And That's All I Got To Say About That...

Hmmmmmmmm...
Very interesting couple of days around here. I have been learning so much. Ever heard that saying that when you have one finger pointing at someone else that there are three coming right back at you? Well, this has been me for quite a while now. Jesus is certainly patient with me. I thank Him so much.
So, here recently, here is what I have been learning:
I found out that I get upset and that is what fuels my strength to accomplish the numerous tasks of the day. The Lord spoke so clearly to my heart today and asked me why did I do that? Why didn't I find my strength in joy to accomplish the tasks that are necessary? He reminded me, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."
I hung my head, not in defeat, mind you but more in submission to my great and loving Father who moved heaven and earth to be with me.
So much I want to be His light and His love. I fail miserably most days but some days I have victory.
I have not yet achieved the crown. There is comfort in knowing that "His strength is made perfect in my weakness".

I Am Not Cheated

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed by life's circumstances? I mean, you get up, and you try. You try really hard. You make scheduled meetings and make preparations. You are rocking right along with the other successful people yet your deals aren't closing like theirs. They just seem to go from triumph to triumph while you on the other hand, go from a "yes" to a definitive "no" on a regular basis. 

You have rent or perhaps a mortgage. You have bills, too. You don't understand. They serve God. You serve God. What is the problem?

You just a breakthrough or a breakout. Ever feel like that? It's a constant swim upstream. Hmmmm...

You know salmon swim upstream, right?  Have you ever tasted salmon? It's quite delicious. Something in the struggle makes for something better on the inside I do believe.

It's not the struggle that the matter. It's what you do in the struggle. I am going to admit. It's not always easy. Do I always face struggles and endure it with my chin up? No. Sometimes, I hate to say it, I pout. Yes, like a small child. I talk or sometimes even cry to God about the injustices of the world. But you know what? That is okay. Because something I learned the other day. 

The enemy of our soul uses this to his advantage. Well, I am definitely not on "Team Satan". I sure don't want to hit any home runs for him! When I discovered this, it was like a revelation. After finding out that all he wants us to believe is that we are somehow cheated. Somehow God is withholding from us. He isn't. He delights to give us things and help us. I am becoming more confident in that. So, instead of "woe is me", it is going to be "whoa is me"! The blessings of the Lord are going to overtake me! I know it!

...Because People Are Stingy

Sad that a book has to be written to "develop" givers.
Applause to the author. Many blessings. Shame on the stingy.
http://www.crosswalk.com/church/pastors-or-leadership/help-people-in-your-church-learn-how-to-give.html

That's about all I have to say about that.

Maximize: How to Develop Extravagant Givers in Your Church

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

How much time do you spend looking at your reflection? A few minutes here, another moment there. But, really, how much time do you spend looking at yourself? What are you checking for? Are you looking for flaws and things that are out of place for that important meeting, gathering with friends or perhaps attending worship service? You check to make sure that everything is all together. You look so together, yet you are falling apart.
See, God looks at the heart of man not the outward appearance. He cares how you look on the inside.
And, how do you look on the inside? Not what anyone would think, is it? Inside you don't really even know who you really are. And you will never know who you are until you find you in Christ. All of who you are or will become will be in Christ Jesus.
We all search for who we are. We all do it in our own individual way. We climb mountains and conquer the highest heights facing many obstacles. We get degrees. We come from an obscure past and beat the odds becoming successful. We write books about how to be overcomers. We search and search and search. We will go to the highest height or go as far as we can to the depths of the sea yet we still cannot find ourselves. The man that says He knows who He is outside of Christ, well, he is liar. If he doesn't know Christ, he is lost. He doesn't know who he is. We find ourselves when we shut the noise of the world out and go to that secret place with God. We get alone. It is on our knees with a humbled heart. Perhaps lying prostrate on the floor, stretched completely out before God like the prophets of old did would be the method. But we find ourselves in Him. We prepare our hearts. We submit to Him and His will. We make preparation.
We are all making preparation. The Bible tells us so..."Prepare to meet thy God". So, as you dress yourself daily think about The One whose opinion does count. If you should care about anyone's opinions, it should be His.

Homeless Has A Face And Sometimes Its Yours

Would you believe you might be working with someone who is homeless? What about hungry? I mean, they work right along side you, right? Surely not. They get the same pay you do but they are homeless. So, your mind begins reeling with judgments and accusations. Well, if they took better care of their finances they wouldn't be homeless or hungry you decide. Somewhere inside you there is a still, small voice telling you they don't know where they are laying their head tonight but you shove it to the far corner hoping the Voice will be quiet. Yet, He isn't quiet for He was homeless. He was God alone manifested in the flesh, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Yes, folks, He was homeless. Why was He homeless? Everything belonged to Him yet He was homeless. Maybe to understand what it feels like to feel judged, alone, depressed, hungry? I don't really understand why but He did. I am so glad He did.
There are many factors that add to the homeless statistics today. There are foreclosures, poverty, eroding work opportunities, decline in public assistance, lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable health care, domestic violence, mental illness and addiction disorders.
Before you think this couldn't be you, let's create a little scenario. You are the main character. You signed on a beautiful home to make room for the new baby less than six months ago. Great job, great life. Now, routine doctor visit reveals terminal cancer in your spouse. You are shocked! You go through the treatments and thank God all along the way for the insurance. It's not covering everything but it's okay.You have saved long enough to cover most of it.
You are headed to work now thinking how tired and weary you are becoming. So much work, money getting short and thinking about the huge stack of credit card bills, bank notes and uncovered insurance bills on your desk waiting on you when you get home. Not paying attention, someone pulls out in front you, you swerve, hit an embankment. The other driver isn't hurt. At least it doesn't seem like it. You are okay just shaken. You exchange information. You are relieved.
You head to work. Boss looks quiet serious. No smiles today as he brings you into the office and let's you know the company is downsizing and here is one month's pay in advance. Find another job. Sorry.  You are devastated.
Exhausted, you head home to your family and those lovely bills. You begin writing checks and balancing. Not much left and you can't pay your mortgage. Meanwhile, you cannot get your coworker off your mind. His image keeps popping into your head with that heavy look in his eyes and always rubbing his head. You are starting to understand now a little of why he was rubbing his head in frustration for you find yourself doing the same thing.
You begin to feel like you are in a drowning sea of problems. Now you have been outsourced, your home is being foreclosed upon and there is simply not enough. That lovely little mishap in the car, oh, it wasn't covered. Forgot to pay the premium. Now they want to sue.
Fast forward you and your family are struggling just to survive. Fighting for the home is long since gone, fighting keep the credit cards that are flooded by interest. Now the new baby and you family are in an apartment that barely fits you all and you don't know if you will be able to stay another month.
You go to the bathroom and wipe your face, there are those eyes. The same look in your coworkers eyes is now in yours. Now you see. How clearly you see.

Have Mercy!

Well, have mercy! Mercy me! Will you just please have some mercy? God have mercy. Now that one is my favorite. But I wonder, do we really know what it means?
I have said and heard these phrases more times than I care to count. We say or hear them often. Don't we?
Oh, we want mercy. We need mercy. But what is mercy?
Jesus said "blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." He also said if we do not have mercy none will be shown to us. Wow!
Merriam-Webster says that mercy is compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or other person in one's power. It is compassion, pity or benevolence, Merriam-Webster tells us. Hmmmmm...
So, I am sitting here doing some personal inventory. I had a situation happen yesterday. Well, it was so much more than a "situation". I had an agreement with someone on a contract. They didn't pay all that was owed according to the initial terms. I was so aggravated. I was flat angry still talking about it well into today.
Yet, I went to the dentist this morning. I needed his mercy. I needed some work done that I really couldn't afford. He gave it to me. It was amazing the mercy that was shown to me. Yet, not thinking about what I had just read the day before where Jesus was explaining to his disciples the parable about the wicked servant. Well, today I was that wicked servant. I continued complaining about the contract. As I was driving down the road, my car began smoking. It caught fire! I abruptly pulled over. As the smoke rolled out the vents and under my steering wheel, I thought of this client. I was angry about why this was happening to me. Yet, deep down I knew. There was a lesson here. I was about to learn it.
I thought about this and I'm thinking about it now. Jesus warned us so clearly. He was warning me.
After all it is He that gives us the ability to obtain wealth and not us by our own hands.
What is more important? My heart being right before God or more money in my account?
I am sitting here repenting. It doesn't matter who is right or who is wrong. God will sort all of that out.
What is most important is mercy, right?
I want to be merciful. Don't you? Learn about Mercy's Master Motive

The Workman Is Worthy

Why is that sometimes people feel as though others can work for free? They want to charge for their items or their service but somehow you should give them your product or your service at a discount or even better, just why not give it away free?
You have encountered this numerous times in business. Can you do this? What about that? Maybe a little bit more of this? How about a whole lot more of that? The answer is almost always yes with reserve. You are wondering. Is there an image that is being projected here that comes off as unworthy? Questions arise. So, yes, for this time, I will. The end result is irritation. So, how do you love them yet assert yourself in business?
Well, maybe that is why Jesus said "the workman is worthy of his hire". We are all worth something, obviously. After all, He paid the highest penalty of all for our sins. He shed His very precious blood so that we would not be condemn but they we may live. I think He sure thinks something of us.
Perhaps He wanted us to understand when people work, they should be compensated.
And you should think something of yourself. No too much, for on the other end, Jesus did warn us to "not think more highly of ourselves than we ought". We have to have a balance here.
So, if others don't feel you are worth it, just remember, you are. You are precious. You are worth it.
Go. Be prosperous and most of all, give back.

Removing My Face: Removing My Face

Learning that it is not about me...

Removing My Face

I have had this love/hate relationship with Facebook for the last month. Well, that would be a very conservative figure. It's been much longer. It's just really begun to irritate me this last month. Discovering that one of my talents the Good Lord has blessed me with, I jumped with both feet in to begin another business, web design.
Being on Facebook wasn't a problem for me. Initially, I enjoyed it. I met new friends and reconnected with old ones. It was absolute bliss! I learned more about my friends, enjoying watching for their posts seeing what they were learning about life, the places they went and how their families were growing.
I was never a big social media fanatic. I never jumped on the MySpace bandwagon, wasn't much of a Twitterer, but this whole Facebook thing totally had me. The possibility of networking with other professionals and meeting people around the globe would be a great way to build my candle brand, Inspirational Candles. So, I grabbed my hat and jumped on that wagon and headed West!
I was a quick study! It wasn't long and I became an addict. I would check my account in the morning, afternoon, evening and before I went to bed.  Pretty soon I was doing it soon as I got up. I didn't pay much attention to it until designing websites, I noticed that I checked it before I even read my Bible, prayed or started work. I watched for posts and email throughout the day while designing. It started taking more and more of my day. 
I began talking to my friends about my feelings about this giant. I mean, c'mon, 300 million people or more are  on this network. I felt quitting it would be quitting them somehow. I felt kind of guilty not to mention my children were on there. So, yeah, Mom abandons you on Facebook. Great. Questions swirled in my head like "How will I know what my kids are doing?" "How will I know how my friends are doing?" I looked down and my Smartphone which instantly became smarter. 
As these questions bounced around in my head and in my heart, I was rebuilding my website for Inspirational Candles. As I completed the site, anxiously, I posted it to my Newsfeed on Facebook. I was excited! All the questions were being abated because I was thinking to myself perhaps I had it all wrong. I needed this giant. I built a network of 1,200 people. Then the inevitable happened. Facebook deleted my Newsfeed, called my content spammy and abusive. I was furious to begin with. So upset, I immediately notified my friends and family and began the process of deleting my account.
Once deletion process began, they actually posted pictures of friends and family, including my daughter, perhaps throwing a little guilt my way. I laughed, pressed deleted and took a deep breath.
The next day I opened my email and text messages. Friends and family have told me they also have been thinking about deleting their accounts because it is taking so much of their time. They were definitely going to limit their time. Did I start a revolution against a giant who has become a household name? I sincerely doubt it.
Have I started a revolution within myself? You bet!
In retrospect I think back and wonder how much time I spent there. Only God and Facebook knows. How much time I now spend doing things I am supposed to, that only God knows and with that, I am satisfied. I'm free!