Schedules

I had the opportunity to hear Bill Hybels speak at Gateway Church on Monday night. Hybels tends to be very practical, very down to earth in his speaking and writing. Monday night, as he spoke, my thought was that it was good; not earth-shaking, life-changing, memory-making; but worth the effort to hear.
When I left the conference, I couldn't stop thinking about what he said. I think it was life-changing. He spoke about making schedules. The content could be summed up in one sentence, "When you make out your schedule, don't think about what you need to get done, think about what you want to be".
Think about what you want to be, consider what you need to do to become that, and make your schedule around that. "Plugging one item into a schedule can change your life."

Hybels had a lot of examples to illustrate. He recounted that as a young man, when his daughter, Shawna, was three years old, he was very busy with the church he had started, with a lot of meetings in the evenings. One night, after supper, as he told his wife and daughter good-bye, Shawna sweetly and innocently said, "Daddy, are you going to be gone again tonight?" That little statement broke his heart. He realized that one thing he wanted to be was a great daddy to Shawna. As he asked God what he needed to do to be a great daddy, God said, "Four nights a week." Bill wrote into his schedule "home" four nights every week, to be at home, focused on his family, attentive to his wife and daughter so that he could be the daddy, and the husband that he wanted to be.

Application: I want to be healthy. To be healthy, I need to exercise at least three times a week. So, I need to put exercise into my schedule three times every week. As long as I leave exercise as something I need to do, but don't put it in my schedule, the odds are not good that I will actually do it.

Much more important to me than that is that I want to be a radical, extreme, crazed follower and lover of Jesus, hearing Him speak and responding to everything He says.

I am praying about what I need to plug into my schedule to become that.

What do you want to be?
What steps do you need to take to become that?

Stop Striving

In the past week or so, I have thought about the new year; resolutions, goals, thoughts, dreams, new directions, not sure what the right word is. I have asked God to show me things that I need to change, new directions I should take, and areas that I need to improve. The one word that has come to my mind again and again is to stop "striving".  I have pondered that over and over.

Yesterday, I was reading  a book that mentioned Psalm 46:10  "Be still, and know that I am God", and said that the phrase "be still" also means "cease striving". That caught my attention.

I realize that I am a "striver".  By nature, I am...motivated...a "go-getter"...busy... a "busy body"... Not sure what the word is. But "still" I am not! That is OK. God created me with a lot of enthusiasm. I read a book and quickly want to respond to what I read. If I feel that God speaks to me, I want to act on it quickly. If someone asks me to do something,  I don't want to delay. Those are good things, things that I like about the way I am. And, for as many times as the Bible says to "be still", it says, "go immediately". There is balance.
The word strive means to devote serious effort or energy, to endeaver, to contend. It is not a bad word in itself.

Here is the thing. I have realized that I strive inwardly. I strive to please the Lord, when He wants me to just trust Him. I mentally strive in my relationships, worrying if I have met expectations, if my husband or a daughter is disappointed with me. I wonder if I am giving enough attention to my grandchildren. I am concerned that I am not meeting needs that I should of women in the church. I wonder if I am doing everything I should to reach out to my neighbors. It is the mental, emotional striving that God is telling me to stop. I don't think that I work too hard. I spend time alone with Jesus and enjoy being in His presence. I get enough rest. I spend adequate time watching TV or looking at Facebook!
I don't believe God is telling me that I am too busy.

The Spirit is speaking to me about striving to please people. I think He is telling me to do what He leads me to do, and quit thinking so much about it.

Check out the Ladies Retreat Speakers

Cottonwood LADIES RETREAT

Feb 28-March 1, 2014

Uniquely Designed

God created each of us with unique and individual gifts, abilities, and desires, and calls us to follow Him in personal and individual ways.  In celebration of that fact, we have a number of speakers who are living out their own unique calling with boldness and impact. 

Donnabelle Philips is a trauma and abuse Counselor, who for six years, she has ministered to women who have been rescued from slavery in India, helping them to experience healing. Her passion is to help women to live their created identity and purpose.

Brandi McIntosh knows that her calling is be the wife of Dan and mother of their children. Although her first priority is her family, she is actively involved with other moms, working to encourage and equip them as they serve their families.

Joy Sloan treasures her role as a wife and mother. As the C F O of Cross Timbers Clinic, she             also values the calling that she has in her profession, and the impact that she has as a Christian 

in the workplace.

Belinda Koestle never expected to be a single mom raising her daughter alone. Belinda shares her journey of learning to trust God, who proved that He was faithful to meet all of their needs.

 Gwen Schmidt and her husband Todd have served as missionaries in Turkey for 13 years, where they are raising their three sons. As the daughter of missionaries who has lived all over the world, Gwen has a love for people of different cultures and zeal for their salvation.

Linda Mattheus, after losing her husband of 50 years, became a part of the Texas Baptist Men Rescue Ministry. So far, she has helped with relief efforts after disasters in Texas, Oklahoma,

 and Colorado.

Pamela Moore worked for 7 years in the Netherlands with Brother Andrew, “God’s Smuggler”, and was assistant and traveling companion to Corrie Ten Boom from 1976-1983, served as director of intercessory prayer and spiritual life at Dallas Theological Seminary 1983-2003. 

This is going to be an amazing retreat!