helping others

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Seeing the Truth

Do you know what I love about God?

His ability to see past our current state in order to focus on who we are, who we can be, in Him. 

Jesus, God’s son and the perfect picture of His dad, was really great at seeing the best in others. 

  • I think about 12 unlikely guys trained to be ministers. 
  • I think about the Samarian woman with her long list of broken marital relationships given a fresh start. 
  • I think about the demon possessed man who was set free and then led the whole town to Jesus by sharing his testimony. 

2 Corinthians 5:15-16 says:

And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 

As Christians, we are to look past what our eyeballs see. 

Homeless?

Atheist?

Druggie?

Prostitute?

Gay?

Alcoholic?

Prisoner?

I hope we see past these labels because that’s not what God sees when He thinks of these men and women. 

All He sees is potential because Jesus came to give us life. 

Yesterday we talked about life unlimited. 

Guess where that life comes from?

A relationship with Jesus Christ where all who accept by faith the gift of salvation are given a new life.  

I am convicted of my own lack of vision. There are times all I see is the label, which is the lie that keeps men and women bound. 

I am praying for my spiritual eyes to be opened everyday to share Jesus and see Him do great works in the lives of the once hopeless. 

I encourage you to do the same. 

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Journaling for Perspective 

Sometimes I can get stuck in my head…

Trying to sort things out sends me in 10 different directions, each with their own feeling. 

Writing stuff down helps me capture what’s going on and shows me what areas need to be covered with prayer.

There are times when what I see is ugly. The truth is right there in its distorted, disfigured form. 

As I read through past entries, I notice the moments where my perspective turned out to be wrong, which means everything else–my attitude, feelings, and opinions–were wrong as well. 

The good news about perspective is that it can change! 

It’s easy for me to spot the shift because my angry scribbles and stratch outs give way to hope-filled words–even if my handwriting is still a jumbled scrawl!

Most of the time I end up finding the right words to express the things I couldn’t bring myself to say before. 

There might still be a hint of pain behind the words, but the joy is bigger than the pain. 

The idea of someone else reading my journal is a bit frightening to me. 

However, I believe that when the time is right it will all make sense to whoever ends up with my mountain of words. 

He or she will say, “Yes, this chick struggled, but the struggle always led her closer to God, to seeing things from His perspective.”

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Confessions of a Book Matchmaker

  I am so glad that I kept a book list last year! 

A friend of mine needed some recommendations for her younger sister’s school project. 

I pulled out my phone, opened my Evernote app, and BAM!

All the information I needed was at my fingertips. 

It’s also been a great way to remember what I’ve read because recalling titles gets harder and harder the more I read. 

And, if you’re a goal oriented person like myself, lists are a wonderful method of tracking progress. 

My reading goal for 2016 is 50 books. 

I’m already at 19! (School reading is helping my numbers.)

Yes, I geek out over reading…

But today my geekiness proved useful, which was a neat thing to see. 

I love to play book matchmaker!

My book list is simply another tool to aid me in my quest to connect people with the right book. 

If you’re a reader like me, I encourage you to keep a list. 

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Walk to Beautiful

I did something last night that I haven’t done in a long, long time: I stayed up until 2 AM reading a book. 

Good stories, especially true stories, intrigue me more than anything.

Walk to Beautiful by Jimmy Wayne is a captivating story of one man’s troubling childhood and how he became successful despite the trials. 

walk to beautiful

There was no way I could put the book down.

No matter how many chapters I said were the last.

No matter how many times I told myself, “30 more minutes, Audra.”

How could I stop now? The story was holding me captive! 

Jimmy lived in a world raging with violence and with no sense of normalcy, but he still had hope.

This one fact is amazing to me.

 

We are all hardwired to hope, which is why I think the saddest thing to see is hopelessness prevail. A sense of utter hopelessness is the #1 reason people commit suicide.

What I love about Jimmy’s story is how he wrestled hopelessness to the ground, tied it up, and ended it’s life–not his own.

Inspiration is awesome, no doubt, but inspiration that leads to change? Yes! Sign me up!

The biggest obstacle Jimmy faced as a boy was loneliness because people saw him as another juvenile delinquent when he was just an innocent kid. He only knew darkness; he’d only seen glimpses of light.

Many children in foster care face the same challenge. They want to do better, but no one’s ever modeled what that was for them. Or, in the worst of cases, they’ve succumbed to hopelessness.

All it takes, though, is one person reaching out to help. 

And that’s all I could think about last night as I turned page after page….

 

 

 

 

 

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Love Does and Souper Sunday

I met Bob Goff!!!!

  He spoke at The Assembly in Broken Arrow this morning. 

The man is a great example of love in action. His whole life is about taking the love of Christ to a broken world and introducing them to the Savior who makes all things new. 

I’ve read Love Does a dozen times in the past couple of years. It’s one of the best books I have ever read–and that’s saying a lot. 

To end my awesome afternoon, I went to Souper Sunday, a benefit dinner to raise money for Total Source for Hearing Loss and Access (TSHA). 

  What a cool organization!

It’s a hub for the deaf community in Tulsa and I’m so happy to finally be connected again! 

This past week, I attended a deaf church and a coffee social. 

My heart is full…

Life is good because my Father God is good. 

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The Greater Good

I’ve been watching The Voice and it’s fun! The judges fight for good singers. 

They’re building a team of vocalists to compete against each other and the other teams (from what I’ve gathered so far).

Singing  competitions are interesting to me because they showcase the immense amount of talent in our country and around the world. 

Can you imagine if everyone used their gifts and talents for the greater good?

This is where my mind goes when I watch shows like The Voice and American Idol. 

All of that talent…

Most of the stories you hear are about why the singer wants to be famous, to be discovered. 

And there’s nothing wrong with being famous! This is not a post from a bitter wannabe. 

I just wonder if the singers understand the opportunity being placed before them to make a difference. 

Not everyone gets to stand on a platform. Their words and actions aren’t under scrutiny by millions. 

The pressure of fame can be crushing, but it doesn’t have to be. Many celebrities use the spotlight to be a voice for those who don’t have a voice. 

Of course, you don’t have to be a celebrity to make a difference. (I’m assuming everyone knows this truth.)

Watching all of these talent shows, though, has me thinking about the motivations of the heart. 

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Faith for the Vision

I carried the Peruvian flag tonight during the Parade of Flags. 

It’s amazing the reach Rhema has around the world! 

Brother Hagin was given a charge by the Lord to “Go teach my people faith.”

Rhema Bible Training College is a fulfillment of that charge to take the gospel to all of the world!

Brother Hagin knew he couldn’t do it alone. This would be something that would continue after his death. 

Hundreds of schools and thousands of graduates later, Rhema is going strong!

And the gospel is being proclaimed throughout the world. 

It’s amazing how one man’s willingness to obey God has made such an impact…

Here’s my question to you: 

Is your vision big enough?

Or do you try to limit God by saying, “This can’t be done”?

Of course, nothing can be done alone, but God’s not asking us to do all these things by ourselves. 

God’s asking you to have faith and to leave the rest up to Him. 

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An outstretched hand

There’s nothing wrong with being weak sometimes. We all need help. 

The Bible talks about how God is our strength when we are weak. 

The Bible also talks about bearing one another’s burdens and helping each other carry them to the Lord. 

I’m not the best at allowing others to see me down. We’ve talked about this many times, but here’s something new I’m learning:

An element of building trust in a relationship is to ask for help.  

Do you know that it’s hard for others to trust you when you won’t ask for help?

Dr. Brene Brown talks about this in her lecture on The Anatomy of Trust (It’s a free class she offers at  courageworks.com). 

Slap away an extended hand too many times and you’ll find yourself all alone. 

One of my goals in 2016 is to get better at asking for and accepting help. 

I know that the Lone Ranger mentality is glorified in western culture, but it’s a myth. 

You can’t go it alone. 

 

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The gift of empathy

7-christmas-tree-backgroundI bumped into a bad memory last night. It happens from time to time….

I allowed myself to think back to the people involved, the events of the evening, and the décor of the room.

The emotions were strong and I found myself gasping for breath. I was choking–trapped–in the moment and all I wanted to do was run out the door.

I’m sharing this story with you because I learned something in the process:

You can deconstruct the past, face the truth, and then move on.

The reason people remain stuck in the past is that they never learn how to see it from a place of freedom.

I am free from the pain, shame, and guilt of my past. (Notice that I didn’t say sadness of my past. It’s not possible to remove the sadness.)

With time and a year of counseling, I stopped seeing my past as a bully that’s holding my present hostage and casting a shadow over my future.

I can now face up to the memories instead of running from them.

Christmas will be here in 3 days and Facebook posts are already warning us to be sensitive to the hurts and pains of others.

No one can have a good Christmas (and don’t even think of sharing your joy online) because hurting people will be scrolling through their newsfeeds.

This kind of attitude is detrimental.

Even if everyone didn’t share about their holidays, there would still be hurt in the world.

There is nothing sympathetic about making others feel guilty. Likewise, there is nothing empathetic about walking around on eggshells.

Why don’t we comfort our hurting friends and family?

Take hold of their hands, give them a hug, and sit with them through the tears.

This is genuine empathy and it leads to healing.

There’s no magic formula for grief and sadness, but genuine empathy is the greatest gift you can give this Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Packing, purging, and processing

I’ve done a LOT of purging over the past 3 years, but it’s amazing how much stuff one person can accumulate.

Deciding what to keep and what to give away or sell can be tough. I wanted to share with you my technique for purging.

  1. Is this item useful?
  2. Who gave it to me?
  3. Can this thing be easily replaced, if needed?
  4. Why do I like this item so much? (If I can’t seem to shake my desire to keep it after the first 3 questions.)

Christmas is already a time when I start to sift through my possessions. Being a stingy hoarder is something I guard against vigilantly. This kind of attitude smacks of fear and ungratefulness and the highest level of selfishness.

Add to Christmas time my upcoming move (it’s a month away) and I’m about in full blown purge mode.

I only have one rule when moving: Everything must fit in my car.

I realize having a family will change this rule. The day will come soon enough, though, when another vehicle–maybe a trailer or truck–will be needed to move me. So, for now, I am sticking to my guns on this…

My bend toward minimalism is another big factor in keeping my stash of possessions at a manageable level.

We need to question what we own. It’s a telling picture of what matters most to us in life.

I’m not one of those people who rants and raves about the woes of capitalism and consumerism and how the two are intricately linked (which they really are, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing).

I just know that my value system in regards to possessions is being radically changed because of the gospel.

I also know that most people have never stopped and ask themselves critical questions on the subject either.

In light of all these things, I’ll leave you with two questions to think on:

What are the guidelines you use when purging?

What questions do you ask yourself when making a purchase?