Layman's 10 Commandments

Layman's 10 Commandments.

1] Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout.

2] So a Car's WINDSHIELD is so large & the Rear view Mirror is so small? Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE. So, Look Ahead and Move on.

3] Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes few seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.

4] All things in life are temporary. If going well, enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong, don't worry, they can't last long either.

5] Old Friends are Gold! New Friends are Diamond! If you get a Diamond, don't forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a Base of Gold!

6] Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles from above and says, "Relax, it's just a bend, not the end!

7] When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities; when GOD doesn't solve your problems HE has faith in your abilities.

8] A blind person asked St. Anthony: "Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?" He replied: "Yes, losing your vision!"

9] When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them, and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you.

10] WORRYING does not take away tomorrow's TROUBLES, it takes away today'sPEACE.

God is Good

The past year has been a struggle. Moving, changing churches, moving my practice, and starting over. I have faced many losses. Although I often felt that the church I had attended for almost 20 years was an island experience – at least it was a familiar and friendly experience. People knew me, respected me, and in a limited way, loved me. Limited in the way that a counselor/staff person is known and loved. I had gone from lay person to staff person back to lay person again. When I moved off staff I found I really had no place there. People in the church were distant because I was a staff member…and then when I quit my job I didn’t fit with the staff either. I had jumped ship…on both sides…and found myself swimming in very lonely waters.

So, when my husband retired we decided to move to the community where our son and his family live. I had prayed that I would find a place to belong, a place to serve, a place to be known and loved, and a place where I could know and love others without the obstacle of staff vs. non-staff history.

We started attending our son’s church at probably the worst time in the life of the church. A few months before we moved, the senior pastor resigned. A good friend of ours was on staff at the church and I saw firsthand the difficulties of working in a church without a senior pastor. In our denomination, whenever a senior pastor leaves, the rest of the pastoral staff is required to turn in a letter of resignation. The board can then decide to keep them until a new pastor comes. Once hired, the new senior pastor has to make a decision (within 90 days) if he/she is going to accept those letters of resignation.

We attended the church for seven months before a new senior pastor came. During that seven months…a time of getting used to a new community, a new home, and trying to find an office for my business, I watched as my friend struggled with “do I stay and hope the new guy keeps me? Or do I go?” The interim was hard on the church and staff, and hard on me, a former staff member whose only hope was that I would find a place to serve and a place to belong.

As a counselor and friend, I walked through those dark days with my staff member friend. I tried to help her problem solve when she told me about the issues she had with the board and the interim pastor. I prayed that the new pastor would be able to see her strengths and gifts and affirm them. I also prayed that he/she would be able to see my strengths and gifts and help me find a place to serve.

I don’t know all the details, but at the 90 day mark, my friend was let go. I grieved with her, and I grieved for myself. It seemed that this was not going to be a place where I was going to be able to serve. Partly because I had already volunteered for a few ministries and never heard back from anyone about whether or not they wanted my involvement, and partly because I recognized that the culture of the church was not welcoming. In my mind I connected the easy “disposal” of my friend with a place that was unfriendly and unloving. It didn’t help that even after a year of attending my son, daughter-in-law and a few of their friends were the only people who talked to us Sunday after Sunday.

I’m sure my attitude could have been better. My emotions ranged from anger to hurt to sadness to grief to hope and back. Not typically an emotional person, I found myself near tears after many Sunday morning services. I was grieving the loss of a familiar place where people loved me, wishing that I could find a place to fit, and longing for connection and purpose.

It has been a year since my friend’s resignation was “accepted.” I have watched her struggle as a single female try to support herself after losing her job in the worst economy since the great depression. I have walked beside her as she tried to pick up the pieces of her shattered self-esteem. I have listened to her as she worked through the fear of getting back into ministry. I have fed her more days than not as she struggled to even have enough money for food. I have grieved with her, been angry for her, prayed for her, and wondered with her “why do people get up on Sunday morning and go to church when this is what they get?”

And as much as both of us wanted to walk away and be done with church, God kept speaking. He wouldn’t let either of us go. I recently stopped by my friend’s house and on her refrigerator, on a dry erase board, was a list of the blessings she has received since losing her job. She realizes (on most days) that even though the church has rejected her, God is still caring for her. As I looked at her list I wondered if I could identify the ways that God still cares for me.

I told a friend recently that I had given up on the church. Not necessarily given up on going to church, but given up my struggle to fit in. I acknowledged that for both me and my friend God has led us through what seemed to be a desert experience. I have to tell you…I hate desert experiences. I wish that I could learn about God in the sunshine on a beach somewhere. But it is in the desert experiences that God reduces us to radical dependence on Him.

Jeremiah 32: 40 – 41 says, “I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.”

I heard Dr. Larry Crabb this week speak about these verses in Jeremiah. He said, “Whatever God is doing in our lives, he is doing good…and he’s having a really good time doing it!” So, if that is true, what is God doing in my life and in the life of my friend? I wish I could say that I have learned all the lessons that I am supposed to during this time, but I know that learning is a journey, not a destination. In my limited understanding I believe that God is using this time to get me to stop looking to the church, to my position, even to the people in the church to find significance. Although I have always known at an intellectual level that truth, until I was swimming in those very lonely waters I didn’t realize how much I looked for approval in the eyes of those I served.

So many times in the last year I have complained. How could they NOT want me? I would be a valuable asset to any church! I have a lot to offer! Although I wasn’t the one let go, in many ways my journey mirrored my friend’s journey. It is no wonder that it hooked my emotions at such a deep level. I felt angry, hurt, depressed, and rejected. I felt it for her and I felt it for myself.

I have found myself recently rereading some of my favorite Bible stories. The life of Joseph has always spoken to me, but never as much as it has this year. Joseph, favored by his father, chosen of God, sold into slavery, given up for dead, and imprisoned unfairly had much more to complain about than me. I often wonder if I could read the journals of some of my Biblical heroes if they would read like mine with an unhealthy dose of “poor me.” He may have complained, but at the end of the story he tells the brothers that sold him into slavery, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.” Genesis 50:20a.

It reminds me of a story I read recently:

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly.
Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.
As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

I know that God will redeem this year in my life. I know that God will bring good out of my circumstances and the circumstances of my friend. How? I don’t have the answer yet. My friend is working part time in a church. She still struggles to make ends meet financially, and she still has fears, but I see God healing her. The “dirt” that was thrown on her in her last ministry assignment is becoming her path to the future. God has not stopped doing good to her. Even the fact that she was only able to find a part time job in a small church is probably a blessing from God. She needed time to ease back into ministry instead of hitting the ground running in a large church. And I needed time to get over myself.

So, I wait…patiently some days, not so patiently other days. I don’t like sitting on the sidelines, but I am beginning to hope that God keeps me here until I am able to find my significance in Him alone.

Transformation

Jesus taught transformation, not transactions. Transactions are lateral exchanges between people - be it goods or services. Transactions occur every time two people engage in commerce of any kind. I give yu this in exchange for that. Transactions are obvious and literal, commonplace and easy to spot. In contrast, transformations are invisible, uplifing, transcendent experiences that involve a fundamental shift or change.

The underlying principle of this lesson is that your first and foremost task it ot build relationships, not "make deals". Out of the relationshis will flow the deal, and more.

Jesus sought and taught transformations, not transactions.

Teach Your Team to Fish. Laurie Beth Jones

Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4:19

Dear God, help me to see what I do as more than an exchange of money for my services. Work through me to transform lives. In the counseling field it would be easy for me to isolate myself and end up on only the giving end of a relationship. I am realizing the need for transforming relationships in my life where I can be vulnerable and real.

Frog Seminar

Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs.... who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of avery high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants....The race began....Honestly: No one in the crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach thetop of the tower.

You heard statements such as:"Oh, WAY too difficult!!"

"They will NEVER make it to the top."or:

"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"

The tiny frogs began collapsing. Oneb y one....Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher..

The crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"
More tiny frogs got tired and gave up....But ONE continued higher and higher and higher....This one wouldn't give up!

At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it? A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal?

It turned out....That the winner was DEAF!!!!

The wisdom of this story is: Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic....because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you -- the ones you have in your heart!

Always think of the power words have. (There's life and death in the power of the tongue - Proverbs 18:21.)

Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions! Therefore: ALWAYS be.... POSITIVE!

And above all:Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you cannot fulfill your dreams! Always think: God and I can do this!

Where is God?

I recently had someone in my office who was at the end of her resources. As an unemployed single mother she had her utilities cut off and was about to lose her home. She was making phone calls to find help but either the agencies she called were out of money or they wouldn't help her because she owned a home.

As a new Christian, this young woman asked, "how do I keep my faith when God doesn't seem to care about my circumstances?" It seemed a valid question...."Where was God?" Did He really think it was best to allow a baby Christian to be pushed to point of despair? I really didn't have many answers for her - except that God is in control, that He does care, and that He is never late...or is He?

I was reminded of the story of Lazarus. Mary and Martha, his sisters, surely thought that Jesus was too late! Lazarus was sick, and they sent for Jesus. Lazarus died and was buried, and THEN Jesus showed up. Four days too late.

I'm sure they were angry. They knew that Jesus could have healed their brother if he had just shown up on time!

In his book When God Doesn't Make Sense, James Dobson says, "Jesus then performed one of His most dramatic miracles as He called Lazarus out of the tomb. You see, the Master was not really late at all. He only appeared to be overdue. He arrived at the precise moment necessary to fulfill the purposes of God - just as He always does. With no disrespect intended, let me say that what happened there in Bethany is characteristic of the Christian life. Haven't you noticed that Jesus usually shows up about four days late? He often arrives after we have wept and worried and paced the floor - after we have sweated out the medical examination or fretted our way through business reverses. If He had arrived on time we could have avoided much of the stress that occured in His absence. Yet it is extremely important to recognize that His is never actually late. His timetable for action is simply different from ours. And it is usually slower." pg.52.

"Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything."
James 1:2-4 New Living Translation.

Adversity

There are some things that you can know about adversity:

1. You can expect it! No matter who you are, or what you are doing in life, sooner or later, we all will face challenges, hardships and adversities. In Job 5:7 it says, “Man is born to trouble as surely as the sparks fly upward."

2. You can learn from it! Sometimes it is the mistakes we make, or the messes we survive that teach us lessons that a smooth life will never teach us.

3. There is opportunity in adversity! Even though it’s hard to know where to look, good can come out of any experience in your life. There is no waste in God's economy. He has promised to bring good out of even the worst of our experiences! Rom 8:28 says, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

Here's a great story about how God uses adversity in our lives:

Some time ago, a few ladies met in a certain city to read the scriptures, and make them the subject of conversation. While reading the third chapter of Malachi they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse: "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Malachi 3:3 says, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.“

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study group, and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and he let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were the hottest, so as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, and then she thought again about the verse that says "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that, yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and said, "Oh, that's easy ­ when I see my image in it.“

2 Corinthians 4:8 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

Connections

"Ordinary people have the power to change other people's lives. The power is found in connection...powerful people believe in what others could become because the believe the good that exists deep within every regenerate heart is potentially stronger than all the bad that is there. Powerful people accept the challenge to identify, nourish, and release the life of God in others by connecting with them."

"...then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Philippians 2:2-3

As a counselor in training I learned many theories and techniques. I read some of the works of the brightest minds in the psychology and counseling field. But when you boil them all down, there are no theories that match the ability that we have as Christians to be a conduit of God's love and mercy. My most powerful technique as a counselor is just being with my clients. Allowing them to share their deepest wounds and deepest dreams. Bringing out the best in them as they learn to connect in a healthy way. May God help me to continue to be the conduit that connects lost and hurting people with the living God who can heal them and make them whole.

Sacrifice

We are in the process of moving. My husband retired this year, I moved my office, we are building a house, and we're changing churches. As much as I am excited about the move, it has never been easy for me to let go of the familiar and comfortable. I am usually not much of a risk taker! Life has been good where we are, and while the sacrifice I am making doesn't seem as extreme as others I have made in my life, it is still a sacrifice. Surrendering the future is required of all of us as Christians. We really don't know what tomorrow holds. So, today, I surrender my position and status for the unknown. My prayer is that God will continue to use me and help me to find a place of ministry in my "new" life.

"Jesus, on earth, never created something from nothing. Jesus used water that was already there to make wine...a fish's mouth to deliver a coin to pay Caesar's tax...fed 5 thousand by taking bread, breaking it and distributing it to all around. God has a way of meeting people when they are hanging by a thread and then asking them for more rope.

Two key principles:
1. Surrender of what you have is always required.
2. Whatever you offer up is going to change form.

The resources you begin with will not be recognizable to you when you are through."
Jesus, Life Coach - Laurie Beth Jones (p. 194).

"Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." Hebrews 13:15

Connecting

“A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.” William Shakespeare.

As I was teaching my Bible study this morning we discussed the need to have someone in your life who knows everything about you. Someone who has seen you at your worst and loves you anyway. That is a tall order when we have some things in our past that cause us shame. In our shame and guilt we build walls of protection around ourselves brick by brick, hurt by hurt. Unfortunately the walls we build for protection become masks that keep us from being known, from loving and being loved. If I am hiding behind a mask I will not believe that I am truly loved. I will always fear that no one would truly love me if they really knew me. It is in confession of my sins to God and a trusted friend that I create a clean conscience and dismantle the wall that keeps me hiding away from intimate relationships.

"Disconnection can be regarded as a state of being, a condition of existence where the deepest part of who we are is vibrantly attached to no one, where we are profoundly unknown and therefore experience neither the thrill of being believed in nor the joy of loving or being loved. Disconnected people may often be unaware of the empty recesses in their souls that long to be filled. They often mistake lesser longings for greater ones and settle for the satisfaction of popularity, influence, success and intense but shallow relationships. Disconnected people are unaware of what God has placed within them that if poured into others could change lives." Connecting - Larry Crabb.

James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

Tuesdays In "other" Words

“They gave our Master a crown of thorns.

Why do we hope for a crown of roses?”

~ Martin Luther ~

I jokingly say that my philosophy of life is "no good deed goes unpunished." It seems that when I do something good it comes back and bites me. For example, at one time I was seeing client who couldn't afford to pay. I agreed to see her for free because I really felt that she needed the help and wouldn't take advantage of my kindness. She came to see me for many months, but then she cancelled several times and never came back. I ran into her in the grocery store one day and she said, "I felt uncomfortable not paying you, so I'm going to see another counselor and I'm paying her." What?! I really would have let her pay!!

I could recite many instances of my "good deeds" going unnoticed, unappreciated, unpaid. There are times that I swear that I won't do it again...get taken advantage of...

It is times like those that the quote by Martin Luther stings my conscience and make me realize that the sacrifices I have made in my good deeds are nothing compared to the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for me. So, I continue to dust off my pride and give to others even if it never gets appreciated this side of heaven. I can never out give or out love God...

Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Check out more In "other" words posts here. Thanks Iris for hosting this week!

Consecrated

"The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. To be useful, the clay has to be moldable, and once made into a vessel, it has to remain in the hand of the potter to be used...When you come to God as His servant He first wants you to allow Him to mold and shape you into the instrument of His choosing. Then He can take your life and put it where He wills and work through it to accomplish His purposes." Blackaby - Experiencing God.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 NIV

I want to be the kind of person that God can use because I am fully consecrated to Him. I don't always act like I am that kind of person. My pride and my doubts often get in the way. I am learning, though, that staying connected to Him is the only way that God can truly use me. How often I take myself out of His hand and try to do it on my own. There are days I struggle with my own competence. I have to remember that every gift I have, every talent, came from God in the first place. And everything I feel that I am lacking He will supply.

God help me to get out of the way so you can work through me. Help me to focus on you as the source of my strength, and my all the glory go to you.

Spiritual Growth

God always ignores your present level of completeness in favor of your ultimate future completeness. He is not concerned about making you blessed and happy right now, but He's continually working out His ultimate perfection for you. My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. I will gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me...For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthian 12:9-10

I guess my prayer to be free is being answered. Like most prayers I'm glad I didn't know the process I would have to go through to be healthy - to be free. Even now it would be easy to give up - to go back, but I know that God has called me to something where I can't afford to go bound by all the things that keep me from His "ultimate perfection for me."

Freedom

"Whatever happens that breaks us open to a deeper invasion of the Lord's Spirit is a blessing in disguise. Our brokenness becomes the threshold of growth in a Spirit-filled life. At conversion to Christ, His Spirit enters us. But His abiding presence cannot grow until the shell of our preconceptions, values, and personality structure is broken open." Longing to Be Free - Lloyd John Ogilvie

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Galatians 2:20

The only way to be free is to have nothing to lose. In giving myself totally to Christ it is no longer important what anyone else thinks. My fear, my self-esteem, my desires, become His.

The past few months have been a time of God breaking me open. While the struggle was great, God wouldn't let me go. The surrender - the dying to myself - has led to a hunger to be free. For the first time in years it is more important to me to grow spiritually than to do anything else.

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. Philippians 3:7-8.

I want to know Christ...help me to continue on the journey until I am free, totally surrendered, no longer bound by the past - crucified, with nothing to lose.

It All Starts With God

For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible
and invisible,…everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.
Colossians 1:16 (Message)

Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.
Bertrand Russell, atheist.

It’s not about you.

The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

The search for the purpose of life ahs puzzled people for thousands of years. That’s because we typically begin at the wrong starting point-ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future? But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose. The Bible says, “It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power.”

Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won’t discover your life’s meaning by looking within yourself. You’ve probably tried that already. You didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! If I handed you an invention you had never seen before, you wouldn’t know it’s purpose, and the invention itself wouldn’t be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner’s manual could reveal its purpose.

Self help books, even Christian ones, usually offer the same predictable steps to finding your life’s purpose: consider your dreams. Clarify your values. Set some goals. Figure out what you are good at. Aim high. Go for it! Be disciplined. Believe you can achieve your goals. Involve others. Never give up.

You could reach your personal goals and still miss the purposes for which God created you. You need more than self-help advice.

So, how do you discover the purpose you were created for? You have only two options.
Speculation: guessing, theorizing.
OR
Revelation: We can turn to what God has revealed about life in his Word. The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it. The same is true for discovering your life’s purpose: Ask God.

“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” Ephesians 1:11 (The Message)

Taken from The Purpose-Driven® Life, Rick Warren, 2002. Chapter 1.

You Are NOT an Accident

I remember talking to a teenage client whose life was a complete mess. She told me that she overheard her parents talking about how they never wanted children, and how much she had "messed up" their lives. I couldn't imagine living in a family where I wasn't wanted. My heart breaks for kids who grow up in extremely dysfunctional families. It seems that they don't have a chance of a "normal" life if God doesn't intervene. Obviously, this is not the way God intended for family to be. This teenager needed to know that she was loved by at least one parent...her Heavenly Father. Her parents may not have wanted her, but God knows and loves her, and has a plan for her future...and for ours.

"I am your Creator. You were in my care
even before you were born." Isaiah 44:2a

Your parents may not have planned you. But God did. Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God. He thought of you first. It was not fate, nor chance, nor luck, nor coincidence that you are breathing at this very moment. The Bible says,”The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.” Psalm 138:8a

“You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; you know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.” Psalm 139:15

“You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your Book!” Psalm 139:16

“From one man he made every nation,…and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.” Acts 17:26

While there are illegitimate parents there are NO illegitimate children. Many children are unplanned by their parents, but they are not unplanned by God. God’s purpose took into account human error, and even sin.

“Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love.” Ephesians 1:4a

"I have carried you since you were born; I have taken care of you from your birth. Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you. I made you and will take care of you.” Isaiah 46:3-4

Excerpts from The Purpose Driven Life. Rick Warren

Living with Purpose

“Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb. You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you don’t make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow-line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness.” -- Huch Macleod

"Those who do not create the future they want must endure the future they get." -- Draper L. Kaufman, Jr.

“The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living at doing what they most enjoy.” -- Malcolm S. Forbes

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.” -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice

"A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder." -- Thomas Carlyle

Authentic Faith

"Let God make you who you are: When you are expending energy imitating someone, you can forget to be like Christ. God honors authentic faith. Be who you are. Be the person God called you to be, without apology. But let me warn you: Some people will really like you and others really won't. Never forget that Jesus had the same experience. So don't apologize for who you are. Long to be recognized by Christ. Long to be authentic with Christ. Imitate, assimilate, and process the power of God in your own life so that the genuine person God has created will emerge." Igniting Passion In Your Church. Steve Ayers

How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us. What else will distinguish me or your people from all the other people on the face of the earth? Exodus 33:16

Authentic faith...being the person God created me to be. There are days that I'm not sure who that is, and others that I am comfortable with who I am. And yet, I am always striving to be better. How do you tell the difference between a healthy desire to change and an unhealthy push to be different so people will accept you? I guess it probably looks the same on the outside, but the motive is different. Is my motive to look better, be more appreciated, have greater stature in the church, or is my motive to become more Christlike - to bring glory to God through whatever I do? God, what will distinguish me from all the others? I want it to be your presence in my life. I want others to see you working through me. Help me to become the person you want me to be...a person who reflects the glory of God.

Growth

For those who are sometimes discouraged and impatient with their personal improvement progress, as I often am, Dr. Stephen Covey offers the following metaphor.


"There is a certain species of the Chinese bamboo tree that, when you plant it, you see nothing for four years. Just a little shoot our of the ground and that's it. You weed, water, cultivate, nurture and do everything you can do to make it successful, but you see nothing. In the fifth year, this particular species of the Chinese bamboo tree grows up to eighty feet. In its initial stages, all of the growth went underground in the root. Then, once it had its roots in place, all of the growth went above the ground and was visible..."

So...keep working, the results may not be visible, but they will come!

Maturity

"There are no shortcuts to maturity. We are obsessed with speed, but God is more interested in strength and stability than swiftness. We want the quick fix, the shortcut, the on the spot solution. We want a sermon, a seminar or an experience that will instantly remove all problems and release us from all growing pains. But real maturity is never the result of a single experience, no matter how powerful or moving. Growth is gradual...

'Our lives gradually become brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him.' 2 Corinthians 3:18b The Message.

...Although God could instantly transform us, he has chosen to develop us slowly. Why?

• We are slow learners
• We have a lot to unlearn
• We are afraid to humbly face the truth about ourselves
• Growth (change) is often painful and scary
• Habits take time to develop

Great souls are grown through struggles and storms and seasons of suffering." The Purpose Driven Life Day 28

Don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well developed. James 1:4 The Message

The road to health and freedom is hard and painful. It is easy to see that getting physically fit takes time and exercise and sometimes pain. Exercise is not fun at times, but we endure it because we want the physical results. Are we willing to endure the emotional pain to get healthy spiritually and psychologically? The choice is ours. We could stop at any moment. But, if we really want to be mature we won't settle for the quick fix. We will hold and learn the lessons that make us more and more like Christ.

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 NIV

Grace

"The good news of the Gospel is that in spite of our total moral bankruptcy, God keeps on doing business with us. Notwithstanding the hopelessness of our predicament, God has found a way to bridge the gap, restore us to a relationship with Himself, and to bring healing to the damaged areas of our personalities.

Where sin abounded, grace abounded more. Romans 5:20 NIV

That same grace can make you strong enough and brave enough to take off your super self mask and begin to look at your real self. For it's your real self which God loves and for which Christ died. Your real self with all its sins and flaws which He has always known and never stopped loving." Healing Grace: David Seamands (pg. 121)

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13b-14. NIV

Forgetting does not mean losing all memory of our sinful pasts, but leaving it behind as done with and settled.

But sin doesn't have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. Romans 5:20 The Message

He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free. O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing Charles Wesley