Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Everyone wonders what True success is. There are very nearly as many definitions as there are people inhabiting the earth! Yet today I stumbled across God’s definition as I was studying Isaiah 31:
When we do these things God will protect us, deliver us, pass over us, and rescue us (verse 5)
And we will escape God’s sword of war (verse 8).
That is a pretty clear standard of success!
“How” – you ask? I cover fifteen ways in Chapter 9 of the God for Everyone e-book.
Check it out to save yourself a lot of struggle!
Tags: standard of success, success, True Success
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Sunday, April 4th, 2010
It’s passover week. During the origional struggle between God and Pharoah, God made it very clear that He considers the first fruits of human endeavor His. He took the lives of the first borns of all Egypt making the point, and yet in His abundant grace He “passed-over” the first-borns of Israel who were consecrated to Him. We were commanded to celebrate Passover and remember -forever! God knows we tend to forget. Some things are just too important to relegate to that ignored pile. God knows we require effort to focus on things. Jesus was celebrating Passover (having the Seder feast) as His last supper (See Chapter 9). The last meal He ate was an act of consecration to God as He remembered that God had set His people free to serve Him and were no longer slaves to other gods. Jesus’ leadership required sacrifice. He knew that He was facing death.
I talk about this much in God for Everyone, but today, I’m reveling in the eternal freedom from the perminent kiss of death. I too have been resurrected (freed to live eternally in God’s presence in one form or another); By Christ’s overcoming of death and resurrection to eternal life. Christ made a way and I am following. It is still a daily struggle (and will remain so until He returns again to set things right – see chapter 10); but it is so worth it. Especially on days like today – it is far and away the most beautiful spring I’ve ever experienced here this year, and I am surrounded by the beauty and fragrance of overwhelming blooms; it is a quiet, peacefully light-grey morning and I am obediently focusing on God’s choice to overcome death and offer abundant-life to me (also in chapter 10) . The gratitude consumes me and I am thankful beyond words that though I face a death of my own desires daily and fight Satan’s fears constantly, there is an overcoming power that is at work in me and I am noticing it. I am one day closer to an eternity in perfection with a God who left no stone unturned in searching for a way to bring me into union with Divinity.
Tags: last supper, Passover, resurrection, sacrafice, Seder
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Thursday, March 25th, 2010
My sister-in-law was with me for a vacation for the last ten days and it was such a lovely time. We rested and exercised and ate healthy and did all the fun girl-stuff. It ministered to both of our souls. We talked together and prayed together and encouraged each other. I was reminded of how much I love being with safe family. We compared notes about how to handle unsafe family and the challenges of this fallen life. Then we imagined how it will be when Heaven comes to earth and we are all perfected. The challenging believers will no longer be a challenge and we’ll all be “safe” and “fun” and “perfect”! We both can’t wait. I wrote a chapter in God for Everyone about what the perfected after-life might be like and I told Cindy that focusing on it It wetted my appetite big-time for my “graduation to glory” and the days of perfection ahead. Lord, please come quickly – I had so much fun with my sister, I can’t imagine how great it will be to be with you – I can’t wait!!!
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Friday, March 5th, 2010
Today I’m bummed because I’ve had a business problem and had to tell a friend that the job I was paying them for wasn’t acceptable. Of course they’re upset and so am I. I hate that. Why can’t things in this world go smoothly? I talk alot about that in God for Everyone, but it’s still painful and requires some serious soul searching.
First I hired this person without getting references and all the “smart business” things I need to do. I did so consciously, trying to just “walk through the doors God opened.” This one turned out painfully – does that mean I got my marching orders wrong? Was I supposed to do it the worlds way and take responsibility for researching and finding the “best” person and then fight hard to negociate the “best” contract? I still don’t think so. As I’m replaying how this all happened I keep hearing the Holy Spirit’s wee small voice saying “I have a different agenda.” So if I “go spiritual” and look at this from God’s perspective as I understand it; is it not possible that God used me to point out to this person that their business practices were not ones that were going to make them ultimately successful? Is it possible that I was obedient to “follow my gut” and walk through the door that was open and then do the hard thing and as lovingly as I was able, tell this person about the problems? Is it possible that God allowed me to “fail,” and not have the process go smoothly. Most of my generation was raised with the interpretation that “God is Love,” (meaning soft and easy) and so confronting a problem always seems “mean” and un-loving. But we all know intellectually that it’s not that simple. God is also Perfection, and Holiness, and Justice. Is is just for me to be the “dormat” and always accept the unacceptable and pay the price anyway for others failures? I am absolutely certain that God does call us to pay the price, and bite the bullet and be abused by others for some Godly outcome we can’t know about. But could there not be a Godly outcome in standing up for the better, even in the face of conflict? Absolutely. It’s still hard for me to not accuse myself of not being the “bad guy” when I stand up for righteousness, and I don’t do it easily; but I’m learning that God’s ways are not our ways and if God chose to lead me into a “failure,” I have to be OK with that. Why is it that I am surprised that getting on God’s train of thought requires me to think so differently!
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Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
The Encouraging Word from KLOVE Christian radio today was “I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from Him,” from Psalm 62:1. How different this is from the ‘way of this world’ which tells us that we need to have a daily “to do list” based on our five-year plan, and we always need to be working on it. “What do you want to do when you grow up?” “What is your business plan?” “Where will you be next year?” Are but a few of the questions we’ve all fielded our whole lives. Yet every person I still know from High School (except 1!) has changed careers at least twice and several 3 times in the last thirty years! The reality is that we just don’t know what is going to happen and how we will react to it. Who plans to get divorced? – Yet 60% of people do! Who plans to lose their job? – Yet nearly everyone does at one time or another. Who plans to get sick? Only God knows what is ahead and what we need to be doing to prepare. So why do we spend so little time asking God “What do YOU want me to do here?” Why do we accept the lie that we should always know and be able to plan and protect against the unknown? I talk about this in greater length in God For Everyone, but today even the author needed to be reminded that this book, website, and God’s plan for my life are safely in His hands and not mine. It’s counter-intuitive to relax and trust God with what I’ve done and not feel weighted down by a list 5 miles long of what this venture will require to succeed according to the “experts,” but that happened slowly over time. I was indoctrinated with a lie that I am now painfully having to unlearn. My soul trusts the God who has proven Himself to me, and relaxing and trusting that my best is good enough for now (even when my best isn’t very good), really feels more right. I shall go enjoy the Olympics now with a quiet conscience for God is faithful, and I must wait patiently for His plan and stop trying to force mine down a Divine throat that just wants to sing.
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Monday, December 21st, 2009
Enter into the discussion! What do you think about God for Everyone?
Any burning questions? Maybe someone will have some answers for you!
Heather will try to respond where helpful, but the hope is that this will be a forum for us all to share our “letters” and expand our understandings of God and this world we share.
Please be thoughtful and polite in your correspondence or the entry will be removed; but please share what’s on your mind. Heather is still improving this e-book, so please share any things you see in it that need her attention.
This will be fun – Let’s grow together! Please limit your entry’s to a couple of paragraphs at a time, so there’s room for everyone.
Abundant blessings on this amazing journey.
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