God loved you first!

I have been listening to Rick Warren's podcast "What on Earth Am I here For?  Called to Be Loved" and I wanted to share Rick Warren's points regarding what we are called to do.

Our first purpose of our life is to be LOVED BY GOD.  Our first calling is to ENJOY A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.  That relationship that God wants you to have is to be His SON or His DAUGHTER.
1 John 3

God's love is wide enough to be anywhere - no place on the planet where God's love doesn't exist.

Because we are God's children, He will share His inheritance.  We have total access to God because He loves us that much.  We can go boldly to God anytime we want and talk to him.  We can go to Him with confidence in our time of need.  We are daughters and sons of God and we can ask for anything in Jesus' name.

When I stopped having a religion and started having a relationship with God, I could then experience peace in the mist of the pain.  That's the difference between having a "religion" versus having a "relationship".  Our God is a LIVING GOD, He is available 24/7 if we acknowledge Him and pray.  It doesn't mean He will give us everything we ask, because some of the things we ask for are not the best thing for us and we don't even know that because we can't see the bigger picture.  There are just going to be some things that happen that we can't explain that are negative life events, God promises to give us the "peace that passes all understanding" if we go to him with thanksgiving and supplication (earnestly asking for help).

Everything Happens For A Reason

There is a saying "Everything happens for a reason" I subscribe to that with the disclaimer that bad things don't "happen for a reason". The "Happen for a reason" part happens when we take our bad moment and apply a redemptive process to it finding the good that could come from it and releasing it from making us bitter. I've had some bad things happen to me....things I've had no control over, and I admit ...applying this process to those events didn't come easy. The one central theme that did come from applying this redemptive process with each negative life event, I became more and more empathetic to those around me. People became not only more relatable, but I felt their pain. While I would love to wish nothing bad ever happened to me, I would not want to give up my ability to empathize with others on such a transparent level.

This learning came from creating my life plan from Donald Miller's "Creating Your Life Plan".  If you want more information, go to: http://www.creatingyourlifeplan.com/

Making room to love

Making room for love by getting rid of judgement.

As soon as I realized what the part is I play in this thing called life (my unique gifts), I stopped judging others who didn't have the same , they are playing their part, I'm playing my part - just as in a choir. You do don't chastise the bass singers for not singing soprano, nor do you judge the altos for not singing tenor. We are not the director, we are merely the person playing "our part". Once I understood this (recent revelation), my frustration with others not seeing things the way I do - fell away and made room for peace and love.

Personal Faith goal setting

Why Godly Goal setting is important

Why is it important to set Godly goals?

1. It's spiritual discipline
Life is linear, not circular- moving towards goal

2. Goals moves towards energy-FOCUS
Be intentional. 1 Corinth 9
Focused energy creates big things. You don't have time for everything. 2nd class causes betray us.  Urgent is usually not most important.  Won't matter tomorrow.  Don't waste time on nonessentials.

3.  Goals stretch your faith.  Do something that requires God help.  Dream great dreams for God.  What would require me in faith?  Take risks.

4.  Goals build your character (cultivate).  Obstacles change character.  God wants you to grow up.  You take your character to heaven, nothing else.  It's the struggle that develops the character. Don't give in, when you have difficultie.

#1 goal is to be like Jesus. Fruit of the spirit.  It will take time.  You want to be more kind.  How? Is it measurable?

5.  Goals give you hope.  Hope to cope.  Hope is essential to life.  Have something to look forward to.

If you have no goal, then it will stay stays quo.  Long term goals keep me from short term set backs.

Jeremiah 29:11

What are Godly goals?

1.  Bring glory to God. 1 Corinth 10:31
Any goal that causes me to love Jesus more, serve him, witness. Cause you to obey him more and trust him more.  Any goal that make me more grateful to God, Goal to please Him.  "Look what God did for me?"

2.  Motivated by love.  Why did you set this goal?  He wants to know why you set the goal.  He won't bless a goal motivated by pride, ego, peer pressure, jealousy, envy, materialism, anger, fear or guilt.  He blesses goals that are motivated by love.  Everything you do, EVERYTHING YOU DO must be done WITH LOVE.  This is the number 1 lesson in life.  If you don't learn how to love, nothing else matters.

3.  Set a goal that requires faith.  It has to be big enough to depend on God to make it.  If you make it big enough, then you can say "Look what God helped me do", this is how we give glory to God with our goals.  Stretch and get out of your comfort zone and see the awesome power God has!

4.  They are achieved with God's power.  Again, if you set goals that require you to stretch, you will witness God's power (if it's motivated by the right reasons), and you can give credit to God.

How to achieve Godly goals?

1.  Write down the Steps, Deadline and put on the schedule.

When you make a plan, for your family, your business or your kids:  

1. STEPS - What are the steps to get from A to Z
2. DEADLINE - Deadline with every one of those steps.
3.  SCHEDULE - Put in your schedule.  Put it on the calendar.

2.  Discipline - You need discipline to achieve goals.  God is more important in your character in reaching the goal than the goal itself.  You last in eternity while your goals will only last a a generation or so.

3.  Depend on people.  You need to involve other people.  Success is never a one man show, it always involves more than 1 person.  God doesn't want you to go through life as a long ranger.  We are better together.  The greatest lesson in life for you to learn is to learn how to love others.  If all your goals can be accomplished by yourself, then they aren't from God.  God wants you to learn cooperation, to learn teamwork, sensitivity, deference and all the characteristics on getting along with people.  Ask yoruself, "Who else can I involve?"

God wants you to be the answer to other people's prayer as well.  He doesn't want you to live an isolated, selfish kind of life.

4.  Deposit the price.  There is always a price tag to reach the goal.  It may cost you time or money.  Letting go of things you like to do to make time for this.  Know upfront there are just things you will be giving up to achieve this goal.

Notes from Rick Warren's message "God's Prescription for a Healthy, Life, Setting Goals in Faith"

Forgive Because You Are Forgiven by Pastor Rick Warren

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15 NIV)

I have no doubt that many of you are carrying some deep wounds that you’ve carried for months, maybe even years. When you think about that person who hurt you, it’s still as fresh as if it happened this morning. The pain is still there, and you’re still filled with resentment.

You say, “Why in the world should I forgive that person who hurt me so much? You have no idea how much they hurt me. Why should I offer grace to that person?” 
You ought to do it for three reasons:

1. You need to be gracious to others and forgive those who’ve hurt you because God has been gracious to you.
You will never have to forgive anyone else more than Jesus Christ has already forgiven you. You should consider that you haven’t always gotten what you deserved, either. God has been gracious with you. Now be gracious with others.

2. You need to forgive others because the alternative is bitterness.
Scientists tell us that resentment is the unhealthiest emotion there is. It always hurts you more than anybody else! Resentment will not change the past, and it won’t solve the problem. It doesn’t even make you feel better. In fact, it makes you feel worse.
The Bible says in Hebrews 12:15, “Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace which God gives, for if he does there can very easily spring up in him a bitter spirit which is not only bad in itself but can also poison the lives of many others” (Phillips).

3. You need to show grace to and forgive others because God expects you to do it.
Matthew 6:15 says, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (NIV). Jesus says we cannot receive what we are unwilling to give. If you say, “I could never forgive that person,” then I hope you never sin. If you just don’t feel like doing it, do it anyway, because it’s the right thing to do.
The reason why some of you have a hard time forgiving is because you don’t feel forgiven. Would you pray this prayer of liberation and freedom in your heart?

“Dear Jesus Christ, you know I’ve been hurt by others. You know that my resentment has made me act in ways that have been unreasonable and unhelpful and unhealthy. I need your power to release and forgive those who’ve hurt me so I can stop letting them control me. Would you please replace my hurt with the peace of Jesus Christ? God, I realize that I’ve hurt a lot of other people with my habits and my bad decisions and my hang-ups. Would you please forgive me for the way I’ve hurt others? Help me to make a list of those I’ve harmed and in the right way at the right time to humbly seek to make amends. Jesus Christ, I want to refocus my life on you. I want to face the future courageously with love and peace in my heart. Would you replace my resentment with your love, my bitterness with your grace? Thank you for your graciousness to me. Thank you for forgiving me for the things that I’ve done wrong. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

My Lenten Journey - Day 10

March 14, 2014

Wow.  What a powerful day.  Yesterday a friend of mine sent me a thirteen minute video called "reMoved" which tells the story of what it's like to be a foster child from the eyes of a 9 year old girl.  My friend and I are a part of an advocacy team which tries to be a resource to our faith communities when it comes to people interested in mentoring, adopting or just overall helping foster kids.  My passion for this has come from knowing what my husband has been through as a foster kid and how good foster parents can change the course of a kids life forever.

This video was powerful.  It moved me deeply.  As I watched it I thought of my husband and his siblings and wondered if this is all the emotions they went through.  My heart broke at the realism it showed me.  Many of the things the girl said (she was the narrator) were things my husband has spoken about.  This video moved me deeply.  So, I asked my friend to post it on our Advocacy Facebook page and my Facebook timeline as I"m fasting Facebook for lent.

Earlier today one of my vendors who makes banners for me stopped by to get a file from me to put on his thumbdrive.  I tried emailing this file several times and he never got it.  It was very strange.  So, he made arrangements to come in person to have me copy it directly.  There was no logical explanation why this file wouldn't come through on his email.

He arrives a bit frazzled.  You could tell he was out there in the world facing traffic and the rat race.  After I transferred the file I just simply asked him, "How are you doing?  What's new in your world?"  He looked at me as if he wasn't sure I really was interested and could tell I really was (see this is the part of my job I absolutely LOVE).  He told me that him and his wife have recently become foster parents to their 13 year old grandson.  He told me his 13 year old's story of his dad being addicted to drugs and alcohol and how this kid just ran loose into the world and who knew how long he had being running wild.  The mother was no where to be found.  This boy's name is David (name changed to protect identity).  David had two younger siblings that were taken out of the home and put into another grandparents home.  They were separated.  The more Dale told me about David's life and situation I felt like I was listening to my husbands story (who was put into foster care at age 13).  But Dale wasn't telling me the story to empathize with David, he was telling me the story in the hopes I would empathize with him.  See, this boy was out of control.  He was irrational, irratic, prone to fits and tantrums, foul mouthed and arrogant.  As I listened to Dale, I realized he was at his wits end and so was his wife.  He was tired of seeing his wife cry.  David made her cry.  This is when I knew Dale had to watch this video my friend sent me yesterday.  This video was meant for him.  I asked him if he had a few minutes and I turned my monitor around to him and started it.  I went around from behind my desk and sat next to him.  He cried. He got choked up.  See...Dale hadn't look at David's life from David's perspective.

When the video was over, I asked Dale why he thought God put David in their life?  He started to tell me a  faith story and was crying throughout.  He had been angry at God for not answering a prayer for healing his first wife.  He went on to tell me how his faith was renewed when he met his second wife.  David is his second wife's grandson.  We talked about some practical ways for him to strengthen his relationship with David and to try not to rationalize with him when he's angry and out of control.  We talked about boundaries.  Then I asked Dale if him and his wife would like to meet with my husband.  See, my husband has been that 13 year old boy and knows what helped him and what didn't.  He would give him even more of perspective than I could.  I"m so thankful my husband embraces his past in order to help people.  I'm so thankful I could tell them to talk to him with confidence knowing my husband wouldn't mind.  I'm so thankful my friend sent me that video.  It was the perfect video for Dale.

God knew Dale would be in my office today.  He knew I needed the video and my friend felt compelled to share it with me in an email (which she has never done before).  God has control.  He knows who needs who.  It wasn't an accident that the file wouldn't email and it forced Dale to come in person.  Dale and I chatted for 2 hours.  Two hours that may change the course of Dale's life and most definitely David's life.  I take no credit.  This is the holy spirit moving in my life and I give all praise to God for this opportunity to be used by Him to help this family.

Here is the video if anyone is interested in watching:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOeQUwdAjE0&feature=youtu.be

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Dear God, I humbly thank you for the opportunity to serve you today with Dale.  I pray you continue to trust me that I will look for your answers and your will in everything that I do.  I pray for Dale and his family that you show and guide him in Your ways.  That this family can be restored to it's entirety.  That they know your love never fails and they know they can (with your help) also provide unfailing love to this foster boy.  Give them strength to seek you out and not be distracted with selfish desires or lose hope that you won't give them the grace to know how to love this broken boy.  I pray for grace to fall on them and for supernatural knowing to come over them to set aside their personal feelings and look up at you to see what you want them to do.  I pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.

My Lenten Journey - Day 8

March 12, 2014

The day I stepped out of my comfort zone and had my first choir rehearsal.  Wow.  I was a nervous wreck.  My husband and I joined the Festival Choir to sing at the Easter Cantata (a word I wouldn't of even know what it meant had I not came to work here).

I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

When I was in high school I tried out for a choir and failed the audition.  I allowed that failure to keep me from singing in front of people (with exception of my kids) for my whole life.  Occasionally my husband would catch me singing worship and encourage me.  My self consciousness about singing grew and grew and grew to the point where it's a mountain in my mind.  IN MY MIND.

The good news is that I've learned that I don't have to bow to my feelings.  That just because I feel a certain way doesn't mean I have to give into it.  So, my love of singing has outweighed my fear of being "heard". Enough so to commit to singing in the Easter Cantata.  I've been practicing for weeks with the CD our Music Director has given me and I have stretched my vocal cords and practiced in front of my daughter who would tell me the truth if I stunk really bad!  She has a natural voice for singing and she believes I can do this.  So from the faith of my daughter and knowing God is with me and will anoint me do this, I'm stepping out of my comfort zone.

There I was seated in between two seasoned choir singers about to sing and realizing both of them will hear me.  I said a quick prayer and did the best I could.  I couldn't really hear myself singing which made me nervous to know if I was harmonizing or not.  I was getting praise from the Music Director but she is my peer and knows I am nervous so I was thankful for her encouragement.  I tried to adjust to my uncomfortable self by making jokes and making people laugh.  Interesting that I do that as a way to lighten my own spirits.  In a way I was humbling myself and setting the stage for people to not expect a whole lot from this new choir singer.

My husband was singing bass and later he disclosed he was as nervous and I and at 2/3 of the way through felt he didn't belong there.  We discussed the miracle on the other side of our stretching ourselves and comfort zones (as well as our vocal cords) and we agreed to keep going on.  To pray and ask for help.

The next day I asked our Music Director how I did.  She said I did great and I blended right in.  That if I was out of harmony, she would of heard me.  She offered to work with me as much as I needed.  I explained to her this was much bigger than singing.  This was about overcoming vulnerability and rejection and I was trusting God to do something great with me stepping out on this ledge.

Today I conquered a fear with God's help.  I will take it a day at time and know that I am not left alone to overcome my fears.  The bible says 365 times "Do not be afraid".  Taped to my computer monitor is the verse:

"I can do whatever I need to do in life through Christ who strengthens me"  Phil 4:3

Father God, thank you for the opportunity to tell Jesus' passion in a form of worship.  Please continue to give me strength of spirit to risk rejection and to put myself out there for all to see in an area I don't feel qualified.  Let you be the qualifier for me.  Let your Holy Spirit take over my voice and sing to You.  Please help both me and Charles adjust to our discomfort and know that on the other side awaits a miracle.  We put our lives into your hands and surrender all. In Jesus' name, Amen.