Vision

"Vision Leaks"

Andy Stanley, a well-known Pastor and author has made this statement famous.  You may see this as meaning your vision can leak onto those around you.  Which can be true at some level.  But what Stanley speaks about is that vision leaks out or seeps out and is lost.  Vision does not stick permanently and therefore must be cast consistently and compellingly.  

But why? Here is one of his answers:

"You know what else is tough on vision? Life. Every single day of my life works against the vision. Vision is about what could be and should be; life is about 

right-this-minute. Life is about the kids and the laundry and the doctor and the house payment.  No wonder vision leaks. Monday comes along and rips it off the wall. The urgent and legitimate needs of today can cause us to lose our vision."

As leader and therefore vision carrier of our Children's Ministry I want to remind you that what you do is extremely important with eternal impact.  I truly believe we have one of the best teams and love seeing the immense difference in the children in our community.  You are faithful, gifted and just all around incredible!  But it is all too easy to lose some of that fire and begin to simply run through the motions.  You must not only let your vision leak but be intentional about growing it.  Not only must we continually keep God's plan before us, we have to be able to passionately communicate to others. 

It is natural for most people to talk about what excites them.  Whether that be your latest decorating project, a favorite new restaurant, an addicting new TV show or getting the steal of century on your new outfit- women talk.  We love to talk about what is going on in our lives.  I am a self-proclaimed bargain shopper.  As a momma on a budget and someone who just enjoys getting a good deal, I love finding steals.  Upon getting complimented on an outfit I often share my delight in the deal I got hoping to encourage women that you don't always have to shop extravagantly.  I mean what is better than sporting a great Calvin Klein dress you picked up at Goodwill for just a few bucks?!?!

I digress.  My point is our passion will come out.  How often does your passion for Children's ministry come out?  In Chapter 6, Sue Miller engages us in her process of growth in this area as she learned to "get wild" about recruiting.  She understands and explains that is must first start with us- the passion, vision and excitement.  If we have this, we should not waiver in faith nor confidence in recruiting others.  We are not asking too much of them and they are not doing us a favor.  We are asking them to join with us to create a ministry of life transformation and better yet it is little lives with little hearts and huge potential!  I am not sure there are too many things more exciting than that.

Our New Book

Our journey of transformation continues as summer rapidly approaches.  This month we are going to be reading "Making Your Children's Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid's Week" by Sue Miller with David Staal.  There are many great books on Children's Ministry.  Thankfully many people have successfully pioneered this incredibly important area of ministry.  But I have to say this book is one of my absolute favorites.  The story and writing is so relatable because it comes from a woman who has lead a wildly successful children's ministry for 13 years and she has done it with incredible and contagious vision and faith.  Her journey has been a great one, beginning with her call to serve the church in this arena as it was never something she thought she would be doing- sound familiar to anyone?  I would encourage you to read the first 2 chapters as you gain insight into her journey.  But don't skip the forward or introduction because they are great.  Starting next Tuesday we will be going through a couple chapters a week.  


Tuesday the 15th- Chapters 3-4
Tuesday the 22nd- Chapters 5-6
Tuesday the 29th- Chapters 7, 8 & 9

Tick Tock

Time- something that we are consumed by.  Thoughts of it fill our mind and talk of it flows endlessly from our mouths. 


I wish I had more time to...
What time do I have to be at....?
How long will it take me to....?
Is it bedtime yet?
There's just not enough time in the day!


We have all heard this before but we all need to hear it again: We all make time for what we really want.  What I love about Chapter 12 is the perspective Dr Stephens writes from.  I think women can often feel guilted into stuffing their days too full as they compare themselves to others.  But our driving force for how we spend our time should not be based on what we feel we should be doing, or even what we want to be doing.  Our days should revolve around what God is calling us to do.


Dr. Stephens writes, "When people think of the term stewardship, it is automatically money.  You, Son, will one day give an account to God for how you spent all the time He gave you.  This is much bigger than money." (page 137)  Just as stewardship of money involves all your money, not just what you give; so it is with time, we cannot simply "give" God a little time during the week at church, small groups, etc... and think that what the rest is ours to spend as we please.  You see, God has placed vision, dreams, convictions and callings in all of us.  And all of these require TIME.  


We learn to guard our minds, our hearts and our tongues.  But we must not forget to guard our time as well.  Want to know if you are good about guarding your time?  Look at your calendar and see if it clearly shows your priorities.  Our time is so easily filled by the urgent needs that what is truly important falls to the wayside.  So what do you do if you feel you don't have enough time or if you calendar does not reflect your priorities?


1.  Do not believe the lies you are continually told about time.  Pray about gaining God's perspective of time.  Just like money, His view is quite different than what our world would tell us.

• For starters, your time is not your own if you have surrendered your life to God.  
• You DO have enough time in the day to do all you need to.  But this means knowing what to say no to.  
• One that may be painful- you are not busier than everyone else.  I think we have all had those days, weeks or even seasons where we felt like we were going non-stop.  It is very easy in the middle of this to begin to be isolated by feeling like we are busier than those around us.  We may falsely believe that nobody understands how busy we are.
• Busyness does not equal productivity.  You may be very busy but you may be too busy and therefore wearing yourself out.  Or you may be busy with things that are not what you are truly called to be doing.

2.  Hold everything in your life with an open hand.  What do I mean?  Everything is God's including our time and our activities.  Spend time praying about your weeks. What is taking up your time that is not beneficial?  Are there things that God is calling you to say no to?  What do you need to make time for?


3.  Ask for wisdom from others.  Having another set up of eyes on your calendar can only help you!  First, if you are married you should be spending many conversations with your spouse about your time and how it is spent.  Seek wisdom from other women, especially those who have gone through a similar season as you.  You need someone to push you to fulfill what you are capable of but also protect your time.


4.  Find a routine!  Routine helps free up more time and build margin in keeping you organized.  Creating a routine allows you to start with your priorities keep those at the forefront.  It is no secret that I am an avid organizer.  I organize and plan just about everything.  But I do this so that I have freedom and peace.  Staying organized allows a much greater level of capacity in your life.


I have touch on one more topic.  In being faithful to do what God has called you to, there is going to be a lot of your time that is spent doing very unglamorous things!  Please never confuse the mundane as unimportant.  Whether it is daily tasks at your job, cleaning your home or serving you family- be faithful because it is often these small things that add up to the greatest impact.    

Chapters 8-11

"Never let it leave your heart and mind that God is the source of all power and positive motivation." (page 94)


We've all had one of the those kinds of days.  You know, the day where you just don't feel like doing anything!  Maybe you just want to go to bed or wish you had a few hours to yourself.  This feeling makes every task you need to accomplish feel harder and more unpleasant.  And that is normal- we all find ourselves in the middle of bad days with no motivation.


Where you get in trouble is when one day leads to another and another and before long you are in a rut and weariness sets in.  And how do you dig yourself out?  Most people think a lot about motivation or try to talk themselves into being motivated thinking that tomorrow they will wake up and "feel" motivated.  The problem is that in and of ourselves we are not naturally motivated. We are naturally selfish.  We must be connected to God, have the ability to hear his voice and be in tune with His vision in order to maintain motivation to continue HIS mission.  This again reiterates the need for daily planning and execution of our spiritual disciplines.


This also speaks to the way we spend our time.  We must focus and protect our time spent not only on spiritual disciplines, but personal development and times of refreshing as well.  You need to learn what refreshes you.  But be careful not to be deceived that because you enjoy something or it seems to be relaxing that it truly is refreshing.  Honestly, there are many late evenings, after I get the last little one to bed that I simply want to fall on the couch, watch some HGTV or Food Network and not think about too much.  Now there is nothing wrong with relaxing and watching some TV.  However, just because I feel like doing it doesn't mean it's really what I need. For me personally, I am refreshed through reading, times of silence, dates with my husband, time investing in other women and special girl's nights out with my dear friends.  Now again, I am not saying to throw your TV out.  But do not be deceived that down time with your TV will refresh you and keep you motivated in life.


I haven't found many other authors that do such a great job in explaining the role of feelings in our life.  As women, one of the main struggles we will continually have to gain victory in is controlling how our feelings affect our lives.  Dr. Stephens writes the following on page 104: 


"Now feelings are a fantastic gift from God that enhance many life experiences.  Enjoy them.  But God never intends for you to depend on them, any more than you can trust the wind He created.  Feelings are as fickle as the wind.  And if you follow them like most people, you can easily spend your life chasing your tail.  You must put His will as the engine that pulls the train- the one in charge.  Hopefully, Son, you will always surrender your will to the Lord.  So your daily decisions, directions, and discernment are from your will, not how you feel at the moment.  Your feelings can be cool as long as they are the caboose of the train.  They follow.  They line up with your will."


Wow.  Read that again.


Our culture will tell you the opposite.  Every commercial caters to what you want or desire.  Culture will tell you to think about yourself and your needs- after all you deserve it.  All too often our work, our schedules, our clothing, our food, the way we care for our bodies and even our relationship with God all hinges on what we FEEL like.  This is a dangerous place to be and it takes a conscious effort to rely on God and his strength to live our days according to His will for our lives- not what we feel like.  


These are just a few of my thoughts on the many amazing principles in these four chapters.  What are yours?



*Topics discussed from "The Plan of Your Life" by Dr. Chris Stephens

Food, Family and Finances

Well this go around hits three chapters and three very important and vast subjects- family, health and finances!  If you have been around me long, you have probably had a conversation with me about all of these topics.  All three are not only important but absolutely VITAL areas of our lives. The irony is that for generations the Church as a whole seemed to shy away from addressing or these subjects.  At times they were even segregated from even being considered spiritual topics.  People were left to navigate these often tough topics on their own. 


If we have surrendered our lives to God, then EVERY area of our life is spiritual in nature and our decisions become spiritual decisions. Thankfully the Church now currently seems to consistently produced not only relationships, but teaching and resources to help people thrive in these areas.


Thankfully many of you are going through Stewardship so you are learning a great deal about a biblical view of finances.  I would encourage you to never stop growing in this area.


Your health may be an area you have not focused a great deal on.  Or health for you may be centered around how many calories you eat and what the scales says. I can be honest in saying that God has taken me on a journey with health and nutrition that I did not ask to go on.  But as I continue to walk and learn, it has ended being one of the most profound and incredible experiences.  I have grown spiritually in ways that I would have never dreamed of.  We will be going through a book later this year that addresses this topic at a much deeper level and I am excited to see all God does through it!


And last but certainly not least is the topic of marriage.  Dr. Stephens does a fabulous job addressing so many great qualities in a very condensed chapter.  He writes about six qualities that build solid families (Chapter 4, pages 57-65)


An unwavering commitment
Spend plenty of time together
An attitude of gratitude for each other
Constant and clear communication
The ability to triumph in tribulations
Spiritual health

I would strongly encourage to read through each six of these qualities and pray over which area(s) you need to focus on growing in.  Take time commit these to prayers, seek wisdom in areas you need help and make goals to succeed.

I have found that communication is an area that just about every marriage can grow in.  And understandably as a man and woman can have a conversation where they have such a hard time understanding each other that they might as well have been speaking different languages!  So one of my favorite quotes in the entire book is found on page 63.  Dr. Stephens writes, "Communication requires that we put our family members first.  In your communication, if you seek to understand before you seek to be understood, life will be much better."  So simple yet so profound!

*Topics discussed from "The Plan of Your Life" by Dr. Chris Stephens

Day by Day

"Great men aren't made in a day- they are made daily."

"The Plan of Your Life" by Dr. Chris Stephens (page 36)

We make plans, write to- do list, fill up calendars, and create 5 and 10 year plans.  Just take a walk down an aisle at Target and you can find countless calendars and planners for everything from kids chores to exercise.  Planning is not our downfall.  Neglecting to plan the most important things is what holds us back.


Each day I wake up with the choice as to how to use the day.  Will I simply be keeping up with a to-do list, longing for the quiet of the evening so I can escape in a book or fall into the couch to watch a tv show?  Will I be overwhelmed with all I have to do, but at the end of the day wonder what I really accomplished?  Sure there will be days like this, but as a whole I must choose to live a different way.  


If our spiritual life and personal relationship with God truly is the most important thing in life than our days and calendars should directly reflect that.  If we plan everything else, why don't we spend more time planning how to build our foundation in God?  Dr. Stephens so eloquently expresses our need to plan, schedule and quantify our spiritual disciplines.  On page 46 he lays out building blocks of a spiritual foundation. This is a great list of disciplines we should engage in to build our relationship, faith and much more.  He then goes on to lay out his "Personal Growth Plan" or spiritual goals for the year.  I would strongly encourage all of you to pray about this and create your own plan for this year.  I have my own list and will share that in a post soon.  


Another encouragement I have is to press into the disciplines that may not come as natural to you.  If memorization has always been difficult for you, then take time to commit this area in prayer and ask God to give you discipline and the ability to develop in this area.  For others, reading one book a month is a stretch- forget one a week!  But the time we live in allows us to have access to the insights of thousands of amazing Christian authors, current and centuries past.  Personally for me, I must push myself to seek solitude and simply be silent before God.  It does not come naturally or easy for me, but it is equally or possibly even more important than other spiritual disciplines.  There are some things that God desires to do in me that can only come from enjoying his presence in silence with no distraction.


The decisions you make each day will make a dramatic impact on the woman you are becoming.  Dr. Stephens says, "A couple of chapters of Bible reading might not seem like it's doing much for you.  But a daily regimen of it actually begins to change a person's thinking patterns and enlivens the spirit." (page 47)  Start small or continue a great plan you have, but most importantly don't give up.  If you plan anything, plan how you are going to grow in God!

The Plan for April

As hard as it is to believe, we are already more than a week into April!  We are going to be going through "The Plan of Your Life" by Dr. Chris Stephens this month.  It is an incredible book chalked full of practical wisdom.  Before I even finished it I knew it was going on my list of favorite books.  I will be blogging each Tuesday about several chapters.  This schedule should help you be able to stay up and engage in conversation about the topics.

Tuesday the 10th- Introduction, Chapters 1-3 
(Read the intro or you might be lost!)
Tuesday the 17th- Chapters 4-7
Tuesday the 24th- Chapters 8-11
Tuesday the 1st- Chapters 12-15

Make sure to sign up to follow-up by email and then you will be reminded of a new blog post by email.

Noise

Several months back Eddie was out of town and I found myself falling into bed way too late after trying to finish up some projects.  I was absolutely exhausted and couldn't help but smile as I crawled into my comfy bed.  I was quickly being lulled to sleep by the sound of our fan when silence and complete darkness overcame the room. 

It took me a few moments to realize our area was experiencing a power outage.  I gladly stayed in bed, knowing it would probably come back on in a few minutes.  I closed my eyes, eager to get some sleep.  But the minutes passed and I could not fall asleep.  It was very dark and completely quite- presumably a great sleeping environment.  But this is not what I was used to.  Normally the darkness was weakened by street lights, clocks, etc..  And the quite, it was usually interrupted by our loud fan and running a/c.  I could not relax, instead all my senses seemed to be heightened. 

It was at that moment that God allowed me to learn a very important biblical principle.  He gently spoke to me that I was too used to noise.  I lived life with near constant distraction- even when I slept.  The "noise" of life dulled my senses- physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

I had all but lost my ability to truly be still. 

There are far too many things that crowd our days and in turn our minds- to do list that just keep growing; schedules that keep getting busier; music in our house, in our car, and on our phone; TV with hundreds of channels, Facebook, Pinterest, and much more!

So it should come as no surprise that I strongly resonated with chapter five.  Chan writes, "Our lack of intimacy often is due to our refusal to unplug and shut off communication from all others so we can be alone with Him." (page 109)  Stillness is a spiritual discipline that must be developed and exercised.  Do you take time each day to be completely still and quite before God? 

Chan wraps up this book with many incredible principles in chapters five and six.  His writing is quite challenging yet encouraging as God's love for us is at the center of it all.  I pray God used this book to grow and encourage you.  Take some time to process what you learned.

If you have not ordered your book for next month, please do so quickly so you can stay up with us.  The link to order is on the previous post.  I am very excited for April!

Chapters 3 & 4 + Our Next Book

Well we have been moving slowly through this first book as I was giving people time to order/buy there books.  But slow is good when the topic is as important as this one.  We will finish up this book with one last post this Friday.  I Would really like to hear more from each of you as to what impacted you in Chapters 3 & 4.  So please comment away!

With April only a week away, it is time for everyone to order our next book.  It is titled "The Plan of Your Life" by Dr. Chris Stephens and can ONLY be ordered through his website and cannot be bought in stores so please order yours as soon as possible so you can be ready for next week.

http://drchrisstephens.com/books/

Chapter Two

Have you ever known someone who's life and faith exuded what true surrender to God really was?  Were you amazed by them?  Did you wonder how they did it?  Did it even create a fear that maybe, just maybe, God would call you to be like them?  Chapter two of Forgotten God thoroughly addresses our fears of true surrender.  It is not that we think God is distant or not powerful enough.  At the root of it all is our selfishness.


If I don't see the results I want, do I see God as failing?
What if I surrender to God and he asks too much of me?
What will other people think of me?


Chan writes, "When it comes down to it, many of us do not really want to be led by the Holy Spirit.  Or, more fundamentally, many of us don't want to be led by anyone other than ourselves."  We become comfortable in our lives and fear what God would really ask of us if we truly held our lives with an open hand to God.  The funny thing is God is not nearly as concerned with what you do as who you are.  Sure God has plans for us and some of those plans may not line up with YOUR plan for life.  But His plans center around our hearts being molded into His image, surrendered to His pruning process that can be painful.  But if you trust, I mean really trust that God is good then there is nothing to fear.


I have heard people express their fear in saying, "What if God calls me to Africa?"  Well, if He does than I can assure you there is no other place you would rather be since His plan is good and perfect.  However, for most of us he is simply trying to strip us of our pride and selfishness so in our day to day lives here in Keller we see our days of errands, play dates and work in a whole new light.  God sees each day not as a to-do list, but as an all out rescue mission for those who are far from Him.  God may not be calling you to Africa but He very well may be calling you to talk to the Target employee, serve your neighbor who is going through a divorce or reach your co-worker.


What are your thoughts on Chapter Two?

Chapter One

I attended the same church from first grade until I graduated from college.  It was a very conservative church that taught me to love the bible and Sunday potlucks.  Church grandmas can put anything together in a casserole and make it taste good!

I went on to attend a conservative Christian university where I got my degree in Youth and Family Ministry.  While many others studied business or science, I studied people and scripture.  My senior year arrived and I had a whole plan laid out for my future.  

Little did I know what God had in store for me.

In December I went to a new church and that visit, my friends, would change my life forever.  I saw the vision of this church lining up with the longing in my heart for people to be reached and a life lived more passionately for God.  I began going to every class or training I could.  It was at this point that many beliefs I held began to be challenged.  My conservative roots had taught me very little about the Holy Spirit except to fear it.  

I was intrigued, confused and even prideful at the same time.  I had been a Christian for 14 years and was a few short months from having a degree in ministry.  How was it possible that my beliefs of God and scripture could be so wrong?  It was in that moment that I had a choice, to stand firm on what I believed for so long because that was what I had been taught or to choose to read the bible with a fresh set of eyes.

Armed with a new bible and a highlighter I set out to read, highlight and study every scripture in the New Testament about the Holy Spirit.  By the time I was through Acts my highlighter was about worn out and I was in complete awe of what God had done in my heart.  Page after colored up page was proof of God's plan for the Holy Spirit to be a much bigger part of my life than fit in the little box I put Him in.

Allowing myself to open my heart to truly learn to live by the Holy Spirit completely changed my life.  God had to get me to this point in order to prepare me for the life He had planned.  I could not possibly live the life I do without the power and strength of the Holy Spirit.  But learning to read the bible with new eyes- completely open to what God says- was even more life changing.  The truth is, I would have never been open to this without being in a safe and healthy spiritual community that I trusted.

The first chapter in this book truly is life changing.  Chan does an amazing job explaining the need to read God's word with new eyes.  This is absolutely essential in being able to learn God's true plan for our lives.  But why is this so important?  Because without plugging into the power of God's Counselor, how will our lives look vastly different than non-believers?  

Let's Get Started

And so our journey together begins!  For each of you, this journey looks different but it all begins the same- with faithfulness.  Your faithfulness to grow in your personal relationship and in wisdom through small disciplines.  


The first book we are going through is Forgotten God by Francis Chan.  I have waited to post so each of you had time to obtain the book.  Please read Chapters 1 & 2 this week.  Of course you can always read more- it is so good it is hard to put down!


Also, please comment when you read this posting so I know you are joining in.  You will find the (very small) comment link at the bottom of each post on the very right.

A Plan

There is something about a plan that has the ability to provoke many emotions- anticipation, excitement and maybe even hesitation.  As a momma that wears many hats, I have many plans.  Organizational plans, nutritional plans, and plans to vacation and relax!  Plans are important because they put feet to our our dreams and desires.  There are many good things to long for and dream about- but none greater than developing an ever-deepening relationship with God and daily being transformed into the person he created us to be.

My heart joyfully carries the vision to see the women on our team grow and flourish.  This vision was the starting point for a plan, a plan that will put you in a position to learn, develop, and be encouraged.  

So we will be reading 10 books over the next 10 months.  These books are all incredible resources and were carefully selected by Eddie and I to cover a broad range of spiritually development.  We will cover one book a month and I will blog about many important aspects of the books.  Then you will each be able to participate in your journey through the books via comments on the blog.  I will also be blogging intermittently on various topics that are on my heart.

The more you invest and put into your personal development, the more you will see out of it.  As you read, take time to really hear and understand how you can grow in that area.  Being able to participate in the blog will help you see how others are growing.  When you are finding unanswered questions, challenges or exciting breakthroughs- that is the time to process with the female leader you serve with.  This plan is not about checking off a list of books, it is about seeing transformed lives through seeking God and his will in our lives. 

Here is the list of books.  Many can be found in stores and almost all ordered off Amazon with the exception of April's book.  I will be posting the link to order it later in March.

March: Forgotten God by Francis Chan

April: The Plan of Your Life by Chris Stephens 

May: Making Your Children's Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kids' Week by Sue Miller & David Staal

June: The Four Seasons of Marriage by Gary Chapman 

July: Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

August: 7 Pillars of Health- Don Colbert
September: Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman

October: Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp

November: Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick

December: Bait of Satan by John Bever