Women In Ministry ♥
When Work Becomes Fun – Glorious Creativity
“Ok, guys. Go! You’ve only got 8 seconds to catch your reader’s attention. Write!”
The room was a mix of expression… some faces furrowed in concentration, desperate to finish their thoughts before the five-minute timer ran out. Some showed panic, realizing that original ideas were lacking and ‘imagination muscles’ were out of shape. And then there were those who looked like deer in headlights—“What are we doing?”
The fury of scratching pens and pencils followed for the next five minutes. You could almost hear the wheels turning and smoke rising.
Creativity! Beautiful, glorious creativity!
Get out of your box. Break free from of the practical. Dream. Stretch those muscles. Force yourself to think bigger, brighter, bolder.
Collect Words of Life, Not Criticism
The BEST part of moving houses, or cities, or nations is that you get rid of the old and start fresh. Garage sales, yard sales, rummage sales, although painful at times are brilliant for reducing clutter.
Minimal mess. Minimal clutter. Minimal packing.
But what about our emotional, mental, and psychological baggage? How do we manage that kind of clutter after years of collecting life experiences?
This season has been harder than I expected. Little did I know that when I pressed ‘publish’ on my book, I would be pressing GO on a roller coaster of emotional turbulence.
* Insecurity? Haven’t dealt with that in years, but here we go!
* Comparison? Oh, my goodness, where did that come from?
* Second-guessing myself? Stop this ride—I wanna get off now.
There’s a verse in the Bible that speaks about God sending His Word and then TESTING that Word (check out Psalm 105:19). I think that’s what’s been happening here.
You see, whenever we allow God to use us to deliver something important, WE get tested in it first.
What Makes a Beautiful Life?
What makes a beautiful life?
Is it the number of friends you have on Facebook? Or the number of followers on Instagram? Or perhaps the number of subscribers to your blog?
Is it dependent on the size of your house, the size of your bank account, or the successes of your children?
Or is your quality-of-life dependent on the busyness of your social calendar? Or the winning streak of the sports teams you play on?
No, my friends. None of those things can accurately determine whether or not you have a beautiful life? That life-more-abundantly kinda life that you are looking for is so much more than external circumstances.
♥ It’s about having people around you who truly know, love, and accept you.
♥ It’s about having a purpose in getting up each morning, and satisfaction when you lay your head on the pillow at night.
♥ It’s about having a deep understanding that “God sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6) and you don’t have to figure things out on your own.
♥ It means opening the door to your house… and your heart… and allowing people IN.
I’ve often said over the years that…
I’m Just NOT Ready (When Leaders Feel Inadequate)
Her SMS arrived at the worst possible moment. All of my ‘balls’ were in the air, and I was teetering on the brink of a multi-tasking implosion. You know, that moment when multi-tasking becomes physically painful because your brain simply can’t handle ONE… MORE… THING.
Let me set the stage: Our first mentoring meeting* was set for that evening and, for once, I had all my ducks in a row. In fact, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. My group was in order, the venue was ready, the food was ready, the resources were ready. It was perfect.
Without warning, my schedule filled with last-minute applications, new placements, new groups, new leaders, and a whole lot of coordination.
New people? That’s awesome! Oh no, where are we going to put them all?
Before two hours passed, all my ‘ducks’ were decidedly messed up. Don’t get me wrong. Growth is an excellent thing, but it often messes with our finely-laid plans, doesn’t it?
