Work

I’ve been reading about work lately and would like to share some thoughts with you. These quotes come from, "Top 10 Qualities of a Great Leader."

“The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich” Prov. 13:4
pg. 153 – Diligence is completing what we begin with steady, continuing commitment to the task.

p. 155 – Luke 12:24 tells us that God gives the birds their food, but we also know He doesn’t throw it into their nests.

p. 154 – Work is its own reward. God didn’t offer Adam a thousand dollars a week to be the gardener in Eden. To work the garden and reap its fruits were enough. Work is something to love. Work isn’t something to avoid. It is something to embrace. It’s a therapy all of its own. To work – and to work well – and to complete the job properly, and to feel the pride of a job well done all feed positively into the self-worth of a person’s life. The lazy person whining about how the government doesn’t do this and that for them, complaining that they’ve never had a break, sitting around all day doing nothing is slowly destroying his soul. The great life we all crave comes simply from working. Work is not something separate from God. Work is a calling.

p 153 – Yes, the wise work, and they work hard. Therefore, their achievements are not small.

I don't want my achievements to be small. I think deep down inside, we all want to be a part of something big, something great, something inspiring. What the problem seems to be is that so many people these days want the limelight, but they don't want to roll their sleeves up and work. I also think too often, we want that limelight for our glory, not for God's. When our motivation is wrong, or we are too lazy to even try, it affects our soul.

I want it to be well with my soul. I want to leave a legacy that is inspiring - for God's glory, not mine.

Thought for the Day for my Children's Ministry Team

Every Sunday, we have someone within the Children's Ministry give a devotion or a thought for the day before we serve. I gave it this week and below are my thoughts. You may not be expanding your church, but odds are you are battling something. I hope this helps someone!

I have been reading Top 10 Qualities of a Great Leader, and as I was reading last night a couple of paragraphs really hit me.

“Strength is not optional but rather imperative in leaders. People will not follow weak, uncourageous leaders. They line up behind the courageous, the strong, the warriors.” P. 40

“One of the great scenes in The Patriot is when the leader-warrior, played by Mel Gibson, sees his ragtag militia retreating back over the hill. He lays hold of the flag and begins racing to the crest, running through the troops in the opposite direction toward the enemy. At the sight of just one brave soldier refusing defeat, the militia rise with fresh courage. They turn and rush the enemy and secure victory.” P. 41

We all know that with growth, comes growing pains. Some people can’t handle the pain, so they quit, they give up, they lose heart. As Covenant Family is in a growing process, we are also feeling those growing pains. My question to you is, are you strong enough to “play through the pain”?

Even if you’re not ready to be the one to grab the flag and lead the charge, are you willing to rise with fresh courage, line up behind your strong, warrior leaders, turn, and rush the enemy so we can secure victory as a united team?

We are at war. We are fighting for souls. Even if we feel we are too weak to “play through the pain”, we must know and stand firm on the fact that the Bible is true and according to 2 Cor: 12.10 “…In my weakness He is made strong”.

So, if you are feeling weak, let Christ be your strength. We need to be courageous, strong, warriors running toward the enemy ready to attack. Neither retreat nor defeat are options.
I truly believe that when our team members see even one of us brave soldiers refusing defeat, our teams will rise with fresh courage. They will turn and rush the enemy and secure victory!

Wheat Free . ..

For the past few months, my oldest daughter Rebekah has been having breathing issues. I guess it started back in November with a cough that wouldn't go away. I figured it was a seasonal allergy thing because she and I both suffer from that, so I started her on Claritin daily and gave her some Robitussin to loosen up the chest congestion and that seemed to help somewhat.

By March, I realized we were still having an issue and the winter season was behind us, so the seasonal allergy thing didn't really hold water anymore. I took her in to the doctor to see what he had to say. We switched her to Zyrtec, he gave her a steroid to reduce the inflamation in her lungs and sent us on our way. She was better for the week she was on the steroid, but then everything started all over again, only worse.

I waited a few weeks, continued the Robitussin and Zyrtec, but then when I could hear her wheezing, I took her back in. The doctor listened to her, but that day she wasn't wheezing, so he gave her an inhaler and said to use it when she was wheezing. That was fine until we started needing it daily.

Back to the doctor we went. He began questioning about our family history. Is there a family history of asthma - no. Did she have pneumonia as a baby - no. RSV - no. no. no. no. no. I don't remember the series of questions, but the answer was no to all of them. He was stumped as apparently asthma symptoms don't typically "just appear out of nowhere". But, they had. He started her on a daily dose of Singular which is good for allergies and asthma as well along with the Zyrtec.

That worked wonders . . . for about 5 weeks. Then the cough and the tight chest started happening again - back to the inhaler, and then she randomly broke out in hives and itching all over. He sent her in to get a blood test for common food allergies as I do have a family history of food allergies on my mom's side of the family. Nothing really came up except a mild allergy to wheat. He though, didn't feel it was a high enough # on the ranking to be the cause of the issue she was having. Stumped, frustrated, and quite frankly - scared, I started searching for possible answers. I took her off of peanut butter before the food test because my mom is allergic, but that didn't show up at all on the ranking, so that wasn't it.

Someone I know from church overheard a conversation I was having regarding the issue and she gave me a book. After skimming the book and reading about a huge variety of issues we face this day and age that used to be so rare, I decided to take my daughter off of wheat just to see what would happen. She's pretty upset she can't eat a sandwich, but I told her oxygen is much more important. It's only been a couple of days, so we will see what happens. We also have an appt set with an allergist for next week. We'll see what my "in home" experiment turns up and I'll talk to the allergist about that when we go.

For now, please be in prayer for wisdom in this area. Going wheat/gluten free isn't an easy thing to do as my dear friend, Sarah knows. But, it is possible and if it works, so totally worth it. I know God's hand is right here with me guiding me and directing me in the right direction. I am praying and believing for complete healing for Rebekah. While I pray and believe, though, I'm going to do all I can to help her any way I can.

Thus is the life in a fallen world. Oh for Heaven when we can eat whatever we want - not be allergic and not gain weight! LOL

Eternity Driven

Just a short post today . . . I recently finished the book, Driven by Eternity by John Bevere. I highly recommend this book to everyone! It will greatly influence the way you make your daily decisions. Read it, absorb it, apply it. There could be eternal consequences if you don't and eternal rewards if you do.

The Dance. . .

Well, I finally finished the book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. It has really caused me to reflect on my life. My successes, my failures, but most of all, my regrets. Mark Batterson states that most of the regrets people have are those of omission rather than of comission. In other words, most people regret having NOT done something rather than having done something they wish they hadn't. I think it's the "what if" factor in life. I think regrets of omission haunt us because we tend to wonder "what if". What if I had chased that lion, what if I hadn't stood on the sidelines, what if I hadn't been such a chicken, or so shy, or so prideful? What if. . .

As I looked back over the past 36 years of my life, I realized I really only have 1 regret of omission and it does still haunt me to this day. Maybe "haunt" is not the right word. Maybe it's God still whispering in my ear to go for it. Either way, the thoughts are still there.

As a kid I was extremely involved in gymnastics. I was competetive for 10 years. As most people know, dance is a huge portion of gymnastics and I enjoyed doing it. At the age of 15 I gave up the sport because of a back injury that forced me out of the whole deal. To this day I miss the discipline and freedom of expression that was involved in the sport.

Through the years since I quit, there have been dance teams at church that offer the opportunity for that expressiveness in dance to come out in the form of worship. As much as I wanted to pursue it, I was afraid looking silly. Dance in the church was a fairly new concept when the team was put together at the church I went to as a teenager. I guess I should say new to that church. David danced before the Lord before there even was a church! Anyway, my shyness and fear of criticism kept me from pursuing something that was still in my heart.

After marrying and moving to College Station, the church we went to didn't have a dance team, but occassionally there were certain conferences that would have an expressive dance portion as part of the itinerary. It was pretty much the same two ladies that always did it and I never asked about it because I was afraid of them thinking I was intruding on their territory. Both of those ladies have long since moved away and here I still sit. A few weeks ago, there was a dance/worship performace during a Sunday service. The team that danced was mostly kids ranging from 15 - 19. The leader/choreographer is 26 and she danced with them, but that still would make me the old geezer of the group.

It's so easy to make excuses - even rational ones. I'm too old, my back is bad, my knee is bad, I won't fit in with the teen scene, etc. I spoke with my husband about this today and he just smiled at me and asked me who I would be dancing for. I told him it would be for God. He continued to smile and let me know that all the rest of my excuses and fears didn't matter. Duh - I know that in my head. It's my heart that's still struggling.

So, tonight I am going to our monthly women's meeting and am praying for the courage to seek out the choreographer of our church's dance team. I want to speak to her and get this old body moving forward. Maybe I'll even have the opportunity to get it moving in circles, and lunges, and leaps, in worship.

Chasing Lions. . .

Chasing a lion sounds like a crazy thing to do. . . and it is. Lions are massive creatures. They can be deadly creatures. But I'm in the middle of a fabulous book titled, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, by Mark Batterson - and it makes lion chasing sound like the most amazing way to live the John 10:10 life. In the book, he asks the question, "Are you living a life worth telling stories about?" I got to thinking about my safe, predictable life and had to honestly answer "no". How boring am I?!?

Deep down, I want to live an exciting, on fire, worth-telling-stories-about life. But the reality is, I don't do it. I began to reflect and started talking to God. I told him I didn't think He sent many lions my way. His response was that I missed them because I wasn't on the lookout for them. OUCH!! That's a painful truth. I probably wasn't looking for them though, because It isn't in my human nature to go running after something that could potentially harm or even kill me.

As a mom, I try to protect my kids from all the dangers lurking around them. I want them to be safe and free from harm. That's the natural motherly, nurturing thing to do. But, is it the right thing to do? Sure we don't want to put our kids or ourselves in danger. We need to use wisdom. God gave us good brains and I believe we need to use them. That said however, are we too busy being careful that we miss out on adventures, risk taking, and the abundant life God has planned for us? I think the answer is a resounding "yes".

I haven't finished the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day yet, but I have a feeling the more I read, the more convicted I will be to be on the lookout for lions; chase them when I find them; and trust God wholeheartedly to help me win the battles He's called me to fight. I am looking forward to new and exciting adventures. I want to make my kids proud and leave a legacy worth telling stories about.

Fessing Up . . .

Ok, so I finally fessed up to my husband that I'm not in my niche at the battery store. I told him that I almost felt like I was having a midlife crisis because I didn't really know what I wanted to be when I grew up (yeah - I'm 35 I know!). Talking to him was so scary because I didn't want to disappoint him. Truthfully, though, I don't think he was surprised at all.

Dennis was so supportive and so awesome. He knows that this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now, but not forever. He knows that working with him was a huge leap of faith for me. He also knows that God has something waiting for me in the wings, we just can't see it yet. I think even when this chapter is over, though he still wants me to keep the books! :) I think I can handle that!

It is so amazing and wonderful to have the support of my man. I really enjoy being with him during the day and am sure I will miss that when it's gone. We win together on great days and encourage each other on days that business is slow. I really didn't think we could work that well together, and at first it was a challenge. Now, it's pretty smooth (except for that PMS week I have monthly)! All joking aside, God has really shown me that we are a team and we can work together for a common goal. Something we hadn't truly done for awhile.

Dennis is in his element and smack dab in the middle of his calling. He is called to be a business owner and a king in the church to provide the provision to help fulfill the vision of our church to reach this community and beyond for Christ. I love seeing him on fire about what he is doing. He is amazing and I am so proud of him!

I can truly say that in this area of my life, I have no regrets. I may have questions and be unsure in what the future holds, but I have no regrets. . . . and that's the kind of life I want to live!