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“What We’re All About”

 

If you have found your way here, It is not by accident …Welcome Home

 

The world is bursting with people who have not tapped into their true potential!  We are a planet with millions and millions of individuals wandering in confusion, asking the question of questions– “What should I be doing?”  In the Bible the Israelites spent 40 years wandering around the desert and circling the same mountain again and again.  How could this be? It was a mere eleven day journey!

Ever felt the same way?  Ever felt like you’re not getting anywhere in life…like you’ve been going through the motions and you know you’re just not where you’re supposed to be?  It’s frustrating!  You’re certain there’s more…you know that you have talents, gifts and a whole bunch to offer.  You’re just not sure where to go or how to get started.  Ever felt that way?  I have! (more…)

A Healthy Marriage Series: How Your Children Can Strengthen Your Marriage

If you are a parent who has done any amount of reading at all about marriage and children, I’m sure you’ve heard the negative statistics surrounding this topic. According to studies conducted by Discovery Health, the thought that “babies bring you closer together” is ranked number 4 on their list of Marriage Myths. Studies suggest that having children is a major source of stress that bring marriages to the breaking point.

I’m not here to try to convince you that these studies are right or wrong. These are tough times we live in, and raising a family can certainly have its stressful moments. Most parents are aware of that. But instead of focusing on the possible negatives, I want to give you a fresh perspective of how children can bring your marriage closer than it ever was before.

Psalm 127:3 tells us that our children are a blessing and reward from the Lord. This means that the addition of children to a marriage should have a positive effect, right? If you’re not exactly in that mindset right now, just keep reading. The following tips are designed to help you to make a few adjustments which will create a better atmosphere for the blessings and rewards to become evident.

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A Healthy Marriage Series: Love is the Fuel

What kind of marriage do you desire? Have you ever really thought about it?

Do you wish you were more strongly connected, closer, and happier in your marriage? Don’t settle for a ho-hum, distant, tolerable relationship. It doesn’t have to be that way.

If you give your relationship the proper fuel, you can have exactly what you desire.

Fuel powers your marriage and takes it to a deeper level.

So, what is the proper fuel? It all comes down to the language of love.

Are You Aware of Your Spouse’s Love Language?

Gary Chapman has an excellent book called the Five Love Languages. In it, the five different ways an individual likes to be loved are revealed. Everyone is not the same and every person does not receive or recognize love in the same way. We each have at least one distinctive way to feel truly fulfilled in our relationships.

Have you ever thought about how you prefer to be loved? What about your spouse? This is a wonderful discussion to have during your next date night. (If you don’t have a scheduled date night…quality time set aside just for your spouse…you are already behind the game.) (more…)

A Healthy Marriage Series: Whose Behind the Wheel?

A couple of my friends are coming up on some serious anniversaries. One of them is 24 years. As I consider what this entails; the good times, the arguments, and the hurdles, it inspires me. Marriage is a wonderful union between two people that takes a lot of time, effort, love, forgiveness, and grace.

Unfortunately, a 24 year anniversary is not the norm today. Why do you think some marriages stand the test of time while others end in divorce? I’m sure if we took a poll, we could pool all of our knowledge (or collective ignorance) and come up with hundreds of reasons. Once the reasons were in place, there would be groups of us who would disagree on what ‘exactly’ constitutes grounds for divorce.

All that sounds pretty messy, so instead, we are going to go with a series of informative and fun posts that will help keep the health of your marriage at optimum levels. Just like checking the oil in your vehicle, you need to keep tabs on the health of your marriage. Our first post, Where Exactly Are We Going will help you to figure out if you both are moving in the same direction with the same goals in mind. That’s step one: (more…)

Tag, You’re It…Social Networking in Retrospect

Retrospect: (noun) To think about or review the past, especially from a new perspective or with new information.

Christian author, Max Lucado has a book geared towards children that is called You Are Special. The book tells the story of a group of wooden toy people called the Wemmicks. The Wemmicks spend their days giving out stickers to one other. Gold stars are given out for things such as good looks, height, shiny paint, and special talents. On the other hand, grey dots are given out for dull or chipped paint, being clumsy, or saying silly things.

Obviously, you can see where this story line must be headed. The main character, Punchinello, is a charming little fellow who, unfortunately, has been given more than his fair share of grey dots. In fact, he has so many that he is afraid to go out in public for fear of receiving more. Sometimes, the Wemmicks would give out grey dots just because you already had some.

In the story, Punchinello finally meets up with Eli the woodcarver, who is his creator. Eli unfolds a beautiful, loving story about how he created Punchinello and how much he loves him. Eli then invites Punchinello to come see him every day. If Punchinello does this, he will eventually stop caring about what other people think of him, and only care about what Eli thinks.

With that simple children’s story in mind, let’s take a moment to look at the way we label others and what it does to them: (more…)

Overcoming What Overcomes You

There are so many mixed messages that circulate about sin, habits, and addiction as they pertain to a Christian’s life. Unfortunately many individuals are stuck in the thought process that a true Christ follower is free from these hang ups and never has to deal with them. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.

Hurts, habits, and hang ups affect us all. We live in a fallen and sinful world where temptation is all around us. Having the misconception that addictions and habits don’t plague the Christ follower can make it difficult to actually face our temptations. Living in denial can bring shame and actually strengthen the hold that sin has on us. (more…)

Planting Seeds of Faith in Your Children

Most of us have heard Christ’s parable of the farmer sowing the seed, found in Matthew 13:3-9 and 18-23. The story talks about different types of soil and how the seed (or the Word of God) thrives in various conditions. We can learn a great deal from this parable, particularly regarding the condition of our hearts and minds when receiving the seed, or Word of God into our hearts.

However, as a parent reading this parable, let’s take a different approach, placing yourself in the position of the sower instead of relating only to the conditions of the soil. As a Christian parent your primary task is to sow seeds of faith into the hearts and minds of your children.

This is a big responsibility. But don’t let it be a source of stress, because along with any task, comes the grace of God that will empower us to fulfill it. (more…)

Are You Doing the Right Thing the Wrong Way?

I Chronicles 13: 3-14 And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

So David gathered all Israel together…and they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with tambourines, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.

And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God. And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach on Uzza: why that place is called Perezuzza to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me? So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the family of Obededom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obededom, and all that he had.

Okay, that was a lot of scripture to read, but you really had to read the whole thing to get the picture here. The title of this post is ‘Doing the Right Thing the Wrong Way’ and it’s a very fitting message for today’s ’situational ethics’ based society.

When you read the story about David and all of the people of Israel gathering together and deciding to move the ark of God, you don’t really find anything wrong with that. They wanted the ark of God near them. The ark of God represents the presence of God, so wanting it near them was a good thing, right? (more…)

A Beautiful Mind

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a SOUND MIND.  2 Timothy 1:7

I want to camp right there on that scripture for this blog post. Why? Because your mind is generally the first area the enemy attacks, and if we as Christians don’t begin to claim what is rightfully ours, we may never experience the freedom and wholeness that comes with having a SOUND MIND.

How to Claim What Belongs to Us

As believers, there is a certain amount of tenacity and aggressiveness we must display in order to walk in the fullness of God. That may sound as foreign as can be to some people, but I promise you it’s the truth. Jesus Christ purchased salvation for us with His own blood, but He doesn’t force us to take it. We have to pursue and accept our redemption. After that, there’s more fighting to do… We are told in Ephesians 6:11 to put on the whole armor of God, so that we may be able to stand against the strategies and deceitful plans of the devil. The whole armor of God includes the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. I don’t know about you, but that scripture produces mental images of a battle that involves standing our ground, being wise, diligent, and claiming what is rightfully ours.

There are so many promises we could focus on today; our right to health and our promise of protection, just to name a few. But until we get our mind lined up with God’s way of thinking, we will never be able to stand on His promises for very long. All the enemy has to do is throw a little bit of discouragement, doubt, and unbelief our way and before long we’ll be having a pity party, wondering where our strength and victorious living has gone. Have you ever wondered why our minds are such a playground for the enemy? Well, I’m about to tell you. (more…)

Are You Guilty of Living for a Temporary Purpose?

Christmas is over, and for some individuals, this means dealing with a bit of a let-down. All of the hype and the family times that were so anxiously anticipated and planned for are now just a memory. The meals are over–the hours of preparation, the cookie baking, the wrapping and exchanging of gifts, and the Christmas carols are now behind us for another year. Of course, as Christians, we realize that the gift of God and the true meaning of Christmas can remain with us every day–but that’s not what I’m talking about right now.

Today, I’d like to ask you a heartfelt and direct question. Are you guilty of living for a temporary purpose?

Maybe you’ve never heard of or even considered a “temporary purpose” lifestyle before. If you live this life, you’ll recognize it right away. A few signs of the “temporary purpose” lifestyle include:

• Short term goals that may be materialistic in nature, but offer a point of focus–such as saving for, dreaming about, and selecting a new vehicle or other large purchase.
• Consuming yourself with plans for an upcoming event, such as the birth of a child or a wedding (your own or that of a relative). Spending hours decorating, shopping, reading about and planning for this event.
• Inventing short term goals when there isn’t one that comes around naturally. Those who depend on the distractions caused by the “temporary purpose” lifestyle will actually cause things to happen if there isn’t something in the near future. This could include the decision to buy a new pet or the sudden urge to tradein a vehicle when there really isn’t the need to do so.
• Making the decision to put in a pool or undertake some sort of major household renovation for no apparent reason.

Does anything on this list sound familiar? If so, you may want to take a look at your life purpose to decide whether you are living your life according to God’s real plan for you, or if you are avoiding His plan by making your own short term focal points as a way to fill your schedule and crowd your thoughts.

Ouch. Kind of stings, doesn’t it? Am I actually saying that adding value to your home or upgrading your vehicle is wrong? Am I telling you to ignore the upcoming birth of your new grandchild? No, of course I am not. (more…)

How to Really Come Home for The Holidays

Christmas is the time to come home. Whether we are 4 years old or 40, we all like to surround ourselves with family and friends during the holiday season. Something happens to our hardened edge as Christmas approaches. The remains of arguments or disagreements that may have taken place earlier in the year often melt away during the nostalgia and warm fuzzy feelings that overtake us during Christmas.

If you are reading this, saying, “Yea, right” to yourself, then maybe you need a bit of defrosting of the heart. Run down to your nearest video store and grab a copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas. After watching, see if you don’t have a little more clarity on the whole Christmas season. Charlie has a way of bringing it all into perspective.

Sometimes we lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas, but only for a little while. God is faithful, and the truth is that He really wants us to have a relationship with Him and come home for the holidays (to Him) much more than we could ever imagine. That’s why He is constantly calling us home. What? Did you say you haven’t heard him calling you? Maybe you should think a little harder.

God has spoken to all people (the lost as well as those who have received salvation) in their inner consciousness. We are created with an inner void, a longing that can only be filled through a healthy, active relationship with God. He is the only one who can fill the void.

How does God speak to us?

Maybe you are reading this and you weren’t even aware that you could actually hear God’s voice or develop a personal relationship with him. In John 17:2, Jesus said, “This is eternal life–that they may know God.”

So, how does God speak to us? Here are four simple keys of wisdom that will teach you exactly to hear God’s voice and how to develop a relationship with Him. (more…)

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Books By The Bed

The Go Giver: A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea:  Burg & Mann

“Over Promise And Over Deliver”.  Rick Barrera

“Never Give Up!”  Joyce Meyer

 “The Traveler’s Gift” .  Andy Andrews

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