A week has gone by since I went to North Carolina and then into Tennessee. We have pulled our lives back together after being gone for a week. I have caught up the laundry, grocery shopped, answered emails, made phone calls, gone back to schooling, and so on and so on. But something is different. Something has changed. I talked a little before about God asking me to raise the bar. I went to Ridgecrest with nothing major going on in my life. Nothing dramatic to pray for or God to heal for me personally. I think that those circumstances placed me in just the right mind set for God to overflow my cup. It was as though God said,"Ok life is good... things are solid....now...lets raise the bar. Just making it through the day is not good enough anymore."
So I came home questioning mediocrity, luke warmness, half heartedness.
Where does it exist in my day to day life?
What areas need to change?
And where do I go from here?
This is what it looks like in some areas:
Being a better wife: No complaining! Choosing carefully what I burden my husband with. Praying for him no matter what (when discouraged, I'm moody, bad attitude, any situation). Honoring him at all cost.
Being a better mom: Praying for them no matter what (...) Choosing to spend my time wisely. Pouring Christ into all aspects of their life. Never giving up (even when I am frustrated at a "learning to read assignment" :-) Being available. Handling them and their emotions with care!
Being a better home manager: Saying NO to things that don't help our family. (Birthday parties, social outings, volunteering, and friends)
Protecting my sanity: Refusing to run on empty. When I feel overwhelmed I ask for help. When I need a moment to myself....I ask for help. When I am loosing my mind.....I put my fingers in my ears and listen to myself breathe :-) If I go nuts, the entire house goes nuts.
Being a better Bible study leader: Accepting that I will be held accountable for the women I lead. If I do not study my stuff, pray for them, protect them ...then I will answer for it. Understanding the honor that I have been given to be able to lead and never taking it for granted.
Controlling my tongue: Controlling my words does not only mean "being kind". It also means speaking truth. Raising the bar in this area of my life means speaking the truth into peoples lives when I feel led to do so. Speaking into people's lives in a way that will shine the light of Christ. My husband, my children, my bible study, my friends.
Friendship: Raising the bar in this area, means dropping some walls. Allowing friendships to go to a deeper level and trust people completely. In each church that we have served in I have prayed that God would allow me to have deep meaningful and lasting friendships. He has given those to me in small doses. But never have I been in a place that I have been so surrounded by so many Godly women. I am so blessed with these friendships.
So the theme of my life right now is "Raising the Bar". I accept that this is where God is stretching me right now. But I also accept the my theme may change tomorrow :-) No matter where He is working things out in my life I pray that I will always point to Him. But more than anything I am so very thankful for this season of my life.
~LL
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Reviewing time again
I get to do it again :-)
There is a great site online called CSN. It has hundreds of stores that see thousands of things. Things like a briefcase, exercise equipment, pots and pans, hampster cages...... the list goes on and on. And YAY! I get to review some of their great stuff. Stay tuned......
~LL
There is a great site online called CSN. It has hundreds of stores that see thousands of things. Things like a briefcase, exercise equipment, pots and pans, hampster cages...... the list goes on and on. And YAY! I get to review some of their great stuff. Stay tuned......
~LL
Friday, November 12, 2010
Some time in the mountains
I just had the opportunity to spend 4 days in the mountains of North Carolina. I will be honest, I could spend an entire blog just talking about how beautiful and perfect the weather was, but I won't bore you with that. On Monday 6 ladies from our church took off to a Leadership Conference at Ridgecrest, NC.
It is funny for me to sit here and think about all of the conversations that have taken place over the past 4 days. We have talked about our burdens in ministry and pouring into other women, we have talked about our marriages and our children, and we have talked about Jesus in our lives. We have laughed until we cried and we have cried until it made us laugh. We have prayed for each other and with each other.
After an 8 hour car ride, 6 women in one room sharing one bathroom, worship that was amazing, prayers that have changed our lives and laughter that has rocked me to the core, I walk away more filled than I could have dreamed. More challenged than I ever thought possible. And more blessed than I could have ever asked.
I could go on and on telling you stories of this past week but I will limit myself to one.
At the last session of our conference Beth Moore spoke. She shared many many things, but one of the most impacting was about women of different generations. She asked the younger women to stand and spread out throughout the large conference room. Women under 35 lined the rows and the aisle all over. As we stood she asked us to shout out things that we wanted the "older" generation to pray for for us. One would yell WISDOM and the Beth would guide the older women to pray, "God we pray wisdom for these women." Another would shout PROTECTION FOR MY MARRIAGE. And Beth would guide them to pray, "God we pray for protection for these women's marriages." Another would shout MENTORS. And they would pray,"God we pray for mentors for these women." This powerful moment went on for a while. Then Beth asked all of the younger to get on our knees. She asked the older women to find younger women somewhere around them and lay their hands on them. **Side note** We were blessed to not be able to find seats on in a special area that was set up for "younger women". The 3 of us younger ladies (in our group) ended up having to sit with the other 3 older ladies from our group. There also were only a few "younger" ladies where we were sitting. **End side note**
So as we got on our knees the women came all around us and placed there hands on us. Because there were only a few of us "youngers" around we had alot of hands on us. Not mention the "older" generation ladies from our group. Beth guided this older generation into a prayer time over us. She prayed/they repeated bold prayers for the next generation. Prayers that "passed the baton." Prayers that empowered our ministries. Promises that they would stand beside us on our journey. Prayers that they would lead us where we needed. Prayers that they would always defend us and walk beside us. Prayers for strength and mercy in our ministries and wisdom in our lives. Promises to never give up on us.
As I am sure you can imagine......there wasn't a dry eye in the 1100 women there. To have that type of power and prayers spoke over and into our lives is something I will never forget. It is the most powerful time of worship I have ever been in.
That session ended with.... In Christ Alone.
My day at Ridgecrest ended with my beautiful family picking me up. All the other ladies went back to the Burg. But we got to head to Chattanooga for some family time.
I am still processing all of the things God showed me this week. Hopefully I can put that into words soon. One thing I can say is that I went to Ridgecrest with nothing really wrong in my life. I didn't have these major issues that I needed God to work on or heal me from. But I come away from there changed. God has asked me to raise the bar in my life. I can't wait to process it all and write it out.
Much love......
~LL
It is funny for me to sit here and think about all of the conversations that have taken place over the past 4 days. We have talked about our burdens in ministry and pouring into other women, we have talked about our marriages and our children, and we have talked about Jesus in our lives. We have laughed until we cried and we have cried until it made us laugh. We have prayed for each other and with each other.
After an 8 hour car ride, 6 women in one room sharing one bathroom, worship that was amazing, prayers that have changed our lives and laughter that has rocked me to the core, I walk away more filled than I could have dreamed. More challenged than I ever thought possible. And more blessed than I could have ever asked.
I could go on and on telling you stories of this past week but I will limit myself to one.
At the last session of our conference Beth Moore spoke. She shared many many things, but one of the most impacting was about women of different generations. She asked the younger women to stand and spread out throughout the large conference room. Women under 35 lined the rows and the aisle all over. As we stood she asked us to shout out things that we wanted the "older" generation to pray for for us. One would yell WISDOM and the Beth would guide the older women to pray, "God we pray wisdom for these women." Another would shout PROTECTION FOR MY MARRIAGE. And Beth would guide them to pray, "God we pray for protection for these women's marriages." Another would shout MENTORS. And they would pray,"God we pray for mentors for these women." This powerful moment went on for a while. Then Beth asked all of the younger to get on our knees. She asked the older women to find younger women somewhere around them and lay their hands on them. **Side note** We were blessed to not be able to find seats on in a special area that was set up for "younger women". The 3 of us younger ladies (in our group) ended up having to sit with the other 3 older ladies from our group. There also were only a few "younger" ladies where we were sitting. **End side note**
So as we got on our knees the women came all around us and placed there hands on us. Because there were only a few of us "youngers" around we had alot of hands on us. Not mention the "older" generation ladies from our group. Beth guided this older generation into a prayer time over us. She prayed/they repeated bold prayers for the next generation. Prayers that "passed the baton." Prayers that empowered our ministries. Promises that they would stand beside us on our journey. Prayers that they would lead us where we needed. Prayers that they would always defend us and walk beside us. Prayers for strength and mercy in our ministries and wisdom in our lives. Promises to never give up on us.
As I am sure you can imagine......there wasn't a dry eye in the 1100 women there. To have that type of power and prayers spoke over and into our lives is something I will never forget. It is the most powerful time of worship I have ever been in.
That session ended with.... In Christ Alone.
My day at Ridgecrest ended with my beautiful family picking me up. All the other ladies went back to the Burg. But we got to head to Chattanooga for some family time.
I am still processing all of the things God showed me this week. Hopefully I can put that into words soon. One thing I can say is that I went to Ridgecrest with nothing really wrong in my life. I didn't have these major issues that I needed God to work on or heal me from. But I come away from there changed. God has asked me to raise the bar in my life. I can't wait to process it all and write it out.
Much love......
~LL
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