Give it away liberally

My children got on me Sunday because they said "I laughed too loud in church." I have to admit that when something is funny, I laugh from the gut. I can't help it. I believe that we should be as free in our laughter as we are when we mourn. So I laugh freely.

Likewise I give my smiles away liberally and try to do the same with words of encouragement. I'm learning more and more to affirm my children and my husband, to be intentional about looking for ways to say thank you, or to compliment a job well done, not matter how small. And whenever I do that, I see their faces light up with satisfaction.

I had the chance to be on the receiving end last week when I went to Louisville to tape a training video. John Bennett, the preschool and children's ministry director for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, invited me to be a part of a new website KBC is launching.

I met John less than a year ago, but he has become one of my greatest advocates. He believes passionately in my work with children and the book I have written to help parents disciple their children at home. He never misses an opportunity to encourage me, to "speak life" as it were into me personally and over my ministry. I appreciate the folks like John in my life who believe in me enough to trust God for what is not seen as if God has already brought it to completion.

But what I also like about John is he doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk. He doesn't just verbally encourage me. He provides opportunities to promote my ministry and for that I am grateful.

Yes....I like to laugh loudly, smile liberally, and look for ways to encourage. It feels good to be the giver and likewise to be the receiver. So let's do a little of both. Encourage someone today and I hope that what you send out will come back to you multiplied.

PHOTO CAPTION: John stopped by my booth at the Children's Ministry Expo 2011 in Lexington, KY to give me a word of encouragement.

Planting Seeds

My daughter and I had a great experience together last week. We went to Princess Camp. Can you believe it? It was a camp to teach little girls that they are daughters of the king.

I am tremendously blessed that I get to share these opportunities with my daughter as well as invest in the lives of other little girls. I taught led the 4 and 5 year old class. That was an adventure within itself. Let me tell you.....girls, girls, girls.

I loved the fact that we learned etiquette things like how to set the table, and yes even my class mastered setting a proper princess party.

Throughout the week we also learned Galatians 5:22, the fruit of the Spirit, and how a true princess puts this Scripture into practice. We learned to "Sparkle for Jesus" and tell everyone how much God loves them.

My favorite part was that throught the whole week, it was small things that planted seeds in the hearts of these little girls that will prayerfully shape their lives in the future. There is power in being affirmed at a young age, and being told that you have worth, and value, that you are loved, and treasured.

I hope we all do that in the lives of the girls we come into contact with. Speaking affirmation into the life of a child has immeasurable consequences. Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue can bring life or death." Oh, if we would believe God's word, and put it into practice.

If we could help our children to see that they are made in the image of God, that true beauty comes from within, what an impact it would have on the choices they make and the paths that their lives will follow.

I AM a true princess, and I have a royal purpose. That is likewise true for my daughter and we were blessed to be able to attend Princess Prep School.

For more information on this awesome experience, visit www.royalpurpose.com.

Tears for Breakfast

Children can really show you the heart of God. And sometimes the lesson God wants us to learn, we have a hard time receiving, but He loves us enough to keep loving us.

One Sunday, we were eating breakfast and jabbering as we were getting ready for church. My youngest son was noticeable quiet. Now, for those who know our baby boy, then you know that he is usually a ball of energy.

So I asked him what was wrong. He answered nothing, but I could tell that was not true. Finally, as he sat down beside me, I put my hand upon his and asked him again to tell me what was wrong. I could see the tears welling up in his eyes as he tried to hold them back and in a nearly inaudible whisper, he said, "I had a bad dream."

And this is what he said: "In my dream I was following God, but the Devil came along and told me to follow him. I listened to him and I did follow him. But when I followed him, he led me off a cliff, and I fell off the cliff. And now God is not in my heart anymore."

Now for those that know me, now, both my son and I had started to cry. I just pulled him up from the table and into my arms and hugged him tight, reassuring him that it was just a really bad dream, and that God is still in His heart. Sometimes a dream is so real that it is hard to distinguish where the dream ends and where reality begins. But that is why we can't depend solely on how we feel, and we must go back to what God says is true in the Bible. I wanted to reassure him that God is with him even when sometimes we do choose to follow the devil.

Later while listening to K-Love radio, I heard this passage from "Jesus Calling," a book by Sarah Young. It summarized exactly what I wanted to affirm for my son. "You are Mine for all time--and beyond time, into eternity. No power can deny you your inheritance in heaven. I want you to realize how utterly secure you are! Even if you falter as you journey through life, I will never let go of your hand."

It is a message that I know that I will have to reinforce for my son as he grows in his relationship with Christ. But it was also a message I needed to be reminded of as well...that God is with me, that He chooses me, that He knows me, and that He still loves me.

I hope you know that today and that you feel the power of His presence in your life.

To read the entire "Jesus Calling" devotional, look up the reading for March 10. The Scripture for that day was Psalm 37:23-24 and Psalm 18:30.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

My WOW Moment today really is something that happens almost every week. When I go to work out, I'm amazed at what a fascinating creation the human body is. I think I started thinking about this one day when I was mentally zoned out so that I could get through my cardio workout.

The Bible tells says of us in Psal 139:14 that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." The New Living Translation puts it this way, "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex." That is what strikes me....how complex the human body is.

Now, I know that we all learn about how the body works in health class, but have you ever really stopped to think about the skill and craftsmanship that went in to making you.

When I'm doing my workout I have to remember to hold in my abs, move my feet (without tripping over myself), do some kind of motion with my arms, and in all of this most of the time I have to remind myself to not hold my breath....so somewhere in there, I'm also breathing. But those are the things that I'm thinking about me....things that I'm aware of that my brain is communicating to my body to do.

But think of all of the things that my body does that I don't consciously tell it to do, and if I had to consciously tell it to do, I would have been dead a long time ago. Somewhere in that brain of mine my heart is being told to beat, my lungs are being told to process the oxygen and carbon monoxide reactions that are going on, my kidneys are doing there thing, blood is being pumped to my body, and lots of other stuff is going on that I could not even begin to enumerate that keeps this ole girl stepping.

So each time when I work out, I leave in awe of what God did when He created the human body. And then I also feel extremely blessed that I have the physical strength and ability to work out.

It is really the common, every day sort of things in our lives that God leaves His fingerprint, if we would take the time to look for His presence and His blessings in our lives.

So tomorrow it's Zumba! Yippee. Love it. And I will get the opportunity again to witness God's handiwork in the creation that He loves and has called by name. ME!

Psst....guess what......you have the same opportunity. You are one of God's miracles as well, fearfully and wonderfully made. Just breathe that in and see the awesomenes that is you and then give thanks to God who made you.

Now that's a WOW Moment!

Crisis of Faith Part 3

When last we met, I had encountered a crisis of faith when I failed to be offered a job that I desperately wanted and more so believed that God had for me. My reaction caught me by surprise because I immediately began to question God. I wished I had not even made it past the first round of candidates.

But in the weeks following, God reminded me who He is. Not just who He is in my life, but who He IS, His character.

As I went back and forth with God, struggling between what I felt and what I knew to be true in my experience with God, He slowly drew me closer. I knew from the beginning that though I felt distant from God, it was I who had left His presence, not the other way around.

In the meantime, I was about two weeks away from going to speak at a conference that had been set up months in advance. I was asked to present three breakout sessions using my book "10 Things Every Kid Should Know About God" as the backdrop.

This is how God worked. In the time I had to prepare for the conference, He really reminded me of why and how I had come to Christ. I remembered why the Gospel message was important, and what new life in Christ really looked like. He reminded me of how much He loves me, how He has gifted me, and how He has used me.

At the conference, there was such an outpouring of love and support from those who attended my sessions and the folks I interacted with at my booth.

In the weeks leading up to the conference I kept having this overwhelming feeling that God was saying to me, "Just Trust Me!"

After the conference was over and I had a chance to process the weekend, I felt awed and humbled. It was truly a time that I could say that God had used me. That He had spoken through me to encourage His people, and many, honestly, as I spoke, I was being encouraged myself.

Two days after I returned home from the conference, I received an e-mail saying they had heard good things about my session and would I come to speak at another conference coming up in Nashville. I was floored. I just started laughing when I opened the e-mail and thanked God that He showed He is always faithful, always trustworthy.

Have you ever had one of those moments where the words are coming out of your mouth to encourage someone else, but God uses those say words to encourage your own heart in a particular area? Well, that's exactly what God did. As I made myself available to be used by Him to minister to others, that entire weekend God was ministering to me. And by the end, I was on a super high.

I have such a passion for ministering to children and God reminded me to just trust Him. I still can't see around the corner, what's coming next, what God is doing, but I know that He loves me, I know Christ lives to make intercession for me, I know that God is faithful and always provides just what we need, not always what we want.

So I'm learning to be still, to wait on Him, to trust, and to praise Him in the in-between time. In that time where you are between where God has you while He is teaching you, and where God has for you when you are prepared to fulfill the next thing He's called you to. But I've also been reminded in this in-between time that God is much more concerned about my relationship with Him and who I am in Christ, than anything I could accomplish in His name.

So I came through the crisis and as always God used the trial to give me even stronger faith. It wasn't easy, I wasn't very happy about it, but I was reminded today of these Scriptures--Romans 5:3-4, "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope in salvation." James 1: 2-4 says, "When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

Crisis of Faith Part 2

If you read my last blog, then you know just a few weeks ago, I was experiencing a true crisis of faith. I'd come to a turning point in my spiritual journey and I had to figure out did I really live my life as if I believed God's Word.

Now, it may be easy to say, "Well if you're a real Christian, then you must believe God's Word." And although ordinarily I would agree with you in a general way, I would ask you to go a bit deeper in your analysis.

As Christians, we say, "Heaven is my home, and this earth, we're just passing through." Really! Then I would say that if we Christians really lived our lives like Heaven is our home, then why do we spend so much time trying to store up treasures here, than in Heaven where we intend to spend eternity.

Or closer to the subject at hand, we say, "Let go, and let God." But then most of us set about putting into motion Plan B.

And that is where my struggle was. I know that God is faithful, that He sees everything, that He will take care of His own. But in my situation, I had to ask myself, "If I really believe God is faithful, then shouldn't my reaction to this situation be different. If I'm going to say I trust God, then shouldn't that belief transform my reactions to the everyday missteps, failures, blunders, disappointments that I face."

I had to go back to a lesson that God had taught me many years ago. In spite of how the situation had worked out, I had to take time out to remind myself of what I knew to be true about God. He is a provider. He is not able to see a need and not provide for it. He cannot lie. His purposes will always be fulfilled. He loves me with a love that will never end.

And as I mediated on these things day in and day out, I had to see my situation from a different vantage point....not from where I could see, but from where God could see. And just by changing my perspective, it changed my response.

Now, I'm here to tell you that this was not a one day turn around. It took me about two weeks to speak truth to myself. And sometimes in those very dark times in our lives, we have to know that if we have accepted Christ as Savior, then the Holy Spirit lives in us. He teaches us spiritual truth and He transforms us from the inside out. So in those times, I choose to just take my junk to God and tell Him honestly how I feel, and ask all of the questions that I have, and sometimes that means literally just crying to Him. And then when all of that is done, I trust that the Holy Spirit has translated all of that and spoke to God on my behalf, filtering out the nonsense. And then I trust, that if I come before God long enough even in my broken state, His Spirit will comfort me, and His Spirit will speak truth to my spirit and help me to move from darkness to light....to the place where I can again seek God, pray, praise, worship.

As a sidenote....when we say we are too busy to read our Bible, or do anymore than just attend church on Sunday and wait for the pastor to spoon feed us...we miss out on the many truths that God has put in His word to encourage us. One that I came across once in my personal study is Hebrews 7:25 which says, "Therefore, Jesus is able once and forever to save those who came to God through Him because He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf."

Don't miss that. Jesus Himself, our Savior, our friend, our Redeemer, He lives to go to God for me. Is there any greater advocate that I could have on my behalf than the Son of God to plead my case, and stand up for me. WOW! If that doesn't give you goosebumps I don't know what will. That blew me away when I first read and truly understood and embraced it. So that was one of those truths God had to speak to my Spirit in the darkness. He had to remind me of who He is and what He sacrificed that I might be able to come to Him as Father.

But in His greatness, He didn't stop there.

You'll have to stop by one more time to see how the story got even better. In the next edition, I'll tell you not just what He said to me, but what the amazing things He did!

Crisis of faith--Part 1

I've been on a spiritual journey now for about the last two years or so. It started when God began to awakening in me this sense that there was more to being a Christ, to following Christ, to having an intimate relationship with Him. I knew I was missing something and my heart longed to draw closer to my Savior.

I was introduced to a book called "Jesus on Leadership." If you've never read it, pick it, get some friends and do a study together. It WILL change your life. Then Matthew West put out a song called, "Motions" and the song turned my life upside-down. I realized I was doing a lot of good things for God, but I wasn't really looking to God to doing any God-sized things in and through my life.

So my hunger for God grew and I kept asking myself the questions of what did it really mean to follow Christ, to be sold out to Him, to die to self daily? What would my faith story looked like if I truly lived out and beleived God for all the things I knew to be true about Him and the kind of life He wanted me to lead?

So God has been challenging me, and growing me, and pruning me. And I have just tried to be as honest and transparent with God as I could be.

And then a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to apply for a position. I've been a stay-at home-mom off and on for the past 11 years...and totally at home for the past 7 years. But now that all of our kids are in school, it made sense to start looking for a full-time job. The decision to live on one income was a sacrifice we had chosen, but it had started to really strain our finances. The job would literally change our lives.

Well, long story short, after 3 interviews over the course of about 4 months, I was really hopeful. Friends and family were praying, offering words of encouragement, and some even outright saying the job was mine. There were Scripture passages that came up in Bible studies and sermons that felt like confirmation that this was where I was supposed to be. I prayed earnestly and felt very positive about the interviews. But then I didn't get the job.

To say I was devastated would be a gross understatement. And to my surprise, I went into a tailspin of a faith crisis. I couldn't understand what had happened....and not just about the job, I struggled to understand why I was responding the way I was.

I was so frustrated and confused with God...that I didn't even know where to begin. I felt isolated and abandoned by my faith. I remember sitting in my car one morning fighting back tears because I couldn't even afford to buy my son a cup of coffee at the gas station. And in that moment, I just looked at my life and thought...this is not really what I signed up...this is not how I thought my life would be in my 40s. After all, my husband has a Ph.D. and a I have a master's degree. We got our education, we loved the Lord, we were working to raise our children to know God.

I was at a lost. I was obviously missing something. Everything that was happening in my circumstances said one thing, but my experience with God said quite another.

Stay tuned to see how God spoke!