Powerful voices. Everyone needs has some, but not all of them are good ones. Voices that speak over and into your life that either build or destroy. They either pronounce your future as great or they condemn you to the failures of your past. 

Voices can build or destroy, they can encourage or leave you utterly devastated. As children we use to sing the rhyme that “Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” That little rhyme is a bold face lie. Bones can heal, but the damage words can do can destroy or injure a person for years to come.

I wanted to be a magazine and editorial photographer at 17 years old, but I let voices of older unhappy and insecure photographers scare me away from my dream. Almost thirty years were lost because of a powerful voice spoke destruction into me. All those years wasted because I listened to destructive and damning words. Now its true I made the choice to listen and act, that’s my responsibility just as it is yours, but the wrong word at the wrong time can crush a dream, while the right word can build unstoppable vision.

You have to take responsibility to protect your mind and heart from the powerful voices that can cause harm. You also must take care that you seek and find powerful voices that will build you up, support you, believe in you, and encourage you. I have been very blessed that I have positive powerful voices speaking into my life. One such voice is my pastor (pictured above). He is a talented musician, great speaker, and a big dreamer. He gathers visions of the future that are bigger than himself and the area around him. He also gathers people around him with big goals and big ideas. I couldn’t go through the process if it hadn’t been for his voice in my life. I’ve had other great voices that have and continue to encourage me. My father, family, friends, and even fans have spoken words to me to encourage me. Many of them have no idea that at the moment they said it I was thinking of quitting. What if I had not guarded my mind and heart and allowed the nay sayers to speak to me?

What about you? What voices are you listening to? Who are you allowing to speak into your life, dreams, and goals. Who is telling you what you can or can’t do? Who is building you up or are they tearing you down? It’s your dreams, your vision, your goals, your life. You were not born to be insignificant, unimportant, and unnoticed. You were born to accomplish something of lasting value. The question is are you moving towards that or are you surrendering to the destructive voices? Everyone one has voices that tell you what you can’t do. It may be competitors, people you thought were friends, family, your bank account, your credit score, your past, or it may be yourself. Surrender to the wrong voice and your dreams and purpose is lost, open to the right voice and there is no telling where you may go and what you can do.

If you don’t know where to start in finding the right powerful voice in your life, here are a few good ones for you:

“Align yourself with people that you can learn from, people who want more out of life, people who are stretching and searching and seeking some higher ground in life.” ― Les Brown

"You weren't an accident. You weren't mass produced. You aren't an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on the Earth by the Master Craftsman." - Max Lucado

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step." - Martin Luther King Jr.

"Think you can or think you can't, either way you will be right." - Henry Ford

"Fall down seven times, get up eight times." - Japanese Proverb

"I'm so optimistic I'd go after Moby Dick in a row boat and take the tartar sauce with me." - Zig Ziglar

"People are just as happy as they make up thier minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln

"The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living at doing what they most enjoy." - Malcom S. Forbes

"I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship." - Lousia May Alcott

"You can be anything you want to be, if you only believe with sufficient conviction and act in accordance with your faith; for whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve." - Napoleon Hill