April 29, 2018  by

Follow God On Your Divine Journey

Are you so busy that the idea of following God a divine journey sounds impossible?

I’m always in a hurry! I rush from meetings to projects, then to the laundry room to rescue Mr. 4-Ever’s shirts before I have to add ironing to my long to do list.

At the grocery store, I silently hum You got to move it, move it to myself as I weave around browsers or wait impatiently at the cash register.

In staff meetings, I take copious notes on one page and write a list of things I need to do when I get home on the next page.

I’ve never been a woman who enjoyed the journey. I’m more of a destination kind of girl.

But, lately I’ve been thinking that I’m missing some of the magical moments God has planned for me along the way because I’m too rushed to see them, much less enjoy them.

What if I could let myself off the hook about having to do everything quickly or that I have to do everything myself or that everything I do has to be done perfectly or it’s a complete failure?

How can I think of life as a DIVINE JOURNEY? A journey that will take twists and turns, but will make my journey interesting and create the margin in my life to feel alive and free.

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April 22, 2018  by

Do You Wonder If God Sees You?

Are you in a season of wondering if God cares about you or even sees you?
Do you think he led you into a wilderness and forgot where he left you?

Whenever I launch a new series of talks, a service, or book, I have a moment or two when it feels like I might have misread the signals God sent. That I am all alone and forgotten. That I will die in the wilderness.

Then God shows up in some extravagant way to reassure me that I am not forgotten at all.

When Almida said she had a present for me, I was giddy with excitement.

Almida is an interesting woman. Her wisdom, life experiences and prayers have been my life line for decades. Russian by birth, she escaped the Nazis by walking across Europe only to live in a refuge camp for months before getting a sponsor in the US. She made a living as a tailor until she married an entrepreneur who made a boatload of money as a building developer. Her husband, Willy, died at 41 in a plane crash leaving her devastated. Her grief was compounded when Willy’s business partner bankrupted the business, essentially depleting her resources and retirement.

She’s adjusted to life’s exciting twists and unpleasant turns by trusting God with an unwavering faith.

Almida is now 86, and resides in an assisted living facility. The pain in her hip is her constant companion, making an outing to any store a major ordeal. She’s frugal by necessity and was never a big believer in “good behavior” gifts. It wasn’t my birthday and Christmas was long gone, so I couldn’t imagine what gift she might have for me.

A piece of advice?
A photo of us?
A prayer? 

“What do you mean, you have a present for me, Almida?” I asked.

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April 15, 2018  by

Eat dessert first!

You’ve seen the tee shirts, right?
Life is short.
Eat dessert first. 

I am all about dessert first. If there are no children around to corrupt, it’s always dessert first for me.  I can doggy bag a sandwich or chicken breast, but that dessert will never taste as good coming out of a takeout box as it does on the plate in the restaurant.

The whole idea of dessert first is to go after the good stuff first. If you’re intention is to get it at the end of your meal, eat when it will taste the best.

The same can be said for the things we want in life.
Go after them now. Don’t wait till the end!

My mother-in-law was just days away from retiring. Just days away from the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii with her hubz. Just days away from realizing all the things she’d waited for until the timing was perfect.
When the kids were grown.
When the house was paid for.
When the career was a wrap.

Then, poof, her man died of a heart attack.

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April 8, 2018  by

How to Escape Your Impossible Situation

Have you ever gotten yourself into such a mess that escaping the situation seemed impossible?  I sure have, more times than I can count.

If you have, too, I bet you’ll relate to this story. 

After an event where I was speaking, Eliza* approached me with a simple request for prayer to feel God’s love again. She had gotten into something she wasn’t proud of and her shame was heavy.

I asked if she’d confessed this issue of ugliness to God. She had, but the shame remained and the temptation to return to her junk was strong.

We prayed for her to experience the love of God. When we finished praying, I asked how she felt. “I have peace,” she replied.

“Peace is good, but you didn’t come for peace,” I reminded her. “You came to feel the love of God. To be free of the shame and truly know God loves you, right?” She nodded weakly.

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April 1, 2018  by

Sin Is Delicious … and Addictive

Sin is delicious. I wish it weren’t so, but it is.

I work with so many women who get caught up in things they never dreamed would hook them.

Prescription drugs. 
Alcohol.
Lies and deceptions. 
Overspending and debt.
Co-dependancy.
Pornography.
Abusive relationships. 

When I met with *Carolyn, she couldn’t even look up at me, but finally, she took a deep breath and started.

“I’m having an affair with a married man. We met at work and over the course of conversation and cocktails and compliments, I found myself taken in by him. At first, it was just so nice to be noticed. Not just for the way I look but for my brain and my ideas. He listened to my dreams and my problems. He helped me get promoted.

Now here I am. Three years into a relationship with a married man who will never divorce his wife. Hiding the truth from my family and friends, swallowing the pain and guilt, pretending everything is great. I’ve tried to break it off, but I keep going back.”

 

I stared at her. Why would a beautiful, educated woman get into this mess?
Because sin is delicious.

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March 25, 2018  by

Follow Directions To Get The Results You Want!

 

Are you an improvisor or do you follow directions to a “T”?
I lean toward following the directions just because I’ve had so many failed improvisations.

Like the time my party host said, “Just bring one of your fabulous desserts.”
I flipped through my favorite recipes and decided on applesauce spice cake.
Feeling adventurous, I substituted stewed prunes for half the applesauce.

Girls! Bad plan.

I mixed and stirred and smashed and whisked, but those darn prune skins held together in my batter like little black footballs.

I should have followed the directions.

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March 4, 2018  by

Goodness, God! What are you up to?

God’s faithfulness doesn’t always look like I think it should.

There have been many times that I looked to the heavens and asked,
Goodness, God! What are you up to? 
Can you relate?

 
Like you, I’ve had several callings or commissionings from God.
He called me to be his own.
Hurrah!
He called me to be a wife and a mom.
Hurrah, hurrah!
He called me into workplace.
Ok! Hurrah!
 He called me into full time ministry.
Yahooooo! Hurrah!
 
Even when faced with obstacles and obstructions,
I trusted those callings were from God. 
 
But … Though I am confident of the calling,
I still run into road blocks and detours.
I have to remind myself of God’s faithfulness.
 
The journey to trust God never ends.
 
Like all journeys, some parts are smooth and easy and

other parts or rocky and hard. 

Do you need a reminder that God is worthy of your trust?
 
Look no further than your Bible.
Noah was called to build an arc to escape the coming flood.
He trusted God for 120 years.
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February 26, 2018  by

Are You Confused About Prayer?

I was very confused about prayer when I first started to follow Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I knew that I was supposed to pray but I wasn’t sure how … or even to whom I should address my prayer. I knew there were three persons of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but I wondered Which one do I pray to? I sure didn’t want to offend one person of God or bring down God’s wrath on myself for doing it wrong!

How could I get the answers I needed?

I was in a small Bible study group with some pillars of our church. When they prayed it sounded like they were reading from a hymnal! I wanted to pray like they did! However, I didn’t want anyone to know how ignorant I was! 

In the end, I had to ask for help. I screwed up my courage and asked the oldest and grayest of them to teach me about prayer.

She explained, “What one person of God knows, they all know. It doesn’t matter which person of God you address your prayers to.”

She suggested I start with a memorized prayer like the one in Matthew 6. I still pray the Lord’s prayer frequently, but since then I also developed a prayer model to help me keep my prayers fresh and fervent.

I call it the T.R.U.S.T. Prayer Model.

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February 18, 2018  by

Dance on the Stage God Has Given You

Do you know what stage you’re supposed to be on?
Do you know how to get clarity? 

Mr. 4-Ever and I, along with hundreds of others, sat in a hot, crowded auditorium for hours to watch a parade of small girls in dressed up tutus and tights wobble and hop on the stage in front of us. 

Every mother and grandma and friend of the family attending knew that the performances of the budding ballerina they came to see was likely to be awkward and poorly-executed, but we each, to a woman, swelled with pride when the little girl we came to see appeared on the stage.

In every performance, the tiny dancers took turns being out of sync, but as a group, they covered each other’s weakness, one remembering one part and another remembering another part so as a whole, they completed the number.

Occasionally, in moments of complete bewilderment, a ballerina wrangler – a preteen ballerina in matching leotard and tights – would appear from the wings to prompt and shoo her mini versions through their next step.

The sweet ballerina we came to watch, was on the stage for not quite two minutes. She was in lipstick and rouge for the first time.  She bravely swayed and pirouetted nearly on cue. She curtsied to thundering applause and cheers.

After the recital, carried her flowers in her arms as if they were her infant, careful not to bump the blossoms or break the stems. She beamed under the praise and adoration of the few of us who were there just for her.

There are no dress rehearsals for life.

That recital was packed with life lessons for all of us!

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February 11, 2018  by

How Do You WANT To Belong?

Have you ever been invited to join a group and just didn’t think you’d fit it?

Maybe you felt inadequate. Maybe you didn’t think you’d measure up or you’d be embarrassed or it would be awkward. Maybe, you wanted to avoid conversations about your past or your current situation.

Maybe you’re just too busy to get involved with one more thing. When your proverbial plate is so full you can’t see the pattern on the edge, you can’t add one more thing.

Maybe you have your hands full of your own stuff, and you just don’t want to hear about other people’s problems. Maybe you’ve decided you don’t like the people in the group.

Of course, you’d never say that out loud, but you might think it.

For whatever reason, you want to pass …

How do you change your thinking so you want to belong? 

I talk about that reluctance to join in this week’s video.

Click on the video below to watch it now.

It might be as simple as trusting that the person who’s invited you loves you and wants to be with you.
It might be that you feel God prompting you.
Often, you’ll find that you’ll benefit and be a benefit.

What is God calling you into and is he doing it through an invitation from a friend?

Father God, You invite us all to belong. Overcome our fears and doubts about whether we’ll fit in or if we are good enough. Amen. 

 

 

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