grace.life.destiny.

Life is fast, furious, and full of well, stuff. Stuff to do, stuff not to do, stuff to think about, stuff to decide, stuff to avoid. Often times, we don’t know what to do about all that stuff. I know I don’t. When we don’t know what to do or the stuff is troublesome, worry ensues.

Worry according to Merriam-Webster is: to feel or experience concern or anxiety : fret. Sound familiar?

Are you on your way to becoming a champion worrier? I have a bold statement to make here: Worry is a sin. I write this, not to condemn, but to encourage you. If you’ve been able to remove other sin from your life with God’s help, can’t you trust Him with this one, too? He leaves the choice to us.

Beginning something new can be really difficult. It’s hard to lay down my pride and humble myself to learn something new. Sometimes I feel like I will never get out of this zone of discomfort. Always putting myself out there to do new things.

Guess what? If I want to walk in all God has for me, I will have to be comfortable with being out of my comfort zone. I have come to terms with the fact that I will always be growing, stretching, learning, reaching. I will always be challenged to learn something new, lead or start something I’ve never done before, go places and meet people I haven’t known before. How do I feel about that?

It’s not always easy or fun or enjoyable or desirable. But, that really doesn’t matter. What does matter is finishing my race, standing before My Father, and Him saying, “Well done, girl. Well done.”

A few of you will have noticed that I haven’t blogged lately for a couple of months. I started back here, but then… a couple of things happened and my ‘Beginnings’ were challenged. One, I decided to up the blogging learning curve and switch from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. Why? Oh, just looking for stuff to do in my free time sleep!

 Another detour was a draft I wrote of a blogging series that is of a personal nature. Somehow, both of these things began to cause me to avoid blogging. Not to mention Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 4 birthdays in my immediate family between the last Thursday in November and January 12. Or that we pastor a church, have a missions ministry, and homeschool our three daughters. And I teach one day a week at their homeschool academy! Ok, enough.

This is not meant to be a Look At All I Do With My Time post. I am just looking at how time got the best of me. Writing it out, making it plain to myself. I’m back on the wagon, friends. Taking it on, one challenge (or two, three, whatever it takes!) at a time…

What has been your best method(s) to push through change, beginnings, and new stuff?

Have you ever felt the call of God on your life? Of course you have…He has a plan for each and every one of us. Everyone. The best, the worst, the in-between…however we “categorize” people.  Does the plan of God feel big & bold & “undoable”? Does it seem like an unattainable, something-down-the-road kind of idea? Or is it for me today?

I do believe the plan is for today & every day! Here are 3 things we can do to move in that direction:

1. Allow His dreams into your life. Let the thoughts & dreams settle in, give them space. God’s plan may seem too big…just ask Abraham & Sarah, Moses, Joshua, David, Esther, Peter…you get the idea. The dream God places in your heart, the one(s) that keep repeating, the thing that you think about doing for Him-it’s not you! It’s His way of sharing His plan. Take that dream or idea and pray about it and over it.

2. Commit to that plan…you can like the idea of following God’s plan, of having a calling on your life. That will not cause the plan to come to pass. You have to desire that plan with every fiber of your being. If you kinda want the plan, you’ll kinda fullfil it. You have to commit to Him fully to commit to His plan.

3. Put one foot in front of the other… walking out what God has in store for you means taking a step in that direction~every day. It’s not an all-of-a-sudden-wow-how’d-that-happen kind of thing. Listening to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit in daily life, then the big “O“…obeying in the little things.

I wrote this Tuesday night, but something was missing, I put it on hold. Then, Wednesday night,  at The Harvest, Pastor Ken Jumper challenged us greatly with his message Follow Jesus: One Step at a Time. If you know it’s time, you’re ready to live out that call, this message will give you perspective. Why wait?

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Eph 4:1

The devil is an adversary to all who walk this earth. He reminds me of the boy who cried wolf. Only with him it goes on ad infinitum (and ad nauseam, I might add). He attempts to distract with all sorts of thoughts, worries, and LIES.

If the devil ever did manage to conjure up a real wolf, God is always right there with us. He provides protection, reveals the identity of the “wolf”, and reminds us about our adversary. If we’ll listen to God and not the noise, it will pay off for us. It is our destiny in Christ, to walk free from the lies that distract, but it’s also our choice.

…If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

What Truth has the Holy Spirit revealed to you recently? Or what revelation has He deepened or built upon?

Can we really make a difference with something as simple as a signature? A US based missions organization that does work in Haiti and around the world has created a petition in an effort to put pressure on the Hatian government through the media. The original petition urges CNN to expose abuse & trafficking at Son of God Orphanage in Carrefour, Haiti. There is a follow-up petition, as well, calling on the Haitian president to close the Son of God orphanage.

You can read posts by Seth Barnes beginning with Help stop Haitian officials from trafficking orphans. This press release went live today. I believe it is our obligation to do the minimum and put our name on a petition, calling those who can do something TO DO IT. Today!

How you can help via Jeff Goins:

• Sign the petition and share it with others
• Tweet this post using hashtags #cnnfreedom #endslavery & #not_for_sale
• Contact any local or national media you know, asking them to run the story. Contact me for more details and documentation.
• Blog about this and encourage your readers to sign the petition.
• Pray. (I believe this changes things.)