We burn out because we're spiritually bored and motivated by the wrong things.
-Mike Bickle
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Long Distance
I use my blog as a place to record ideas, wisdom, and quotes from other people that I want to remember. I found this in Aaron Stern's blog (aaronstern.typepad.com), and thought it was pretty revelatory. Before I read this, I didn't believe long distance relationships were workable, and I certainly never wanted to be involved in one. He changed my mind. Props to Aaron!
"I know several people who don’t like long-distance relationships – they are a lot of work and can be a hassle. However, I actually think that there are several benefits to dating from a distance. Talking on the phone or interacting online requires the development of one of the most important variables in a relationship – communication. Without the “distractions” of things to do and places to go, the only thing you have left is what you talk about. Such a heavy emphasis on talking requires diligent work on communicating thoroughly and clearly, establishing expectations and resolving conflicts. From my perspective, if things don’t work long-distance, they likely wouldn’t work living in the same city. That being said, if the relationship is going towards marriage, I recommend that you have a good period of time together in the same city prior to marriage (3-6 months minimum). Though developing good communication is important, it can’t replace that which is learned as you interact in person on a daily basis."
"I know several people who don’t like long-distance relationships – they are a lot of work and can be a hassle. However, I actually think that there are several benefits to dating from a distance. Talking on the phone or interacting online requires the development of one of the most important variables in a relationship – communication. Without the “distractions” of things to do and places to go, the only thing you have left is what you talk about. Such a heavy emphasis on talking requires diligent work on communicating thoroughly and clearly, establishing expectations and resolving conflicts. From my perspective, if things don’t work long-distance, they likely wouldn’t work living in the same city. That being said, if the relationship is going towards marriage, I recommend that you have a good period of time together in the same city prior to marriage (3-6 months minimum). Though developing good communication is important, it can’t replace that which is learned as you interact in person on a daily basis."
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Practicing the Presence
"Sustained communication with God requires restrained conversation with man."
-Mike Bickle
-Mike Bickle
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wake Me Up
"We are fast asleep and we don't know it... The thing that is dulling this generation is called The Spirit of Religion... The Spirit of Religion settles us into thinking we know something about God when in reality we don't know anything about God. It settles us into a false complacency thinking that we have all these things figured out and I want to tell you when the Spirit of Revelation is in a person's life, they realize that they are at the beginning of the beginning of the beginning of the beginning of the beginning of a shoreless ocean that has yet to be expounded upon. The Spirit of Religion is choking the life from the church because it's settling us into false complacency and we need to go after God waking us up into what reality is."
-Corey Russell
-Corey Russell
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Let Me Fly
A saint's life is like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says - "I cannot stand anymore." God does not heed, He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets fly.
--Oswald Chambers
--Oswald Chambers
Thursday, March 5, 2009
No Rules
What's cool about God is that he doesn't really make Rules.
He tells us what to do, but he doesn't tell us how, or when, or put crazy parameters around it.
We take what he's said, and try to quantify it, and make it into a Rule.
And then when we break the rules, we feel Bad.
Like reading the Bible. The Bible doesn't say "Read the Bible 30 minutes a day."
It says "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." God tells us to do it, but he doesn't tell us when to do it or how long to do it.
Yet somehow we feel so guilty if we don't sit down for an hour when we FIRST wake up (Lord knows real Christians don't read their Bibles at night!!!) to read the Bible.
God is freeing. And we secretly hate Rules. They make us feel Bad. So why do we make them?
He tells us what to do, but he doesn't tell us how, or when, or put crazy parameters around it.
We take what he's said, and try to quantify it, and make it into a Rule.
And then when we break the rules, we feel Bad.
Like reading the Bible. The Bible doesn't say "Read the Bible 30 minutes a day."
It says "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." God tells us to do it, but he doesn't tell us when to do it or how long to do it.
Yet somehow we feel so guilty if we don't sit down for an hour when we FIRST wake up (Lord knows real Christians don't read their Bibles at night!!!) to read the Bible.
God is freeing. And we secretly hate Rules. They make us feel Bad. So why do we make them?
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
My Life, On Paper
Tonight I started packing for my move to my new house. I took down all the pictures, and then I got to the bookshelf. On my bookshelf, I have about as many notebooks and journals as I have books written by others. I'm not a pack rat by any means, but I do like to keep all handwritten notes, songs, poems, letters... to throw them away would be throwing away the story of my life. Even sermon notes connect me with specific moments in my life when I needed to hear whatever was being preached.
Earlier in the evening I had been sharing with my pastors the journey of blessing that I've been on in the last few years since I moved to Florida. Right out of college, I lived with my parents and worked a great job as a school teacher, making more money initially that most of my friends who were new to the working world. In those years that I lived with my parents, I frittered away thousands of dollars and had nothing to show for it in the end.
When I moved to Florida, I knew God was leading me to do so and I knew that He was going to have to take care of me, because the school I would be working at in Florida paid significantly less than the one in Indiana. And the first year I lived here was soooooooo hard. There were times I would work myself into a panic. What would I do when summer came and I didn't have a steady income? How would I make it through? Maybe I should move back to Indiana. Maybe I didn't have what it took to live here. Maybe I had missed God.
Inside, though, I knew that God had called me. And I knew that, to be cliche, "Where God guides, he provides." I had a small amount in my savings as a cushion that I had scrimped to put away... a safety net. It was in the deepest moment of my financial need that first winter I decided that my safety net wouldn't help if anything significant happened anyway, so I decided to give my entire savings to the Lord. I placed myself in a position where I HAD to depend on him. Needless to say, God provided summer work for me and gave me creative ideas on how I could earn extra money.
Even though I gave my savings to the Lord, I still kept my credit cards. In times of loneliness or despair, I'd go shopping or out to dinner as a way to feel better. Over that time, I racked up a signficant amount of credit card debt through foolish choices and my own folly.
When my debt got to a certain level, I decided I needed to get my finances in order. I cut up my credit cards and wrote the vision on my door so that every time I walked out of my house, I would see the destroyed card and my desire to "Get Out of Debt." But the request always seemed so far-off and unattainable. And yes, God was honoring my faithful tithing and giving by meeting my needs, but there was never that one big check that showed up, wiping away all of my troubles. His provision was a little at a time, just in time.
A few small miracles happened in the meantime. I was needing to go to grad school in order to keep my Indiana teacher's license active so that I could continue teaching. This was going to cost me several thousands of dollars, putting me more in debt to keep certification for a job that I didn't love. On the last day of the deadline, I had an epiphany that showed me a way around going to grad school and enabled me to obtain my Florida teacher's license for only $30! (And all this for a job that I would be leaving several months later! Thank God I didn't end up going to grad school- it would've been a waste of time and money!)
Miraculously, that next year I was offered a job transfer within my own organization that enables me now to work year-round (and also collect a paycheck year-round) doing something I'm passionate about that allows me to be creative and draws on many strengths I have, and challenges me in my weaknesses. My job is amazing, and I ADORE my bosses and co-workers.
I took that job mid-year and had to leave my second grade classroom. I was really worried about the transition to a new teacher, because I love those kids and I know that change is hard on little ones. Another miracle - God enabled the same teacher they had in first grade to return to the school after leaving that year and she took my class. The transition wasn't nearly as hard as it would've been because they had a familiar teacher that they already loved in my place. Another provision!
Through the new job I was connected with a person who allowed me to rent a home from her that was 20 minutes closer to my job (right in the middle of the time when gas prices spiked!) and whose rent was substantially lower than my first apartment. Just this November, I was able to purchase a car with a payment $30 less than my old car. It's way cuter, gets way better gas mileage, and has zero mechanical problems because it's brand new! And the timing of it all was PERFECT.
This year has been a year when I've seen things come to pass that have been in my heart. Friday I will close on a house - MY house. In my wildest dreams I NEVER thought I would own a house. It was always something that I thought I would someday maybe do with my husband, but never on my own. But through God's amazing provision, I will be living in a house with a mortgage so low that your jaw would drop if I told you what it was!
On top of all that, I found out on Saturday that because I'm buying a house in 2009, I am eligible for a first-time homebuyers tax credit of several thousand dollars that will be enough to pay off my credit card debt and set me free of the oppression of that financial burden!
Today as I went through my notebooks and reread all of my secret dreams, practical plans, and ways I've tried to work out my life on paper over the past 3 years, I laughed a little to myself. I saw a plan of how I was going to get through the summmer without a salary. I saw phone numbers for summer jobs that I could've applied for. I saw information for applying for a job in the Osceola school system that would've taken me away from City of Life. I saw budgets, plans, fears, questions... everything written out so that I could make sense of it, so that I could somehow solve it all. The funny thing is, I never could've written it the way that God did. He can write the story so much better than we can, if we'll let Him. And when we feel compelled to "do" something just to get out of our situation, that's the very time that we just need to be still and let him do the doing. There are so many different directions that I could've gone in. So many decisions, whims, and plans I could've formulated. But none of them would've put me right here, in the place I am. I haven't been perfect - I've been no where near that, as evidenced with the way I took things into my own hands when I accrued my credit card debt. But since then I have really tried to listen and follow God. And he has been SO faithful to lead me, provide for me, and overwhelm me with his goodness and provision in the face of my stupidity, fear, doubt, and ignorance.
He is so faithful.
Earlier in the evening I had been sharing with my pastors the journey of blessing that I've been on in the last few years since I moved to Florida. Right out of college, I lived with my parents and worked a great job as a school teacher, making more money initially that most of my friends who were new to the working world. In those years that I lived with my parents, I frittered away thousands of dollars and had nothing to show for it in the end.
When I moved to Florida, I knew God was leading me to do so and I knew that He was going to have to take care of me, because the school I would be working at in Florida paid significantly less than the one in Indiana. And the first year I lived here was soooooooo hard. There were times I would work myself into a panic. What would I do when summer came and I didn't have a steady income? How would I make it through? Maybe I should move back to Indiana. Maybe I didn't have what it took to live here. Maybe I had missed God.
Inside, though, I knew that God had called me. And I knew that, to be cliche, "Where God guides, he provides." I had a small amount in my savings as a cushion that I had scrimped to put away... a safety net. It was in the deepest moment of my financial need that first winter I decided that my safety net wouldn't help if anything significant happened anyway, so I decided to give my entire savings to the Lord. I placed myself in a position where I HAD to depend on him. Needless to say, God provided summer work for me and gave me creative ideas on how I could earn extra money.
Even though I gave my savings to the Lord, I still kept my credit cards. In times of loneliness or despair, I'd go shopping or out to dinner as a way to feel better. Over that time, I racked up a signficant amount of credit card debt through foolish choices and my own folly.
When my debt got to a certain level, I decided I needed to get my finances in order. I cut up my credit cards and wrote the vision on my door so that every time I walked out of my house, I would see the destroyed card and my desire to "Get Out of Debt." But the request always seemed so far-off and unattainable. And yes, God was honoring my faithful tithing and giving by meeting my needs, but there was never that one big check that showed up, wiping away all of my troubles. His provision was a little at a time, just in time.
A few small miracles happened in the meantime. I was needing to go to grad school in order to keep my Indiana teacher's license active so that I could continue teaching. This was going to cost me several thousands of dollars, putting me more in debt to keep certification for a job that I didn't love. On the last day of the deadline, I had an epiphany that showed me a way around going to grad school and enabled me to obtain my Florida teacher's license for only $30! (And all this for a job that I would be leaving several months later! Thank God I didn't end up going to grad school- it would've been a waste of time and money!)
Miraculously, that next year I was offered a job transfer within my own organization that enables me now to work year-round (and also collect a paycheck year-round) doing something I'm passionate about that allows me to be creative and draws on many strengths I have, and challenges me in my weaknesses. My job is amazing, and I ADORE my bosses and co-workers.
I took that job mid-year and had to leave my second grade classroom. I was really worried about the transition to a new teacher, because I love those kids and I know that change is hard on little ones. Another miracle - God enabled the same teacher they had in first grade to return to the school after leaving that year and she took my class. The transition wasn't nearly as hard as it would've been because they had a familiar teacher that they already loved in my place. Another provision!
Through the new job I was connected with a person who allowed me to rent a home from her that was 20 minutes closer to my job (right in the middle of the time when gas prices spiked!) and whose rent was substantially lower than my first apartment. Just this November, I was able to purchase a car with a payment $30 less than my old car. It's way cuter, gets way better gas mileage, and has zero mechanical problems because it's brand new! And the timing of it all was PERFECT.
This year has been a year when I've seen things come to pass that have been in my heart. Friday I will close on a house - MY house. In my wildest dreams I NEVER thought I would own a house. It was always something that I thought I would someday maybe do with my husband, but never on my own. But through God's amazing provision, I will be living in a house with a mortgage so low that your jaw would drop if I told you what it was!
On top of all that, I found out on Saturday that because I'm buying a house in 2009, I am eligible for a first-time homebuyers tax credit of several thousand dollars that will be enough to pay off my credit card debt and set me free of the oppression of that financial burden!
Today as I went through my notebooks and reread all of my secret dreams, practical plans, and ways I've tried to work out my life on paper over the past 3 years, I laughed a little to myself. I saw a plan of how I was going to get through the summmer without a salary. I saw phone numbers for summer jobs that I could've applied for. I saw information for applying for a job in the Osceola school system that would've taken me away from City of Life. I saw budgets, plans, fears, questions... everything written out so that I could make sense of it, so that I could somehow solve it all. The funny thing is, I never could've written it the way that God did. He can write the story so much better than we can, if we'll let Him. And when we feel compelled to "do" something just to get out of our situation, that's the very time that we just need to be still and let him do the doing. There are so many different directions that I could've gone in. So many decisions, whims, and plans I could've formulated. But none of them would've put me right here, in the place I am. I haven't been perfect - I've been no where near that, as evidenced with the way I took things into my own hands when I accrued my credit card debt. But since then I have really tried to listen and follow God. And he has been SO faithful to lead me, provide for me, and overwhelm me with his goodness and provision in the face of my stupidity, fear, doubt, and ignorance.
He is so faithful.
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