Writing

I completed my last writing assignment on time. It was a daunting task. One because I was so busy with so many other things. And two, because of the topics covered. But, as He always does, God was gracious to me and helped me through.

I am finding that it is quite a different thing...this writing "as assigned". I haven't had to do that since I finished my degree years ago. All of the writing I have done since then have been topics of my own choosing. Typically I write about things going on in my life, what I am learning or have learned, or what God places on my heart. It is a different thing all together to write about something someone else dictates. I had forgotten the element of challenge that introduces. Nevertheless, I enjoy it. Writing is a challenge to me, a good one. It gets me excited to have a concept or idea and to pull it out of the mind and assign words to it in order to have someone else understand it in the way it is meant. I like trying to create a picture or an idea or a concept in others minds through words. It is challenging. It is truly a craft and one that I love working at. But God is having to help me a lot with "assigned writing". I think I learn more through assigned writing and the research and study that goes into it, than what others may actually get out of reading it. Not that I will ever know that for sure, but I do know I have learned a lot from the projects I have been assigned so far.

Thank you God for the blessing of writing. It is therapeutic and yet challenging for me; a true joy. I may never do it "professionally", but in whatever form it takes in my life...I thank you for it. And I thank you for writing to me as well. Your Word is one of my greatest inspirations. So much love, wisdom, hope, and fire reside within Your words. I love to read them.

Thank you for the blessing of the written word.

Strings Attached

I've got no strings to hold me down, to make me laugh or make me frown....I had strings but now you see, there are no strings on me!

Pinocchio sang that cute little song when we was freed of his strings by the blue fairy.

Today however, I cannot sing that song. Wednesday night I had a bit of an accident and managed to cut my elbow open down to the bone. Woo hoo, I got to go and get stitched up etc... NOT FUN. After a good 24 hours of being bandaged up, I let the wound get some air. However my daughter got to noticing that the bandages were off and quite to her horror she seemed desperate to inform me that I had strings (stitches)!! With a rather disgusted face she said, "Mommy you got strings! You got strings! I no like it!" Yeah, well me either!! But it did make me laugh a bit and reminded me of Pinocchio's little song that I will be be unable to sing for the next couple of weeks.

So, today take a moment to thank God for your elbows. I cannot bend mine, so that I don't rip the stitches. I had NO idea just how limited that can make a person (washing hair, makeup, getting dressed, etc... GRRR. "I no like it!")

My insight for the day: Life requires elbows.

Have a great weekend.

Extension

I got a mini-extension on my writing project. (HUGE sigh of relief!!) Thank you God for creating some wiggle-room for me and for allowing me to work with such amazing and gracious people. WHEW!

I've got until Friday to submit this project. Good news is, I actually do have a little bit written at this point. 40% complete to be exact. I have today and tomorrow to finish, considering I will be spending all of Thursday at the state fair. (Woo hoo!)

Again thank you God. You are SO good to me.

Anxiousness

I am unable to find the words needed to write. I am at a loss for something to write here and it is even worse for my latest writing project. It is due on Wednesday and I don't have a single word written. My life and my brain have been filled with other responsibilities and happenings, both wonderful and not-so-wonderful.

My head feels clogged. My brain feels encumbered with so many other things than this project. I pray God helps me pull it all together. It is a challenging project coupled with an already over-full schedule and a mind that is overloaded right now. I trust Him and know that He's always helped me before when I find myself in a crunch. I pray He is right there with me over the next few days and that the words will flood my mind and fill the pages with what He wants to say...

But for now there are no words and I am feeling anxious about it. Pray that I release my anxious heart to Him, KNOWING He will provide.

(Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. - Philippians 4:6)

Clothes that Heal? Or...

Mark 5:28 "If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made whole."

This woman understood. This woman believed. She knew that if only she could get low enough, reach in far enough, and merely even brush against the hem of His garment with her hand that she would be healed. PROFOUND illustration! Crowds were pressing in on Jesus. Some called it a mob of people. Yet this woman touched the very hem of His clothes and was immediately healed and He immediately KNEW He had been touched. Imagine being in a crowded place, people pressing in on you from all sides, bumping into you, knocking you off center. For you to notice at all that someone in particular touched your clothing is amusing. They are all touching you, they are all bumping into you and into each other. It is a crowd, a mob of people. But Jesus knew immediately that this woman had reached out in faith and received healing. He FELT it.

It is a pattern with Jesus--telling people that it is their FAITH that has healed them. He didn't go to her. He didn't take the initiative to place His hands on her in a purposeful act to heal her. She came to Him. She believed. She was CERTAIN. If only she could touch just the HEM of just what He was wearing, she just KNEW she could be healed (or made whole). THAT is faith, illustrated in crystal clarity. It was what SHE did, what SHE believed, the effort SHE made to get to Him that PROVED her faith in who and what He was and the POWER He had even in the mere hem of His garment to change her life FOREVER. She had been battling with an ailment for 12 long years! She was desperate. She knew NOTHING else had worked and she sought Him out. She wasn't proud. She didn't care what on earth she had to do. She just knew she had to touch Him or even just something He was wearing to receive FULL healing and to be made WHOLE. With a mob of people around Him, what she needed to do was not an easy task. In fact, to get to the hem where did she have to be? LOW. On the ground. On her knees in the dirt, a dangerous place to be in a mob. She was probably getting stepped on and certainly bumped around. Her arms had to be searching, stretching, straining, reaching hard in toward Him. This was someone who didn't care how lowly, how "in the way", or dirty and dusty she had to become to get to Him. She knew she needed Him and nothing else mattered. That is FAITH. It couldn't be more clear. It couldn't be illustrated any better.

What are you battling with? How long have you been battling with it? What all else have you tried? Your own strength, your own will-power? Prayer, even? Reading scripture? More prayer? Books? Counseling? Sermons? Tried "everything"? How about getting low? How about about reaching out your arms so hard and so far that it hurts? How about knowing in your heart that nothing you can do on your own will work? How about getting your knees filthy? How about subjecting yourself to the lowest place, just to barely skim the hem of His garment with your hands? How about knowing that He is the only one who can heal what is hurting you? How about believing that He will? How about real FAITH? What if you took it all to Him? What if you surrendered all control? If you have EVER reached out to Him in true faith, faith like the woman in this story, and if you've ever touched even just His hem, you will NEVER be the same. There is earth shaking, unfathomable power in just His hem! But belief and faith is required, otherwise it is just fabric (or just empty words in a prayer). He knows when He has encountered great faith. It changes everything. If your heart, if your struggles, if your battles haven't changed GREATLY--look to this woman for your lead. She is the illustration of what FAITH really looks like. It is not just her outward actions, it is what she knew in her heart about His power.

Today, we cannot physically touch His garment. But when He ascended back into heaven, leaving this earth, He did not leave us alone. We have the Holy Spirit. Equal. One third of the trinity. Not the red-headed step child of the trinity. An equal. Equal in all ways with God and Christ. Yet, we don't truly call upon the Spirit and utilize that power through our faith and belief as we could...and SHOULD. The Spirit's whole purpose here is to help us, guide us, guard us, etc.... It is just as powerful as having Christ Himself here with His garment within our reach. But our trust, belief and FAITH have to be real. Like the woman above. We have the same LIFE CHANGING, ETERNITY-SHAKING POWER available to us, as she did.

What are you doing to touch it?

WHOA!

Woo hoo! I got another writing assignment. Whew! I was so hoping to get to do this again. It was AWESOME the first time. I absolutely loved it.

This one should prove to be even more challenging than the first. A section of material I have been assigned hits very close to home for me (divorce). That is part of the reason that it is being assigned to me, or so I am told. It is road that I traveled (painfully and unwisely) and yet learned SO much from and grew closer to God because of. Sometimes things that are that personal and that close to home are even more challenging to relate to an unknown audience. I can see that not only will I be sharing with others, but I know I will gain a lot too from the preparation, as always. God deals with me in such ways. ;)

There are other difficult topics to deal with in this assignment beyond just divorce. Anger, lust, etc... Eeeek. MAN! Who doled out this project and assigned who got what section to write? Sigh, I bet God had a big hand in that, and I am desperately going to need Him to help me deal with these subjects biblically and insightfully based on the scriptures covered therein. I am excited but truly nervous to tackle some of these topics. Am I the right person for this??

Take a deep breath Carlotta, let God lead you where He wants you to go with this. He has a plan here.

(Please pray for me.)

Jealous?

MY God jealous? Uh, yeah, He is. Seemingly with good cause. "I thought jealousy was a sin." God cannot sin. Being jealous of what others have/coveting others things is a sin. God is not jealous of anything we have. He does not want our things. Pretty obvious, huh? But what He is jealous of are the things (or people) in our lives that mean more to us than He does. Don't think we fool Him by our pledges of love and devotion to Him. The things (or people) we are enamored with above Him are displayed to Him by our actions, not our words. They are evidenced by our thought-life. He created us for a relationship with Him first and foremost. Do you have things in your life that He might be jealous of? A hobby, a job, a romance, a spouse, a child? Pursuit of marriage? A better body? Intense pursuit of anything we want more than Him is glaringly obvious to Him (and to others), sometimes when we don't even see it ourselves. We can say He is MOST important in our lives, but many times our thoughts and actions PROVE otherwise. What or who are you pursuing more than Him? Where is your mind most often directed? Many times we don't see it if we don't take time to be honest and evaluate. Surely I am not the only one who can clearly see the things He'd be jealous of in my life.

Have you ever been in a relationship with someone who had that one thing (or more than one thing) that you felt received more of that person than you did? More of their time, more of their thoughts, more of their attention??? At some point or another, we've all felt that way. I know how deeply it hurts and I do not want God to feel that way. I have a laundry list of what I have pursued more passionately than Him. I am ashamed to admit that, but honest enough to state it as fact. Those pursuits have failed. On occasion He allowed me to have the things that I recklessly pursued, but they eventually consumed me. They did not fill me up the way I envisioned, many times they hurt me deeply because they consumed me then left me empty. Other times, the pursued things or people were simply removed from my life one way or another so that I was no longer ABLE to place that thing above Him. That's been heartbreaking too, and yet, it brings me back to Him, my true focus.

Until we place God in the proper place--above ALL else, our other pursuits will never yield the harvests we chase so feverishly. They will be hollow or leave us hollow over time, or they will be removed from our lives altogether. He will not accept second place. And He shouldn't. I am learning everyday to chase after Him first and foremost. All of the other things I desire will be added to me if He chooses, not if I pursue them at His expense. He alone blesses me with things that I desire, once we truly understand that, how can we keep from pursuing Him with more passion and desire than all other things? He is the creator and generator of all those other things. He will bless us as we need and as He sees is best for us. I am learning to trust in Him and to pursue Him above all else. I am finding that there is great peace in that. I love others deeply, some so deeply I can barely contain it or understand it. However, those people and things: whether they are a professional pursuit, my kiddo, or the "love of my life", whatever/whoever it is--takes second place to God.

Life is always a series of new pursuits, challenges, experiences, and people, but GOD is the one thing that never changes. He is the foundation on which all others are balanced. Without Him first, providing the essential foundation, the rest is a crazy, shaky balancing act that eventually will crash to the ground in a million pieces. Yet many of us have been there: completely shattered by life. But by placing God as the primary passion and primary pursuit in our lives, we can then begin to experience the rock-solid foundation we all desire and the ability to balance all of our secondary passions and pursuits because of His proper placement in our lives. It really is a pretty cool thing.

Thank you God for always finding a way to pull me back to You. Thank you for the people in my life that I love so deeply that I can barely contain it, and yet have on occasion given You reason to be jealous of them. May I never place them above You again. In submission I place them under Your care and control in my life and I am thankful for them as they are treasured blessings in my life. Thank you for the passions in my life professionally and personally. May I never place one of them above You either. They are blessings, but they have their place too. May I never treat You as a backup to any other passion or pursuit, may You always be my most sought after treasure! It is so easy in this life to get caught up in things other than You, even in things related to You: ministry etc. Guard my heart and my mind and help me to keep focused on You while still being a part of this temporary life and the people in it with me. It is a delicate balance that I cannot keep without You. Hold me steady as I do my best to balance it all well. I hope to honor You with all that I do.

The Power of Prayer

Pain --> Change

We change when the pain of not changing is greater than the fear of actually changing.

Have you ever been an enabler? I bet you have. I certainly have. Sometimes we don't recognize that we are enabling others. Sometimes we don't recognize that others are enabling us. But it happens all the time to all kinds of people. When we see a need for change within ourselves or others, usually that change will not take place until it becomes too painful for us or for them to live unchanged. Yet, sometimes we insulate others (or others insulate us) so much so, that change doesn't occur because the pain is being suppressed and is not experienced in full. This is what enabling means. And it is WRONG. But boy how we justify it. We don't want the other person to feel pain. We want to protect the other person from discomfort. We go overboard by sugar-coating everything. There are so many "good" reasons we have for enabling others. But if we truly care about someone, we have to let them experience the pain and/or discomfort that is needed to create the much needed change. If that which remains unchanged is damaging to that person or to others, change is needed.

I have used this line and have heard it used many times by others, "This is just the way I am." I have even had people blame the way they are on God saying, "God made me the way I am," I suppose that implies no need for change. I don't buy that anymore than the lines I have used. I will reiterate my thought, if something about us causes damage to ourselves or others, change is needed. Excuses are abundant when we need them. But change is healthy and it is necessary for all of us.

I am reading a couple of books focusing on similar topics of truth, change, boundaries, healthy confrontation, and the like... And in one of them I saw that quote above and it made me laugh because of how many times I've used it on others, yet in the same breath, I was enabling them to NOT change. Dealing with others in truth with love, often times means withdrawing the insulation of enabling them. Initially, this can mean some pain and discomfort for all involved, but that is the pain that promotes growth and change. The times I have grown significantly typically followed at period of discomfort and pain. Many times these things occurred when others stopped enabling me and my actions/behaviors.

Communicating with grace and love is key. One without the other can be problematic. Communicating with all grace and no truth, enables. Communicating with all truth and no grace is very damaging. I am reading about learning very key concepts on how to do both. I tend to lean more to one of these concepts than the other and need to find the balance. I am working through that. My goal is to be able to have deep, honest, healthy relationships in all aspects of my life: as a parent, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a coworker etc... I am learning to implement wise boundaries that are biblically based. All of these themes co-mingle and in studying them I am learning so much. I can't wait to see how these principles improve my parenting, friendships, work life, and more!

I love learning. I am ready for some change!

I'm Back.

We are back up and running normally here at My Place!

Thanks BLOGGER folks.

Ahhhh technology....

This blog page is experiencing technical difficulties. Until further notice you can find me HERE. Thanks for your understanding.

Part II of Cross-Dressed Sin

Part II of my previous post.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly God works to open my eyes even wider when He puts something on my heart. I was reminded by Him yesterday during a devotional that the REAL issue when it comes to sin, is a condition of the heart (not that I didn't already know that...)It doesn't matter how many boundaries we put into place if we keep crossing them. I have boundaries that I just continue to cross in certain areas of my life. Some of my sins are not from lack of boundaries. The boundaries are there. I just simply cross them. (Am I the only one?) This is an issue of the heart. Being prepared, watchful, with boundaries in place will not keep us from sin, if the issue lies within the heart.

We cannot simply blame Satan for everything either. None of us can. While he is all about our destruction, we alone are responsible for ourselves. When we sin, sadly it is because it is in our human nature to do so. In certain areas of my life, I need to fervently call on God for a change in my own heart. It is a heart problem. One more boundary won't solve the real problem. Granted, boundaries have their place, they help us while God is working in our hearts. But placing more boundaries up without calling on the Lord to change our hearts is futile/foolish. I KNOW this full well.

So yes, we need be ever watchful of sins disguised by Satan. We need to place boundaries where they are needed and be mentally prepared for the battle. But MOSTLY we need to repent and call upon God to work on our hearts. This is where the deepest issues reside.

Cross-Dressed Sin

We all have fallen into Satan's snares. His pleasure comes from our pain. But all of God's instructions in the Bible are protective. For example, God hates divorce. Satan loves it. What is the common denominator? Pain. Satan wants us pain-filled. God wants to protect us. God doesn't want us sleeping-around. Why? Here comes the pain concept again: Disease. Unplanned pregnancies. Broken hearts. Degradation. And more... God doesn't want us to lie. Why? It brings about pain in a myriad of ways...sooner or later. Worry (yes it is a sin) brings pain and discomfort in ways you may not even be able to recognize in your own life. Worry is a rampant sin, bringing undue pain to millions daily. I could write volumes about the things God tells us to avoid, why they bring us pain, and I could illustrate that pain is a KEY factor in why God tells us to not do these things.

A friend of mine and I were talking about this concept yesterday. It seems simple. By not being obedient to God, we invite pain into our lives with wide open arms. In contrast, when we are obedient to God, the pain levels drastically decrease and the joy levels skyrocket. This is not quantum physics. It is simple. Yet, we all struggle with sin. Even if we've lost a few brain cells over the years, the concept is still quite elementary. SIN=PAIN.

Satan is at the center of the dilemma. He dresses sin up and tries to deceive us by its appearance, hoping we won't recognize it in its disguise. Here is an example: For some, he re-packages sex to look like love. Those desperate for love are most susceptible to this deception. He cross-dresses adultery and makes it look like relief (from a miserable marriage). He dresses up alcohol or drugs as an escape from real-life or an enhancement to a good time. He takes anything dangerous to us and dresses it up like something else. He knows that its real purpose is not what the advertising suggests. The results are all the same--pain. It doesn't matter what the scenario is, sin (in any of its forms) brings pain. Sometimes the pain is not immediate, sometimes it is. Either way, the pain WILL come.

We know that Satan uses what we most desire to lure us into sin. That's where we have to be discerning. We need to look more closely at the things that come into our lives appearing to be what we desire. We must be proactive and look under the packaging to see if it is the real deal or Satan's repackaged sin. To be most successful in this process, we must be acutely aware of what areas in our lives are most susceptible. We can lazily take a quick moment and mentally list our problem areas. Or we can write them down and daily review what events, conversations, thoughts etc...need to be monitored more closely. If we feel that we are coming close to one of Satan's cross-dressed sins, we can take appropriate measures and/or put appropriate boundaries into place before we blindly embrace it.

There is enough unavoidable pain in this life. We don't want to be inviting more into our lives by falling victim to those nasty cross-dressed sins.

Art Appreciation

Read Psalm 139: 1-16

Who are you? Sounds like such a simple question. Most people spend their entire life struggling to figure out who they really are. As a follower of Christ you don’t have to wonder. You only need to go to the source—God. He knows not only who you are but who He designed you to be. You do not need to search in your place of work, in your family, in your significant other; in your wardrobe, or anywhere else. The world can cloud your vision. Your view can be warped. But God sees you in crystal clarity.

If you stand at a wall, facing an abstract painting, trying to understand it, who would you ask to help you understand? Would you ask the person who purchased it? The person who framed it? How about an art expert? Museum curator? Each of those individuals would certainly have insight, but the best possible person to ask would be the artist. It seems so obvious.

God knows who you are and sees you accurately because He is the artist. He is the creator. When you are questioning the artwork in yourself, go to the source. He is the ONLY one who really knows, that is why it is so important to seek the answers from Him.

Many outside sources try to dish out our identities. They try to tell us who we are, what we have or don’t have, and what we could be if only we would buy this or change that. But only the creator of the art truly knows the creation. When you are questioning...go to the creator of the artwork. Go to God. Stop no where else on the way.

What sources in your life try to define you or tell you who you are? Do they line up with what God says about you?

Who Determines Your Value?

We sometimes tie our value as a person with acceptance or approval that we receive from others. Sadly, often times, the world bases it’s acceptance and approval on performance, appearance, status, and other worldly things. This can lead to a very skewed self-concept. We wonder if our value will remain if we fall short in any way. If we base our value on other’s opinions and conditions, we will damage the way we see our own value when we fall short (and eventually, we will fall short). This keeps many of us on an emotional roller-coaster throughout our lives.

However, your value is constant. It is unchanging. It is set eternally. It was determined by the God of the universe. It is divine. It was proven when God sent His Son to die on the cross. He loved you so much that He couldn’t bear the idea of eternity without you. He made the ultimate sacrifice to be with you. This is the greatest love story. Yet this depth of love is hard to fathom. He knows you in the tiniest of detail. He knows all of your thoughts and actions. He knows all of your ways (Psalm 139:3). He sees what no one else sees. And yet, He loves you beyond all reason. His love is never based on any of the peripherals of this world. He loves you simply because you are His precious child and He’d do ANYTHING to show you His love. So He did. That is where your worth and your value were determined: on the cross. Once and for all, you have been deemed WORTHY. No outside factor can penetrate or change your value and worth to Him.

In what areas of life do you see yourself as lacking? Are your self-expectations based on the world’s standards or God’s? What steps can you take to realign your value with God’s viewpoint?

Watering Camels Changed Everything

Genesis chapter 24 tells the story of Rebekah. In it, Abraham’s servant was sent to find a wife for his son Isaac. When the servant finally reached Haran, a journey of approximately 400 miles, he stopped at a well prayed:

“Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’---let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown your kindness to my master.” Gen 24:14

Before the servant had finished his prayer, Rebekah approached the well. She offered him water from her pitcher and also offered to water his camels. Camels that had completed such a journey could drink up to 20 or 30 gallons of water. Yet she made the offer and completed the task, which was quite an undertaking. The servant was then convinced that this woman was the answer to his prayer.

Rebekah trusted in God and went with the servant and became Isaac’s wife. They loved one another deeply. She found her role in God’s plan. This didn’t happen because of some center-stage gift or talent. She served water to camels. Who would have thought that such a lowly and laborious task would lead Rebekah to becoming the mother of Jacob? The Hebrew nation is spoken of as “the sons of Jacob” and the “children of Israel”. She became the mother of Jacob because of her lowly service many years before.

Do you ever feel that you don’t play a very significant role? Do you ever feel your skills or gifts are not special, or are perhaps even ordinary? Take heart, God can use everything we do in His service in divine ways. Whether you are singing praises on stage or sweeping the floors, God will bless your efforts. You may never know what impact your servant heart and actions may have; trust that God uses them in divine ways. A girl simply watering camels birthed a nation. Imagine what He can do through you if you are willing.

Today, ask God to bless what you do throughout your day, no matter how small it may seem to you. Trust that He can use any act of service to have a divine impact.

Intercessory Prayer

What is my request? Do I ask God to do what I want? Or do I ask for His will to be done? What is my request when someone asks for prayer for a sick loved one? Do I ask God to make them well? What if it is God's will for that person to go home to be with Him? Intercessory prayer is a concept with which I struggle at times. Above all, I want God's will to be done. What would be the point of asking for anything else? Perhaps more good could come from a battle with a person's health than if He simply healed them at the moment we asked? Only He knows and sees the divine possibilities.

I've prayed many intercessory prayers. Intercessory prayer is biblical. If it is important to others and I am asked to pray, I will pray. However, at the end of any intercessory prayer I will ask above all else that God's will be done.

I know God's mind can be changed. It happened in the Bible. It did. For that reason, I ask for many things that I am not certain if God wants or doesn't. Yet, in the end, I submit it all to God's will. That example came directly from Jesus. He asked the Heavenly Father not to have to endure the cross, but ultimately that God's will be done. I follow that model. I struggle with it sometimes. Struggling is not a problem; it is OK. Despite the occasional struggle with my own understanding, I follow my model: Christ.

"Therefore faith prays in such a manner that it commits everything to the gracious will of God; it lets [God] determine whether it is conducive to his honor and to our benefit." (Martin Luther, in a sermon on Matt. 8:1-13.)

Update...lacking.

At this point I haven't written a single word on my project. I am slammed with other tasks. HOWEVER, I am mentally doing prep-work on my writing assignment as I commute to and from the office. I have also worked on nailing down key scriptures to use foundationally. I suppose I will work on the actual writing this weekend, away from the office. I can't put it off for too long because my deadline is 14th. I love the content and topic of the assignment, so it should be fun as well as fulfilling. I am really looking forward to completing this project. I've really enjoyed it, even in just the fledgling stage of mental outlining.

I could get used to this! :)

Spiritual Gluttony?

"Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest." John 4:35

Are you harvest-minded? Or are you focused on YOU? Do you understand why you are really here? Or are you just trying to get through your day? Are you looking for moments to reap? Or are you thinking about what you are going to have for lunch? As you go through the day are your thoughts primarily focused on yourself, YOUR wants, YOUR needs, YOUR schedule, YOUR family, YOUR significant other? How broad does your mind/heart really wander? Or does it simply swirl in a tight circle around yourself?

Jesus' focus was on the harvest/others. In the context surrounding the scripture above, the disciples were focused on their own needs. Most of us are like the disciples. We focus on ourselves instead of the reason we are truly here! We get lost in the peripherals of this life. It frustrated Jesus back then. I imagine that it still does now.

Are you a consumer or contributor? In the life of your church? In the lives of others in this world? Are you harvesting or are you just wondering when dinner will be served and if it will taste good to you? When I see Christians get most complacent and discontented with the local church is when they disconnect and become consumers as opposed to contributors. Does that sound harsh? We tend to neglect the eternal and focus on the details of this life. Ackkk. Drives me crazy. We need to get off of our butts and make an impact, stir things up, step up, serve others! Don't expect your spiritual nourishment to only come from the pulpit or stage from your pastor or minister. Take that on yourself. Be proactive. Not every sermon or lesson will feed YOU. Get over it and know that it is feeding someone...who probably needs it more than you. Crack open your Bible and devotionals ON YOUR OWN. Take responsibility for your own spiritual growth and feeding. It is not solely in the hands of pastors/preachers/bible school teachers. And so much of it happens when we serve others and get outside of ourselves!

Are you looking for ways to impact and contribute or are you a sideline commentator focusing on what YOU aren't getting? You will remain discontented. You will. We have to learn to get outside of ourselves. That is what we are called to. Harvesting. Sowing seeds, Reaping. Not binging at the spiritual dinner buffet wanting more and more as it slides down the side of our mouth and drops onto the floor. (YUCK!)

The fields are ripe for harvest. Do you see it? Are you harvesting or are you complaining about those who are? If so, get involved to impact where you see change needs to be made. Encourage and inspire others around you. Pray for your leaders and pastors instead of complaining about them. Spur others on in His service. See beyond yourself. The time for harvesting is here. The fields are ripe. Get in there and impact others. Don't wait for your church, your pastor, or whoever to light your fire. Step up, get involved, reach out beyond your seat in church. Focus on someone else. Focus on the mission--the harvest. Stop looking inward and start investing outward. The fields are ripe for harvest. Get out there and impact someone else!! Stop trying to gorge yourself at the table becoming discontented with each and every meal and start finding others to bring to the table who are spiritually starving. That's were true satisfaction and fulfillment will be found. Not in one more sideline complaint from another gorger about a lesson/sermon/series that didn't quite hit home for them. Pa-leeeease. Get out of your seat and DO SOMETHING. Go from glutton to giver.

Passion

Can you imagine what it would be like to be paid to do something you love? I don't mean something that you generally enjoy or something you aren't necessarily opposed to doing, but something you LOVE to do! What if your job was to do something you are wildly passionate about?! How great would that be?! When I was young I wanted there to be a "job" that would allow me to play with animals and get paid for it. No such job exists. As a veterinarian, you see animals that are hurt, sick, and some have to be euthanized. Not much fun. As a dog walker you have to leash up the dogs, go outside, even if it is hot/rainy/whatever and you actually have to walk the dogs. I couldn't find anyone who just wanted someone to come and play with animals. At the very least no one was willing to pay for it. At a young age I became jaded about "jobs". They were things you had to do in order to get your bills paid. Does anyone truly love doing what they do for a living? Could I ever have that?

I have had jobs that I enjoyed...for the most part. I have had jobs that I couldn't stand, but did them anyway because I needed the money. I have never been paid to do something that I LOVE doing. NEVER. I really like my job now. A LOT. I like the people I work with very much. I like the environment. I like the purpose of it. But I don't LOVE it. I don't love generating reports. I don't love organizing events. I don't love the computer work and paper work details. I like my job very much, but I do not love it. It is all about passion! I am wired with certain passions. We all are. I've not yet been paid to do something I am wildly passionate about. I know I am where I am today, career-wise for a reason. I have no doubt about that. I am waiting on God's perfect timing for the passion to be ignited in my current position. I feel the winds of change. I wait upon the Lord.

Today starts a whole new adventure. I get to do something that I LOVE, and get paid for it. I get to write. Where I work, there is a never-ending need for writing. MY kind of writing. Spiritual writing. I have been asked to contribute and write! I got my first assignment today and I am completely STOKED! It may not seem like a big deal to you, maybe it does. I don't know. But for me...it is HUGE! I am so excited. I feel like a kid in a candy store.

I pray God speaks in the words that I will write. I pray that I don't get in His way. I am so thrilled to be able to use one of my passions in my job. THRILLED. Thanks for letting me share my excitement with you guys. Now, on to the project! I've got a deadline. :)