Being a Godly Woman, Transformation
Have you ever said something and later wished that you hadn’t? Or maybe just talked too much?
In coaching we’re taught that we should not be talking more than about 20% of the time. It’s not about giving advice and our opinions. It’s about helping people to discern what God would have them to do and drawing it out of them.
There’s a nice little acronym to help us remember that: W.A.I.T. — Why Am I Talking?
I thought about how that is actually an acronym that we could all use in every situation.
We should WAIT before we speak and ask ourselves why we are talking. (more…)
Life Balance, Transformation
I admit, I’ve been energized by my children being back in school. Before you think that I just want them out of here, that’s not really the case at all. I do miss them when they are gone and actually really miss our home school years—I wouldn’t trade those years for anything and often wish we were still learning together each day.
You’ve probably heard the sayings, “Failing to plan is planning to fail” or “If you aim for nothing, you’ll hit it every time”. That’s how I felt all summer. It was draining.
I know that I’m much more efficient and peaceful when I have a game plan for accomplishing all I need to do each day. ( I guess I should ‘fess up–I love it even more when it’s color-coded.) With 6 children still at home (#7 is off at college), you can imagine the busyness around our house. Not to mention little people stuff everywhere. It was really hard to be consistent and have my routine and structure to our days with the lazy days of summer. Some days I felt like I didn’t accomplish anything and it seemed that I never saw the bottom of Mt. Washmore. (more…)
Being a Godly Woman, Goals, Transformation
Can you describe the man or woman you desire to be spiritually in one year? What about in ten years?
Have you ever taken time to think about who you want to be in the future? I mean to really envision what the future “you” will be like?
I’ve thought about that for the past few weeks. One of the Bible studies I’m working through asked me to write out who I would like to be spiritually both one year and ten years from now.
What are my goals? Are there any people I look up to and would like to be like? How would I want others to describe me? How would I want God to describe me? Those are great questions and really got me thinking. (more…)
Adversity, Life Purpose, Transformation
I told our story about making the hard decision to leave the mission field in the previous 3 posts (part 1, part 2, and part 3).
So…………… let’s take this focus off of me and look at how God can use these types of experiences.
I don’t ever want it to come across as telling my story just so people “hear my story”. I always want the focus to be on God and how He uses each experience and how we can grow through them.
I truly am the person I am because of the things He has allowed me to experience. I can honestly say that I am thankful for them because of whom they have helped me to become. I learned so much about God and grew in ways that I never dreamed I would. My prayer is that God would use my experiences to share hope with others and help lead them to trust Him. (more…)
Adversity, Life Purpose, Transformation
Leaving the mission field was harder than going to the field, as I described in the previous 2 posts (part 1 and part 2).
I won’t go into all the details of the next few months, but we really had no idea how much of an impact moving back to my hometown would have on our family.
After moving back and buying a house, John was still pretty sick. He basically had 2 options: to live on the high dosage of meds he was on or switch to an infusion-based treatment. Neither sounded great. During one visit, which was a Tuesday, the doctor told John that he may be a surgical candidate. We had no idea there was a surgical option. We saw the surgeon 3 days later on Friday. The surgeon then told John that he would have surgery the following Tuesday, just 4 days later. Wow! Talk about a shocker. They removed John’s entire large intestine and did a J-pouch surgery. He had an ileostomy for 2 months while that healed. All this within a week of learning that a surgical option even existed. Two months later, after the J-pouch healed, he had a second surgery to reverse the ileostomy. (more…)
Adversity, Life Purpose, Transformation
As I said in my previous post ( part 1) , the hardest thing we ever did wasn’t going to the mission field, but leaving the mission field. We honestly had no intentions of ever leaving.
We went to seminary specifically to work towards serving as career missionaries. That was the plan. There was no back-up plan, nor any interest in another plan. We knew we were doing exactly what God had for us to do. Our seminary years were pretty amazing and our calling was confirmed over and over.
Fast forward to 7 years on the field and all of a sudden we were faced with the decision of staying on the field very sick, taking a leave of absence, or taking a medical resignation. (more…)
Adversity, Life Purpose, Transformation
What is the hardest thing God has ever had you do?
Do you know what it is? Did something come to mind easily? (or does everything seem hard….)
We left a job with the post office to move to seminary with 3 boys and a baby on the way. The transfer to the post office in Memphis didn’t work out, so John ended up delivering pizza through seminary. (We joked that it was probably the most highly educated delivery team in the country. Several of the guys were working on their master’s degree and there were even some doctoral students!) We lived on $650/month. On paper it didn’t make sense, especially since our rent and van payment were already over that amount, but God was amazing and we learned to rely completely on Him and trust Him like we never even dreamed we could.
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Being a Godly Woman, Life Purpose, Transformation
Do you have anything in your life that you know God is asking you to do, but you don’t want to do it? (Ouch!)
What makes it hard for you?
- Is it uncomfortable?
- Out of your comfort zone?
- Does it involve someone you really don’t want to help?
- Would it produce a result that you don’t want to see happen?
Even when we are spiritually mature, we can still fight and wrestle with our good old stubborn will at times. (more…)
Adversity, Grief, Transformation
Do you ever feel like you are just picking up the pieces and starting over?
I completely get that.
I understand what it’s like to have a dream dissolve before your very eyes and what it means to lean on Christ to see you through and give you direction and purpose.
I understand what it’s like to experience losses and then pick up the pieces and start over, as I said earlier.
My husband and I have faced the deaths of three of our own children. One through miscarriage, a son who died the night he and his twin brother were born, and a daughter who was stillborn. We have also both lost our mothers. Three years ago, we even lost our career unexpectedly and had to start over when my husband got very ill on the mission field. (more…)
There’s a nice little acronym to help us remember that: W.A.I.T. — Why Am I Talking?