Planning

Leave a comment Posted on Daily Blogs

Almost 26

My birthday (and America’s birthday) is almost here!

Hard to believe that my daily blogging commitment is coming to and end. 

I will definitely keep up my blogging, but not everyday. 

Right now my plan is to blog on Mondays and Fridays. The days are subject to change (the objective is biweekly posts). 

This is just my preliminary planning because birthdays have always been mile markers for me. 

This upcoming year I really want to become a more focused writer.

Daily blogging was only step one for me. I needed to get in the habit of writing everyday. 

Now I want to get better at taking ideas and fully developing them. 

I am excited! And I hope you’ll stick around through the next year. It’s going to be fun. 

Leave a comment Posted on Character Corner, Daily Blogs, Faith Journeys, Uncategorized

Be a thought catcher

I surround myself with paper:

  • I carry a planner because using my phone’s calendar has never stuck with me.
  • My desk is covered in sticky notes and scrap pages and memo pads with scribbled out notes to myself.
  • I even use Evernote, which is a digital notebook.

If I don’t grab catch a thought immediately, it’s a goner.

Do you know how many times I’ve written a great blog post in my head and planned on writing it down once I got home?

Whether you’re the most organized thought catcher that ever lived or you have 10 notebooks and scrap paper falls around your feet when you walk, just write things down!

Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets…”

The Lord was giving instructions and the first words out of his mouth were, “Write this down!”

The point of writing things down is to use that information to teach and encourage others.

None of us lack ideas.

If you’ve ever sat in a meeting, you know that everyone has great ideas–and they normally all come about the time the meeting is supposed to be over.

We just don’t catch the inspiration when the Holy Spirit gives it to us.

Grab your thoughts!

Write them down!

And then go do something with them.

 

 

 

 

Leave a comment Posted on Daily Blogs, Faith Journeys

Focus is key

Ms. Lynette Hagin talked with us today about focus. (Well, we listened to her message via video, but it seemed like she was in the room.)

All Rhema students in the US and Canada must move to Tulsa, which is a big move to make. 

What is our intention in doing so?

To study the Bible, to focus our attention on the various areas of ministry God is leading us to pursue for His name and His glory. 

There’s that word again: focus.

The level of intentionality and proximity to Spirit filled teaching and training promoted here at Rhema requires a great deal of focus. 

As Ms. Lynette said in her message, “The annointing is more caught than taught.”

You can’t catch anything if you’re not paying attention. 

I’m going to spend the rest of this week writing out my list of focus areas. (I wrote out goals before I moved, but it can’t hurt to do it again.)

When classes start on Monday, I will have my catcher’s mit on!

Leave a comment Posted on Character Corner, Daily Blogs

Just commit already!

Hesitation is the leading cause of road kill. 

Making decisions can be tough. We all want a road map, the quickest and surest way to success. 

There’s nothing wrong with planning–unless your planning leads to nowhere. 

At some point, you need to make a decision. 

Most people will agree with this statement. I can hear the amens now…

Our actions tell a different story. 

We hesitate. 

We become afraid. 

We get hit by a bus going 70 miles an hour. 

When you’re scared of commitment (just pick a side of the road already!) there are consequences. 

No one wants to become road kill. 

I’m convinced that the secret of confident people is not that they have it all figured out. 

They’re simply willing to commit. 

Leave a comment Posted on Daily Blogs, Faith Journeys

Crash landing

I just crash landed back into reality. 

The weekend was amazing and there’s much to do now that I’ve scouted the land, so to speak. 

Reality is mean isn’t it?

I barely walked in the door before my mind was filled with the many things that need to happen in the coming week.

This is the trickiest part of any transition. 

There’s so much to do to prepare for what’s ahead and yet you want to and need to finish well where you are. 

The emotions of crash landing hit me hard.  

Excitement and sadness mingle together, along with a dose of calendar reality. 

Life goes on. Time ticks away. And I can’t help but wish everyone and everything would slow down for a minute. 

Honestly, I have a difficult time with the messy middle of transitions. 

God is so faithful, though, to walk along beside me and to encourage me to keep going, to press in. 

Yes, the future is bright. Yes, there’s a lot to do. 

I am choosing, however, to look ahead while soaking in the goodness of my present. 

I am not leaving here in a hurry.

 I will cherish the time and all the reasons I have to be thankful. 

Leave a comment Posted on Character Corner, Family

Planning Vs. Living

It’s easy to look ahead—way ahead—and make plans. And there’s nothing wrong with plans. But all plans are subject to change at a minute’s notice. I cannot concretely tell you what I will be doing tomorrow or even an hour from now.

Some things are simply out of my control.

 That’s hard for me to accept. I want to perfectly map out my day, my week, my life.

I constantly have to say, “STOP! I don’t have to have everything figured out today!” That usually keeps my brain from exploding.

Here’s another thing that’s helped: I take a good look around me. I play a game with my siblings. We laugh and have a great time. I splash around in the pool with them and realize that they’re growing up before my eyes.

How much have I missed being so worried about tomorrow? Or today? Or next weekend?

 Because the truth is that I could drop dead at any moment. I know it’s a sobering and somewhat depressing realization, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

Now don’t go pitch your calendar and watch out the window. Don’t stop making plans. Just take a minute to ask yourself a few questions.

Are you glad to be alive today? 

Are your kids or grandkids or siblings growing up unnoticed?

Do you spend more time planning your life than actually living it?