Heartblown!

Within a day or two of my previous post, God expanded my understanding even more on the matter of transformation for the believer.  God showed me that the soul is made up of three parts as well; our mind, will, and emotions.  Our mind produces thoughts, our will produces choices, and our emotions produce feelings.  Our mind has been deceived by this sin-ridden world, our will has become rebellious, and our emotions become controlling.  At salvation, our spirit becomes alive and the Holy Spirit indwells us.  We become new.  Our thoughts, choices, and feelings want to change.  The Holy Spirit desires to work through our soul to bring fruit to the body.  The spirit and fruit of the body is God's part.  Our part is to renew our minds and surrender our will and emotions.  We have to make those changes and allow God to rewire our thinking to please Him and glorify Him.  WOW!  What an incredible concept.  It is amazing how everything works together for a purpose.  I am thankful for the love He has shown us just so we can know Him.  I am so excited learn more, and ready for God to reveal what I need to change next.  It won't be easy, but it will be worth it.

 For the Glory of God,

"Be ye transformed..."

Have you ever had a light bulb moment where something finally clicked and made sense for the very first time?
I have.  This particular moment occurred during a message at church over Ephesians 2:1-3.  This passage speaks of how a Christian is made alive in the spirit when he accepts Christ as his Savior.  My wheels get to turning as man is described as body, soul, and spirit.  Pictures start flooding my mind and I start writing down what I see.  The end result looks similar to the diagram above for a non-Christian.  A non-Christian's body and soul are alive while the spirit is not, yet the spirit still has needs that need to be met.  Those needs are filled by the body or the soul.  When a non-Christian becomes a Christian, the spirit is "quickened" or made alive, and can now its needed can be properly fulfilled (see diagram below).  The problem is that because the spirit's needs were improperly fulfilled, the improper patterns and beliefs are set in place.  It will take a lot of trust, and effort to reprogram or "renew" the mind to reset the patterns originally created.  Salvation is an immediate and free gift, but renewal of the mind is a constant process.  God gave us His Son as payment for our sins, but the consequences of our sin are ours to bear.  We must seek to know God each day, and ask God to reveal the "stinkin' thinkin'" that we learned before Christ in order to be transformed.  Transformation speaks of change.  Change is never easy, but it is inevitable.  God also promises to be with us through every up and down that we face.   Let's hold on tight and trust the process of God's transforming grace (Romans 12:1-2).

      For the Glory of God,

Never Say Never...Again

I never in a million years thought I would be a "product pusher" for any of the trendy health or beauty products out there.  Guess what? I'm still not.  I am an Herbalife Distributor (soon to be Supervisor/World Team Member...dream big, right?).  I help others achieve their health (or wealth) dreams turning their goals into accomplishments.  Herbalife gets results, builds relationships, and rewires your thinking.
I have been hanging around my Herbalife Crew since December at FREE Fit Camps, who says no to FREE, right?  I was skeptical at first, not too sure about everything.  I tried my first shake, Cinnamon Roll, and tea, and was in love with the taste and energy I recieved.  The Fit Camps are awesome because I can't afford a gym.  After hanging out at Fit Camps, I started making friends even though I am not good at it.  In January, I joined and COMPLETED the Fit Challenge (6am, bright and early), and lost inches and got results on my mile and sit-ups.
Products aside, I gained a bunch of new friends, a positive environment to accomplish goals, a growth mindset, and positive energy.  Everyone wants to help each other.  I am excited and looking forward to getting my own results and sharing my story with everyone I know and don't know.  I am official now, and I am ready to rock my two week Spring Break and beyond.
The thing I love most about Herbalife is their emphasis on "Personal Development".  As a teacher, I have heard of "Professional Development" (which is usually followed by a groan of obligation).  "Personal Development" was a new concept to me about listening to successful people helping others become successful.  The awesome part is that most of what they say applies to life across the board and not just in business. You can learn the easy way or the hard way. Work smarter not harder.
As a Christian, "Personal Development" and "Discipleship" are nearly interchangeable.  The sad fact of the matter is that Herbalife invests more time into developing and training leaders than most churches do in training Christians to go out and reach others for Christ.
One of my goals is to use this "Personal Development" concept as a motivator to get others excited and motivated to bring the Good News of Christ to the world.  I want to reach the world for Jesus, and if Herbalife can be my tool, so be it.

Why? 

For the Glory of God,

Laborers of the Harvest

Labor (noun)
1. a. Physical or mental exertion, especially when difficult or exhausting; work.
    b. Something produced by work.
2. A specific task.
3. A particular form of work or method of working: manual labor.
4. Work for wages.

Labor (verb)
1. To work; toil: labored in the fields.
2. To strive painstakingly: labored over the needlepoint.
3.a. To proceed with great effort; plod: labored up the hill.
   b. Nautical To pitch and roll.
4. To suffer from distress or a disadvantage.

God has given me my new Harvest of Kiddos, and I now know what it means to be a laborer. Labor is hard work, exhausting, painful at times, but ultimately rewarding.  My kiddos are a tough group, but I love them.  I am laboring in nearly all of the sense of the word for the glory of God.  I hope and pray that I am sending that message.  I will come up with some daily measureable goals such as reading my Bible each day before work. Journaling and praying daily.  Prayer can happen anywhere; I can pray on my way to work as long as I don't close my eyes while driving.  I can seek God in the moment rather than asking forgiveness after acting in the flesh.

Today in fact, I had to calm myself down with my own advice that I had given to a student earlier this morning.  I was getting emotional over something very little and insignificant in the big grand scheme of things.  God has called me to labor specifically with kids, but as a disciple, I am called to make disciples unto Christ.  Because labor is exhausting, hard, painful, physically and mentally demanding; I don't think many people want to be laborers. 

 Jesus states, "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." (Matthew 9:36-38, emphasis added).

The laborers are few 
Few. As in not very many.  A little.  There are few people that want to labor for much of anything.  Of that few, there aren't many that want to labor for Christ by bringing lost souls to a saving knowledge of Christ and a transformed life as a disciple of Christ.

Pray ye therefore...

We can pray for laborers.  We can pray for each other and hold each other accountable as laborers for Christ.  I seek to be a laborer in the harvest for eternity's sake.  As of right now, God has given me a ripe harvest of kiddos with hearts that are breaking with the desire to be loved and understood.  I pray I can be the laborer to till the hearts of these kiddos and plant some positive seeds of love, Christ's love, and acceptance in their hearts.

Are you a laborer?

Are you working for the Lord in the harvest He has prepared for you?  Are you working the land and planting the seed in the hearts of those around you?  God never said it would be easy, but He did promise to be there through it all.

 For the Glory of God,

"She Shall be Praised"

The Valentine's day hooplah is now coming to an end,
candy hearts and overstocked sweets are now marked down and greet you at your local grocery store like sad rejected misfits that weren't chosen to brighten someone's special day.

I am sure there are people that may feel the same way after this over the top day to celebrate love. Discounted and rejected because that special someone has not yet entered their life or they have loved and lost.  The desire for romantic love can choke out any happiness or joy in life if you allow it.  Being single doesn't have to equal sad, alone, and hopeless.

This has been a struggle for me, but I am learning to trust God each day.  God also has some wonderful advice for women on this very issue.We are to be wise and build up (Proverbs 14:1) we are to fear the Lord rather than be concerned with the favor and beauty of this world (Proverbs 31:30) Single women, care about the things of the Lord seeking to be holy in body and in spirit and serve the Lord without distraction (at least that is what we are supposed to do) (1Corinthians 7:34-35).

Wisdom~Women are to be wise, so where do we get wisdom?  We get wisdom from the Lord.  How do we get wisdom?  We get wisdom by fearing the Lord. According to Proverbs 9:10,  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."

Fear the Lord~How do we fear the Lord?  The Instistute in Basic Life Principles defines it this way, "To fear God is to desire to live in harmony with His righteous standards and to honor Him in all that you do." Easier said than done, right?  First it begins with the desire.  When we desire to live for God we will begin to put some action behind that desire and find out what His standards are and how we can honor Him.

Cares for the things of the Lord~When we fear God, we get wisdom and will begin to care for the things that matter most to God such as serving others and reaching them with the Good News of the gospel.

Holy in body and spirit~God is holy, and as we seek Him we will want to become like Him.  I think it is interesting to note that we will become holy in body and spirit.  Our body is from God and needs to reflect His glory just as much as our spirit.

Serve the Lord without distraction~According to the Word of God, single women can serve the Lord without distraction.  The distraction of a husband, I assume.  This is not to say marriage is inferior or wrong or singleness is a higher form of holiness.  Singleness just affords a specific opportunity to serve God (if one so chooses) that doesn't come with marriage.  The key is to actually take hold of it and serve God in your singleness.  Singleness is not a place to put your life on hold waiting around for the one that will sweep you off of your feet.  It will have moments of waiting, but ultimately you should be living your life to the full in accordance to God's will.  Distractions come in all shapes and sizes.  In today's technology-driven and fast-paced world, it is easy to get lost in all of the things that are constantly grabbing for our attention.  TV, computers, phones, social media, and that constant desire to be plugged in and not out of the loop. This makes serving the Lord without distraction that much harder.  It can be done, and God is there for us every step of the way.  We just need to seek Him and learn how to fear him.

For the Glory of God,

My New Harvest!

I returned a call to a principal on Friday after chatting with my adopted grandma.  The principal informed me that I got the teaching assistant position.  I was so excited.  I said something like this: "Yay! I would love to have the job."  She informed me the process of which I am no stranger would take some time.  The excitement of knowing I now have a job after over four months without employment was a major answer to prayer and a big blessing.  I was at the point to take any employment outside of ministering to children and even risk working on Sundays.

Children are my heart and calling.  I love the opportunity I am given to love on and teach them life principles as well as reading, math, history, and so on.  I look forward to shine the light of Christ and His love through my life and example.  God is so amazing.  He has blessed me with another harvest of kiddos.  I am looking forward to meeting them, and I hope I will make a difference for eternity's sake.

For the Glory of God,

My Best Effort is NEVER Good Enough

Filling out a job applictation:  "Were you ever terminated or discharged from a previous job?  Why?"
I think long and hard on my answer.  My best effort didn't measure up.  My best effort...
As I ruminate how to answer this question, I hear the lyrics to Matthew West's song "Strong Enough" float around me and my answer hits me like a ton of bricks.  My best effort.  I can't do it on my own.

That is kind of the point...I can't do anything without God.  The days are a little fuzzy now.  I remember the stress.  I remember wanting to do everything well. I neglected God till the stress was overwhelming.  It was a different kind of stress...it wasn't a defensive kind.  It was a balance thing.

The stress of a more than full time job stopped.  The struggle now became what to do with my time. Yes, I have job searched.  Nothing.  I have been able to serve more at my church, go to women's Bible study, help out neighbors, make new friends, and more.  There is a certain flexibility with not having a specific job.

My best effort will never measure up in a job, a fitness and food program, or in church service.  I can't do anything on my own.  I am only good and can only do good through Christ.  Apart from Him, I can do nothing.  It is a daily surrender~a heart, mind, and spirit matter.  This is easier said than done.  I hope and pray that I will surrender each day, each moment, and each breath to my Lord.

For the Glory of God,

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:"

~Colossians 1:27