Living Up to Challenges

I really enjoy the times when I am challenged within a given project. I remember, in ministry, when I was invited to speak at a "Theme Day" for an area congregation. I would speak three times (1 Adult Bible Class, Morning Sermon, and Evening Sermon). The theme they gave me for that day was from ONE verse. This was within my first three years of ministry and they were expecting me to come up with three 20-45 minute talks over one verse? "How is that possible?" I thought. Believe me I did a lot of questioning and wondering about how to accomplish this task.

Thankfully, through prayer and study, I was able to break the verse down into three different parts and focus on those areas in each of the three talks. It was one of the most fun times I had planning something that someone else gave me. It took a lot of time but it was worth it!

Sometimes those are the types of things that are needed for us to see "what we're made of." We need to be challenged and accept the challenge instead of looking for the escape hatch. That is the easy way out in so many situations. This thought brings us to this week's quote...

Find a purpose in life so big it will challenge every capacity to be at your best. ~ David McKay

Are there things that you are seeing in front of you that seem to great? Maybe they are things that are on your "to do" list but you are struggling to know how to approach them. Maybe it is through fear, lack of confidence, lack of motivation, or any number of excuses.

I challenge you to go at what you see as a purpose in life and let the challenges bring out the best in you! When you've completed it (or as you venture through it) you can see how many positives you've experienced along the way!

Wishing you many successes!

Now it's your turn...What successes have you experienced, within this context?

Are You Small? By this measurement...

I grew up being one of the smallest in my class. There were about 3 or 4 of us that were usually around the same height, prior to our growth spurts. I finally grew a bit. I wasn't shorter than most of the girls anymore, but I was still one of shorter males. So being small has been in my history...can you relate?

Small is not always associated with height or body shape. It also describes a number of objects compared with the rest of the objects. It can mean a statistic in numbers. "There are a *small* number of people who can ____" represents a number. That brings us to this week's quote...

Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds. ~ Albert Einstein

Do you see with your eyes or mind? I agree that few people see the possibilities and analyze the impossibilities. They look at something and think about all the negatives. "We/I can't do that, what if ____ happens?" "Our budget isn't that big!" "We're too small!"

"Mind-seeing" because we analyze it way too much. Ever taken a test and you can't help yourself but to analyze the question so much that you work yourself up? I have.

We are sometimes like that with the way life treats us. We analyze the "minor" things so much instead of trying things and seeing where things may take us.

Are you in the bigger category or the smaller one? If in the bigger, maybe you should thinking about trying out the smaller side once in a while..who knows where life will take you!

Now it's your turn...what do you think of Albert Einstein's quote and its relevance to your life...

Turn Your Head

It is easy to focus on issues that are negative. They sometimes seem like they loom, when they may really be a brief part of our lives. 

Take for instance, losing sleep when you have a newborn. A mom (and sometimes a father) can become exhausted when there are several nights that a child doesn’t sleep well or maybe the child has a condition in which the parents “cannot sleep” due to anxiousness.

That is just one of millions of possibilities in which a person may have a difficult time seeing the bright side or blessed side of life because they are focused on the dark side of life. That brings us to this week’s quote…

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.  ~ Maori proverb

A couple of weekends ago, I was mentally struggling with something and I was concerned it would affect my delivery. I was fortunate to not only give this to God in a prayer, but I didn’t hold on to it secretively – like we all have probably done before with our problems.

It was such a relief! It caused me to concentrate on what I needed to concentrate on and enjoy it, rather than be a bit miserable by thinking about something I really couldn’t control.
This situation was a recent example in which I enjoyed turning my face toward the sun and letting the shadow(s) remain behind me!

Living Wide Awake: Focus

When do you find yourself having the most difficult time to focus? Is it when you are approaching a deadline? Is it when your kids are screaming around the house? Is it when you take too much on? Is it when there is noise, in general, going on that is not pertaining to the task you are trying to accomplish? Is it when things just aren't going your way (i.e. in a slump, crises, etc.)?

Focusing is important to getting something accomplished. When you have an idea (aka dream) and are following through with the idea, you have to focus in order to be able to bring it to completion. So you dream, put your confidence in Him, and focus. Notice that these are all things you must do - you have to be active. Living wide awake means that you are active in doing different things.

As I've said, too often, Christians, "sleep" in between church assembly times. Other things are on such a priority list that being a Christian is something you do "on Sundays". But living wide awake means that you are an "awake" Christian every chance you get.

Yesterday, we looked at the concept of focus. Keeping focused on Him, as we dream, is vital to accomplishing our goal. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

1. Don't look down - Peter started walking on the water and looked down - Fright loses focus - This climbing phrase holds true when you are trying to accomplish anything of magnitude. Don't let your fears of getting higher, on the accomplishment scale, cause you to look down and see all that you've overcome and then get discouraged.
2. Keep focused on Him - That goes along with last week's word of confidence (in Him) - Everything you should be dreaming of doing is for His glory, not for anything to do with you.
3. Keep the Son close - Jesus' parents had an instance where they failed to keep their son, the Son, close to them, so when they left the feast, they didn't have Jesus with them. They were a days journey away before they realized that no one in their company of friends and family knew where he was. As you go through the day, don't forget to keep Him close to you and your daily events. Don't let Him so far away as to wonder where he is at in your life!
4. Keep Your Dreams Accountable - When you write down a dream, ask someone to hold you accountable for trying to do all that you can to make sure the dream is accomplished. This way, even if you slack a bit, you will have a friendly and humble reminder to keep working on it.
5. Rid the Noise - You may not have to cut something out completely, but you may need to turn off outside responsibilities once in a while to help make sure you are working on what you wrote down as your dream.
6. Praise God for the Accomplishments - As you go through life living wide awake you will notice that God is working. You may not see it right away because you aren't used to looking for Him in your every day. However, even if you look back and realize that God showed up in an unlikely place, give God the glory and tell Him "Thanks" for using you in that situation.
   

A friend of mine enjoys looking for God to show up in the media. From the time I learned of this interest, I started focusing in on shows to see when God shows up. Last Monday, on an episode of "How I Met Your Mother", God showed up (and not in an put-down-religion way). If you are not familiar with the show, here's a short synopsis. Three friends are sitting around a table, when another comes over, bragging he was just given a girls phone number. They discuss that there is a "three day rule" where you should not call her before three days. "Not the three day rule...that is stupid...who even came up with that?" are the comments that follow. The answer, Jesus. He was dead for three days before he waited to come out to reveal Himself. Hence, the reason to wait three days. There is much dialogue that goes on regarding this situation. I personally found the dialogue humorous. He wasn't poking fun at Jesus, but trying to prove his dating theory. Regardless, "Jesus" was spoken several times and the event that they were speaking of was a real event - the resurrection. I was impressed how God showed up. However, if you don't focus on looking for Him to show up in the media, you could have missed the greatness of this situation.

If you aren't focused your frazzled. If you are frightened you're going to lose focus. If you dream, you're going to look higher and when you get there, don't look down! You'll be amazed at how high God can take you when you team up and see what you can do together in your every day!

Focusing on Him in my every day...

Monday Mentionings: "Empty" - Future - Amos 4:6-8

When you started the day/week, where was your focus at for the week? Maybe it was on one thing or many, we're all different. Try this one on, was what you were focused on something you looked forward to or dreaded? The power of positive thinking affects us greatly. So, if you looked at the week with dread, you are in for a much rougher road. Looking at the week with dread is like seeing the week without something - fun, enjoyment, fulfillment, etc., which means it is empty of those things. This series called "Empty" focuses on different things which we may experience a form of that word. Yesterday, we looked at how a future can seem empty. Try these applications on for size and see if they can help you as you go through your week...

1. Self-esteem is so important to how a person looks to the future. When you have a low self-esteem you may feel like life, or some aspect of it, is without hope. You may have feelings of wanting to get away, but this can have a negative effect as you are just surrounded by negative thoughts. May the words of Paul encourage you, "[You] are God's workmanship"! The idea of workmanship is like a work of art. You are unique and God can do amazing things through you - what will this week bring?

2. I've heard many times about people who wonder why their life wasn't any better after they became a Christian. They're looking for the blessings that come from being a Christian. Blessings are subjective - you may not get health and wealth blessings, but you may get a lot of other tangible blessings that you aren't noticing. Regardless, our most valuable blessing is to have Christ as a Savior. When all the "sugar" runs out of our life and it seems very bitter, God is still around. The next time you're feeling you are emptied of blessings, think about how you can see, hear, type, walk, run, breathe, or any other good thing you take for granted. We also have the opportunity to go to heaven...what a BLESSING!

3. What do you desire to happen when you come together with the family of God? I desire to be surprised by how God shows up. I am hungry each and every day for that. Do you have a desire to connect with Him some way? Have you ever lost that desire or any desire related to this? We've all probably had "valley days" - I have. That is natural, but what God hopes will not happen is that you stay in "Camp Self", that you lose all desire to go to Him. Even if the only source of hunger is where He's at, you are so content to be in "Camp Self" that you'd rather forage in the valley, than go to Him. May you never find yourself at "Camp Self" - or at least staying there! Seek Him!

May God bless you with a great week!

Spring is knocking! I love the transitional seasons!

Blessed by the Blood ~