Humility

- As a leader, how do you treat people around you who seemingly have nothing to add to your life or are there to serve you in some way? When was the last time you were intentionally kind to a waitress or a member of a hotel's housekeeping staff?

- What would it look like to take off one layer of insincerity? Where would you start? Who should you talk to about this?

- Think of yourself in the spotlight of the crowd. What is your demeanor? How do you attempt to come across? Now think of yourself with those closest to you, especially co-workers and family members. Is there a difference between your demeanor and tone of voice before the crowd and in the presence of your family? If so why? How can you build Integrity into your life  by being the same person and in every setting?

- What simple questions can you ask at the next opportunity to show interest in others, even casual acquaintances or strangers?

From The Jesus-Hearted Woman.

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Mathew 18: 1-4

Relationships

"A relationship is a privilege " not a right!

I look at this picture & think how sweet this relationship is.....no expectations,  or manipulation just pure love of friends....
When we decide not to confront someone who wants to manipulate us, use or abuse us. For the sake of "keeping the peace" We have decided to make a relationship a right not a privilege. Stuck people always have an agenda with someone else's life but the minute we allow them to unload their junk on our lives without boundaries.  We have made the relationship a right not a privilege. I think many of us struggle  with being up right honest with others especially when family is in involved. But, my experience is we hurt alot more people when we allow the chaos to become our chaos. Confrontation is not fun, at times we loose people we love. But, I also have experienced that when we choose to have those undesirable talks you remove relationships that are toxic out of your life and  you invite healthy loving ones in. Because relationships are a privilege & and a blessing from God not a right!

Setting boundaries is hard but so necessary. Because,  if not we live the chaos with them! Relationships are a privilege and sometimes people treat them like a right! It's up to us to remind them!

 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. - Proverbs 24:3-4
Who do you need to set boundaries on today? Choose life not Chaos!

How do you spend your time?

Make the best use of your time...
Ephesians 5:16

I've been working on time mangement. As I read this book this paragraph really made me think about how I spend my time.

We exchange time in the market of life for certain occupations & activities that may be worthy or not productive.
The person who wants to excel must select and reject, then concentrate on the most important items. It is often helpful to keep records of how each hour  in a given week is spent. what happened to them? How are they invested? A person's entire contribution to the kingdom of God may turn on how those hours are used. Certainly those hours determined whether life is a common place or extraordinary.
Iam working on time management removing what is not productive & increasing what will help me grow.

How are you spending your time?

Spiritual Leadership
By. J.Oswald Sanders

Gracious Confidence

As I read this book The Jesus Hearted Woman by Jodi Detrick. I was impacted by the following quote:

"Contrary to what some may think, insecurity is not humility, Quite the opposite, it's me focused and is more concerned with self-protection than risking rejection or pain for the benefit for others."

It brought to my mind that the reason I have this fear of  public speaking is because Iam "me focused" instead of focusing on the fact that what I want to share is a word from God! That the information I want to share may transform someones heart and bring a word of Hope. When my focus is Jesus and his word and making a difference in a hurting world. My influence is bigger than me!  God is glorified and my heart is transformed change happens and his kingdom expands. 

God is in Control

Many people are angry, and rightly so. Anger is a legitimate and proper response to injustice. Confronted with hardness of heart on the part of religious leaders, Jesus “looked around at them in anger” (Mark 3:5). David wrote, “God is a righteous judge, who expresses his wrath every day” (Psalm 7:11). Those who are angry with injustice on the basis of principle and conviction have often bettered our world. Luther was angry at religious abuses; Wilberforce was angry at slavery; Martin Luther King was angry at racism. They illustrate that anger, properly channeled and controlled, can produce positive action.

But there is a warning, “In your anger, do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). Anger can turn to resentment and bitterness, which like a cancer, pollutes the soul. This is why the Bible warns that we are not to take vengeance on our enemies, “Do not repay anyone for evil… Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:17,19)
Dr.Erwin Lutzer

Worry

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.

Psalm 55:22

We all face the daily opportunity to worry about something our health, finances, family, jobs, the economy.

The list is endless. If we let them, our worries can consume our lives!

Yet worry is so unproductive, it accomplishes nothing except producing anxiety, stress, and fear. Worry will

Rob you of your joy, peace, and faith. It can cloud your mind and often leads to irrational thinking.

Worry’s strength and hold on our life only grows if we dwell on our problems. But there is great news

God’s plan is for us to live a worry-free life! You may be wondering, how is that possible? Simple: by putting our complete trust and confidence

In God and His Word. God promised that He would never leave you or forsake you, and the Bible tells us in Mathew 6:25 not to worry about our life.

If you were to look through the eyes of our Heavenly Father, we would see that no situation or circumstances is too great for God!

Our problems are actually quite small compared to how big our God is!

The secret so many people miss is that it’s not enough to tell yourself not to worry about something; we have to replace worried thoughts

With God’s thoughts. When you dwell on the Word, you dwell on His thoughts. Paul refers to this process as “renewing your mind” in Romans 12:2.

Making it a part of our daily routine to read, meditate, and speak God’s Word will transform your life!

When worry tries to grip us, let us remind ourselves to keep calm and trust God, because He is going to take care of us.

We are more precious than gold to Him!

A Prayer:

Lord, help us not to worry about anything. We are looking to you to see us through this situation. In obedience to your Word, we cast

All our care, concern and worry on you. Grant us your peace to remain steady and calm. Help us to let your peace rule and reign in our heart.

We put our trust and confidence in you. We know you love us and care for us as a loving Father. We know you will not let us down. We believe you are

Working everything out for our good. Lord, reveal to us your perfect will in this situation. Let us keep looking to you and not let our heart be troubled

Or fearful. Help us to be spiritually strong and courageous and not to let our emotions or feelings dictate our actions.

In Jesus name Amen!

Reference taken from

 Jake Provance & Keith Provance

Keep Calm & Trust God

Healing is in His hands....

Healing is in His hands.

As I write this morning I am sitting in my dining room.  I can’t help but think how much God loves us. I sometimes struggle with truly knowing how much. I know he does because his word tells us that as far as the east is from the west, he has removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:12); that says a lot about forgiveness and his love for you and me. God allows us to go through struggles so that we can understand others that maybe going through the same. As we experience difficulties our compassion is much greater, we can see and empathize with the depth of that pain in others. We understand there is much more than just a simple “down day”. It grasps our thinking, desires, motivation, and we question our reason for being alive. Depression is not something a lot of us like to talk about. I grew up hearing in church that Christians can’t be depressed. Nevertheless, many Christians including pastors have declared being depressed at some time in their lives. I know there are stages and different levels of depression.  In mine I felt empty, alone, incredibly isolated and distant.  Many individuals never get help and are told to “deal with it and be happy”!  If only it was that simple and easy to do. I’ve heard many times over from Christians that we can’t have ups and downs. I can laugh at those comments now but that brought on a lot of guilt and shame when I was going through my depression. We will have ups and downs the Bible says it clearly in James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Our trials allow us to grow and mature and rely on God for his healing and strength. It’s a process that maybe many people are not willing to go through because of the battle of the will, God’s will versus our will.  I’m convinced that my struggles have helped me see the real me. I can’t go back to the way Nathalie use to think or behave because that wasn’t me, it suppressed me and made me behave in ways that weren’t genuine to myself or in front of  Jesus my Savior. I couldn’t grow any longer as a Christian because I was not dealing with my internal conflicts. My issues left me with an emptiness that made me realize I was not connecting with God.  It’s a hard place to be, I can’t imagine being where I am today if it wasn’t for that time of depression. God used it for good!  It was necessary to go through the ugly to have a victorious life in Him. I’m still learning and working on my “areas of opportunities”, don’t think for a second I have together! I don’t think we EVER have it “all together” and the moment we think we do, we will quickly find out we need to die to ourselves again. This journey for me was exactly that dying to self. I think about this verse in Romans 8:28 that says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purposes.” It also reminds me of this song that has been ministering to me in this season of my life “Healing is in his hands” by Christy Nockels, I felt it necessary to share the lyrics:

No mountain, no valley
No gain or loss we know
Could keep us from Your love
No sickness, no secret
No chain is strong enough
To keep us from Your love
To keep us from Your love

How high? How wide?
No matter where I am
Healing is in Your hands

How deep? How strong?
Now by Your grace I stand
Healing is in Your hands

Our present, our future
Our past is in Your hands
We're covered by Your blood
We're covered by Your blood

How high? How wide?
No matter where I am
Healing is in Your hands

How deep? How strong?
Now by Your grace I stand
Healing is in Your hands

Sing this in faith
In all things we know that
We are more than conquerors
You keep us by Your love
Sing it out in all things

In all things we know that
We are more than conquerors
You keep us by Your love
You keep us by Your love

How high? How wide? Oh, Lord
No matter where I am
Healing is in Your hands

How deep? How deep is Your love?
How strong? How strong is Your love?
Now by Your grace I stand
Healing is in Your hands

This song brings a realization of His love for me no matter where I am. God is good and he knows us way before we were ever conceived. How can we ever think he doesn’t see our pain or hurt and not embrace us? Be encouraged that our pain or hurt, our sorrow or emptiness is all part of God’s plan for us to see him closer. He sits on his throne yet is closer to you and me than the air we breathe. I’ve realized that healing comes when we accept who we are and embrace our God-given potential. Healing doesn’t come by reading books, or stories, or listening to music (these are tools He may use). Healing comes by God’s grace given to us on the cross by the blood he shed for you and me. He can use many resources to get our attention but it’s His hands that heal our wounds. Don’t second guess yourself that you are not good enough, or smart enough, or strong enough, or holy enough to receive it. He gives it freely to all who accept it and believe. Whatever you may be dealing with today remember there is a purpose for that, and it’s not to keep you in the pain or hurt but to make you a new person in Christ! He wants to make us brand new, he loves you more than you could imagine and always has you on His mind. God is so good! Be blessed…

You are in His hands,

Nathalie