Chase What Matters

From ~ Morning Mannah 10.17.16

Good Morning. I pray that your day is getting off to a wonderful start. I’ve already started to ask God to bless your week indeed and to simply shower your family and you with blessings beyond what you can contain.

This morning I’m going to touch on some thoughts from our current series Stretch Marks. Last week during the sermon a phrase popped in my thoughts. Chase What Matters. Several times I’ve tweeted that phrase because I often think, “I need to chase what matters.” For some reason last Sunday after service I tweeted, Chase what matters. If you’re not being chased.. well.. maybe you don’t matter.

That could pertain to relationships, to employment opportunities, to business ventures. It can pertain to our relationship with God, if we’re not chasing Him.. Well..  It’s probably easiest to discuss this as this relates to relationships. Let’s say you have a person you may be interested in. If that someone is not pursuing you, chasing after you, you may not be the person they are seeking.

In 2008 Chase Bank launched a new campaign to promote their range of banking services including credit cards, student loans, retail banking etc. They planned to spend over $70 million to launch the program entitled “Chase What Matters” In their black and white advertisement under the slogan read: You want to make the most of your time and money. That’s our priority too. Because what matters to you matters to Chase.

This morning, let’s repurpose that phrase.

You want to make the most of your time and money. That’s God’s priority too. Because what matters to you matters to God and if we switch that around it will say what matters to God, should matter to you. Chase what matters. You will hear this phrase so much because I believe that it’s necessary so that when a situation just doesn’t feel right you will know to chase what matters. To chase what is important. To chase what counts.

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14 KJV

I press toward, I go after the things of God.

Often times we are out searching for things that God never intended for us to have. We get our feelings hurt, our heartbroken and then we go to God in despair. Sometimes, at least for me, I hear God say, “I know you’re hurting but I never wanted that for you. You wanted that for yourself.” Ouch. That hurts.

We are in the series Stretch Mark and last week Pastor Mike talked about being pursued. You see if you are pursuing something you are going after it you are chasing it. We have to pause and ask the question. Are you chasing what matters? Are you chasing those things that God wants for you? Are you chasing God? Do you know where He can be found?

Seek the Lord while he may be found: call on Him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6

One of the things that we have to understand is that sometimes we can’t find God to call on Him because we don’t where He is. We are not in our Word daily. We are not worshipping Him in spirit and truth. To us He is lost but every moment in His eyes we can be found if we seek Him.

With the pressing issues we have in our lives are we taking the time to seek the Lord while he may be found? It’s so easy to get busy with family, finances and Facebook, let’s keep it real, that we forget about God. We forget about His promises and those things that He has purposed for us. We put Him on the back burner and we look for Him when things are not going right. Our God wants us to chase Him. The songwriter says in the song Chasing After You, I’m chasing after you, no matter what I have to do, cause I need Him more and more. He goes on later in the song to say Just to be close to you, I’m chasing after you.

Now, that sounds like a stalker. I’m chasing after you. No matter what I have to do. Just to be close to you. If someone says that to you, you might want to rethink your relationship with that person. But as it relates to my Father who knows all things and see all things I want to go after Him. Wherever He is, is where I want to be. I want to chase after Him because He matters. His desire for our lives matters. His will matters. His presence matters.  

In the first part of this series we heard: If we want to see God move. Make a move.
In the 2nd part of this series we heard: In order to know God’s will you have to be close to Him. You can only get close to Him by chasing after Him.
Yesterday we heard about wait training, we don’t wait on people. We wait on God. We are waiting on a God who is and is in all things.

What’s important to God should be important to you. God has blessed all of us with so many gifts and talents and He desires that we go to where He is to use to gifts to give Him honor and glory. On the way home from church I’m verbally creating an outline for Morning Mannah. I say out loud, God if you are going left, I’m going left too. If you’re going right, I’m going right too. Tyler then asks me, “Mom, what if you’re in the right lane and God wants to go left?” I immediately responded’ I’m going to flash my blinkers to get in the left lane so that I can go where God is going.”

If I’m going to be a true stalker of my Father then I have to pay attention to the direction in which He is going. Even it means interrupting what’s going on to flash my blinkers to get in the correct lane. Let us all continue to seek Him while He may be found.

Apparently I love commercials because to end Morning Mannah, I’m going to combine Chase and American Family Insurance with a phrase that I pray blesses you.

Your dream is out there. Go get it. God will protect it. Chase what matters.

I pray this blesses you.

More Than a Cover Redesign

    

     Recently, I revisited the very first book I self-published in 2009: Ghetto Chick: Words of Heartache and Self-Love. During the pandemic, I taught myself how to use Canva and redesigned the cover, creating a version that I loved and felt reflected the spirit of the original. Yet when I began imagining what the cover might look like in 2026, something unexpected happened. 

     What started as a design exercise became a journey back to the woman who wrote the book in the first place. In 2009, self-publishing wasn’t trendy. There were no endless tutorials or easy-to-use design platforms. I was a fairly new certified teacher, raising a teenager and a toddler, and carrying the weight of a failed marriage. It was one of the darkest seasons of my life. 

     Yet night after night, after my sons had gone to sleep, I would sit with my laptop and my journal and write. Those late-night writing sessions brought me peace when I desperately needed it. The bedroom scene on the cover was never just a room. It was a sanctuary.

     As I reflected on redesigning the cover for 2026, I realized that the biggest difference wasn’t the typography, the colors, or the layout. The biggest difference was me. The woman redesigning the book today has lived more life. She has taught children, coached authors, raised remarkable sons, navigated grief, experienced healing, strengthened her faith, and learned the beauty of choosing joy. 

     I recognize that the woman who wrote Ghetto Chick in 2009 deserved tenderness too. She may not have had all the language yet. She may not have known where life was going. She may not have known she would one day build a publishing company, guide other writers, create journals, workshops, and communities centered on healing and self-expression. Yet, she still wrote. She still published. She still believed her voice mattered enough to place it into the world.

      Looking back now, I don’t see Ghetto Chick as simply my first book. I see it as the seed of LindarInsights. It was the voice before the framework, the healing before the teaching, the story before the strategy. The cover redesign reminded me that I wasn’t revisiting an old project. I was honoring the beginning of my becoming. 

     If 2009 Arlinda could sit across from 2026 Arlinda, I believe she would be proud of her. Proud of the books, the coaching, the students, the faith, the healing, the resilience, and the courage to keep trying. Most of all, she would be proud that through every season, I never stopped writing. What began as words on a laptop in the quiet of the night became a life devoted to helping others find and share their voices. And for that, I will always be grateful.

Ghetto Chick

☀️ SUMMER READS FOR WOMEN ☀️

 

     Summer is the perfect season to slow down, pour back into yourself, and pick up the kind of books that nourish your mind, spirit, and growth. Whether you’re healing, dreaming bigger, rediscovering yourself, or simply craving inspiration. 

     This curated reading list was created with women in mind. These are books that encourage reflection, courage, creativity, faith, and becoming. From personal growth and emotional wellness to beautifully written stories that stay with you long after the last page, there’s something here for every season of womanhood.

     This summer, let reading become more than a habit. Let it become part of your restoration. Brew the tea, sit outside a little longer, highlight the meaningful passages, and allow yourself the gift of growing slowly. ✨ 

Which book are you adding to your summer reading list first? Drop it below! 💜 

#SummerReads #WomenWhoRead #RestingWhileYouWait #HealingJourney #PersonalGrowth #BookLovers #MindsetShift #FaithAndWellness #SummerReadingList

Nothing To Prove

 

     There is something sacred about healing that happens quietly. Somewhere between grief and becoming, between what was lost and what is still unfolding. Lately, I’ve found myself reflecting on the spaces where we stop performing, stop proving, and simply allow ourselves to be. 

      Nothing to Prove was born from that tender place. It is a reminder that joy can still find us after we choose ourselves. And perhaps healing doesn’t always arrive through grand declarations; sometimes it comes softly through reflection, stillness, creativity, and even coloring outside the lines. 

     Maybe restoration looks like warm tea, gentle pages, quiet faith, and giving yourself permission to rest while your heart remembers how to hope again.

It’s a Thankful Thursday!! 🥰 #lindarinsights #grateful #gratitude

 

Focused & Unbothered ✨ | 24/7 Smooth R&B Neo Soul LoFi

 

#hespoilsme

#hespoilsme

 

Mindful Monday

 

Empowered Women Empower Women

 

Grief & My Favorite Number

The number 16 is my favorite number. 

My birthday is on the 16th. 

Alex’s birthday is on the 16th. 

It represents double new beginnings (8+8)

And. Takes a breath. 

It is the date we buried my father a year ago. 

A year without him has been an emotional roller coaster. 

Leading up to May of last year, I was beginning to see a glimmer 🤏🏽 of hope while recovering from a chronic illness. 

It felt like 🥊🥊 when Alex called me that night to tell me of my father’s passing. 

Some days I couldn’t figure out if the feelings of fatigue, anxiety and depression were from the illness, mourning the loss of my father or both.  

Some days those feelings collided. I honestly had to come up with a system. If I managed to get dressed, have on my 3 pairs of earrings and some makeup, I accomplished something. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Now, if I did those things and got out of the house. I’m winning on those days. 🏅

What has helped. 

✨Sleep

✨Essential oils (lavender, spearmint & eucalyptus)

✨Crying freely

✨Realizing grief shows up in various ways. 

✨Therapy 

✨Journaling

✨Being gentle with where I am. 

✨My faith 

✨My village 

✨Tending to my plants. 

The Lord will perfect that concerning me. 

And sooner or later…