Are you listening? I remember when I first began my walk with the Lord. Although I had believed in God my entire life, I had always seen Him as more of a universal power. A giant energy source that could be “tapped into.” Sort of like a generator. When life wasn’t going well or needed to be recharged just tap in, hook-up, channel some of the power and there ya’ go. Then the power went out, the generator shut down and there I was sitting in the dark, on my own, trying to charge my own life. Through the dark God reached out, once again as He had so many times before, but this time I reached back and found a new life. When I first stepped into a real relationship with God, an intimate relationship, personal, one-on-one, I was amazed. Every time I came to church it was like He was speaking directly to me. Whatever the pastor said spoke volumes in my life, in to my heart. God was so LOUD. He was changing me moment by moment, day by day. It was exhilarating in so many ways. Seriously? This was the God that had always been there? Patiently waiting for, patiently pursuing me while I was messing around with this idea of a giant generator God. Duh.
So life continues to change, I continue to grow and change, but God is not so loud now. Or is He? Am I just not listening? Do I now have “most” my walk down so maybe I don’t listen as well? Or maybe the big things have changed and we are now down to the “little” things that maybe I don’t need as much of God’s help with. I can handle the little things, can’t I? Is God really asking that I turn everything over…even the little things? So now when He speaks, now when change is required…is it because it’s the little things that maybe it does not seem so loud? Abide in Him….Follow Him….Follow Him….Follow Him….in EVERYTHING. LISTEN. God is still very loud, every day in every thing…LOUD. He hasn’t stopped changing me, He hasn’t stopped moving my life…we are just down to the little things and I am not listening as intently as I did in the beginning. It’s sort of like the countertop is clean and we are now working on the grout. I hate cleaning the grout….
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
One Flaw in Women
Women have strengths that amaze men.....
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in..
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about
a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they
think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss
can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you
to show how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what
makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideas.
They give moral support to their
family and friends.
Women have vital things to say
and everything to give.
HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,
IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in..
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about
a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they
think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss
can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you
to show how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what
makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideas.
They give moral support to their
family and friends.
Women have vital things to say
and everything to give.
HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN,
IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
A Challenge from Darkness
In talking with a friend tonight, she mentioned that she sometimes feels she is filled with darkness. “Inside me, it’s all darkness. “ As I listened I wondered, in some fashion or other aren’t we all filled with darkness, at least until we are filled with light? We live in a fallen world, a world consumed with darkness, controlled by our sin nature…the not so good side of us. Most our lives, we spend cautiously avoiding the dark corners inside. We cover them up, hide them, pretend they are not there. At times they can consume us resulting in anger, depression, loneliness, addictive behaviors….the darkness alienates us and can become a cancer of the spirit. But we hide anyway.
So what changes the darkness to light? Truth. God. Light.
In the simplest terms, if I can face the blackness inside me and realize that I alone cannot change it, then I can begin the change. For most my life, I truly believed that I “walked in the light.” However in truth the darkness within me was at times all-consuming. It was not until I “walked with the Lord” that I truly allowed the light to fill me. It happened when I realized that I couldn’t remove the darkness, only God can. Then the darkness suddenly transforms into light! Part of the process is realizing that we do not have to be ashamed of the darkness; we all have it…all of us. If you think you don’t, take a flashlight and look in the corners. It’s there and God knows it. So how easy is that? He already knows, so let Him deal with it.
So here are a few more things I am working on with the women I meet with:
Challenge 1. Invest in friendships. Who are your friends and why? Are you truly invested? Do your friends challenge and sharpen you or are you playing it safe?
Challenge 2. Take 15 minutes a day to stop and take stock of the evidence of who you are (not what you do.) What evidence is there in the day that you are Godly, that you are kind, that you are the hands and feet of Jesus? The Core of Godliness is not merely doing what God wants, it is knowing God. In what way did you show that today?
Challenge 3. Stop before responding – do not respond in anger. Evaluate the response you are about to give and choose to……redirect, stop or continue. Be intentional in your words. Pray before you speak. Do your words glorify and represent God well?
Challenge 4. Reflect God’s love daily. Be willing to take the time, put forth the effort when God is choosing to use you. Have awareness to see opportunity and to respond to what God places in front of you.
Challenge 5. What am I putting first before my God? Be glad with what I have and let God be God.
Challenge 6. What attribute is God trying to show me of His character? He is so multi-faceted…..kind, loving, advocate, judge, father….be more appreciative of who our God is. What am I hiding (or think I am hiding) from God? What am I doing to love well and to offer hope?
If you intentionally focus on the six challenges above...it won't leave much room for the darkness.
So what changes the darkness to light? Truth. God. Light.
In the simplest terms, if I can face the blackness inside me and realize that I alone cannot change it, then I can begin the change. For most my life, I truly believed that I “walked in the light.” However in truth the darkness within me was at times all-consuming. It was not until I “walked with the Lord” that I truly allowed the light to fill me. It happened when I realized that I couldn’t remove the darkness, only God can. Then the darkness suddenly transforms into light! Part of the process is realizing that we do not have to be ashamed of the darkness; we all have it…all of us. If you think you don’t, take a flashlight and look in the corners. It’s there and God knows it. So how easy is that? He already knows, so let Him deal with it.
So here are a few more things I am working on with the women I meet with:
Challenge 1. Invest in friendships. Who are your friends and why? Are you truly invested? Do your friends challenge and sharpen you or are you playing it safe?
Challenge 2. Take 15 minutes a day to stop and take stock of the evidence of who you are (not what you do.) What evidence is there in the day that you are Godly, that you are kind, that you are the hands and feet of Jesus? The Core of Godliness is not merely doing what God wants, it is knowing God. In what way did you show that today?
Challenge 3. Stop before responding – do not respond in anger. Evaluate the response you are about to give and choose to……redirect, stop or continue. Be intentional in your words. Pray before you speak. Do your words glorify and represent God well?
Challenge 4. Reflect God’s love daily. Be willing to take the time, put forth the effort when God is choosing to use you. Have awareness to see opportunity and to respond to what God places in front of you.
Challenge 5. What am I putting first before my God? Be glad with what I have and let God be God.
Challenge 6. What attribute is God trying to show me of His character? He is so multi-faceted…..kind, loving, advocate, judge, father….be more appreciative of who our God is. What am I hiding (or think I am hiding) from God? What am I doing to love well and to offer hope?
If you intentionally focus on the six challenges above...it won't leave much room for the darkness.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Live Intentionally
Every other week I meet with a group of women...our goal is to work on our walk.... to endeavor to become more Godly women. I thought this would be fun information to share with you. We focus on four areas:
1. Be aware of who we are becoming
2. Live intentionally daily
3. Do little things with great love
4. Remember the Awe of God.
Two things we are currently exploring:
First from a Spiritual Assessment by Fred Smith: Do I have a Quiet Center in my Life? Okay ladies – this is a BIG one!
Francois Fenelon, who walked with God three hundred years ago, said, “Peace is what God wants for you no matter what is happening.”
I press this point to myself because it is important in my life. Oswald Chambers says, “In our Lord’s life there was none of the press and rush of tremendous activity that we regard so highly, and the disciple is to be as his master.” There is an important difference between the fast track and the frantic track. It is not God’s will for me that I be frantic. When I was heading the operations of a manufacturing corporation we had an excitable manager who, whenever he got confused, called a supervisors’’ meeting to display it. After one of these fruitless meetings, I gave him my favorite little verse” “When in trouble, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.”
This harriedness is epidemic in our society. Unless we are running on empty, we don’t feel we are normal. The other day I heard a prominent minister say that this next week that he had a breakfast meeting every morning. I wanted to say to him, “This is not the way to live. This is not the way to have a family. This is not the way, to me, to be a man of God.”
The late Senate chaplain Dick Halverson was helpful to me by suggesting that Jesus didn’t have a day planner; he simply “went about doing good.” When he was on his way to raise a dead child, he stopped to help a woman with an issue of blood. He didn’t prioritize raising the dead over helping the sick. He simply went about doing the good that came his way.
Jesus had the quiet center. Do I have it too? Peace is the evidence of God.
And the second thing to ponder:
Attitude is everything. Yes, Everything. Choose your attitude
It is more vital than events. It's more important than what's happened. Because attitude determines whether we are happy or unhappy, fulfilled or empty, the positive perspective assures us that we can never fail. A hopeful attitude guarantees internal success. Attitude- the altitude adjuster determines whether we fly high or low, crash or soar, glide or slide.
Anybody can have a positive attitude when things are going well. What really matters is how you act when things are going badly that determines the strength of your character. An appropriate attitude means feeling hopeful in challenging times. Stop yourself. Count your blessings. Look for the good. Here are the magnificent 7 ways to improve your attitude, and therefore your God walk…i.e. being a Godly women.
1. Choose to be Enthusiastic
Corporate presidents voted it the most valuable personality trait. It's the biggest single factor in successful selling. Think enthusiastically. Talk enthusiastically. Become enthusiastic by acting enthusiastic. Your thoughts and actions establish your level of enthusiasm. I think you can also glean a lot of your enthusiasm by keeping your eyes on God and knowing He is active, very active, in your life.
2. Be Alive to Everything You Do
Walk fast. Put a bounce in your step. A good smile radiates enthusiasm. Put spirit into your speech by varying the tempo, raising and lowering the pitch, changing the tone and modulation. Force yourself to act with enthusiasm, and soon you will feel enthusiastic. As in fake it until you make it (one of my mother’s favorite sayings)
3. Broadcast Good News
No one ever made a friend or accomplished anything worthwhile by transmitting bad news. Good news, on the other hand, promotes good will and spreads enthusiasm. The message, "Hey! I've got good news" gets the attention of everyone. Take sunshine to school or work. Always aim to make the person you talk to feel better than they otherwise would. I like this thought…it eliminates gossip, griping and complaining – what would that do to your Godliness?
4. The Power of Visualization
Imagination powerfully influences successful outcomes. When imagination and willpower compete, the imagination always wins. Force of will never keeps you striving for success, but proper visualization will. All peak performers visualize success. Before you try to do anything, close your eyes and visualize yourself doing it well, ask for God’s help and guidance…when really struggling ask for His intervention. God can do it perfectly so let him work through you.
5. Positive Self-Talk
What did you say to yourself today? Did you moan and groan about everyone at school or work? Did you complain about your co-workers and boss to to your friends? What we think is 100% reflected in how we feel. If all we think about is negative thoughts, our actions will be negative. Remember "I'm a God’s child. He wants me Healthy! Wealthy! Happy! I do what I ought to do, when I ought to do it, whether I want to or not! No Debate! I do the good work. I saw this saying this week:
Look back and thank God.
Look forward and trust God.
Look around and serve God.
Look within and find God!
6. Love Others
How can we become more loving? By bringing encouragement, optimism, and hope to all that we meet. By helping others feel comfortable in our presence. By spreading joy and goodwill. By being concerned about the wishes and desires of others. By understanding, caring, accepting, and forgiving. By becoming more concerned about helping others achieve their individual desires, than our own.
7. Never Miss 1 to 6 Above
Great food for thought....more to come....
1. Be aware of who we are becoming
2. Live intentionally daily
3. Do little things with great love
4. Remember the Awe of God.
Two things we are currently exploring:
First from a Spiritual Assessment by Fred Smith: Do I have a Quiet Center in my Life? Okay ladies – this is a BIG one!
Francois Fenelon, who walked with God three hundred years ago, said, “Peace is what God wants for you no matter what is happening.”
I press this point to myself because it is important in my life. Oswald Chambers says, “In our Lord’s life there was none of the press and rush of tremendous activity that we regard so highly, and the disciple is to be as his master.” There is an important difference between the fast track and the frantic track. It is not God’s will for me that I be frantic. When I was heading the operations of a manufacturing corporation we had an excitable manager who, whenever he got confused, called a supervisors’’ meeting to display it. After one of these fruitless meetings, I gave him my favorite little verse” “When in trouble, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.”
This harriedness is epidemic in our society. Unless we are running on empty, we don’t feel we are normal. The other day I heard a prominent minister say that this next week that he had a breakfast meeting every morning. I wanted to say to him, “This is not the way to live. This is not the way to have a family. This is not the way, to me, to be a man of God.”
The late Senate chaplain Dick Halverson was helpful to me by suggesting that Jesus didn’t have a day planner; he simply “went about doing good.” When he was on his way to raise a dead child, he stopped to help a woman with an issue of blood. He didn’t prioritize raising the dead over helping the sick. He simply went about doing the good that came his way.
Jesus had the quiet center. Do I have it too? Peace is the evidence of God.
And the second thing to ponder:
Attitude is everything. Yes, Everything. Choose your attitude
It is more vital than events. It's more important than what's happened. Because attitude determines whether we are happy or unhappy, fulfilled or empty, the positive perspective assures us that we can never fail. A hopeful attitude guarantees internal success. Attitude- the altitude adjuster determines whether we fly high or low, crash or soar, glide or slide.
Anybody can have a positive attitude when things are going well. What really matters is how you act when things are going badly that determines the strength of your character. An appropriate attitude means feeling hopeful in challenging times. Stop yourself. Count your blessings. Look for the good. Here are the magnificent 7 ways to improve your attitude, and therefore your God walk…i.e. being a Godly women.
1. Choose to be Enthusiastic
Corporate presidents voted it the most valuable personality trait. It's the biggest single factor in successful selling. Think enthusiastically. Talk enthusiastically. Become enthusiastic by acting enthusiastic. Your thoughts and actions establish your level of enthusiasm. I think you can also glean a lot of your enthusiasm by keeping your eyes on God and knowing He is active, very active, in your life.
2. Be Alive to Everything You Do
Walk fast. Put a bounce in your step. A good smile radiates enthusiasm. Put spirit into your speech by varying the tempo, raising and lowering the pitch, changing the tone and modulation. Force yourself to act with enthusiasm, and soon you will feel enthusiastic. As in fake it until you make it (one of my mother’s favorite sayings)
3. Broadcast Good News
No one ever made a friend or accomplished anything worthwhile by transmitting bad news. Good news, on the other hand, promotes good will and spreads enthusiasm. The message, "Hey! I've got good news" gets the attention of everyone. Take sunshine to school or work. Always aim to make the person you talk to feel better than they otherwise would. I like this thought…it eliminates gossip, griping and complaining – what would that do to your Godliness?
4. The Power of Visualization
Imagination powerfully influences successful outcomes. When imagination and willpower compete, the imagination always wins. Force of will never keeps you striving for success, but proper visualization will. All peak performers visualize success. Before you try to do anything, close your eyes and visualize yourself doing it well, ask for God’s help and guidance…when really struggling ask for His intervention. God can do it perfectly so let him work through you.
5. Positive Self-Talk
What did you say to yourself today? Did you moan and groan about everyone at school or work? Did you complain about your co-workers and boss to to your friends? What we think is 100% reflected in how we feel. If all we think about is negative thoughts, our actions will be negative. Remember "I'm a God’s child. He wants me Healthy! Wealthy! Happy! I do what I ought to do, when I ought to do it, whether I want to or not! No Debate! I do the good work. I saw this saying this week:
Look back and thank God.
Look forward and trust God.
Look around and serve God.
Look within and find God!
6. Love Others
How can we become more loving? By bringing encouragement, optimism, and hope to all that we meet. By helping others feel comfortable in our presence. By spreading joy and goodwill. By being concerned about the wishes and desires of others. By understanding, caring, accepting, and forgiving. By becoming more concerned about helping others achieve their individual desires, than our own.
7. Never Miss 1 to 6 Above
Great food for thought....more to come....
Monday, February 8, 2010
Start Fresh...
As I turned 50 this past month I decided to make a big deal out of it. Everyone else does, over-the hill and all that stuff, so I thought okay lets go for it. Let everyone know, have a party, go away a few days and celebrate. I even thought what the heck share what I have learned about life and marriage at the Military Wives Breakfast. So I did it all and I passed the big 50 mark (I assume the celebrating doesn’t go all year!)
I’ve definitely had a lot on my mind the past 4-6 weeks...taking a bit of a life assessment. Where I am, who am I, how is my God walk and where do I need to adjust, fine-tune and/or full-on change. I’ve been thinking about not only where I am, but where I have been. As I thought back, I wondered whether I would want to re-live time that has passed. Would I want to rewind my life? What would it be like to change some of the past decisions I’ve made. How different would life now be if I had the chance to apply all that I know now to my life back then? Surely the course of my life would be dramatically altered.
Of course the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that I wouldn’t change a thing. As I think about some of the decisions I’ve made, there are certainly things I wouldn’t want to share...things I am not proud of and prefer to keep imbedded deep inside (things from my pre-Jesus days, so to speak :-)) And as much as I might want to have a chance to right those wrongs, everything that has happened in my life brings me to the place where I am right now. Each step I took, each decision I made, each and every action are woven together to create the life I now know. While I may not be proud of each individual choice I've made or thing I’ve done, they're woven together into a tapestry that is my life. I heard the analogy once that every tapestry has a wrong and right side. The back is where all the knots and mixed up threads hide. When you turn it over, it can be amazing to see how all of those random pieces of thread work together to become something beautiful. That’d be my life now – beautiful.
So each night as we go to bed we get to rewind the clock, turn back out lives. Because as the dawn comes and we face a new day, we have the opportunity to do things right, to make good choices and make wise decisions. So today – start fresh, and do it right.
I’ve definitely had a lot on my mind the past 4-6 weeks...taking a bit of a life assessment. Where I am, who am I, how is my God walk and where do I need to adjust, fine-tune and/or full-on change. I’ve been thinking about not only where I am, but where I have been. As I thought back, I wondered whether I would want to re-live time that has passed. Would I want to rewind my life? What would it be like to change some of the past decisions I’ve made. How different would life now be if I had the chance to apply all that I know now to my life back then? Surely the course of my life would be dramatically altered.
Of course the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that I wouldn’t change a thing. As I think about some of the decisions I’ve made, there are certainly things I wouldn’t want to share...things I am not proud of and prefer to keep imbedded deep inside (things from my pre-Jesus days, so to speak :-)) And as much as I might want to have a chance to right those wrongs, everything that has happened in my life brings me to the place where I am right now. Each step I took, each decision I made, each and every action are woven together to create the life I now know. While I may not be proud of each individual choice I've made or thing I’ve done, they're woven together into a tapestry that is my life. I heard the analogy once that every tapestry has a wrong and right side. The back is where all the knots and mixed up threads hide. When you turn it over, it can be amazing to see how all of those random pieces of thread work together to become something beautiful. That’d be my life now – beautiful.
So each night as we go to bed we get to rewind the clock, turn back out lives. Because as the dawn comes and we face a new day, we have the opportunity to do things right, to make good choices and make wise decisions. So today – start fresh, and do it right.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)