To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

Prayer

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Set your focus for the rest of 2019

What stands out to you from that list? I think the world needs more crazy and extravagant love. I don’t watch the news (thanks to my son Joe who pointed out the chaos of it all, and he was right… Now, I just get the highlights in other ways), but in passing televisions in airports, scrolling Twitter, and listening to the people surrounding me, I hear all of the stress. It points to the need to reset our minds to love.

We can all use the reminder to take our minds off of how [pick your poison] is impacting us personally. We are all wired to be selfish and that is, in many cases, critical to living safely and protecting ourselves. We can, however, get too focused and it’s important to recognize when we are too far in so we can shift our minds to the needs of those around us. There are many.

Prayer, reflection, intimacy with God. That is such a terrific call to action. Our hearts expand and our minds settle when we spend time alone with our faith. When we are able to cry out, even in the most subtle ways, and share our concerns and needs, we somehow are able to offload our soul and refill it with what is true and right. God’s word points us to peace, joy and love and ultimately provides all of the guidance we need to live well and serve well.

Have an incredible week.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Our thoughts are powerful

Our thoughts have the ability to consume our lives – literally.

Our thoughts keep us up at night, and can cause us to drift off and end up in our driveway without remembering the drive home. Our thoughts can both energize us and make us physically sick. The Bible verse above continues on to say that we must take every thought “obedient to Christ.” The intent, to be sure our thoughts are leading us in the direction God would want us to go.

Lysa Terkeurst, a best-selling author, reminded me recently that “as we think, we eventually act.” That was powerful to me, and perhaps will be to you as well. As most of you know, on Sundays I keep it brief. Today, I am leaving this with you with this very idea…

Let us all be more in tune with our thoughts.

Are they leading you where you know in your heart you are supposed to go or are you unsure? If you are unsure, I would point you to prayer and reading God’s word or seeking the input of someone you know has a strong spiritual life that can come alongside you to help. I am confident they would be happy to! That’s what we are all here for… to help, encourage and elevate.

Have a great week and know that you have an army of people cheering you on and praying for your great success.

Simple Thoughts Sunday – Power in the waiting

I am hopeful that this hits someone else as hard as it did me personally. What an incredible thought… It wasn’t mine, but it is is worthy of sound thinking around the idea. So many times in my life and as I interact with my boys and close friends and family, the topic of praying and what we are hoping for in our lives comes up.

What are those dreams you pray for? How about just a prayer to make it through the next conversation? Through the test? The interview? The next day?

Does it ever come to mind that we may not be prepared for exactly what we are asking? That our patience and in our waiting is where we are becoming prepared. Or perhaps, we will never be prepared, and God knows that and takes us in another direction. Waiting is where we are strengthened, equipped and prepared.

I am thankful that God hasn’t always given me what I wanted when I asked for it the first time. At times, it has been many, many seasons of wondering where He is at in my prayer. I now know that it is because I wasn’t fully prepared. Does that resonate with anyone?

As you go into the week, I hope that you will find renewed hope in your prayers. I have found that God gives me peace when He has prepared me. In other words, that conversation may not need to happen until I get that peace – that “go ahead,” so to speak. I firmly believe that God is with us at all times and is actively preparing us for all that we are supposed to do in this life.

Have a powerful week.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Living Unafraid

Summer is often a time where we get out there and sometimes have the opportunity to explore new heights. The boat goes faster, the mountains we climb are higher… It can take us outside of our comfort zone. Our adrenaline amps up and our body responds in ways that often catches us by surprise.

I read Adam Hamilton’s new book, “Unafraid,” this week. At first I wasn’t too excited because I don’t view myself as a fearful person at this point in my life. It pretty much immediately captured my attention though. I got a ton of inspiration out of the book. Here’s a quote I resonated with…

“We are the healthiest, wealthiest, and the longest lived people in history.  And we are increasingly afraid.  This is one of the great paradoxes of our time.”  (ref:  Daniel Gardner)

Our hurried lives create a need for yoga, meditation, mindfulness… Anything to reduce our anxiety and stress. The one thing that we can all rely on is that God’s peace doesn’t change, no matter what is going on in our lives.

Hamilton covers the biblical support of God’s promises and how we can truly rely on him to carry us through these times. He covered everything from financial stress, to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out and the impact of social media), aging, death and loss.  I found myself in every situation he illustrated and I think you might too.

He shared my favorite Bible story from Matthew 8 23-27 where Jesus calms the storm. I have loved this even as a very young girl. Somehow the image of Jesus asleep during a storm, reveals to us that we can rest, knowing that whatever happens we are safe.

I’ll end there today. As you go through the week, know that you are covered. You can rest knowing that even if the storms are strong and seem out of control at times, that God has you.

Praying for us to all to grow our faith life so that we can live “unafraid.” I hope your summer is off to a STRONG START!

Simple Thoughts Sunday: The power of prayer

Most of us realize the power of prayer. Sometimes prayer can be stressful because our requests don’t get answered fast enough (or maybe that’s just me). Sometimes prayer can be frustrating, because we think we have to pray for a certain amount of time, or in a certain posture.

Regardless, today I want to impress that prayer makes a difference in this world! In Matthew Kelly’s Rhythm of Life book, he refers to prayer in the following ways:

  • Prayer cuts through and clarifies. (I think of this as a guidance counselor or coach.)
  • Prayer reminds us of what is truly important. (Bringing to mind those people that we need in our lives.)
  • Prayer is the great mediator that introduces us to God. (Makes is clear that a higher power indeed is controlling the universe… and thankfully it’s not us!)
  • Prayer is the faithful friend who points out who we are  capable of being. (Inspiring us to dream bigger, and filling us with positive thinking.)
  • Prayer reveals the deepest desires of our hearts and points out the path that was ordained for us. (This is close to the first bullet point.)
  • And my favorite, “Prayer gifts us with purpose and direction, and peace in that direction.” Peace is the part I love and have found to be the most true.

I’m honestly not the best “prayer person.”

I have great intentions, and pray a lot of short, little “popcorn” prayers throughout the day – especially when people come to mind. I am not sure prayer has to be a long session, but I feel like I can be better at it. I have personally seen – even recently through my prayer group – that prayer indeed works. (Side Note: Three friends and I just started this Jan. 1, and let me tell you, it is a game changer. If you want to know more, message me and I’ll tell you how we are doing it!)

There is also a great book by Priscilla Shirer, called Fervent and a movie as well, called War Room that dive into prayer in ways that will for sure help anyone who has an interest. I highly recommend both!

I hope you all have an amazing end to February this week. I’m praying for each of you as I write this! Sending Love.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Your champion!

Our sermon last week focused on prayer, specifically about ideas on how to view God as we go to Him in prayer. Like most of you, I know the importance of prayer but don’t always get it right… don’t always commit the time or the intention. It shouldn’t be hard to maintain consistency here.

The “stand out” theme for me is to view God as my “champion.” The one who ALWAYS has my (our) best interests, the one who is ordering the steps and days of my (our) life (lives). I like that idea… a lot! I also like the added part in the quote above: for both my protection and my enrichment, to make me(us) better, to allow me (and you) to serve better – to make a larger impact.

As you launch your week, I hope that you will consider that God is your ultimate champion. The one who will ALWAYS be there and ALWAYS push you toward your very best.

On another note, tomorrow is my mom’s birthday! It seems she is getting younger each year… I’m serious! So thankful for her! Please help me in wishing her the happiest of days and the best year ever!