More on vision...

Pastor Mark often talks about the importance of examining our passion and gifts as the key to discover God's vision for our lives. God’s vision usually lies where our passion and our talent intersect. In another word, if people close their ears and run for their lives when I sing, then becoming a singer is probably not God’s vision for me. =) In Chazown, Craig Groeschel wrote about another approach called the three circles to help us seek and find God's visions for our lives. Here’s what he said in the book:

1. Examine your core values.
Craig defines core values as the values that God hardwired into our heart. These are the values that would become the driving forces of our lives, the ones that explain our personalities. Craig also wrote about the anger-bliss factor (similar to Kaarin'’s pound the table test): What stirs righteous anger inside of us? In case of Jesus, what made him angry was the fact His temple was turned from a place of worship into a marketplace. Jesus' core value is the sanctity of worship. Other examples of core values are integrity, authenticity, thrive for excellence, and kindness. Similarly the bliss factor is the things that bring happiness and fulfillment. If I love helping people, then serving may be my core value. What do you know is so important that you will let go everything else in order to grasp it?

2. Spiritual gifts.
We all know that we are gifted by God. In what area are we good at? Moses’ gift was leadership. Nehemiah’s gift was administration. Every gifts and talents have come directly from God for a purpose and He wants to use them to benefit the body of Christ. What are the gifts that God has given you? What are you passionate for? What do you do that seems to have significant impact on others? If you are interested in discovering your spiritual gifts, NCC has an excellent tool for that.

Gift and Passion Assessment

3. Past experiences.
These are events or seasons in our live that God has given to prepare us to fulfill His future vision. Pastor Mark talked about how Moses’ past experiences (he spent 40 years in the Egyptian palace, and another 40 years in the dessert) uniquely qualifies him as the person to lead the Israelite out of Egypt. David's experience as the shepherd prepares him for his battle with Goliath. Think about both positive and negative experiences that have shaped how you think, feel and act. What do your good and bad experiences have in common? What do you think your experiences have done to prepare for the future?

So, finally the last step would be bringing all these three circles together and find the place where they converge. That's where we'd find our chazown. Now, it's time for me to apply these and find my chazown! =)

Lord, I am thankful!

Dear GOD:

I want to thank you for what you have already done. I am not going to wait until I see results or receive rewards; I am thanking you right now.

I am not going to wait until I feel better or things look better; I am thanking you right now.

I am not going to wait until people say they are sorry or until they stop talking about me; I am thanking you right now.

I am not going to wait until the pain in my body disappears; I am thanking you right now.

I am not going to wait until my financial situation improves; I am going to thank you right now.

I am not going to wait until I get promoted at work or until I get the job; I am going to thank you right now.

I am not going to wait until I understand every experience in my life that has caused me pain or grief; I am thanking you right now.

I am not going to wait until the journey gets easier or the challenges are removed;
I am thanking you right now.

I am thanking you because I am alive.
I am thanking you because I made it through the day's difficulties.
I am thanking you because I have walked around the obstacles.
I am thanking you because I have the ability and the opportunity to do more and do better.

I'm thanking you because FATHER, YOU haven't given up on me.

Still stuck on vision!

We decided to stick to the theme of vision and using our God-given abilities to bring his plans for our lives to pass. This week, we are going to base our journaling on Matthew 25:14-30-- but more than that, we are going to take Pastor Mark's advice and put that Scripture into practice. Our assignment is to start working on one of our goals-- use/invest our talents. We are also going to look at Psalm 24 to provide some fuel for us to remember that our visions and our goals are all for the glory of the King.

What an ambitious mission for this week! I can't wait for next Monday!

Nehemiah recap

It was good to see so many of you ladies (old and new) last night! Happy Birthday again Sarah H.!

We discussed Nehemiah chapters 1 and 2 last night and talked about our vision and goals for the next 6 months. Specifically, we pointed out the example of Nehemiah's prayer in chapter 1 and the strength of his personal relationship with God to carry him through the completion of his vision. We talked about using Nehemiah has an example of how to deal with opposition to our visions. Generally, we are all pretty struck by how charismatic and infectious Nehemiah was with his vision and the passion with which he stirred other on to help him accomplish his goal.

Anything else about Nehemiah I forgot or that you just want to share?

There were also some really cool goals for the next 6 months that we shared. We talked about how we sometimes need to be content not to plan in one area as we work towards goals in other areas of our lives. The group had a variety of goals-- God-size plans that are going to stretch and challenge us. A really cool idea for intellectual goals came from Carmel-- she chose 6 different topics of interest that she is going to research and report back to the group on!

Dream on, plan on!

The Pound The Table Test

Dennis Rainey, National Director of Family Ministry, Campus Crusade for Christ said:

"Do you believe that God can give you a vision for your world that will capture you for the rest of your life? What are you uniquely burdened for? What injustice causes you to pound the table and weep?

I am a believer in the pound the table test - if something gets under your skin, makes you want to scream with either joy or frustration, makes you stay up at night because it is sweating out of your pours, I think it may be a clue to the beginning of a God given vision.

In Marlene Bagnull's book Write His Answer: A Bible Study for Christian Writers she talks about having a vision, but warns that you must question if you are being driven or led. The big question is - who is driving the train in your life and with your goals - you or Christ?

A driven person is someone who wants self satisfaction and recognition. The person who is led by Christ will do everything he or she can to serve Him and make sure that He is the one being glorified.

The thing that I love about Nehemiah is that he was just an ordinary guy that had a God-given vision planted in his soul. And because "the gracious hand of God" was with him (Neh 2:8) it gave him a fire in his belly. When the king asked him "what is it you want?" Nehemiah didn't back down, he didn't apologize for the thing that was weighing on his heart - he just told the king exactly what he wanted (after he prayed!). THEN he asked that the king give him things in order to accomplish his task. My friends, Nehemiah was a Biblical Bad A$$.

If God plants a vision within us and we do not pursue it, is it a form of disobedience? Do we become a watered-down version of the person we could become if we just put aside our insecurities and trusted Him? Nehemiah admits that he was "very much afraid" (Neh 2:2), but the thing that makes him different from others is that he did it anyway.

I pray to have courage like Nehemiah, and to continually ask "am I being driven or led?" with my vision.

Be present in the present!

We have a new challenge for this week! We are going to focus on Nehemiah chapters 1 and 2 and think about pursuing goals and God-given visions. Our task for the week is to come up with some short-term goals/visions for the next 6 months of our lives. We have chosen to focus on the present, on tangible goals and visions and have committed to be accountability partners for each other. We will focus on 7 categories of goals to set for ourselves:

1. relational-- to nurtue, initiate, reconnect or sever a relationship
2. physical-- to cut something out or to increase something
3. intellectual-- to expand our minds
4. spiritual-- to learn a discipline, study something from the Word
5. financial-- to invest, save, give, stewardship
6. vocational-- both our paid and non-paid interests/jobs
7. personal-- anything else that you just want to do

Here are some thoughts to help spark the vision-thinking from Heather Z:

1. God's Vision is Bigger Than My Vision
God wants us to dream dreams that are big enough for him to work in. Once your God-given vision gets to the point where it is overwhelming, ask God to stretch you a little more. God can accomplish more in us and in others than we can possibly imagine.

2. Visions Take Time
Every vision has a waiting room where God prepares us for the work he wants to do. Waiting on a vision is typically a time of preparation. Don't try to speed through it. Anchor down and ask God to help you become the person he wants you to be.

3. Visions Die Before They Live
Visions die. Why? I think it's because God wants to test our hearts. He wants to make sure our focus is directed towards him first and foremost. What do we love most-- God or our vision? What takes priority- time with God or time on the vision? What will be sacrifice-- God's presence or the vision? Don't get discouraged if and when your vision dies. Hold onto God. He is in the business of reversing the irreversible.

4. Visions Need Image Stabilization
Canon’s website says, “Shaking occurs naturally when you hold binoculars for an extended period of time. Wind, muscle fatigue, and even excitement can contribute to 'binocular shake.' The more powerful the binoculars, the more pronounced the shake appears. It’s tiring on your eyes, it’s distracting, and it makes getting a good, sharp focus simply impossible.

We need image stabilization for good vision. Over time, we get tired. Or we are blown about by the environment we are in. Or sometimes we just get so excited about the vision that we forget about God! God gives us SAP image stabilization technology for our vision- Scripture, Accountability and Prayer. Root yourself in the Word of God, immerse yourself in a group of people who love you but love God more, and pray like it depends on God.

5. Visions Come to Those Who Follow Well
Jesus said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." As leaders, our first job is to follow. Christ first. Spiritual leaders second. If you are faithful to follow well the vision of another, God will assemble your own team for the vision he has given to you when the time is right.

6. Visions Make Us Lonely People
It doesn't matter how many people buy into your vision or how many people are on your team. You will always go through periods of loneliness in your vision. Why? Because a God-given vision will orient you against the mainstream. You will have to run against the status quo.

No one is ever going to be as excited about the vision as you are. That makes sense and it's okay. Just know that going into it. Leadership in general can be lonely. Pursuing a God-given vision is sometimes the loneliest task in the world.

7. Doors of Opportunity Lead to Vision
I have found that pursuing vision has more to do with stepping through doors of opportunity than it does with setting goals. Ask God to open your eyes to the doors that are around you and to give you wisdom as you make life decisions.

8. The Sustaining Force of Vision: Christ Alone
I have found that there is only one motivation that will sustain us: an intense love for Christ and a desire to see God praised by all people. But honestly, there are days when those things just don't cut it and will never sustain me for the long haul. On those days, I have to say, "God, I am doing this out of love for you. And that's it."

Pursue your vision. But above all else, pursue God.

Psalm 139 recap

I won't even pretend to do justice to the discussion we had tonight, but here is some of what I remember... Feel free to post any additional thoughts on our week of focusing on our bodies and tapping into our God-images.

Tonight, we discussed verse 5b, where it says that God has put his hand on us and how that makes us feel so protected. We looked at some verses that describe God's right hand as both powerful (Exodus 15:6), with might to scatter the enemy, and as a source of pleasures and joy (Psalm 16:11). We talked about how there is so much freedom in knowing that though God knows all of our ways and sees all of our thoughts, he loves us unconditionally. We also discussed how we usually think of the works of the Creator in terms of nature and often forget to think about ourselves among the wonderful and beautiful things that He has made. Verse 14b, "Your works are wonderful, I know that full well" also made us admit that if we think about it, we do know that we are wonderful and that the King delights in our beauty (Psalm 45:11), we just have to keep repeating it to ourselves...

Summer reflections

I know this has nothing to do with our topic this week, but alas, I digress anyhow...

So last night I realized I missed journaling on gratitude day (Wednesday). I really didn't have a particular good day Thursday and in fact I felt like I had a mini breakdown of sorts. But I decided I would start writing about what I was grateful for that day anyways and within minutes I had a long list of things to be thankful for....the beautiful weather which allowed me to wear flip flops and sunglasses on my walk to work, living so close to work that when I do stupid things like forget my sneakers when I have an appnt. with my trainer I can still run home change and run back!, the ability to push my body hard in a work out, learning more about the people I work with and feeling really comfortable there now, getting an email from a hot boy that made me smile (okay so sometimes on the break down days it's the very little things that help!), catching up with an old high school friend on the phone... some of them may seem silly but after I was reading over my list of about 15 things... I thought to myself "Well, maybe I did have a good day after all."

Sometimes I think God must be banging his head against a wall when so much of life I miss because of my perspective. What a patient God we have. Thank God for His patience in teaching me lessons over and over again on how to see life as He does. The earthly perspective verse the heavenly perspective continues to be a struggle for me. But when I am faithful and God shows me a glimpse of what He sees, it's pretty awesome.

"I am so beautiful, sometimes people weep when they see me..."

I have this friend who thinks she is beautiful.
And the thing is, she is. She's gorgeous.
But, she says it out loud. She acknowledges her shiny hair, how well she fits into her new jeans, how her body is amazing.

At first I thought, "Who is this SNOB?"
But, I came to realize that the reason her comments sounded grating is that I had never heard a woman talk that way about her own body.

We are so accustomed to verbally abusing our bodies that any type of comfort in our own radiance is perceived as conceit.

What would happen if we started looking at our own forms the same way God perceived them?

Psalm 139:13 states:
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb...
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body. "

God as Creator. God as Artist.
If He took all of that time to create me and piece me together - how wonderful my body must be in His eyes! How deliberate His choices!

I wonder if God aches when we mess with His handiwork? When we speak words against His creation?

Margaret Cho once said "I am so beautiful, sometimes people weep when they see me. And it has nothing to do with what I look like really, it is just that I gave myself the power to say that I am beautiful. And if I could do that, maybe there is hope for them too."

My prayer for myself and other women is a gentleness and sense of awe about our bodies. May we begin to have an appreciation of our own internal and external power. May we understand that loving who we are is an incredibly subversive act.

Your body's a wonderland...

Our new theme this week, inspired by Kaarin and Pastor Mark, is: our amazing bodies. We are going to research and journal on thinking about our bodies more like Christ sees us and renewing our mind to think of our self-image in more Biblical (and healthy) terms.

The point passage for this week is Psalm 139.

I really liked what we talked about last night, on how we get so caught up in talking about and actually seeing ourselves in terms of what is not right or what we don't like instead of believing and claiming the way that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made", handicraft of an amazing Creator and a loving Father.

So, journal away! Feel free to post any major (or minor) insights/thought/or comments here. Bring anything you find that strikes a cord with you when you come next week! I can't wait!!

Indiscriminate thanksgiving!

I am so happy that today was our gratitude journaling day. My mind was spinning with so much that needed to be done for classes etc., I was grateful for the reminder that I could focus on finding things to be thankful about! I did a little reading on gratitude and thanksgiving and thought I would share:

"There are three reasons why indiscriminate thanksgiving powerfully works joy in us. First, it is an act of recovery. According to the Bible, the core and origin of the human predicament is ingratitude. To practice the discipline of gratitude is to shine light into the heart of our darkness... Second, the discipline of giving thanks in all situations is an act of hope. When we give thanks no matter what, we act on the premise that He who holds the last hour has assured us that everything will be glorious in the end... Third, this kind of hopeful gratitude is an act of joyful defiance. The troubles of this world may be more than we can handle in our own power but to give thanks is to triumph nevertheless! " - He Has Made Me Glad by Ben Patterson

I like that last part about defiance; I needed to feel like there is victory in praise today!

Am I on?

So am I writing on our blog now? I'm a genius!! Don't worry I won't abuse with silly anecdotes from my day. Just checking to see if it worked.

Is this thing on?

Testing, Testing!