Wanted: Mission Field Near Me

I get so frustrated sometimes. I'll be listening to some great, "Go out and tell others" message or watch a story about some amazing missionaries and I will just get completely down and out. My mind goes to the thought--"Lord, I don't have a mission field! I spend the majority of time in my home raising children and working. When I do get out, it is for church events or with friends and family. Where's my mission field?"

Recently, I was feeling very sorry for myself. I kept thinking it wasn't fair. In my mind there was no way for me to fulfill the "go" commission of the Bible. It took a minute and I finally just gave it up to God. Without thinking, in my mind, I gave over this desire to the Lord and just moved on with my day.

The following day, I checked my Instagram (For those of you who don't know, this is my newest obsession. It's a photography app for the iPhone that allows you to create a social profile and share your photos with people from all over the world. It's one of the most popular apps today and people share all kinds of things--good and bad. However, it has given me an outlet to share my everyday life, have adult interactions, and look at beautiful photographs from all over the world. If you have the app, please come find me--jt1114_ih.) as I do every day. I was checking through my notifications and came across something very interesting. I had posted a picture with a comment that questioned what were we reflecting? As Christians, we should reflect our Creator. Often times though, the best we are is a muddy reflection. The picture was of a red Georgia clay puddle that was reflecting two beautiful bare winter trees. As I read lower, I noticed that an individual had posted something to me and had gone into a personal story and had mentioned that she was an unbeliever. I responded and offered some words of encouragement and a hope that one day she would find the peace and joy that I had found. She responded in a positive way and I feel like I was able to help in some small way. Even more, I feel like I might have been able to plant a seed.

At that moment, I felt like Sarah. Remember when Sarah laughed at God when He told her she would have a baby at an old age? She didn't believe that it was possible for her to be used. She even scoffed at the idea of it ever happening. In some small way, I know some of what she was feeling holding her newborn son and being awfully ashamed for not trusting. I didn't laugh at God, but I was pretty skeptical that I would ever have the opportunity to talk to someone like I did in the instance above. And boy, talk about quick work. The Lord made me look foolish quick!

The truth is we all have mission fields right where we are. I know many of you work with unbelievers. Some of you go to school with unbelievers every day. The question is. . . are we willing to make the effort? I had never thought of Instagram as a way to reach others. I had used it for my own devices--promoting my photography, socializing, etc. God has other reasons for my participation in the IG world. I didn't see that until my silent prayer and this random user's comment opened my eyes.

I bet some of you are thinking, that event is a total coincidence. There are some of you who are probably thinking that I am making a big deal out of something so small and insignificant. Well you are wrong on both accounts. First, it wasn't a total coincidence. The Lord had tried to show me this before when someone asked me a question about my profile description that says God fearing. I answered the question, but never followed up on that person and never thought beyond what the user had asked me. This time, I believe that God knew I needed a bold, in-your-face moment where the person was so open that I couldn't miss it. Second, the world of IG is no small matter. I literally have over 1,000 followers just on my profile alone. This doesn't account for the thousands and thousands more that are out there in IG world with the same hurts, thoughts, and ideas as the IG user who spoke to me not long ago. I have the opportunity to reach thousands of people through my pictures and my stories. I feel like it is a huge responsibility and blessing. Also, isn't every soul significant? People often make fun of how "into" Instagram I am lately. Well, now I have good reason to be!

I hope that this encourages you to go out and find a mission field of your own. You don't have to go to Africa or Asia to reach people with the Good News. There are people who live on your street who are hurting and looking for someone to lend an ear. There are children who would love to go to church, but don't have a ride. If you watch the news you can see millions of hurting people within the United States who are looking for someone to care. Many are not the easiest people to reach. Some people have to be loved on in order for their hearts to be softened. It's worth the time and effort. If this post encourages you in some way, I hope you will let me know! If you find a new mission field, I would love to hear about it.

Ready to take on the world again....

What is it about the start of a new year that always gets you pumped to start things off fresh? I woke up today with a different perspective without even really thinking about it. There's something about this year that feels different. I don't know what it is or what that means, but today, I feel ready to take on the world--that's a good feeling!

Every year on this day I do look back and try to reflect on what I said I was going to do the year before. Did it work out? How did my year go? What were the big mistakes and the big victories? It's just who I am.

Well, I am going to revisit last year's NOT TO DO list I made and see how I did! You can check it out to by going clicking HERE. Did I continue running and increase over 3 miles? Yes to the increase, but not to the continuing. Photography threw me for a loop when I got incredibly busy in the fall. It was a blessing, but I will tell you, not running has made a huge impact on my health. I start back tomorrow-NO MATTER WHAT. This year's first Not To Do is--Don't give up on running. I got up to close to 4 miles and I am happy as I am not a long distance runner.

Number two was to be a better mom. I think I did the best I could. I still have so much room for improvement. I think that each year, the child/parent relationship changes. Each age brings a different challenge and joy. I have learned to accept that and am trying to roll with the punches. The challenge this year--Don't let mothering mistakes get me down. Everyone makes them and the key is to learn from them.

Number three was a total loss. In fact, there was one moment where I was completely overwhelmed in the fall. I didn't keep things in perspective and was just going nuts. This year I have changed it--Don't let anything overlap my God time and my family time. It should always come first.

Number four wasn't a total loss. I think I did a few more things that this year that I wouldn't have done last year, but I still have so far to go in this department. This year it goes a little something like this--Don't worry about being the perfect Christian. Be the best you can be and let God do the rest.

I think I did much better with number five. I cherished every mountain top that came my way. The issue I found was that I cherished it so much that I had an almost even worse drop when they were over. The lows got LOW. (I said that in a deep voice in my mind while I was typing.) This year it's a different angle--Don't take lows for granted. There is always something to be learned and my lows are not as bad as I usually believe them to be.

Number six is the one I struggled with the most. I live with anxiety every day. It's a fact of life that I have lived with for years. When I decided I was going to really try to change that it seemed that the battles got worse. (Who would have thought?) Amazingly enough, the last week of 2011 was the worst fight with it. It was this period that brought me to this one for the list--Don't let fear win the fight. Keep fighting. I always like to think I am a fighter, but fear makes me a wimp. I am sick of being a wimp.

I worked as hard as anyone in 2011 on number seven. I have tried to make time for everyone in the family. I have tried to pray for them and just enjoy everything about them. Even though this sounds great, I learned something. Even your family can hurt you. Please don't misunderstand. My family has never beaten me, verbally abused me (for the most part haha), etc. Yet, words are a powerful tool. The closer you get to people the more open you become to hurts. So I came away with this--Don't think your family is perfect. They are flawed just like you. Love them no matter what and realize that they love you--even when things get bumpy.

Number eight is almost a joke for a person like me. I live a chaotic existence so expecting me to become a neat freak in a year was unrealistic. But, I am happy to say that I started 2012 with a somewhat clean house. Small victory that lead to this--Don't have unrealistic expectations. Do your best with it, but don't let it drown or trap you. ASK FOR HELP!

Number nine I have actually done somewhat better on in the last few months. I have seen friends that I haven't been able to see in some time. I am also hoping to get involved with the young couples at our church more. We made a step in that direction as a couple this month and it really meant a lot to me. So for this one--Don't stop reaching out. I want to show myself a good friend to gain more friends (and to lead others to Christ).

I wish that I could say that number ten was the greatest success. I feel like I such a failure in this area because I never feel like I can keep it up. I have spurts where I do great and then I fall on my face. So here it is--Don't give up. No matter what keep striving--I am not perfect, but I'll keep running the race to win the prize.

Please come and keep me accountable! Whether it be by Facebook or by leaving a message here. Each comment you leave encourages me or makes me think. Pray for me! This is a journey and I want to do my best. . .but I am pretty clumsy and fall quite a bit. I hope that you will stick with me this year and thanks to those who encouraged me to jump back into blogging. I let myself get caught up in activities and I missed this intellectual outlet I created!

God bless you and yours in 2012!

Busy, Busy, Busy......Taking time to breathe....

I know you devoted followers out there have been wondering why in the world I have not been posting lately! Well, that's a good question. I have a good answer--I have been busy! As if being a mother of two fiesty little boys wasn't enough, I have added teacher, photographer, part-time worker, maid, and much more back on to the list recently. Don't get me wrong! I am not complaining in the least. I am just explaining my absence.

I decided in the quiet moments of this late evening to take the time to encourage all you people out in the virtual world to take some time to breathe. I have not done that in the last few weeks. I have rushed, rushed, rushed through every activity, phone call, work activity, Bible study, etc. To make it worse, I feel like I even rushed through our annual camping trip last weekend! I am going to do my best to chill out the next few days and focus on the must do's (feeding my kids, our animals, and dealing with the necessities of life) and do a few of the I want to do's. I am going to blog some, read some, run some and more. I don't care what it takes....I am not going to rush the next few days. I encourage you to do the same!

Before you know it...you'll be rushing to your grave....and Lord knows I don't want to do that!

Great Expectations

I have been reading the book of Mark before I go to bed each night. Last night, I read the following:

"And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

⁴And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

⁶But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,

⁷Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?

⁸And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

⁹Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?

¹⁰But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)

¹¹I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.

¹²And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion."

As I read the passage, the order of events struck me as odd. Here is a man who desperately needs to be physically HEALED. His friends go through all this effort to drop him through the roof to be HEALED by Jesus. The most obvious thing that needs to be done is the HEALING of this man's body. (Did I drive home my point enough?) What happens when he finally is set before Jesus? Jesus sees faith and forgives the man's sin.

Maybe you are on a holier plain than I, but my first thought was, "Forgiving his sins? What about the poor guy's body?" Forgiveness was not what I expected. I have heard the story hundreds of times, but I never realized the order of the events--or the significance. I had to put myself in the place of this man. Here I am, finally getting my chance after years of suffering to be healed. There is all this build up as my friends rip up the roof to lower me through. I am laying at the feet of Jesus and He says, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." I don't know if that is what the man expected, but it wouldn't be what I expected. I would have expected Him to tell me to get up and run a few laps around the synagogue. I wish I knew what was going through that guy's mind when Jesus forgave him of his sins first. Was that what he expected??

As I read on into the chapter, I realized that in a way, I was having an attitude like that of the scribes. I wasn't questioning Jesus' ability to forgive sins, but I was questioning his judgment. Who was I to decide what needed to happen first? Who were these scribes to question Him? Who was I to say the order of how the Son of God does things?

As I thought more about it, the order of events made more sense. What was more important--the forgiveness of this man's sins or the healing of his body? Obviously, the forgiveness of his sins should have been the first thing on his mind when coming before the Son of God. Hopefully, this man was nothing like me--I would have expected to be healed. Yet, God did something much greater for this man than healing his physical body.

I wrote all this to say this--how often do we expect God to work in a certain way and it doesn't turn out how we think it should? I know I am so guilty of thinking I know how things should work out. Admit it! We all have these grand ideas and then we realize that our Heavenly Father has something even greater for us, beyond what we have expected. For instance, the man in the book of Mark probably never expected to be healed. He probably never expected to have the Son of God ever come near enough to him to be healed. When he saw the crowd he probably never expected to get close enough to have a chance encounter. The list could go on and on.

Recently, my expectations have not been great by any means. In fact, I would say I have been expecting the worst. The truth is, we should expect great things. We have a mighty God who thought enough of us to die for us. Does this mean that everything will be great and perfect? No. Does that mean that God's plan always include only hilltops and no valleys? No way. Should we always expect our will to be the best way? You have got to be kidding! What we do have is hope. We should also expect our God to do great things. You will find that He exceeds even our greatest hopes.

Home Improvement Challenge #3: Old habits die hard

I know, I know! Don't yell at me! I took a vacation and didn't blog the next challenge. I know there are people out there waiting! I am very sorry! But here it is without delay!!

So far, you should be getting active and drinking more water. I am proud to say that I have been able to keep up with both so far. The water still gets me here and there, but for the most part, I am drinking more water. In fact, I have been saving money when we go out to eat by ALWAYS ordering water! I have easily saved over 20 bucks on vacation by just getting water where we went.

Now we are on to the third challenge. The third challenge is to kick a bad habit. I believe that from the time I was in the womb, I have been biting my nails. I have never, ever had pretty or nice nails that were real. For one glorious moment I had some nice nails (on my wedding day and for some of my honeymoon). But alas, they did not last long. I have tried for years to quit. I have tried everything that I can think of to stop chewing them but it never lasts long.

A few weeks ago, I started to try again. I did well until they started breaking. Apparently salt water and golf will make them weak. (That's what I was exposed to on my vacation.....I know....horrible conditions.) Even when they were breaking, I did my best not to chew them. Most of the time it did not work. I ended up biting them off so the irritation didn't overwhelm me. So here I am, back from vacation with little or nothing to show. I have three nails that I kept from chewing off (and one of them is halfway off from breaking). This is much harder than the water drinking challenge for me. This is something I have almost ingrained into my being. However, when I decided to kick a bad habit, there was not a thing in the world I wanted to stop doing more than this. Biting my nails has been the one thing that has had the most control over me. I know it sounds stupid, but it is true. It is completely gross and I hate doing it, but I do it without even realizing it sometimes.

So here I am, feeling like I am back at square one with this one. I'll be right there with you when you start this one! Think of something you would really like to stop. Maybe for you it is smoking, over eating, or any other type of addiction. I am encouraging you to take this opportunity, while you have people to hold you accountable, to give it up. With the help of the accountability partners gained in this challenge, I know I can nip this in the bud. That means that you can do it too!

We need more people who are ready to improve their life! Come join us on Facebook at the Home Improvement Challenge! You can find us at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/groups/235403529814269/. Join the group and keep up with the challenges! It's a great place to find encouragement and a way to make changes in your life!

What habit are you willing to kick? (Yeah, that's right....I called you out! What are you WILLING to give up?) Leave a message and let us know what bad habit you will be giving up for this stage of the challenge!!

Home Improvement Challenge #2: Give me so mo' H2O!

How has everyone been doing with our Home Improvement Challenge? I am proud to report that, so far, I have been successful! In fact, I have worked my way up to running three miles! I have to admit, I was astonished the first day it happened (and a little overwhelmed)! I didn't realize that I could honestly pull it off. I hope that you have been getting up and walking, jumping, playing sports, or just plain getting out and getting active!

Welcome to Home Improvement Challenge #2! As you know, I try the challenge out before I give it to you because I would never ask you to do something I can't do. To be completely honest, of the two challenges, this one was the absolute toughest for me! Here is your challenge for the next two weeks: Continue your activity schedule (running, walking, whatever you are doing), but add drinking more H2O everyday. In fact, drink more water than any other liquid you might consume during the day.

Let me give you some background on what I am doing. First, I am addicted to sweet tea. For me, it's not coffee, sodas, or energy drinks--give me my tea. What I have been desperately trying to do is limit my intake of caffeine to one cup a day. The rest of the day I drink water. I have to admit, some days have been worse than others. There have been a few days where I have gone completely caffeineless. There have also been a few days where I have had two cups of tea. (No more than two, I promise!!)

I have to say, I have already noticed a difference. I really believe that this played a big part in my ability to finally run three miles. I feel more hydrated during the day and I definitely feel better when I drink water than when I load myself down with other drinks. Keep in mind, you will pee like a fountain till your body gets used to all the water. Also, I am not keeping track of the amount of water I am drinking each day. Later on, I will start keeping track of it, but right now I am just trying to start a habit. When I was pregnant, I found that keeping track of the amount of water I drank really stressed me out and made it harder for me to keep wanting to drink it. Plain and simple, I drink it when I am thirsty.

Not only does this benefit your health, but it also saves you money outside the home. Have you checked the price of drinks at restaurants lately? A family of four can save about $10.00 off their bill at various locations if they drink water. If you ask me, $10.00 is a lot of money! I think it is absolutely ridiculous that restaurants are charging that for soft drinks and tea (especially when I know how much it costs to make tea). Not only will you feel healthier, but you will feel good about spending less money!

Believe me, I know that I am not asking you to do something easy. I know a lot of people who have to have some caffeine to get through the day. This is what is so great about the Home Improvement Challenge--you don't have to cut it out entirely, but you make realistic goals for yourself and make a change. I read an article once about running that said if you run until you are absolutely drained at the end of each session, you are less likely to continue running. I think the same goes for something like this. If you have to cut it out entirely, your head starts spinning and headaches start. Most likely, you will go back to caffeine in a second. I am slowly going to try and wean myself off and enjoy it every once in awhile.

So who's with me? Do you think you can add on this new challenge? I know it's hard, but I need your encouragement to do this! GO TEAM! Leave me a comment and tell me how you are doing so far with the physical activity!

I DID IT!!

I had to bang out a quick blog post to let everyone know that I finally ran a 5K distance yesterday! It felt fantastic! I could not have done it without this Home Improvement Challenge. I have really used the encouragement from others to get off my butt, even when I am exhausted, and get moving! Also, next week I will be posting Challenge #2. This one has been even more of a struggle for me than the getting active regularly challenge. However, I think it made an impact on why I was able to do what I was yesterday. I can already feel a difference in the way I feel about myself and in my moods. (You might want to check with the Straightforward Dad to be sure on that one!) I hope that you are getting active with Challenge #1. I know a lot of you are participating and I would love to hear updates--especially from those who have just started. What are your problems? What walls have you ran into that keep you from doing what you should? We will help you get through them! :)