Intentional Pursuit

Lessons from the #2 Pencil

2012-02-14T14:00:00.000-05:00

For the past school year I have had the privilege to volunteer in Kajsa’s 1^st grade class on Thursday mornings. For about 1.5 hours I help cute first graders with writing, reading, answering questions (sometimes the same question over and over again), and support an amazing teacher. This past week I walked into the classroom all ready to work and help the students. The teacher greets me and instead of giving me direction of what to do in the classroom she hands be a large bag of # 2 pencils. I look at the bag thinking I needed to pass them out to the students. But no that wasn’t what she wanted…she asked me without apology…”Can you sharpen these for me?” The immediate thought that came to my mind was…”What?!?!, I have better things to do than sharpen pencils, there are children who need to learn and be encouraged, and challenged – all those noble things.” I took the pencils and began the hunt for the pencil sharpener located in the library. To my dismay the only pencil sharpener available was a manual one. My heart sank. This was going to take forever. That’s when the real hunt began…someone in the school had to have an electric one. Two classroom later I found two! I felt very successful. So there I stood sharpening pencils, going between two sharpeners, burning one of the out (oops!), one pencil at a time. The bag seemed never ending. Some of the pencils had the lead near invisible it made it very difficult to sharpen. I could have easily become frustrated as I spent 45 minutes sharpening pencils that students would break, drop on the ground, put their germs on and eventually throw away. But as I stood there (my feet were hurting towards the end) I was doing something that was needed and important to the teacher – the person who I had made a commitment to. This is what she needed me to do. This was important to her because she wanted her students to have pencil they could write with and work on their handwriting with. As I finished sharpening I thanked God for the opportunity that I can serve in my daughters school and that I can support a teacher who does so much for my daughter. I learned that Thursday morning that God’s view is greater than my small view of what is really going on. So as I sharpened pencils God sharpened me!

Here are some of the lessons I learned:

You are never as important as you think you are
Servanthood is about a heart of serving not the task
Whether small or large do all things as unto the Lord
Your time is only as valuable as your priorities (serving my daughters teacher is a priority – happy teacher, happy child!)
Make it happen, no matter what
Find better ways to do something
Living out my faith not just talking about it
It takes about 20 seconds to sharpen a pencil, 50 seconds to sharpen a pencil that is in really rough shape
Don’t buy the cheap pencils they are a pain to sharpen
Be glad that someone needs your help
Love by actions because you were loved by actions of a Savior

““A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”” John 13:34-35 NIV

What label are you wearing?

2010-07-14T08:44:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of speaking at the Girls Only retreat at Heartland Conference Center in Ohio. What an incredible retreat with girls from all over Ohio. Through some recent events in my life, God had laid a message on my heart about labels that we wear. Labels we have put on us or that others have put on us. Those labels have then defines us in what we do and don't do. The labels impact our faith, our dreams and hopes and how we view others. These labels can become destructive in our lives.

I asked all of the girls to write on a piece of paper a label (negative) that they felt they were carrying. I asked the girls to be honest and they were. I collected the labels and had one of my dear friends Liz come to the front. I began reading the labels out loud and put them on Liz. They were words such as slut, unworthy, ugly, not good enough, failure, a mistake, repulsive, prude, sinful, etc. As I put these words all over Liz, on her arms, legs, tummy, back, and shoulders - not only could I feel Liz as she was shaking at the impact of the words but a holy anger at the enemy and the world for pushing these teenage girls down into something they were not. The visual impact of Liz wearing all of those labels was very real because quiet honestly we all wear more than one label.

Changing the way we think about ourselves will allow us to see ourselves the way God sees us.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2

This world is constantly telling us what and who to be…but God says take on my standard for you life – then it will be good and PERFECT!

When you are you – you are PERFECT!
Your smile is perfect – even if it is a little bit crooked.
Your hair is perfect – even if it is a little bit frizzy or too straight
Your personality is perfect – even if not everyone gets your humor
Your love is perfect – because it is a reflections of God’s love

I ended the retreat with talking off all of the labels on Liz. I replaced it with one label. A powerful label. A label of truth. A label of change.

MY BELOVED

That is how God views us. He calls us HIS and he calls us BELOVED.

That is the truth we need to hold on to. That is the truth we need to live by.

If you were created with a compassionate heart – live compassionately.

If you were created with joy – share it to everyone

If you were created with a heart of mercy – show kindness to those around you

If you were created with the brains – help others to understand

If you were created with beauty – make others worlds beautiful

Be bold in who you are in Christ.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Tim 1:7

Whatever label you are wearing today that is not from God, I encourage you to give it to God. It may have been with you a long time, it may be part of who you are - but it is not true! Be bold and trust that not only can God remove that label but he can transform your life with his power and his truth.

We are HIS BELOVED - life freely in that truth!

Signature Video

2010-01-08T20:04:00.001-05:00

For more information about Signature Girls Conference, click here.

New Season

2009-12-02T09:49:00.001-05:00

A few days ago I packed up everything I owned and I moved to another state. I packed, packed, and packed to get the house ready. I found things I had forgotten that I had. I threw away things that I hadn't used for years. I found old photos, journal, and cards. Going through all of my things I came to realize how blessed I am. How fortunate I am to be where I am today. How far God has taken me. So sometimes it is good to go through all of stuff - to help us remember how far we have come. 1 Tim. 1:14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. And the exciting part is that if God has already done this much in my life - how much more will He in the future!

Signature Is Only 3 Months Away

2009-10-14T09:58:00.001-04:00

Hey Everyone,

Signature 2010 is less then 3 months away. Mark your calendars now for January 23rd with a special preview night on Friday! More details to come!

The Layers Around My Heart

2009-09-23T14:33:00.001-04:00

I have been reading Psalm 103 a lot lately…and there was a verse that really stuck out to me…

v. 1 Praise the Lord, O my soul, all my inmost being praise his holy name

My inmost being….what does that mean…God doesn’t just want my outmost being to praise his name – he wants my inmost being. The core of who I am.

Psalm 51:6 (NIV) Surely you desire truth in the inner parts, you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Again, David writes about the importance of having truth at the core of who your are. We can refer to this core as our heart.

Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;  you formed me in my mother's womb. (MSG)

God didn’t start with the outside – he started with the inside!!!

The core of who you are is who God created you to be.

God didn’t create layers around you – he created YOU!!!!

Prov 20:27 The Lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being.

As I read these scriptures it may me think…is there an outward being and in inward being…why would David write about wanting the inmost being, the inmost place to praise God and have wisdom in those areas?

Most of us have probably heard sermons about how God looks on the inside and the world looks at the outside – and that they inside needs to represent what is on the outside. I have loved hearing these messages, and they have challenged me – but the Lord has challenged me lately to look deeper into the truth of my inmost being.

The picture that I have is a bullseye. The core of who we are is at the center and then there are layers around that core.

There are layers to who we are. Layers we have put on us or that others have put on us. I know from my own life there are some changes that I allow the Holy Spirit prompt me to make but then I say this is far enough, this is uncomfortable, this is hard, this isn’t really necessary…( it is not the layers that God wants to get at but he wants to get to the core!!!)

Sometimes we don’t want to admit growth because then we have to admit that something needed to change.

We are good at putting on the great Christian Façade. We say the right things, we pray the right prayers, we give the right answers, we even know when to be partially vulnerable so keep people at bay and have them not close to us.

If we dare to let our guard down – what will people think. If I dare to expose who I really am, the thoughts that I really have, what will others think and what will I think of myself. We suppress what is really going on…and take on a form of Christianity.

We have trained ourselves but not really changed

Judas was a trained follower of Christ but not changed at the core

Martha was a trained follower of Christ but didn’t have the right heart

I can do really good acts, I do them because they are right, because I was taught to do them, but they are not at the core of who I am – because when the rough moments come those “right choices” are not the foundation to stand on.

If we truly would allow God into the core of who we are…our lives would never be the same – it would be a life that was surrender. This surrendering is a journey.

Layers of the bullseye:

Anger, Gossip, Bitterness, Regret, Hurt, Revenge, Fear, Disappointment, Doubt, Pride, Insecurities, Self-centeredness, Disobedience, Envy, Failure, Feeling of Insignificance.

I may let God in to some extent with His truth but I haven’t let His truth transform my inmost being. How do I know? I believe that when we have allowed to come in to my inmost being I will never go back to what had once been. I have allowed myself to be rebirthed, washed by the Holy Spirit.

The heart of this blog is not for us to come up with a bunch of solutions to what you need to do in your life but for you to become aware of your layers:

Until you are aware of what is in between your inmost being and God you can’t allow His truth to come in and heal, comfort, refute the lies, give peace, cover you with His unfailing love.

What hurt that happened in your life when you were a child, a teenager, an adult is still keeping you trapped? You don’t allow God’s truth to come to that part of your heart because you feel safe in the pain, you feel justified in the choices you have made and are making because of that pain, you don’t even realize the impact of that pain because you have buried it so deep.

The Lords wants to deal with these things to the core of who you are – then he wants to cover it with His perfect abounding love.

Psalm 103:8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. (NIV)

NLT – unfailing love

MSG – rich in love

CEV – his love never fails

AMP – plenteous in loving kindness

The Lord loves you to much to leave you the way you are. And His love is gentle and compassionate so when we start discovering the junk in our lives he doesn’t throw it in our faces but gentle but firmly helps us deal with it…

God desires truth in the inmost part of your being – only Gods truth can heal, repair, and ultimately and genuinely transform us.

I don’t know about you be I want to be genuinely transformed – because I know that somewhat /fake/ unreal transformation – doesn’t work, it doesn’t stick and it definitely does not withstand storms in my life.

Psalm 51:6 (MSG)

What you are after is truth from the inside out. Enter me then, conceive a new, true life!

Let's be on this journey together to discover what is at the core of our hearts.

Go Kajsa, Go Kajsa

2009-05-23T22:25:00.001-04:00

We took a family bike ride around the block the other night. It was a perfect night and the girls were excited to ride their bikes. Olivia loves to ride her bike fast and takes off down the street. Kajsa who is still working on her bike riding skills takes it a little bit slower. She also gets very easily distracted by all the things you can look at while you are riding your bike. Kajsa needs a lot of encouragement while she rides her bike. :)

What really stood out during this bike ride was what happened half way around the block. Kajsa starts talking to herself. I slow down to hear what she is saying.

Kajsa is cheering herself on.."Go Kajsa, Go Kajsa - you can do it. Pedal power Kajsa - you can do it." She keeps saying this over and over again as she is going up the slight "hill". As she was encouraging herself she was peddling as fast as she could.

It made me think: How often do we cheer ourselves on? How often in times of hardship or trouble do we cheer ourselves on? Believing we can do it and not giving up?

I smiled as I watched Kajsa work hard on getting up the "hill". She was repeating things she had heard Brian and I say over and over to her on other bike rides. The power of words. The power of encouragement. The power of love. The power of believing in someone. This was all being lived out in my 4 year old.

It made me think about all the things my heavenly Father tells me. The words of truth that He speaks into my life through His word. His words of encouragement telling me that I can do it. That I don't have to give up. That I won't be tempted beyond what I can handle. That He will never leave me or forsake me. That His love for me is great!

Go Kajsa, Go Kajsa....may I have the faith of a child - to believe I can do anything!

2009… wasn’t quite what I expected….

2009-05-13T11:04:00.001-04:00

Before I can talk about what has happened in 2009 in need to go back a few years.

After I was pregnant with my first beautiful daughter I noticed that my thyroid seemed to have a not in it. I had it checked out and everything came back fine. I had some nodules in my thyroid and my dr. wasn’t concerned because many people do have these. After my second pregnancy I noticed that my thyroid seemed a little bit bigger again I went to the dr. and they said this can happen with pregnancy and there was nothing to worry about. This happened again after my third pregnancy. I wasn’t having any problems just noticing that it was difficult to wear certain necklaces….I just attributed it to the extra weight gain after each pregnancy.

Every six months I would have my thyroid check with ultra sounds and biopsies. Every time I went to have it checked everything came back fine. Surgery to remove part of my thyroid was an option but not necessary at this time. In the fall of 2008, I went in for a check-up – and they fond a nodule in my thyroid they hadn’t seen 6 months earlier. This was a little bit of a concern. So after many discussions we made the decision to have the left side of my thyroid removed. It needed to be done. Surgery was scheduled for January 2009.

I wasn’t really worried – of course there is always some concern having major surgery for the first time but I knew God was with me and I would be ok. I would still have the rest of my thyroid – so life was going to be good.

Surgery went very well. The part of my thyroid they removed was 3 times larger than it should have been. The surgeon actually took a picture of it because he was so surprised – and I was surprised because I felt like I had a skinny neck again. The biopsy of the thyroid they removed came back clean. It is early January now and I am excited to make this year a great one. Motivated to exercise and get back to life normal again.

The call came a week or so later…You know it is never a good sign when your surgeon calls and says I need to see you tomorrow…At that time I knew something wasn’t right.

They had done additional testing of my thyroid and after many looks at it they determined that they had found traces of cancer cells.

Cancer is always a scary word – however I wasn’t scared because everyone kept telling me that “If you are going to have cancer anywhere your thyroid is the best place to have it.” It is so easily removed and you can take medicine that will do the job your thyroid usually does.

Of course I cried. Or course I prayed. And then I cried some more – I don’t know if I cried because of the cancer or because I had to go through the surgery again. I was tired of not being all they way there for my family, for my church family, and for not feeling like me. So we scheduled the second surgery. It also went well – except for the scar on my next was even bigger at this time. But praise God there was no cancer in that side. As a precaution my next step was Radioactive Iodine treatment.

At 33 I hadn’t really pictured myself having had 2 surgeries, a scar on my neck and on medicine for the rest of my life. But through all of this God has been so close and so good. I have had incredible people pour into my life, people have reached out. My family has been great. My mom has come all the way from Sweden for the 3^rd time this year just to be with me. WOW – what kind of love I have experienced. I have a husband who has gone above and beyond in this season – it has strengthened our relationship and I am so grateful for him.

I am on the final stretch of this chapter of my life. As I am writing this I am sitting in a hotel a few miles away from my home. To kill any of the remaining thyroid cells I yesterday had to “drink” through a straw radioactive iodine. It was tasteless – but still gross. This was a precautionary treatment.

I am doing good. I am not discouraged (at least not at the moment). This year has not been anything that I thought it would be but there has been a consistent part of my life that I could not have done without and that is the presence of the Lord.

I am ready to continue living my life to the fullest and ready to move forward. It reaffirms again that I want my life to be an Intentional Pursuit. I don’t know what tomorrow may bring but I do know that I can be intentional in my pursuit in relationships, I can be intentional in my marriage and with my kids, and I can be intentional in my pursuit of the Almighty God.

What a year - but the best is yet to come!

A Walk in Your Shoes

2009-04-20T07:36:00.000-04:00

I had the privilege to speak at the Ohio District's Women's Conference Time Apart this past weekend. I shared on a topic that is important to all of us mother's - how do we raise daughters (and sons) that are godly. We could easily give a ten step list of things we should do as mom's but it really has to do deeper than that. I have included a few highlights from my session in this blog.

Imagine your daughter putting on your shoes. Imagine her taking the same steps that you do in a day. The shoes may not fit quite right but she still continues to walk in them. Maybe the shoes are too big or maybe they are too small. As she walks in your shoes: What is she thinking about? Where is she going? What is she dreaming about and what does her future hold? What are her silent hopes and dreams? What prayer is she praying? As moms we teach what we know but we reproduce who we are.

Your daughter will have some of the same insecurities that you do

Your daughter will have the same shopping patterns that you do

Your daughter will have the same view of money & budgeting that you do

Your daughter will learn how to treat her future spouse from you

Your daughter will learn her worth from you

Your daughter will learn what is important and valuable from you

Your daughter will learn how to serve from you

Your daughter will learn how to talk about others

Your daughter will learn what it means to be a friend

Your daughter will turn out like you! Maybe not the same hairstyle or color, maybe not the same clothing style, maybe not the same style of music – but she will be like you.
How do you look at your daughter? With a critical eye, only proud of her for the big accomplishments in her life – or do you celebrate the little victories in her life. Does your daughter like being around you?

Proverbs 15:30a – A cheerful look brings joy to the heart

Your silent reaction is sometimes the biggest teaching moment for your daughter.
Prov 15: 28a – The godly think before speaking

The future is literally in our hands

Every bedtime story counts

Every prayer I pray counts

Every tear I kiss away counts

Every encouraging word I speak counts

Every promise I keep counts

Every memory I make matters

I can’t erase the past – but I can ask for forgiveness for the past. Saying you are sorry to our children is not a sign of weakness; rather it shows incredible strength.

Deut. 6:6-7 Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.
I ended the session asking the women what they wanted to pass on to their daughters. I had them write it down on a card as a reminder in those moments when we want to give up or we have lost hope - to remind ourselves why we do what we do. If we are intentional with who we are, intentional on how we raise our children, by the grace of God we will raise children who belong to the Lord and who do mighty things for the Kingdom.

To those of us in our 30's... and everyone else.

2009-04-11T13:50:00.000-04:00

A few years ago I had a conversation with some friends. We were all in our early 30's and we said the 30's will be our best years. I started out with that notion but life has thrown a couple of curve balls my way. But so far even with the regular ups and downs of life they are still really good.

What do others think about those in their 30's?

Last night after a great dinner out with friends we went to the bookstore. It is always fun to look at books and then make fun of some of the titles. So I found last night this "Coupon Book" for those in their 30's. I thought to myself well this should be interesting. The coupons in book went as follows: this coupon is to go garage sale shopping for a special day out, let's take a drive to your fantasy destination, a dog sitting coupon... now for a special day out I don't want to go to a garage sale - take me someplace fun or relaxing not going through other people's junk, drive to a fantasy destination - my fantasy destination would require a plan or a cruise ship, dog sitting - well I don't have a dog. I looked through the rest of the coupons in this "book" made me think that those who are in their 30's aren't really that fun.

Well, I am in my 30's and I am loving being a wife, a mom, a youth leader, and refusing to feel "old". I am choosing to live my life to the fullest and having a blast doing it. So to all of us out there whether we are in our 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's or even 90's - let's make our lives count today! Let us allow God to grab a hold of our dreams, our hopes and our plans and may we live life abundantly and intentionally.