Posts Tagged 'learn'

Unanswered Prayers

Published June 13, 2013 living , spiritual , enemies to intimacy , prayer , Holy Spirit , Genuine love , seeing Jesus Leave a Comment
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“We are far too easily pleased”- CS Lewis

Sometimes I think that God doesn’t answer some of our prayers because are prayers are misdirected. I think that sometimes we settle for “good” when God has something more “magnificent” for us than what we are requesting. Unfortunately, I tend to be selfish & short sighted when I don’t get my way, like an immature child who doesn’t trust their parent to make choices for them in their best interest. So rather than packing up our toys & going home to play by ourselves, lets keep living with & loving God, trusting that God is fundamentally good & is Genuine Love :)

When people are different

Published May 28, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , spiritual 3 Comments
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I have the honor of working with LOTS of different people, some of whom are very easy for me & others who are a little tricky. When I think about the tricky people, I’m coming to the conclusion that the things that bug me are often more problems that I have than the other persons issues.
So with this in mind, I find myself pushing into God, praying & asking for help to do & be better. This helps me to be grateful for tricky people :)

leadership

Published May 22, 2013 Holy Spirit , living 5 Comments
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I’ve been thinking about leadership lately and while I know there are BOATLOADS of great resources, books, conferences, etc to help us with becoming better leaders, here are just a few brief, but helpful thoughts:

  • if you want a particular leadership position, act as a leader for that role before you ever get the title
  • leadership requires us to be continually growing and changing lest we become a stiffling lid
  • character is more substantial than any title
  • effective leadership requires constructive communicating: both listening & talking
  • the Jesus’ paradigm of leadership is service over superiority
  • if no one is following you, you’re merely taking a walk so enjoy the stroll ,)
  • fear is leadership poison
  • good leaders foster teamwork over competition
  • leaders look for ways to bring out the best in their team & to minimize the weaknesses
  • mistakes and failures for leaders aren’t permanent

Just a few quick thoughts on this happy Wed :)

holding pattern

Published May 14, 2013 Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual , travel 2 Comments
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Have you ever felt like you’re in a holding pattern?  Sometimes, it seems like God has me in pause mode & I’m continuing to try & faithfully do what’s been given to me, but it’s like I’m on hold.  When I’ve been on airplanes that have been in holding patterns it’s usually for a few reasons:

  • bad weather could make the landing dangerous – preventing danger
  • our timing for landing was off schedule & we have to wait for our turn – timing alignment
  • the land crew isn’t quite ready for our arrival – proper preparation to prevent a mishap

If you’re in a holding pattern season, getting impatient usually doesn’t help but using the time to nestle into a deeper walk with God is always a great plan regardless of whatever season in which you find yourself :)

Pressure exposes trust

Published April 22, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , seeing Jesus , spiritual 1 Comment
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There are some really great worship songs that talk about trusting in Jesus & how wonderful it is to trust Him. In theory, I agree with these songs & I appreciate their melodic & soothing tune & words. In practice, however, I’m not very convinced that trusting in Jesus is a really smoothy & groovy road. For me, the challenge to trust in Jesus often exposes areas in my life where I’m not trusting in Jesus well. Furthermore, the adjustments I need to make in those areas to trust Jesus better can be difficult. But at the end of the day, I am wholly convinced that it is truly better to trust in Jesus more than anyone or anything else. Don’t let various pressures tempt you to not trust Jesus :)

When God seems quiet

Published April 19, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , seeing Jesus , spiritual 4 Comments
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I was reading in Job this morning & I read a verse about when God is silent. This kind of started me thinking about the times when God doesn’t seem to be talking. These times can be really frustrating or let me suggest that these times can be really rich in getting to know God better. Here are some things that could really help you in those times / seasons when God seems silent:
*sometimes God may seem quiet because we don’t give Them (Trinity) the chance to speak – we do all the talking
*for me, I know that God is sometimes quiet, because They (Trinity) are waiting for me to talk
*sometimes I think God is quiet because They want us to lean in & get closer
*sometimes quiet can be an indication of displeasure – is there something I’ve done or said that has been displeasing to God that I need to adjust? This can be a good exploratory question with God
*quiet in a relationship can be an indication of closeness & intimacy: I feel comfortable being quiet with some of my closest friends

doing big things

Published March 27, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses , seeing Jesus , spiritual , travel 1 Comment
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Sometimes, I think that God has a quirky sense of humor based on the assignments that seem to get tossed my way.  Over the last several months, I find myself involved in projects, problems and situations that are significantly bigger than my abilites or talents and I keep asking myself, “now why am I doing this?”  Most of my recent assignments from God don’t seem to be in the sweet spot of my talents or skills and many of these assignments are way bigger than me.  As I think about this, it seems like this is exactly the way that God operates – giving us assignments that are way beyond our natural abilities, including Saving Moses.  Perhaps God wants to:

  • help us become bigger & stronger people by increasing the sizes of the challenges that we face
  • increase our dependence & trust in God
  • accentuate God’s abilities through our shortcomings – giving greater glory to God than ourselves
  • keep our eyes trained on God & off of ourselves

Doing big things requires us to rely on God, big time :)

The big picture

Published March 18, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual , Uncategorized 2 Comments
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Sometimes I can get discouraged when I look at things in incremental or small ways. For example, when I’m trying to get in shape, I can easily get discouraged with one workout – it hurts, I wish I were more fit, etc. But when I look at the big picture (no pun intended), I can find some encouragement that I’m trying, growing & on the right path to get better, little by little.
This is also true with God, who sees the overall scheme of our lives with precision clarity & not just the small & seemingly incongruous puzzle pieces that can so easily frustrate us. Ultimately, we can rest in the truth that God is working all things to good as we continue to love God & stay true Their (Trinity) purposes & designs for us!! Be encouraged dear friend! :D

fight or flex

Published March 13, 2013 family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses , spiritual , travel 2 Comments
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The last few days have had some interesting experiences for me, some of which have been totally amazing and others which have been abyssmal.  Adding to this adventure, I thought I was supposed to fly to Houston for the day to do some work with Saving Moses.  When I arrived at the airport this morning at 5:45a, I discovered that I was a week early (my flight is next week).  Needless to say, my husband was surprised to see me again before 7am :)

All of this is to say that it seems to me that it takes less energy to be flexible than to resist change.  While I may not be liking everything that’s happening in my world in this season, I can totally rest in knowing that God is in control and I can trust God to create beyond AMAZING results as I continue to love God and stay true to the divine purposes for which I’m created – Rom 8:28-29.  So I’m chosing to be flexible :)

Walking Through the Woods on a Snowy Day

Published February 25, 2013 enemies to intimacy , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual 1 Comment
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We had a very beautiful snow storm yesterday, even though it was treacherous with driving. Instead of going to the gym & working out, I decided to take a walk in the snow through some woods. It was a very soothing walk. In the woods, it was quiet & very still, but along the shoveled path, it was windy, icy & not as enjoyable. I was thinking about the trees and how they spend half of their time getting dressed, putting on leaves & half of their time getting undressed, shedding their leaves.
Sometimes I think we chose paths that seem smooth based on what we can see & feel but sometimes this choice prevents us from experiences with God that can be really rich for our hearts. These are just a few thoughts from my snowy walk in the woods :)

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RSS Saving Moses

  • Plank City (Part 1 of Hannah’s Story) June 10, 2013
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