Church is not for Listening to

When was the last time you heard a great sermon or speech that really touched you and prompted you to want to make a life change? For me, nearly every sermon or speech touches me in some way. Many times I just change my thinking slightly or open myself up to new information but every so often a message comes along that inspires me to make a life change that will bring me to a move forward solution. It is at those times that it is essential to find a way to process that message in a manner that will ensure that you actually move forward with the kind of change that you desire.

Much of the time we think of church as a spectator sport; we go, listen, go home, and pat ourselves on the back for having done the good Christian thing by being present. It is my belief that this is completely contrary to the plan that God has for our lives. It is not enough merely to be there and to listen, we need to act and grow, and that is what it is all about. Good information that does not bear fruit is meaningless. When you take that good information and live it out in a powerful way, the result is the fruit. God put us on this earth to be bearers of fruit not consumers of information.

Take the last great message that you heard and make a choice to move it forward in your life. What information did you receive in that message? What is the action that you will take to move forward in a manner that will bear fruit? Who could walk with you to coach, encourage, mentor, and inspire you to see it through?

Stop going to church just to listen and begin leaving church with an intention to LIVE!!!

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

A few weeks ago I picked up a book at the library and I was so tempted to judge it by the cover. It had the typical Christian Women's book cover complete with pastels. I had done a search for a good devotional and this one seemed to fit the bill for all of my criteria but when I saw it on the shelf every impulse in my body said run. I couldn't pick up this book. I didn't want people to see me checking it out. What if someone saw it sitting on my coffee table? I would lose all of my street cred if anyone knew that I was in possession of this book (OK so as a young mother of 2 my street cred is already essentially zero, but still). I pushed past all of my impulses to bolt and I checked it out anyway. It was one of the best decisions I ever made; this simple book is literally changing my life. As I pick it up each day and read a new passage, I am refreshed and renewed. It is as if the book was written for me and it seems as though each message was crafted specifically for the day that I am reading it. I am so glad that I was able to put skepticism aside and find a true gem that God wanted to bestow on me.

I wonder how many life changing experiences I have missed simply because I was too skeptical to embrace them. I am the kind of person who looks at everything with a critical eye. I don't jump on bandwagons and I am careful not to get too excited about anything until I am sure that it is really worth it. I question the validity of nearly everything from sermons to salesmen. I just don't want to get sucked into all of the hype and then be disappointed. However, I have been learning that I have been selling myself short for a long time. All of this skepticism has really turned into a self fulfilling prophecy more often than not. I caution myself not to get too caught up in a spiritual movement and not surprisingly, my spiritual life stays rather dull and stagnant. I resist the impulse to participate in fashion trends (not always a bad idea) and my wardrobe is rather boring. I know that I can't jump at every offer that comes my way but I am learning to open myself up to certain possibilities and I am learning not to be so judgmental.

I know that this whole LifeWalking thing might just seem like the next great thing that will fire you up but leave no real lasting result. I get that you may not want to give it a try for fear of being let down again (one of my biggest reasons for being so skeptical). I just want to encourage you that this isn't just the next craze that will fire you up only to let you down; this is a lifestyle change that can transform the way that you see relationships and enable you to reach your full potential in ways you never dreamed possible. I know that I haven't exactly laid it all out perfectly at this time so please, contact me with your questions and concerns and trust that more information is coming but know that you can trust this process and most importantly you can trust God to use this process to transform your life.

It's not Where I've Been but Where I'm Going

I have discovered one very real and comforting truth about LifeWalking:
It will meet you where you are at but it will never leave you there!

You can be young or old and LifeWalking can work for you. You can be in a great place spiritually, emotionally, or psychologically or in a very dark place and LifeWalking can work for you. You can have all the answers or none and you can still be a champion LifeWalker. LifeWalking really is for everyone and it will meet everyone exactly where they are in life good, bad, or ugly.

It is a great comfort to me that I am always a good candidate for LifeWalking but it is even more comforting to know that LifeWalking will never leave me where I was when I started. I have grown in all areas of my life and I know that I never would have attained such amazing growth without the support of LifeWalking. I have lost weight, gained self-esteem, realized desires that God had placed on my heart years ago, achieved goals of all kinds, become a better friend, overcome bouts of depression, and grown leaps and bounds in my relationship with God. This is only a small sample of the places that LifeWalking has taken me and the opportunities for you to go even father and higher are very real.

I ask you, where are you right now? Are you in a place that LifeWalking could meet you?
Where do you want to go? Maybe LifeWalking can take you there.

Oops! I Didn't Plan on That

I find myself constantly challenged by the unexpected turns that life takes. I make great plans for my life and have an organized vision of how to get there but it seems that things never go exactly as planned. There are always things that come up that I didn't expect and I am forced to think on my feet and come up with a solution to deal with whatever may have come up. Maybe you noticed that for the first time I am posting on a Monday not Wednesday, curve ball. Due to scheduling conflicts this week, I have my work day today instead of Wednesday. I had to think on my feet and make a decision, shift my plans or forfeit the opportunity to connect with you this week in the time that I had available; I chose the latter.

As I have LifeWalked over the years I have come across many circumstances that threatened to derail my best laid plans. I have encountered illness (mine and my family's), financial woes, weather, scheduling conflicts, delays of all kinds and I have often considered giving up on my desires because at times it just seemed too hard to overcome all the obstacles that stood in my way. To be honest, I have given up more times that I care to admit and I have regretted that decision. I have also found the strength to press on through much of this adversity and I have seen amazing results in my life and in the lives of others as a consequence of our efforts to move beyond the obstacles that sought to hold us back.

In truth, your best asset in LifeWalking (as in life) is flexibility. It is important to make a plan and to do your best to stick with it; for instance, I had to make a commitment to blog each Wednesday or I never would have consistently done it. Then it is important to make changes and tweaks to that plan when things aren't working out. I have found at times it is even necessary to scrap the plan entirely and come up with a new plan in order to reach a desired goal. The main thing is to make sure that you don't give up completely on your desires. If you have decided to pursue a desire through LifeWalking, chances are that it is something that matters to you deeply. DON'T GIVE UP, press on and do your best to achieve that goal even when it isn't easy.

Take a moment to think about the things that are holding you back from achieving your desires; is there something that you can do to make things work? Do you need to make an entirely new plan or can you just tweak the plan that you already have in order to make it work?

Keep at it. Nothing worth having comes without cost.