Get in the Battle

Last night in our Home Group we discussed the battle waged in our minds that we all face. Sadly, many of us go about our days without giving much thought to our thinking.

Throughout years of my life I was tossed to and fro, knocked here and there, because of unidentified intruders that set up camp in my thought life. These thoughts were so subtly and familiar that for a long time I didn’t recognize that they were unwanted intruders. I thought they were simply me!

Eventually I began to recognize that they were lies being perpetrated against me that weren’t coming from the heart of God. I decided to wake up, get on the offensive and wrestle down the obtrusive thoughts, taking them captive.

What one of us would sit by and let an intruder barge in our home uninvited? Yet we often sit by passively when invasive thoughts infiltrate our minds like cancer. Yet, the effort that it takes to challenge our thinking is rather small in comparison to the years the enemy has kept us ineffective and off the playing field.

When we allow ourselves to be accused over and over again, we are giving an intruder the benefit of the doubt. We might as well go over to the enemy’s camp. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Who do we want to be standing with in the fight?

We have a choice everyday to control our thoughts or be controlled by our thoughts. We can sit around and allow negative thoughts to zap our energy, wear us down and keep us paralyzed, or we can fill our mind with the truth of God’s word. There is scientific proof that negative thoughts release toxic chemicals into our bodies, poorly affecting our health, while healthy, loving thoughts affect us positively. Take a look at some of the affects of negative thinking.

Why we hold onto negative thinking
1. The negative is a familiar feeling 2. Feeling out of control over a situation makes us want to think of ways to control or manipulate an outcome 3. We like to feel sorry for ourselves
4. We give ourselves an excuse to procrastinate 5. We allow ourselves to remain a victim, wanting sympathy

The fruit that comes from thinking & believing the truth
1. Feeling healthy and having energy 2. Releasing manipulation and taking responsibility 3. Faith in the goodness of the Lord 4. Feeling confident and motivated to face life 5. Being hopeful and proactive

How do we change negative thoughts and renew our mind?
1. Stop your thoughts in their tracks and replace them with the truth of God’s word. If you feel worried find what God says about worrying. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-72.

2. Journal about the way you honestly feel. Then respond by giving your thoughts a renewed vantage point. 3. Decide to find the good in everyday, and watch your countenance change!
4. Decide not to allow any circumstance to steal your joy. 5. PRAY! Go on the offensive and get in the battle!

Which Side Are You On?

Today, I found myself wishing my life had an automatic On star devise, so I could send out an S.O.S. The call for help would have resounded with a loud, “Calling virtual assistant, business owner in distress.”

As I enjoyed a great lunch today getting to know a fellow speaker and coach, I found myself expressing (no surprise here) that the challenge in my work is always the detail stuff.

I can totally loose myself in a day of writing, sitting down at the computer in the morning and not looking up until five O’clock. I enjoy writing so much that I often realize I totally overlooked lunch. The same is true with teaching one of my workshops, speaking at an event, working on a speech for an event, (all of the vision stuff) but please someone save me from web design, figuring out automatic article submissions, auto responders for newsletters and the host of other things that make me coo coo for coco puffs.

If anyone knows of a good web designer who is easy to work with please send me their contact information and other names of people who could help me run my business! Its one thing to be a visionary, but you gotta have a team to implement the vision. Here I am calling out for my team!

That is why we aren’t all alike. If we all could get the job done, there would be no new ideas. And if we all were idea people we’d never stop dreaming to accomplish anything. It’s important to know which one you are and get on the right side of the vision.

A Besieged City

To those of you who feel like your life has been under siege and you cringe when you read my happy go lucky blogs under the heading, Laughing Out Loud, I want you to know that I too have my days when I am under, rather than over. I’ve had years of being a besieged city in ruins and that is why I fervently speak about life after destruction. My life was a ruin that has been rebuilt after grave devastation.

None of us escapes seasons of captivity, because we are people who are prone to captivity. We are often more easily drawn to captivity it seems than the wide open spaces of freedom. We can’t help it. Let’s face it without Christ’s redemption we’re messes.

Jeremiah sent a letter to encourage all of the exiles during the time when King Nebuchadnezzer had taken captives from Jerusalem to Babylon. Included were skilled laborers, the regular folks, as well as government leaders and the queen mother the Bible says. It just goes to show you that whether you’re the queen mother or a regular Joe we all face our own captivities.

Jeremiah delivered a message to all of the exiles from God saying that He(God) had taken them into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon! He instructed them to build houses for themselves and plant gardens, marry, have children and make themselves at home, to thrive and not waste away even in their place of captivity. And He told them to pray for Babylon’s well being and when the time was up He’d take them home.

“I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won‘t be disappointed. ..I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.”

The mind of God is certainly a mystery that we will never fully understand, but for all intensive purposes, it seems clear that during these difficult seasons He’s after one thing. He wants us to pursue Him and want Him more than anything else.

We are so easily drawn into captivity. I'm thinking of all of the things that distract us from pursuing God. It is in those unbearable times of captivity that we run to God in our desperation. I know sometimes we have to get over being mad at the one who wounded us so deeply (God), but eventually we realize there is no where else to run and we let go of all that stands between us.

I had to struggle through that process when the Lord allowed my husband to die from cancer. I struggled through years of captivity, painfully waking everyday to face days that I didn’t want to face, making me desperate for God. And just like in Jeremiah’s God message to the exiles, when the time was right, God released me from my prison of pain and brought me out into a new place of freedom and peace. Because I witnessed Him bring me out of the tomb into a new life, I can with laughter and joy declare that He is an awesome God, faithful in all of His ways, even when we can’t begin to understand them. He loves us and works in all things for our good.

Go ahead and Laugh!

Do you ever wake up and find that something strikes you so funny that you can’t help but giggle? I didn’t exactly wake up that way, but once I got going and watched a video clip on Facebook I was sent into orbit laughing at the ridiculous parody of three varying personas in a simulated version of, To Tell the Truth.

And yesterday my sister called to tell me she had the most wonderful Colonoscopy. Is there such a thing? I remember my Colonoscopy and wonderful wouldn’t make it in the same sentence. Her reasoning...being so starved for attention she loved the doting she received from the kind and thoughtful medical team.

I guess I can remember thinking a similar thought during my widow years as I anticipated my yearly GYN appointment. It was the one time a year a man actually sat down and talked to me for twenty minutes! Now that’s funny!

I love the ridiculous things in life that interrupt my routine and inspire laughter. Being a results driven person, it’s nice to get hijacked by laughter.

I guess that is why Proverbs 15:15 says, “A cheerful heart has a continuous feast.” I for one would be very content enjoying an uninterrupted feast. I guess that’s why God made girl friends to keep us amused. As much as I love men, they just don’t see the world through the same lens. Here is to girl friends and laughter. Take it when it comes, because we all know the effects of what unpleasant days evoke and laughter isn’t usually the emotion.

The Possibilities

Wow, I got a lot of yucky stuff done today. You know the kind of stuff that nags at you from piles screaming, “Attend to me.” All of the attending makes me feel good. Tomorrow I can start with a clean slate spending some quality time writing and working on my next speaking engagement.

Today I also connected with a contact for a new speaking venue, so putting in the time on these details is important. The problem is I don’t like details. I am a big picture person, looking out over the grand vista in my mind, so tying me down to itty bitty slow paced details is excruciating.

I don’t want to dwell on it for a moment longer. It’s done and I am happily blogging away. I even made stuffed peppers tonight for a lovely meal. Yeah, I conquered the day even after Mark and I road bikes yesterday for many miles that whipped me good.

What will tomorrow’s grand adventure be? I dare myself to wake up Tuesday morning and breathe in the possibilities. Hum, what do I want tomorrow to be? How can life be the fullest tomorrow, shaking off the shackles of today to embrace the tomorrow that will quickly become yesterday? Yes, simply living in the grandest, truest, most alive fashion that I can dream up.

P.S I just signed off from writing this blog, walked into the bathroom and glanced at my husband's sports magazine and noticed a full page add that said, MAKE TUESDAY A SATURDAY! Another words it echoed my sentiment about tomorrow, Tuesday morning breathing in the possibilities! Woo ha!

Loveable in Pajamas

Isn’t it a good thing that we are not defined by what we do, because on March 31st, after being out of town over Easter for a week, followed by a weekend soccer Tournament in Atlanta, I opted to stay in my pajamas most of the day. Wouldn’t you know it, on a bad hair day when I was exhausted the phone rang to tell me that an ambulance was taking my son from the soccer field to the hospital?

As my luck would have it I decided to skip that game, because it was raining and I had just returned from a weekend full of soccer. So not only did I look like a bad, uninvolved mother, I felt like a hostage who had been released after days without grooming.

I managed to throw on a clean sweater and a quick smear of lipstick, before my husband and I headed to the hospital where I ended up spending the night with my son. And incase you were wondering sleeping in a broken recliner did nothing for my overall appearance.

The important thing was that Sam did not have to have surgery after all, because the doctor was able to set his leg, which was dislocated and broken in three places. It was quite irrelevant whether I had been in my pajamas all day.

Had I been in a competition being scored by judges, I would not have received very high marks, but fortunately I am not defined by that one bad day, or the many other bad days I’ve had. I am defined by what my Creator thinks about me. Thankfully He’s crazy about me! He said that I was wonderfully made. He is so intimately involved with my life that He knows how many hairs I have on my head, even when they’re greasy.

He feels about me a little like I felt about each of my babies when they smeared food all over their bodies. Their bad table manners did not for one moment dent my perception of them, because my love has never been based on how they perform, but the mere fact that I am helpless to do anything but love them. If I can say that, think how much more God loves unconditionally, even when I’m sloth,ful loafing around in my pajamas.

Climbing is Not For Wimps

Climbing the mountain is never easy. That is why it's called climbing. Truth be told, I'm one of those sissy girls. I enjoy walking, even speed-walking (I'm a fast walker anyway), but tell me to jog or do a strenuous climb up a hill and I might go straight into an asthma attack!

That is why years ago when I was considering buying a 5 speed automobile, my sister commented that if I couldn’t operate my car and got stuck in traffic, I’d probably just abandon it. Maybe that was true once upon a time, because I wasn’t much of a fighter, but rather an expert quitter.

You see we moved so much growing up (13 schools in as many cities), that I learned to just move on when things got tough. Then God took control of the reigns with His amazing technique for growing resilience and fortitude in the most unsuspecting subjects.

Now when a mountain presents itself, I am pretty darn determined. In fact, if we were on a hike I would probably be the first to get to the top of the hill, because of my tenacity. Mind you, sometimes I might be heading up the wrong hill or fighting an obsolete fight, but darn it, there I’ll be puffing away on that mountain. Now my husband, Mr. Steady and Well-Researched will be right there when I get back down to point me in the right direction. The steady part is why I married him. When you’re as fast to act as I often am you need a little moderation.

The point is, many of us are facing important mountains, some which lead to our destinies, but it’s going to take a continuous effort to make it up the hill. We won’t get there if we abandon our mission. We need to remind each other to keep on keeping on in the climb. It will be worth it when the mountain is under our feet and we are looking out over the expanse prepared for the next horizon we have to master.

Wake Up, Wake Up

OK, I am ticked off. I always liked Oprah, because I saw her doing for women what the church was neglecting to do. She has challenged and called women out in many areas. I believe Oprah has the platform that she has, because the church has failed to do this in many ways. But now that she is leading millions of people through the book, The New Earth, which denies the reality of God, teaching that we are our own gods, denying the power of the Cross, I have to draw the line.

If anything this should make Christian women stand up and decide to get activated and purposeful about their lives. We need to step out of our comfort zones to embrace our unique purpose and lead the lost and searching into freedom. Women need other women. As great as men are, a man cannot teach a woman to be a woman.

It has been inspiring women that have drawn me into new realms of freedom and awakened my spirit, so that I would not settle for a lesser calling than what God intended for my life. We need to wake up, so other women are not misguided.

A Few Hours Later

Just a few short hours after my last post I received a phone call from Mr. Jacobs, Sam's school soccer coach telling me that he was on the field waiting for an ambulance to arrive and take Sam to the hospital. Mr. Jacobs seemed so calm (later I learned he was sitting next to Sam while speaking to me) that I remained calm, but I wondered why an ambulance was called.

The phone rang again and it was the Paramedic asking if he had my permission to give Sam morphine for the pain he was experiencing, yet giving me no details as to why. On the way to the emergency room a friend who was at the school game and saw the accident called to say, "Don't be surprised if Sam needs surgery." When Mark and I saw Sam on the stretcher with his foot and ankle unusually twisted we began to get the picture, which increased our prayer even more!

After seeing the x-rays it was clear that his foot was broken in several places. The Orthopedic surgeon suggested that likely he would need surgery, but that they would put him to sleep, take him into the operating room and either realign the bones that were out of place or proceed with surgery. Fortunately the doctor was successful without surgery.

When the doctor met us in the waiting room he said, "Everything seemed perfectly aligned for Sam. You came in at exactly the right time, making it possible for me to move one of my surgeries back to take care of him quickly." Have you ever known anything to happen quickly in the emergency room? Sam prayed on the field as he layed their in pain, as did many others. Gratefully we experienced the Lord's intervention on Sam's behalf.

The doctor kept us over night at the hospital to keep an eye on Sam and released us this afternoon. I am so very thankful for the incrediable care and provision the Lord provided for Sam, as though the red carpet was rolled out.

Sam has been resting, taking calls, receiving visitors and fielding questions from his school mates about this dramatic event. His demanding social life rolls on!