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	<title>The Official Web Site of LeeAnn Taylor</title>
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	<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com</link>
	<description>Author, Filmmaker, Mentor, Actress and Mother of Five</description>
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		<title>FRAGILE FACE OF GOD BOOK ON SALE!</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/495</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/495#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 05:29:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[book publishing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[book release]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fragile Face of God]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/495</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Title: FRAGILE FACE OF GOD BOOK ON SALE!Location: Buy At Amazon May 21Link out: Click hereDescription: It&#8217;s here! LeeAnn Taylor&#8217;s story of illumination through motherhood, disability, death and instruction from beyond the veil. Purchase your copy today.Date: 2013-05-19]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Title: </strong>FRAGILE FACE OF GOD BOOK ON SALE!<br /><strong>Location: </strong>Buy At Amazon May 21<br /><strong>Link out: </strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Fragile-Face-God-Darkness/dp/1939447151/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#038;qid=1368995853&#038;sr=8-1&#038;keywords=fragile+face+of+god" target="_blanck">Click here</a><br /><strong>Description: </strong>It&#8217;s here! LeeAnn Taylor&#8217;s story of illumination through motherhood, disability, death and instruction from beyond the veil. Purchase your copy today.<br /><strong>Date: </strong>2013-05-19</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Fragile X syndrome and My Big Plans</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/472</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/472#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Mar 2013 22:37:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>LeeAnn Taylor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[disability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fragile X syndrome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/?p=472</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today our family&#8217;s story is featured on Bonnie&#8217;s wonderful blog &#8220;Fragile X Files&#8221; &#8211; read about our adventures, our miracles, and our journey through the fire&#8230;&#8230; www.fragilexfiles.com &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; I had stars in my eyes from day one. Like most girls in high school, I had plans.  Big plans.  I was fearlessly [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today our family&#8217;s story is featured on Bonnie&#8217;s wonderful blog &#8220;Fragile X Files&#8221; &#8211; read about our adventures, our miracles, and our journey through the fire&#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fragilexfiles.com">www.fragilexfiles.com</a></p>
<div id="attachment_79" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 110px"><a href="http://leeanntaylorstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/vim.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-79" alt="Fragile X syndrome" src="http://leeanntaylorstory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/vim.png" width="100" height="150" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text"> </p></div>
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<p>I had stars in my eyes from day one.</p>
<div></div>
<div>Like most girls in high school, I had plans.  Big plans.  I was fearlessly ambitious with grand visions of happiness and a successful life in the movie spotlight. Marriage and less-than-glamorous-motherhood seemed somewhere in the far distance, undecided and inconvenient.  After graduation, I veritably bounded away from the manicured grounds of my suburban high school, armed with top honors in performing arts, and into the bold and fascinating new land of adulthood.  I was ready to take on the world.  Or so I thought.</div>
<div></div>
<div>After a year of film school, performing in Disney parades, and dating, I fell fast into the arms of a charming young man and was married at age 19.  Baby #1 came lightning fast!  Like my mother before me, my sisters, and my friends and neighbors, I expected parenthood to be full of bliss – an enchanting life of adorable snap-shot moments and a rite of passage into life’s noble endeavors.  And in the beginning, it was.  My new baby daughter, Jaede, was exceptional –meeting all of her milestones early and bursting with vibrant energy.  She truly inspired me and we spent hours together every day forming an unbreakable bond.</div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div><strong>Fragile X syndrome Comes Unexpectedly</strong></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div>When Jaede was just 4 months old, however, I became unexpectedly pregnant again. I began having mysterious dreams about a small boy with short blond hair and an oblong face.  He was in my womb and seemed frail, but when I tried to speak with him he looked ahead and said nothing.  I couldn’t reach him.  Nine months later I gave birth to a healthy baby boy who I named Quinn.  He was an unusual baby, as far as what I knew about babies at that time.  At 6 months old, he growled incessantly, turning his face bright red and bulging the veins in his neck.  And he played with toys by pressing them against his face and stiffening his muscles until he quivered.  He also loved to spin his toys and would watch monotonously as he spun them around and around all day.  In addition, Quinn’s gaze fluttered randomly around the room, purposefully avoiding eye contact with me.  He was a constant buzz of energy with a will like a locomotive.</p>
<div></div>
<div>Well-meaning family and friends assured me there was nothing to worry about, but in my heart I knew there was something very wrong. I thought maybe I wasn’t mothering him the right way.  He didn’t respond to my affection or acknowledge when I called his name.  <i>Am I a bad mother? </i> I wondered.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Meanwhile, I became pregnant again.  Life was progressing at unbelievable speed.  Jaede became mama’s-little-helper; however, that precious mother-daughter time became increasingly rare and I began to feel guilty for neglecting her.  Out of necessity, most of my attention went to Quinn’s constant needs.</div>
<div>
<div></div>
<div>When Quinn was 2, we took him to a university medical center.  He was still non-verbal and exhibited many strange behaviors such as hand-flapping, rocking against the wall, and playing with his regurgitated food.  The pediatric neurologist diagnosed him with autism and ordered further testing to rule out hearing loss.  During the months that followed, I researched a variety of childhood developmental delays that can affect behaviors.  My heart did not want to believe that my child had a disability.  I searched desperately for anything that was treatable, curable, or otherwise temporary.</div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div><strong>Can a Blessing be Disguised as a Tragedy? For us, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Fragile X syndrome</span> was a Blessing&#8230;.</strong></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div>My son, Shale, was then born – a healthy boy with bright red hair and hazel-gray eyes.  He was much more affectionate than Quinn was and loved to cuddle with me.  Because of the differences between them, I wasn’t concerned for Shale’s development.</div>
<div>Our pediatric neurologist had a “hunch” about some of Quinn’s physical attributes and ordered a genetic screening for him.  At the age of 3, Quinn was officially diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome.  I had never heard of Fragile X and there was no history of it in my family.  Things were about to change dramatically in my life. My new son, Shale, was beginning to exhibit similar behaviors.</div>
<div></div>
<div>A year and a half later I gave birth to another daughter, Faith, rounding out our total count to 4 children under the age of 5.  I was only 26 years old.  It was at this time that my son, Shale, tested positive for Fragile X Syndrome.  Nine months later Faith was also diagnosed.  I was devastated.</div>
</div>
<div></div>
<div>My husband and I made it through the dark days with a sense of humor developed out of necessity.  It was our underlying defense mechanism, our method of self-preservation, subconsciously cultivated as a means of protection against the hopelessness.  With Shale and Quinn cruising around the house in nothing but a diaper like natives in a loincloth, Faith sitting in her baby seat watching the spectacle with wide eyes, and Jaede talking away as loud as she could to compete with all the commotion, laughter was our only safeguard for sanity.  We made up all kinds of nicknames and catchphrases for our children.  To keep from going crazy, we had to mock the horrific things our sons did, the grotesque messes they made.  Toilet humor became a staple in our home, as did songs with spoofed lyrics about Quinn’s animalistic eating habits and Shale’s marathon diaper changes.  We were like the urban hillbillies of Yuppieville.</div>
<div>
<div></div>
<div>Everything in my life had been redefined.  In some circles, I became known as “the mother of the retarded children.”  In other circles, I was referred to as “amazing” and “remarkable.”  I would love to say that I felt amazing – or remarkable – but I didn’t.  Instead, I struggled with feeling like a failure as a mother.  I often felt like no one in the world understood what I was going through.  My husband grew distant and detached from our family’s needs.  My life’s plans seemed to disintegrate almost overnight.  Quinn’s and Shale’s behaviors eventually escalated into violent episodes, leaving me with bite marks and bruises. Even in Fragile X circles, my sons’ developmental challenges seemed unusually extreme, isolating me even further.  They both remained non-verbal and in diapers, functioning barely at the level of a 2-year-old.  Jaede grew up so fast, she became like a third parent in our home.  She struggled with anxiety and stress of her own, and felt neglected most of the time as her Fragile X siblings took priority time after time.  I simply could not meet everyone’s needs, no matter the size of my efforts.</div>
<div></div>
<div>
<div>There were nights when I felt so hopeless that I literally prayed for death.  And there were nights when I felt luminous angels surrounding me.  I felt like I was being broken down and rebuilt, one painful piece at a time, as my selfishness and short-sightedness were stripped away in the process of caring for my special needs children.  I watched a transformation take place within myself – from a young, starry-eyed girl with big plans that didn’t include compassion or courage, failures or life lessons, to a woman stronger than I ever imagined I could be.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Despite the challenges, there were truly transcendent moments during these difficult years.  One day when I was working with Faith on her speech therapy, she exclaimed, “My brother is an angel.”</div>
<div></div>
<div>Faith had no concept of what an angel was nor the vocabulary to express it.</div>
<div></div>
<div>“Your brother is Quinn,” I responded.</div>
<div></div>
<div>“Quinn is an angel,” she stated again.</div>
<div></div>
<div>“And Shale is your brother, too,” I said.  Now I was testing her, remembering back to the day when Jaede, at two years old, had said the very same thing about Quinn.</div>
<div></div>
<div>“Shale is an angel,” she replied.  My heart skipped a beat.</div>
<div></div>
<div>And then the first of many miracles happened.</div>
<div></div>
<div>I became unexpectedly pregnant with a beautiful little girl.  I named her Psalm – <i>a</i> <i>sacred song</i> – and I call her my “miracle baby” because my husband had undergone a vasectomy after we decided not to have more children.  And because Psalm does not have Fragile X syndrome.  Her presence is pure joy.  She is the perfect friend to her big sister, Faith.  And she is a blessing in the lives of everyone who knows her.</div>
<div>Psalm’s birth was pivotal for me.  After this event, many life-altering changes occurred including a magnificent intervention beyond the grave.  I am alive today because of it.</div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div><strong>Our <em>Fragile X syndrome</em> Journey still continues&#8230;</strong></div>
<div></div>
<div></div>
<div>This year, Quinn will be 22 years old and Shale will be 20.  They both live in a professional home now, they are both still non-verbal and require 24-hour supervision.  But they are absolutely amazing and remarkable – true giants in my eyes.  I treasure them and the lessons they teach me.  My precious Faith is now 17 and has been fortunate to be only moderately affected by Fragile X Syndrome.  She reads, writes, speaks very well, and is a fantastic cook.  Jaede is studying humanitarian work and Psalm is an avid reader.  Mothering these children is the most challenging yet remarkably beautiful experience of my life, full of transcendent highs wrapped up in a series of unpredictable moments, struggles, and triumphs.</div>
<div></div>
<div>For a long time I believed that having disabled children would prevent the work I felt driven to do in my life, but I’ve since discovered that it was in the lowest, darkest moments with them where my life’s highest vision was born.  I still have “big plans,” but they look a little different now: I write books that inspire people, I make films about the triumphant human spirit, and I mentor people of every walk who are looking for hope.</p>
<div>Thank you, Quinn, Shale, and Faith, for revealing to me what I am capable of and for showing me the way.</div>
<div><b>Excerpted from <i>The Fragile Face of God </i>©2013 by LeeAnn Taylor</b></div>
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		<title>Fragile Face of God Coming This Spring!</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/456</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/456#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:15:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/?p=456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[LeeAnn is thrilled to announce the release of her new book,  The Fragile Face of God, which will be available for purchase beginning Mother&#8217;s Day weekend 2013. Stay tuned for special announcements and promotions!]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>LeeAnn is thrilled to announce the release of her new book,  <em>The Fragile Face of God</em>, which will be available for purchase beginning Mother&#8217;s Day weekend 2013.</p>
<p>Stay tuned for special announcements and promotions!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Beads of Contribution</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/449</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/449#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:26:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>LeeAnn Taylor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Truth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[earth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[galaxy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[humanitarian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[humanity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[men]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/?p=449</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Our life &#8211; a continuous necklace of contributions, each like a timeless bead linked together by our efforts, our energies, our talents and gifts. Each one has his own. Each person wears the jewels of his or her givings and receivings. We offer to our fellowman our service, our time, our love, our hope, and so [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Our life &#8211; a continuous necklace of contributions, each like a timeless bead linked together by our efforts, our energies, our talents and gifts. Each one has his own. Each person wears the jewels of his or her givings and receivings. We offer to our fellowman our service, our time, our love, our hope, and so give to him a bead with our name on it. He, in turn, gives to us his service, his time, his love, his hope, and so gives to us a bead with his name on it. And so the contributions go, like peace offerings for a planet of people adorned.</p>
<p>We are unity. We are one. Together. How beautiful is the diversity of our contributions. How colorful is our array of gifts. How awe-filled is our energy. We, like jewelers from higher realms, fashion and shape our beads with the greatest of care. As artists divine, we painstakingly work to give the finest of offerings to our brother or sister. We share with them our wisdom, our light, and so glistens their necklace ever brightly by what we have imparted. We, too, wear the shining contributions of those who have met with us on our journey. And we shine brighter for having them.</p>
<p>And so look around you today at the beads worn by those you pass. Your brothers and sisters are shaped by what you have contributed to the whole of humanity. Does it shine? Is it beautiful? And does it reflect the light in you?</p>
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		<title>LOVE is the Title</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/445</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/445#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>LeeAnn Taylor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gratitude]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Truth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[caring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[connection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DNA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gratitude]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[healing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soul]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[way]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[world]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/?p=445</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Love. The title of our story. The nuance of our journey. In the moments of our lives. Love. It is our gift. We give it to ourselves each time we choose to ignore drama and reach for connection instead. We give it to others every time we tell another how grateful we are for them [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Love. The title of our story. The nuance of our journey. In the moments of our lives.</p>
<p>Love.</p>
<p>It is our gift. We give it to ourselves each time we choose to ignore drama and reach for connection instead.</p>
<p>We give it to others every time we tell another how grateful we are for them in our lives, and each way we send outward into the world our devotion for peace.</p>
<p>Love. It is the softest whispering of &#8220;I love you&#8221; and the loudest action of &#8220;I care.&#8221; It is the ruin of despair and the towering monument of hope. It is in our DNA &#8211; and in our brain programming. It is the cafe of soulful elixers and the remedy for the downhearted traveler. It is YOU and ME &#8211; in our highest state of being. And it is our birthright. Now. Here. In this place and time.</p>
<p>We are Love. And Love is us.</p>
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		<title>Our Light Span</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/437</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/437#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:49:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>LeeAnn Taylor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Truth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Divine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[East Coast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heaven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[humanity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[light]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[President]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sandy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Storm]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/?p=437</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Across our continent there is devastation, washing ashore remnants of our homes and our lives. We are confronted with storms of both nature and man, whose mind and heart seeks to find peace among ruin and light among darkness. But we cannot change the winds nor the rain, we cannot change the tumultous rage that [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Across our continent there is devastation, washing ashore remnants of our homes and our lives. We are confronted with storms of both nature and man, whose mind and heart seeks to find peace among ruin and light among darkness. But we cannot change the winds nor the rain, we cannot change the tumultous rage that lays wreckage to our communities. We <em>can, </em>however<em>,</em> give our hearts to a new thought &#8211; a new idea.</p>
<p>This new idea begins with taking a closer look within ourselves. It beckons us to peer deep inside us to find something <em>more</em>. It speaks of love and heart &#8211; renewed within a higher concept of trust. Where once we begged for our hope to a new privilege &#8211; that of being ONE mankind, we now seem to squander that privilege in a game wrought with selfish agendas and less honorable outcomes.</p>
<p>But there is a new idea. And this new idea is one with Light. It can change our outcome from despairing mediocre existence to brightly extraordinary manifestation. It is held in the true, real power of Light. And it is <em>ours</em> &#8211; to give, to receive, to expand, and to share. We are beings of Light, all of us, and we are just beginning to see this reality. As beings of Light, we are capable of new purpose and brighter lives. We are embodied holy sages, wrapped in the light given us by He who is our Divine, and He wants for us to feel our light. He wills that we become the light-made-manifest that we inherently are. And we <em>are</em>.</p>
<p>In order for us to do this, we must turn&#8230; from our former way to a new way. And that is how we change. <em>Truly</em> change. We must <em>be</em> love. We must <em>be</em> truth, in a higher form. We must <em>become</em> Light, as seen in our once-known heavenly home. And we must <em>act</em>.  There is no progress without first action. And there will be no peace without Light. In order to bring this Light forward, we must be all the brightest aspects of love we know how to be. Even if we only understand the most basic concept of kindness or decency, we must be that. Even if we only see the smallest, most tiny speck of heart within us, we must use that. Even if we merely believe that love is possible but have never experienced it ourselves, we must hold &#8211; tightly &#8211; to that idea and allow it to flourish within us as a beacon of Light. It <em>will</em>.</p>
<p>Our Light spans brightly across millennia of existence, even into realms we do not yet remember while in this mortal state. But we can shine, nonetheless, brightly. We can give our heart to those whose needs exceed our own. And we can see, even in the darkest corner of devastation, a glimmer of that Light. It dispels the dark, and it brings our heart into a new place of power. This place can be the start to a new world. It can shatter our former selfishness. It can make a magnitude of Love where once only hate existed. And it can lead us into a new Society where every man serves his brother, every woman sees beauty in her sister, and where every child knows they are loved and cherished. Where all the mistakes of the past are washed away like the remnants of our broken homes cleansed by yesterday&#8217;s storm.</p>
<p>In here, we will find the Light. In here, we will dwell.</p>
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		<title>All the Wonder</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/434</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/434#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:04:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>LeeAnn Taylor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Truth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Divine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[giving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[light]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sacred]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sorrow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[truth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wisdom]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/?p=434</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[See all the wonder in your life. Feel all the joy in your existence. Be all the hope that was born within you. And have a life that will be shared with those who may cross your path that they, too, may see and feel the wonder. We all have something magnificent to give &#8211; it [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>See all the wonder in your life.</p>
<p>Feel all the joy in your existence.</p>
<p>Be all the hope that was born within you.</p>
<p>And have a life that will be shared with those who may cross your path that they, too, may see and feel the wonder.</p>
<p>We all have something magnificent to give &#8211; it is our own life, the very hope that God has inserted into our being. We all have a divine measure of joy inherent in our sacred DNA. We all possess an unfathomable level of light inside our very core and we can choose to share that light, when we give of ourselves in service or when we say a kind word or when we choose to lift another and bring them joy in the moment. All of these measures of light fill our soul with the same, and it is our divine duty to share it &#8211; to send it outward that we may fill our entire planet with hope.</p>
<p>Being a woman who has felt hopelessness, I fully understand the plight of those who live in sorrow. I know what it is to lack the light in one&#8217;s heart and to allow despair to cloud out the joy in our existence. I have understood pain, and I know its opposite. I can live in such a way now that I give all that I wish I could have received when I was struggling. My hope is to send outward my own light, and to shift the pain in our world to a deeper sense of compassion, thereby transforming it.</p>
<p>As simple as a smile. As small as a word. As joyful as a hand taking away someone&#8217;s sorrow. This is what we can give. And this is the plain secret to all the Wonder inherent in our world.</p>
<p>Simply to give.</p>
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		<title>Truth: A Bright Explore</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/430</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/430#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:46:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>LeeAnn Taylor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Truth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[choice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heaven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[liberation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[light]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[truth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/?p=430</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TRUTH. It has been a participant in many varied representations. It has wandered where words carry with meaning its true identity and yet has slipped beyond areas of valid trust at other times. It has been a resource for monumental growth, and the unfortunate receiver of inaccurate debate. For all the true meaning alive in [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>TRUTH. It has been a participant in many varied representations. It has wandered where words carry with meaning its true identity and yet has slipped beyond areas of valid trust at other times. It has been a resource for monumental growth, and the unfortunate receiver of inaccurate debate. For all the true meaning alive in our soul, Truth has yet to be the ground of purpose and light for our evolution.</p>
<p>We are always in control of our own choice. No one has ever had the power to remove from us our choice &#8211; how we will respond, how we will feel, how we will believe. We are owners of our explicit right to choose. However, we are automatically subject to the outcomes, results, and effects of our choices regardless of our intent in making those choices. We can, when chosen, take our Truth and become directly set in walking forward to brighter living.</p>
<p>Truth can be our guiding scepter of promise &#8211; our lighted ray &#8211; our foundation for every choice we make. It can be what will make the profound elevation in human existence when we select it for that purpose. We are senders, in every moment, giving our energy to others in a word-play, experiencing life through our expressions and our interpretations. We can give what is real &#8211; what is True &#8211; or we can withold our Truth and instead be wandering in a shadow of reality.</p>
<p>When Truth is chosen as the means by which we will operate, we can move forward brightly, liberating ourselves from the snare of misguiding false identities and exacting, rather, a sure life of true character. We can be real. This is such an exhilerating platform. We will never desire to lessen our identity again by creating counterfeit faces to wear, once we have liberated ourselves and become real.</p>
<p>We can &#8211; in fact, we must &#8211; wear the True light we own. We can &#8211; must &#8211; become the real agents of higher living. We do, at every moment, feel that compelling magnetic pull of hope as we place our Truthfulness forward-facing in our lives. And we will have none other than the most luminous ground of existence once we make this very choice to be so.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Our Divine Role</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/426</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/426#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:46:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>LeeAnn Taylor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[being]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Divine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[identity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[light]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[roles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[truth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/?p=426</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The word &#8220;role&#8221; is not an accurate or welcoming term used in our society. We&#8217;ve come to think of playing a role, or serving in a role, or being confined to a role. All of these sound contrived and limiting. We are often held to the identities that society wishes to impose on us. But we are [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The word &#8220;role&#8221; is not an accurate or welcoming term used in our society. We&#8217;ve come to think of playing a role, or serving in a role, or being confined to a role. All of these sound contrived and limiting. We are often held to the identities that society wishes to impose on us. But we are not always aligned with these identities, nor are we necessarily held in their embrace.</p>
<p>When one of us decides to choose an identity other than the one placed on us by others, we sometimes feel trapped or apprehensive. This can lead to our being confused by the opposing attachments that we feel controlled by. But we are not held to any attachment, identity, or &#8220;role&#8221; other than the one designed by us before coming into this world.</p>
<p>That may seem incredible, or ridiculous. But, in truth, we are who we choose to be. And none other.</p>
<p>For they whose lives are held inside a stifling box of expectations, enormous assumptions, or less-than-true paradigms, we can lift the curtain of despair and relieve their sorrow. How can we do this?</p>
<p>By letting go of the false identities we have been assigning to each other.</p>
<p>We &#8211; each of us &#8211; are a being of light, held in all love and only bound by the limitations we place on ourselves. We can, at any time, choose to change what does not fit in our lives. We can, at any moment, select to lift the false paradigm and move into a new arena of life. We can, you and I, choose to be real and true to the higher &#8220;role&#8221; we have to manifest. That is <em>hope</em>.</p>
<p>We are manifested embodiments of hope, and it is our divine role to expand and express that hope. When we reach out to &#8220;reveal&#8221; another as who they truly are &#8211; the brightness they hold within them &#8211; we are manifesting a degree of hope that is truly divine. And when we select to stay locked up in our false identity, we are not expressing either hope or divinity.</p>
<p>These roles we play &#8211; the ones which define our lives in the scope of human experience &#8211; are not what they appear to be. They are false and are only a superficial display of our ignorance. The only role we need assume is the one we hold within our spirit: HOPE, LIGHT, and LOVE.</p>
<p>This, and only this, is what we came here to be. And when we attach ourselves to it in a way that is divine, we will feel real and authentic and true.</p>
<p>This is the divine within us signaling that we have it right.</p>
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		<title>RECEIVE the LIGHT</title>
		<link>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/420</link>
		<comments>http://leeanntaylorstory.com/archives/420#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:57:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>LeeAnn Taylor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life Observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[challenge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[light]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[meaning society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[power]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[purpose]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wisdom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[world]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leeanntaylorstory.com/?p=420</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We live in the shadow of this life, hidden away from our extraordinary light. Yet it extends an invitation at every moment. We are exponentially more than what we are manifesting. We have exponentially more to give to ourselves and our fellowman than what we have given. We will go exponentially more far when we realize [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We live in the shadow of this life, hidden away from our extraordinary light. Yet it extends an invitation at every moment.</p>
<p>We are exponentially more than what we are manifesting. We have exponentially more to give to ourselves and our fellowman than what we have given. We will go exponentially more far when we realize (make real) our divine heritage and step forward to claim it.</p>
<p>As beings of infinite love and infinite light, we hold our life&#8217;s magnificence like a candle unlit &#8211; we merely must ignite our energy in this sphere and aim its glow toward that which rises up and transcends. We hold unseen wonder and fathomless might when we are engaged in the pursuit of higher things, undimmed by the world&#8217;s fleeting fascinations and undeterred by its shallow allure.</p>
<p>When more people become engaged in the light, we all come a little closer to higher achievements and brighter outcomes. We all come into arms of peace and love. We all grow a little further toward our highest potential. There is no breakthrough for any individual that does not benefit all individuals. There is no suffering for any person that does not affect all persons. When one of us transcends, we all transcend in some measure. When one of us fails, we all fail in some measure. So it is that we are all tied to one another in a kaleidescope of human existance.</p>
<p>When one begins to walk forward toward light and the warm generosity of its power, we all inch closer to expansion. We are the seeds of eternity, springing up into landscapes of wisdom and cherishing. We can, when we choose to, become that sacred expression. We can, when we choose to, take hold of light&#8217;s power to infuse us with life-giving purpose. We can, if we choose to, hold a portion of that light now &#8211; a brighter portion by our own inherent gift.</p>
<p>When the light invites, accept. When it arrives, receive.</p>
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