Overcomers Overcoming

Donna Tashjian joins us for the sixth episode, where she explains the impact the Apostle Paul made on her with his message to the Church of Corinth in his second letter to the Corinthians. In this verse, he encourages his readers to focus on positive matters. The unseen influences on people's lives are frequently negative. Those negative influences can include the media, people whose values are extremely aberrant from ours, toxic people, and those people who are fundamentally unhappy. As we are intentional to take an introspective look at our life, we can determine our habits that might be negative influences. Donna can be reached at www.ivibrantliving.com.

Kawan Glover describes the inception of and his current progress of overcoming the effects of three surgeries to correct and recover from a cavernous malformation of the brain. At the time of this recording, the left side of his mouth is numb while having about 40% mobility with his right side. Some people might declare themselves a victim of this type of surgery, its effects, and the recovery time. Kawan has chosen to have a very positive attitude. Listen for the resolve of his resilience. His attitude, prayer, and accountability partners might be the holistic approach to a full recovery.

Rick Bradley had an early life of feeling inadequate in many areas of his life. He turned to substance abuse to overcome these inadequate feelings. He learned that drinking was merely temporary relief. His mother had the temerity to ask for professional help because of her father's alcoholism. Through her efforts and perseverance, Rick is now free of his past. He is passing forward his life experience by encouraging other families to seek professional help early. Do not feel ashamed, and never assume substance disease will cure itself.

Donna Tashjian describes her life journey of forgiveness. As she details in Episode #1, she had a traumatic childhood that robbed her of what would consider a normal childhood. She describes her feelings of and journey to achieve a life of freedom. She describes forgiveness as freeing yourself of the past without feeling the person who wronged you is held blameless. She also describes the freedom of the past as being a life journey. That journey to freedom is very personal. That is, she admonishes others not to compare themselves with anyone else's journey of forgiveness. Donna's website is www.ivibrantliving.com

Donna Tashjian experienced a major trust betrayal early in her life. For a period of her life, she could not trust males or females. Through this very difficult part of her life, she has learned the journey to re-establish trust. She is helping others establish and re-establish trust through her life experience. Trust is established through a life journey that involves working through emotions while learning to believe in people. Establishing trust requires time. Re-establishing trust requires more time and faith. Our faith in God can bring us through difficult times.

Donna Tashjian discusses in this episode emotions that become feelings. Do those feelings accurately define who we are? Not necessarily. Those feelings may not accurately represent our values. Listen closely to the four aspects of gratitude, self-talk affirmations, self-care such as talk with God, and inspiration as it relates to our feelings. We must be intentional about our self-awareness to ensure we know if our emotions accurately reflect our values. Contact Donna at iVibrantLiving.com.

Donna Tashjian, ordained Pastor and certified coach, has taken the best of her storied past and is applying life lessons to her and other's future. Awareness is an important aspect of our lives, as Donna explains. Being aware of who we are and what inspires us to action are very important aspects of determining if we are performing at our full potential. Some of us allow past events to dominate our thoughts when circumstances provoke those thoughts. Those thoughts, at times, can negatively dominate our actions. Donna is very inspirational in explaining how she has overcome a traumatic event in her past to live a very positive future. Contact Donna at www.iVibrantLiving.com.

Donna Tashjian became pregnant when she was 14 years old through an unfortunate circumstance. Because of this, she was socially shunned and left partially to defend herself. Rather than choose to be a victim of her circumstance or rely on others to support her, she became determined to become self-sufficient while overcoming many of her self-assessed inadequacies. Through her relationship with God and Jesus Christ, her Lord and Savior, she gained strength knowing He is with her through this life encounter. Take a fear and find a promise from God. "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." (Psalm 37:25)

Matt Koroncai was in third grade when he started a drug habit. He thought drugs would help him overcome the empty feeling of no relationships or connectedness. He longed for acceptance. For a time, drugs helped him overcome those feelings of deep inadequacies. That, combined with a strong will of defiance, led to a life of addiction. Through a friend he didn't even like, that person chose to invest in Matt's life and lead him out of his life of dependency. As of this writing, Matt is celebrating six years of being clean. Can we help others avoid Matt's story by engaging effectively in other's lives?

Dan Bartol felt disconnected as a teenager. To gain acceptance, he turned to alcohol and drugs that led to a life of dependency. He endured this dependency for nearly 16 years. As of this recording, he is celebrating nine years of freedom from chemical dependency. He is now serving at one of the Recovery Centers of America, dedicating his life to showing he cares by serving others to help them overcome a similar dependency. Dan describes himself as a new man because of his freedom and relationship with God.