Be Intentional!

WOOHOO!  The New Year has arrived…. some are nursing hangovers this morning while others are looking forward to enjoying another day off with friends and family.

I’m ready to kick off 2018 with my ONE WORD – INTENTIONAL!

So why did  I pick this word?  Believe me I didn’t pick it, God placed it on my heart.  Last year was all about being accountable. I will admit in being accountable I had MANY moments when things were done by the seat of my pants.  The end result always seemed to work out BUT I wanted this year to be different.

By definition “intentional” means done on purpose; something deliberate.  Intentional means you are purposeful in word and action. It means you live a meaningful and fulfilling life – whatever it is to you. It means you make thoughtful choices in your life. It means you actively interact and engage in your life.

In being “intentional”, I have begun planning for 2018.  Check out some of the NEWNESS coming…

• The January Edition of my NEW Customer Newsletter is ready to go.
• Monthly Customer Appreciation Online BINGO events are set up
• New logo to “brand” myself and my business
• Changes in blogging schedule (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday only)
• Monthly themed Facebook Parties (mystery hostess)
• Give Back with Me Monthly with random acts of kindness
• Focus on Fundraising and Giving Back to the Community (especially kids)

Looking back over my “one word”, I realize God has been answering my prayers, in his time not in mine.  My vision is to make a difference in the life of others but I needed to grow personally before I could do this…

My first year selecting “one word” was In 2013 and my word was FAITH.  Faith to believe when the way is rough and faith to hang on when the going is tough will never fail to pull us through and bring us strength and comfort too. Helen Steiner Rice. “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20

FAITH led me to my word in 2014 which was EMBRACE.  The goal was to EMBRACE all of the blessings God had in store for me.  I needed to have FAITH before I could EMBRACE the me everyone else saw – confident, thinner, and some might even say fun.  I learned to EMBRACE challenges as blessings without a visit from Doubtful Debbie or Negative Nellie.

Having FAITH and moving forward as I EMBRACED the blessings in my life, I had to learn to TRUST in 2015!  Learning to lean on God for ALL things and TRUST him to direct my path was probably the toughest for me.  I had to learn to stop taking control when things didn’t go my way.  God is in control and I TRUST he will direct my path. I grew in my FAITH, knowing God will provide for my needs.

The inner gremlins were rearing their ugly head so in 2016, my word was CONFIDENCE!  I needed CONFIDENCE to believe when the way was rough and the going was tough.  CONFIDENCE as I learned to live with my recent diagnosis of MS.  CONFIDENCE as I squashed the inner gremlins which had haunted me all of my life.

Then in 2017, it was all about being ACCOUNTABLE.  Being accountable meant in all areas of my life not just my business. It meant watching what I ate, working my business as a business. Most of all, it meant being fully transparent in my relationships which was scary as HELL!

All of these lead me to this year of being INTENTIONAL!

Whatever your word is for this year, I wish you a safe, healthy and Happy New Year.  May this year bring you everything you desire….

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

You Really Can Do It With God

Thank you Kelly Balarie for today’s message:Matthew 17:20

It looked like an impossible task – a no way, no how kind of thing. I had no time, waning skills and hardly a resource to actually make it happen.

After all, I am not a star candidate. My follow-through record is usually pretty poor, my attitude often defeated and my belief in myself is hardly at mountaintop levels. How could I actually follow through on what I knew God wanted me to do?

Everything in me wanted to tell God to check the earth for another holy roller and remind Him that He had picked the wrong gal.

And, I nearly did.

I would have if it wasn’t for the other “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12) I couldn’t seem to shake (despite my best efforts) to ignore. The one that whispered, “With me, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). You can’t, but I can. Where there is my will, there is a way.”

His Word broke through my hard exterior, to speak life to my interior, asking: Will you choose to believe that I can do exceedingly abundantly more than you can ask, think or imagine (Ephesians 3:20) or will you believe I can’t?

When God hits you like that, you start realizing there isn’t much middle ground. You start realizing that He either is great and mighty like you confess in church, or He isn’t. You start realizing the job is far less about you and far more about what He can do.

You start moving toward belief, real belief, the kind of belief that works out incredible, hopeful and wild-things. The type of faith Jesus says moves mountains, even in when administered in the smallest doses.

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

What mountain before you seems impossible to shake, quake or break? What do you stand hard-pressed against? What hurts to be near?

Have you considered with your small words of “God can,” He will? He will do something life changing, effective and significant. Why? Because He promises.

Will it look exactly as you think? Probably not.
Will it look better than you can think or imagine? Yes.

Will it always be according to your timeline? Hardly.
Could it be something you have to witness, one day, from the safety of heaven? Possibly.

But, our God will do what He says he will do.

Believe.

Tell your mountain to move.

Ask it again.

Believe it again.

Ask it again.

Believe it again.

Do not grow weary, worn or restless.

God is working for you, loving you and leading you.

Take heart, He has overcome the world (John 16:33).
He can overcome everything and anything that is coming against you.

 

The Mustard Seed of Faith

Thank you Mary Southerland for today’s message…..

He (Jesus) replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustardseed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” ~ Matthew 17:20, NIV

I am not a quitter! What some might call stubbornness, I prefer to call perseverance – especially when it comes to growing flowers and plants.

We recently downsized and moved to a house with a small wooden deck in the back yard. I took one look at that deck and could almost hear it crying out for beautiful plants spilling over the edges of brightly colored ceramic planters. My stubbornness … uh, perseverance … kicked in, and I thought, “I can do this!”

I headed to the local nursery where they know me. And by “know me” I mean they understand that I can kill just about any living plant known to mankind.

Linda greeted me with a smile. Linda and I have become friends over the years as I have tried to grow various plants and flowers. She is well aware of my limitations in the world of plants, and is so sweet about it. When I explained what I wanted for the deck, Linda smiled and said, “Follow me.”

When we reached the section of plants and seeds labeled “Hardy” I could feel my confidence kick in. A beautiful display of plants, trees and packages of seeds greeted me. Linda began to explain what she thought would work best as she picked out several starter packs of Peonies and Daylilies, explaining that it is nearly impossible to kill either one. I was only half-listening. The display of seeds had caught my eye. Actually one packet of seeds grabbed my attention. It was the mustard seed. I began to read the information on the back of the packet. I didn’t actually want to plant the seeds, but I was fascinated by how small they were. They were tiny!

And then I remembered what Jesus said in the Bible about the mustard seed.
Matthew 13:31-32 “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

Wow! The mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds, but it grows … and keeps growing. It can become a plant or even a tree. It all depends on how much it is fed and watered. The same is true of our faith.

Scripture tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God. When we hear those words, we assume the Bible is describing the kind of faith we read about in the lives of the disciples as they healed the sick, made the blind to see, and performed miracles in the name of Jesus. It is! But that faith began with a tiny seed – a seed as small as a mustard seed.

Jesus tells us that we don’t need a lot of faith to produce great results. We just need to be sure where that faith is planted. And once planted, it will grow if we faithfully feed and water it.

Don’t miss this truth! When our faith rests in God alone, we can and should expect incredible results.

Hebrews 11:1 (ICB) “Faith means being sure of the things we hope for. And faith means knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.”

Faith is built upon trust. God wants us to trust Him in the ordinary moments of every day life and when the storms of life knock us to our knees.

God wants us to trust Him – to have faith in Him – even when we do not understand what is happening and life seems unfair. Even when nothing makes sense and the plan seems totally wrong.

God did not come to eliminate the storms of life. God came to fill each storm with His presence. It is easy to trust Him when the seas of life are calm and the skies are clear. The true strength of our faith is measured in the midst of a raging storm.

A crisis always reveals what is really inside. What life does to us depends on what life finds in us. Faith is a deliberate choice to believe God, to walk through our fear, knowing we can trust Him.

And all it takes is faith the size of a mustard seed.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!