoma County, California)

A lot of times I get asked “What helped you overcome your tragedy?”, “Where do you get the strength and tenacity?”In this interview I answer those questions and share some practical tools, which will empower you to break through difficult times.

Here is the link to the audio of the interview.

Enjoy it, I hope you will find something that you can apply in your life.

Make 2016 to be your outstanding year!

Be strong. Be Determined and Persistent. Be Unstoppable.

Till next time 🙂

Inga

 
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Posted by on January 6, 2016 in Christianity, Faith, God, Inspiration, Life Coaching, Miscellaneous, My Life, self Management, Uncategorized

 

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Interview postponed. Link to my other audio to Inspire you

17 Dec

My dear friend,

The interview which was planned to be aired on December 16, 2015 due to some reasons was postponed. New tentative date is Jan 6, 2016 9:30 – 11 am PST. Some people told me they tried to tune in to listen, but did not hear my voice.  Please accept my apologies.

I received a last minute surprise myself, but I believe that All things work together for good – even if at times they seem to be not good.  I have so many experiences, which proved me this. The most astonishing were times when I realized that years of pain, frustration and even despair, actually played a very significant role in my life AND they were for the better. At times it was hard to admit it, because the cost of emotional anguish was so high that I could never imagine this to be for the better. To my surprise though, the more I was analyzing and seeing where those tough experiences brought me to – I had to admit that it was truly only for my benefit. Today I am so thankful for those times, truly. 🙂 I share about it in my upcoming book “Unstoppable”. So, I trust that this time it was for the better as well for whatever reason. So, for now we are planning for Wednesday January 6, but I still will confirm it yet.

The content that I have prepared for this radio show aims to inspire you, strengthen your faith and also to equip you with some practical tools, which you could use when facing challenging situations. I still plan to do that on the upcoming show, and I look forward to that!

Meanwhile, as I was thinking what I could replace the Radio audio with, I thought why don’t I share the link to my last event where I was speaking for the same purpose. On the radio I will go more in depth about what empowered me to face and conquer despair and difficulties, and what practical mind management tools I use to overcome daily challenges. However, in this audio you may find something of value as well.

Enjoy listening, and would you please share it with others, if you know someone, who might enjoy it and benefit from it?

Merry Christmas to you and abundant New Year of 2016!

May this Holiday Season be joyous, inspiring and filled with wonderful experiences, which later would remain unforgettable memories to you.

Blessings, and till next time!

Inga

 

 
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Posted by on December 17, 2015 in Christianity, Faith, Inspiration, Life Coaching, Miscellaneous, Motivation, My Life, Self Development, self Management, Uncategorized

 

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