Who Is Matthew Davis? Why Is He Motivational?

Jesus Is Alive — Trust

This story turned out differently than I initially imagined. In the best way possible. I found great power in telling this true story of my life and getting some of these words out onto the page.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it.

People set loose and half-hearted New Year’s resolutions every year.

I’m not normally one of those people. I don’t commit to making some ultra-committed goal when the clock strikes midnight. It’s a nice sentiment. But slightly overrated.

If you commit to a new goal like eating healthier, making more money, or pursuing a new challenge — statistics show that by spring, less than 10% of you will still be committed to following through on your over-hyped promises of self-improvement — whichever category it falls under.

Unless you’re disciplined, focused, and constantly tracking and measuring your progress along the way — the lines will be blurred on what you’ve accomplished and what you need to modify in order to get your sh*t back together again.

But I’m not here to rant.

I just wanted to give you a subtle reminder not to be one of those people.

You’re better than that.

You’re clear on your goals, and you’re committed to taking daily action until you see them through because it’s what you were made to do.

You believe in your capabilities and your ability to acquire any tools, resources, or guidance you may need along the way.

For just a brief moment, you felt yourself crossing the finish line of whatever it is you set out to do and knew how great it would feel. You could feel the sense of achievement and wholeness it may bring to your life. You wake up every day and imagine yourself crossing that finish line, and you're determined in pushing through anyone or anything that tries to stop you.

Why I’m Here

My purpose for being on this earth, my higher calling as it is referred to by many — is to motivate and inspire you.

Hence the positive and aspirational tone within my cute little intro paragraph. I suppose I wanted to show you a little bit of me before sharing how I arrived at this bold and somewhat broad conclusion.

I’ve wanted to write more about this since it happened, but because of its nature and the personal conviction within, I suppose I’ve been hesitant about how to share the details; as well as figure out which details of the story to include because I don’t necessarily want to waste your time if you have already granted me with some of yours.

For my people who want and need the good stuff up front, here it is. I was enlightened with my purpose after demanding a sign from God. Jesus, in particular. I’m not asking you to believe me. I’m just telling you what happened.

And the only reason I’m telling you what happened is because of its direct relevancy to the title of this story and how it relates to who I am, and who I’ll be striving to be this year and every year for the rest of my life, as far as I’m concerned.

And to be frank — though I’ve prayed in Jesus’ name many times, I’ve never experienced anything as supernatural as I did this last October. Anything your able to take away from my experience to help your own — is encouraged.

But on with the story, shall we.

How This Happened

On October 10th, after being terminated from my night job 3 days previously without cause or warning — I was fed up with my circumstances.

I wasn’t distraught or suicidal. Killing myself is something I have contemplated, and luckily I’ve reached my own personal point of knowing I’d never do that to myself or the people I love. But I was pretty confused as to why certain events had happened the way they had. I was frustrated. Lost might even be a better description.

It was late. I decided to take my computer out onto my porch to write. It seemed like a nice idea, even though I had never done so before. I wanted to try and make sense of why that word had earlier been so engraved in my thoughts. I couldn’t fully understand or make sense of it. I thought writing would bring me clarity.

“M-O-T-I-V-A-T-E”

As if it had been tattooed on my brain or something. At the same time, I had also been feeling drawn to the girl who lives above me. I guess I felt that I could motivate her. Empower her, somehow. At a bare minimum, I wanted to get to know her a bit more.

Despite her being my neighbor for more than 6 months, we hardly spoke — and she always appeared to be in a rush with her head down when I saw her coming and going. She was timid and reserved. Almost fearful, and I had always been able to sense it and wondered why.

Out on my enclosed patio, I scribbled a few sentences. I tried to write about the way I was feeling and how it could possibly relate to a stranger living above me. Deep in thought — the words didn’t quite pour out onto the page as I had expected. I set the computer down and sat back in my chair.

“Why is this happening? Why do I feel like I can motivate a stranger? Why did I get fired from my job so randomly? Am I suppose to be a trainer, like my dad was? What makes me feel I could do such a thing? What am I suppose to do? Who am I suppose to be?” GRRRRRR.

My thoughts are interrupted as a notice my stomach growl. I haven’t eaten in hours. I pull out my phone to order a Dominos sandwich and lava cakes. While staring at the Dominos Pizza Tracker — the door above me slides open, and my neighbor steps out.

It’s her.

She begins walking down her steps. Because of the way the building is built, she’ll be able to see I’m outside. I could feel the awkwardness of myself wanting to say something. I didn’t know why, or how to approach the situation; so I conveniently used my phone to avoid any conversation or eye contact. She continued down the stairs and out to her car. Moments later, she returns with a bag of chips in her hand, sluggishly climbing back up the steps. “Is all she eating chips for dinner?”, I thought to myself.

Her door slides shut again.

I immediately begin beating myself up for not engaging in some form of conversation with her. “She was right there, dude? Why didn’t you say anything? What’s wrong with you? Where is the courage, brother? Why aren’t you acting on the strong intuition you know you have?”, I interrogated myself. Scrabbling for answers that would justify my cowardly, somewhat out of character behavior.

Not surprisingly — it was at this moment that I decided to say a prayer to my boy Jesus. You know, the one from the Bible. I had been consciously asking his spirit to guide and lead my life regularly over the past few years, even though I’ve been a Christian for my entire life. If that’s a thing. I was baptized when I was 7 and don’t recall not attending church, before then.

In my adult life, it had been in the depths of my depression 2 years previously that I had begun choosing to nurture my relationship with Jesus on a daily basis; specifically saying and praying in His name. My dear friend Angie highlighted the importance of this to me during a prophetic deliverance session together in Atlanta.

Eyes closed facing upwards; I prayed, “Lord if I am meant to motivate and inspire others — send that girl back down here right now. In Jesus’ name I pray — Amen.”

I’m not sure what gave me the audacity to actually demand something from such a powerful and Holy name. My prayers are normally composed around me giving thanks for the things and the people I do have in my life. I always try and get specific with these people or things — furthering my love and appreciation for the one who gave them to me.

But here I was. Sitting on my patio — making quite a lofty demand for clarification in my life. I made a demand because I believed in his ability to speak to me in the way that I needed him to that moment. I made a demand for a sign which I had come to believe had to be done, and perhaps would be done — through another person.

Knowing and believing this beforehand was the reason I positioned my demand the way that I had. Jesus works through people.

Sometime between the end of my prayer and before my next conscious thought occurred, the door above me slid open. “IT’S GO TIME, BABY!” I thought to myself — hardly able to grasp the reality of what I had just experienced.

The purpose of my entire existence — and my entire belief system, I felt had just been validated.

Whoa.

Astonished and mindblown would provide two descriptions of how I felt.

The energy in the environment was powerful and I could feel His presence near.

My neighbor slowly began trodding down her steps again. My mind raced- “What is she doing? She was just out here; what could she possibly be doing out here again?” I quickly realized I knew what she was doing. I knew what was taking place; I didn’t quite understand it, but I knew it was real. I knew it was powerful. I had just requested in Jesus’ name for this to happen.

And he had actually responded in an undeniably clear as day way.

At that moment, I chose to believe without a shadow of a doubt that I was being guided — allowing the presence I knew was there to wash away any doubt or insecurities I felt. It was time to stop thinking — and time to take action. Which for me, as we have come to know in our story, it is to motivate and inspire.

June reached the bottom of her steps, and I greeted her, asking if she wouldn’t mind chatting for a minute. She agreed, and we ended up talking and getting to know each other for two and half hours that evening on my patio. I told her about myself and explained my life in broader details before specifically telling her what had just happened, and why I had asked her over to talk.

I eventually got to know her more. Which was initially difficult because I talk a lot; and also because she wasn’t as forthright or open to disclosing private or more intimate details of her life with a stranger — like I’m prone to doing.

I wasn’t deterred. As a newly promoted motivator, I found myself wanting to know more about her life, her experiences, and her thought processes — before deciding which motivational tool to employ in order to help her overcome any obstacles she may be facing.

I also indefinitely decided that someone should decide that they want to be motivated. At least in-person. She did. So I had to do some digging. Ask some questions before I could suggest tailored advice. I believe that I did.

There are rules. There are principles. But we’d be ignorant to think the same advice works for everyone in the same way.

I mention some of this because before any of this occurred, I often found myself administering motivational and mindset advice in-person to many of my close friends on a regular basis without their consent. I realized that could be annoying for people. And you’ll end up pushing them away instead of drawing them in for guidance. A shepherd doesn’t want his sheep running away from him.

I’m still not sure if I did or said anything to June that will affect her life tremendously. I told her about my prayer, and I told her about Jesus. I wasn’t weird or pushy about anything. I simply told her what had happened and told her that she had been sent down here by Him. Quite literally as if he were sitting right there with us.

But to be honest, if I did say or do anything to motivate or inspire her in any way I am not sure she would tell me about it because of her reserved personality. But I hope that I did. I hope that something I may have said to her that evening, or maybe even just the act of getting to know your neighbor more — inspired her. I told her I’d be there if she ever needed me. Half-joking, I told her I was going to be her personal motivator from here on out. And now I greet her with joy and enthusiasm, (but not too much) — every time I see her.

I’m hoping she finds me in five years and tells me about the positive impact I had on her life. There is nothing that would bring me more joy or fulfillment.

At 25 years old — I’ve lived a great life. I’ve seen and done more than a lot of people ever will. I’ve seen and experienced some of the best and coolest things in all corners of the country. I’ve experienced savory and exquisite cuisine in exotic locations like Barcelona, Portofino, Venice, Rome, Cancun, and Hawaii.

I jumped out of a plane at 12,000 feet. I’ve been in love. I’ve had my heart broken and smashed. I’ve partied hard. Taken drugs. Experienced euphoria. Been lost. Found my way again. Got knocked down. Stood back up. And each time that I did — it was Him helping me back up.

From all of that, as well as my supernatural encounter with the Lord — it’s been made clear to me that nothing that could bring me more joy or fulfillment at this point in time than serving someone else with motivational or inspirational advice or guidance in order for them to better their own life.

And I trust Him to lead me there.

What Happens Next — Closing Thoughts

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. Going to sleep that night, I had nothing but gratitude for feeling like I had been giving something many people in life strive for. It’s a feeling that still sits within me. And it’s been driving me every day since to take action so that I can chip away at sculpting this newfound purpose I feel I’ve been granted.

The interesting thing to me is observing what one chooses to do following this sort of situation. Because for me, I couldn’t help but question how that was supposed to look going forward or how it would be manifested in my life, or how I would go about pursuing it. After all, you can motivate and inspire many different types of people to do many different types of different things in this life.

And I could be overthinking it, but the only way to figure out which group of people I am meant to motivate or inspire; is to continually create the best work that I can, while providing as much value as possible and staying as true to my own beliefs — as possible.

That’s the primary reason MDM writes on Medium.

Along with sharing this story — the boldest course of action I’ve taken thus far was starting my YouTube channel. Even though I didn’t know what was going to happen or what to do — I knew I needed to start, which is good advice for anyone thinking about doing anything — by the way.

Just start.

If you’re going to change the world, learning to film and edit videos as well as practice your camera presence doesn’t hurt. (Thanks, Brendon Burchard for that advice. My story is remarkably similar to yours, by the way. Just saying.)

The skills I’ve learned doing YouTube, I suspect, will be transferable to other domains, like shooting video ads or doing product photography for Beach Authority. Or launching an online self-improvement course in the future. Writing on Medium has various personal and business-related benefits — networking, clarify my voice, enhance my writing to create better website copy or more professional-looking emails.

All of this is new for me. I started writing on Medium in April 2020. I established Beach Authority as an LLC in August 2020 (I did this primarily in an effort to get my Amazon seller account approved — which has still failed. I think selling on Amazon may be a hoax), and then finally we started YouTube in October.

I’m not going to pretend that I have everything figured out based solely on the experience I described above. I’ve hardly figured anything out. As a matter of fact, I openly admit to knowing practically nothing in relationship to all there is to know.

The business I started is not profitable yet. I have over $10,000 in credit card debt that my friend Jerris Sensabaugh (my personal saint), is graciously helping me pay off. I’ve made poor decisions. I’ve almost killed or seriously injured myself on several occasions.

When my ex withheld our daughter from me while simultaneously brainwashing her to call someone else dad, I took her to court, and when visitation was finally granted — he called me a ‘donor’ and told me that ‘he was going to be a better father than me.’

Ouch — that one still stings.

Ignorant piece of sh*t.

Whoops — sorry. Still coping.

I never said I was perfect.

I’m proud to have all of these experiences under my belt because of the person they’ve molded me into. There is still plenty of room for growth and improvement, and I look forward to falling and failing so I can discover a new way to pick myself back up again — and show you guys how to do the same. I may write about it or create a video discussing my thoughts.

In the meantime— stay faithful, my friends.

I’m excited for what the future holds.

And you should be, too.

Jesus is alive, and he lives within you too❤