My last trip for the summer was in Orlando at our live John Maxwell Team (JMT) Certification Event, called The International Maxwell Certification (IMC). Twice a year, about 3,000 JMT members spend three full days getting poured into, from our mentors and guest speakers. For those of us that keep coming back, and that’s a lot of us, we spend anywhere from 3 – 6 days getting poured into. It’s a phenomenal time and I put the trip on my personal and leadership development plan. Here is a photo of a room filled with 3,000 getting trained.
Well, this time was a little different. I had my hotel room and flight booked, then, the week before, I found that I needed to have a surgical procedure on the Monday before take-off. So, I was expecting to have to cancel my growth trip. Here’s my picture waiting to get wheeled back into surgery.
Monday evening, after my surgical procedure, my good friend Angela text me and told me congratulations on making the stage time finalist. Excited, I go to our JMT page on Facebook and I see my picture in the top 36 list. So now, my whole thought of cancelling my trip went out the window. My mind went from having to cancel, to what do I need to do so I can make sure I go? I knew that making it in the top 36 list was a great honor. My doctor cleared me, and I could rest as I needed to, so I was going.
It gets better, I was booked to fly out on Friday evening, and found that I needed to be there Friday morning at 8 AM. So now what does this mean? I needed to change my flight, 3 days’ notice. At first, I typed up an email to Roddy, our speaking coach and mentor, to let him know that I wouldn’t be there Friday morning. Then I asked myself, why not, what is stopping me from getting there for Friday morning, what experience will I miss out on by not getting there on time? So, I hopped onto Southwest Airlines site and rebooked my flight to get there Thursday.
Because I made it to my event, I got to
- Speak on Stage with the other finalist
- Learn from Dr Bruce Lipton
- Learn new techniques
- Raise my mental awareness another level, we’ll talk about that later
- Meet some of our newest team members
- Connect with seasoned team members
- and got to rest a lot, as I needed it.
Then, I get to the airport, headed home, and guess what, my plane was delayed due to weather, so my flight time went from 7:30 PM to 8:05 PM to 8:45 PM to 10:40 PM. Of course, this meant that I was going to miss my layover flight in ATL at 9:40 PM, no wonder I prefer straight flights. So, I had to rebook my flight, now, I wouldn’t leave until 7 AM. I text my family back home and friends at the hotel. Here’s my photo of me being irritated “at” the delay.
I was contemplating on what to do, I did not “feel” like leaving the airport to have to come back bright and early. I was planning on just hanging out at the airport until take off, mind you, it’s 9 PM, so I had 10 good hours. This was ok by me because when I fly out super early in the morning, I don’t sleep the night before. I had my plan, I would create and complete a list of things I would do over the next 10 hours, which included studying my bible, prayer time, reading, updating my website, etc.
As I’m getting settled in, I get a text from a friend back at the Marriott World Center inviting me to come back to the hotel and crash their room. Remember, I didn’t feel like leaving the airport to have to come back bright and early? Remember I had my plans of my self-time for the next 10 hours? At first, I wasn’t going back, then my spirit nudged me and told me I needed to go back! I scheduled my Uber ride and headed back to the hotel.
I am glad I did, because my friend had something for me from God. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew that God wanted me to connect with my friend, when I first got to our live event, God had told me to seek my friend out. When I got back to the hotel, I said, “God told me to come back, you have something for me, I don’t know what it is, how can I serve you and your ministry? I’ll pay for whatever God is using you for, because I know it’s going to be good.”
I spent the late-night learning on the Spiritual side and in prayer. I slept for 2 hours before going back to the airport. What God had for me left me in awe, I grew to the next level spiritually, I am glad I listened to my spirit, my intuition, I had to go back to get what was for me. Here’s my photo back at the airport several hours later.
This was my best trip ever, even though I was in a little pain, I knew I had to be there. My experience at this IMC lead me to grow:
- as a speaker
- intellectually
- as a leader
- in my faith, my faith and spiritual well-being was taken to a whole new level.
In all things, it’s not what happens, but your response to the universe. I could have easily let my surgery be the reason to stay home, I could have declined an opportunity to speak as the top 36 finalist, I could have stood my ground “with myself” and stayed at the airport because I didn’t feel like leaving and coming back in a few short hours.
Even though I didnt feel like, I went after experiences that I knew would raise my awarenesses and keep me growing. I didn’t let anything keep me from getting what was for me. I didn’t let anything get in the way of the experience I gained by attending our IMC. Those experiences were designed for me by me
Don’t let anything keep you from what you want, sometimes it may seem easier in the physical to cancel and turn down perfect opportunities, but where’s the growth in a cancellation? If you are in a situation where you must choose to cancel or go along with your plans, always ask yourself, what will I benefit from cancelling and what will I gain by going anyway? Remember to go after the good experiences that belong to you, go after what belongs to you.
I know without a shadow of a doubt, exactly, how I ended up in surgery, how my flight got delayed and how I ended up back at the hotel to get my spiritual feeding. I called the experience out into my universe. God hears all things, even if its a fleeting thought in our own mind. Sign up to received notifications of new blog posts, besides, soon I’ll be providing insight on how these things happened to me and about raising awareness.
Until next time: Walk In Love, Speak Life and Go After All That Is For You.
-Monica