This chapter talks about A LOT of things...like they all do, such as: going on a mission....well not just A mission...MISSIONS...regularly. It also talks about different ways to work for God's CAUSE & minister to God's PEOPLE. I'm going to share an experience I had...just the other night.
It was OVERWHELMING. So....for all of you that don't know. I made the CHOICE to leave 2 very well paying jobs (2 seperate occasions). I had reached some goals that I ALWAYS wanted to reach: be the first of my family to graduate from college, get a good-paying job where I had insurance & benefits, move up in the company & excel, buy a HOUSE, have a boat, be able to afford to send our children to daycare & give them things I didn't have growing up, become involved in organizations, help people, train others.....
Well...I did that...& it just wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I did all those things. I'm proud of myself for doing a lot of those things. I've learned A LOT from all of those things, but....well...I was STRESSED a lot....especially towards the end & a lot of what these companies were asking me to do was either busy work, not the BEST use of my time (from what I thought....an economic & company standpoint). Just an example is: We'd be asked to set a certain number of meetings with a certain number of people about a NEW product/service we were offering....well before the company itself had its head wrapped around. BELIEVE ME....I get the numbers game & having prospects in the pipeline to convert into sales....but to put in plainly.....THE FOCUS SHIFTED FROM THE NEEDS OF THE INDIVIDUALS/COMPANIES/AGENCIES to what our COMPANY needed. I was trained on NEEDS-BASED selling....& when you try & do both you can't. You'll never 100% FULFILL the needs of the client & the company, when your focus SHIFTS to the company & not your consumer. So I found myself in perdicaments. I was in a perdicament with my beliefs & values. I was in perdicaments with novice managers, who's MAIN focus was to IMPRESS everyone up the line OR invent the next cool thing to help them become noticed.....instead of putting their head down & working in the trenches to pull a team, a building, an office out of the gutter & back on dry land & upper management doing nothing about it & I realized that I WAS NOT REALLY ABLE TO HELP ANYONE...THE WAY I KNEW THEY NEEDED HELP. My hands were tied. I was wearing myself out. I was taking it out on my husband, my kids, myself..... I was grumpy.....even with a house & land & a boat & nice cars & MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY.
So I sit up one night....literally trying to UNDERSTAND the point & REALIZE...amongst other things that THAT JOB & what THEY expected me to be DID NOT DEFINE ME...it couldn't...That's why I was strugGLING with it. I realized that it wouldn't be easy, but that there was A LOT more. I just had to FIGURE IT OUT & God would be there in ALL of it. I LITERALLY acted on my gut, instincts, passion...whatever you wanna call it. I KNEW that staying where I was, was NOT doing myself any favors, but it wasn't doing my husband or my children any favors either....and I was doing it because we had become a slave to the almighty dollar.
So now we find ourselves..."in the trenches," if you will. We are making WAY less money than before. We are NEEDING to DEPEND on people in some areas....where we never had to & took pride in never having to....We bought a trailer house, which I never wanted to do (BUT...I'M REAL HAPPY ABOUT THE DECISION). I'm not "technically" using my college degree to secure that slam dunk job... I'm sure some people think we've lost it. We were talking about FINANCES the other night. & well something was said (I honestly don't even know EXACTLY what it was), but I heard it differently than how I had been CHOOSING to here it. Well....it UNRAVELED me. It brought to LIGHT...the fact that I was doing all the things I ONCE took PRIDE in not having to do. Of being 100% COMPLETELY capable of handling that & more. My husband went to sleep. The kids fell asleep & I LITERALLY came UNDONE. I mean UN-FREAKIN-DONE boy! Crying to where I couldn't catch my breath & your nose gets all stopped up. QUESTIONING myself: my abilities, my choices, my reasoning, my spiritual journey, my worth.... WHEW! ALL OF IT. Then thinking...."Like hell, I'm gonna WASTE all this WORK & ENERGY....FRUITFUL work & energy I've done all year... What do I do next?" So....I say God just "TAKE IT FROM ME.... All this negative crap. All this worry & fret & frenzy & irrational thoughts....ALL of this misunderstanding & JUNK. Take it from me & let me sleep & awake clear-minded & FULL of purpose." I mean....ALL I could do in that moment was SLEEP. I didn't wake up with ALL the answers, but I woke up with the KNOWING of what I would compromise & what I wouldn't. I woke up KNOWING that the devil KNEW just how to bring me to my knees... BUT I also knew it hurt a little, but I WOULDN'T GIVE UP what I KNOW now, for anything I once "knew".....I just had to get creATiVE.
I can't put into words how VALUABLE my relationship is with The Holy Trinity. I really can't....just go get you one! I mean...I think about that ATTACK on my pride....that I did myself & how it KNOCKED me down & how.....if I hadn't walked the walk I've been walking....how the devil could have won. How I could have gave in & abandoned the GOD work I had done. There's NO DOUBT that God would have taken me down a different path, but MAN!!! MAN. God took that situation &....I kinda feel like....took every ounce of my PRIDE that I once had (all the JUNK created by the WORLD's expectations)...handed it over to the devil & said..."Here's your souvenier. You can't have that piece of her anymore." As I woke, I was FILLED with the pride that I AM going in the RIGHT direction (even though I don't ever know what to expect next). That I am what I am & what I am is BLESSED. I'm going to be walking with God "moment to moment," like the book says because making these kind of choices opens me up to criticism & people NOT getting it. We can either let PEOPLE & PERCEPTIONS control us OR allow ourselves to CONTROL our circumstances & experiences TRULY based on what God teaches. It's a POWERFUL thing when you UNmuddy the waters....but you gotta swim through the mud first...
So as you sit there WONDERING how this story applies to this chapter....let me share a few important messages this chapter REVEALED to me through this experience:
"World-class Christians are the only fully alive people on the planet."
"...World-class Christians know they were saved to serve and made for a mission. They are eager to receive a personal assignment and excited about the privilege of being used by God."
"Of course, this is a difficult mental shift because we're naturally self-absorbed and almost all advertising encourages us to think of ourselves. The only way we can make this paradigm switch is by a moment-by-moment dependence on God."
"Your goal is to figure out where others are in their spiritual journey and then do whatever will bring them a step closer to knowing Christ."
"Prayer is the most important tool for your mission in the world. People may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are defenseless against our prayers." (Side note: It's SUPER COOL...when you KNOW all you can do is PRAY for them, you do, & then seeing God work in their lives.)
"The Bible tells us to pray for opportunities to witness, for courage to speak up, for those who will believe, for the rapid spread of the message, and for more workers."
"So much of what we waste our energy on will not matter even a year from now, much less for eternity."
"In one of his most misunderstood statements Jesus said, 'I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.' Jesus did not mean for you to 'buy' friends with money. What he meant was that you should use the money God gives you to bring people to Christ. They will then be friends for eternity who will welcome you when you get to heaven!"
"You have probably heard the expression 'You can't take it with you' - but the Bible says you can send it on ahead by investing in people who are going there."
"'Don't say that,' the Lord replied, 'for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don't be afraid of the people, for I will be with yo
u and take care of you.'"
"God doesn't want to use just some of his people; he wants to use all of his people."
"Jesus said, 'Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live!'"
Here's the DAILY stuff:
"Point to Ponder: The Great Commission is my commission."
Daily Bible Verse: "Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind." Psalm 67:2 (LB)
Daily Question: "What steps can I take to prepare to go on a short-term missions experience in the next year?"
From My Journal:
1) Research It.
2) Be somewhere close.
3) Go as a couple.
4) Save Up.
5) Book It.
Buck Up Baby & Ride With Jesus! There's only FOUR MORE DAYS left in this book, but I KNOW you've already Got LOTS of stuff to keep you buSy.
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