Day 33: "How Real Servants Act"

Today we continue on to Day 33 in the book: The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For? by Pastor Rick Warren. I am struggling with today's reading. I'm struggling because: I'm a GREAT servant in some areas and a lousy, LOUSY servant in others. I'm doing my best to learn more about The Bible & what it teaches & deepening my relationship with God, but sometimes....I've got a lot more to learn than I thought. BUT THEN, I take a step back...because I realize I'm comparing where I think I was to where I actually am & I need to be content in NOT KNOWING & JUST BE.

I'm working a lot through my head, with this one. Sometimes...some of the things I'm called to do, put me FRONT-&-CENTER. I'm not saying I really WANT that, but sometimes I feel called to be doing just that & this chapter talks about TRUE servants...being content & happy in the shadows. I felt constricted, useless, & just wrong "in the shadows." Kinda like...I was WASTING time & God-given gifts. Right now, where I'm at with it, is that I know all of our ministries & SHAPES are different & some of us will be called to be in more public roles & platforms than others. For that same reason, our role as a SERVANT will be VERY unique to us. I TRULY...don't FULLY understand the who, what, where, why, how to this. I just KNOW it is NECESSARY to become more like Christ. My frustration comes in because there is a fine line we walk with SHARING our experiences with others (which I see as bringing more people to Jesus) & SHARING and losing site of the PURPOSE of sharing.

At this point, I know that God is working on me & giving me more of a SERVANT'S HEART. I can also tell you that I'm A LOT further along than what I was...even two weeks ago, BUT I have a long way to go (yet...also VERY aware that God can speed things up & slow things down...anytime he chooses.) There are several RECENT situations that have happened & PEOPLE that have...re-entered my life in a NEW way...that tests my patience. Like...probably would have avoided these interactions at all costs & could have...relatively easily, but (only by God's grace) I chose not to. I KNOW (in this one particular situation I am talking about) I will have NO CHOICE, but to act as servant. It will be NECESSARY to the safety of the individual.

Something I have learned...the more you KNOW...the more RESPONSIBLE you become. The more successful you become, the more RESPONSIBLE you are for protecting & upholding that success. If you ignore the responsibility than you are ignoring/discarding/forgetting/belittling/down-playing/etc. the KNOWLEDGE & SUCCESS you have. I have ventured from the story a little bit, but I REALLY thought this recent interaction with this one person would be VERY short-lived...& now I view it as a TOTAL BLESSING. I mean...I don't know...if any of you have ever become SO aware of an area of yourself that you need to "work on," but didn't become AWARE of it until you were actually working on it...but that's what happened. Here's a list of some of the things this experience has helped me with: PATIENCE, slowing down, refining a talent/skill that hasn't REALLY been used in quite some time, seeing VALUE in what I bring to the table, seeing how helping another person can allow that person to help me, & CREATING an opportunity to SHARE my walk with God. All that....through one act of serving someone else.

Another thing that comes to mind when I read this chapter is how, in certain circumstances, one of the things I like the very least (washing dishes), I can do HAPPILY in certain situations. I KNOW this may seem silly, but the first time I read this chapter I put forth effort to wash those dishes & other peoples dishes GLADLY. It was WORK to TRY and enjoy it...tough work. Yet, in certain situations I will hop right to it, get it done, & move onto the next thing. In my eyes...the situation where I just do it, is a place where it NEEDS to be done & it needs to be done IN THAT MOMENT. Most other times...I can find LOTS of other things that NEED to be done sooner.

The other thought that really came to mind when reading this chapter is the LEVEL of servitude in my family & friends. I mean I have some friends & family members that are TRUE servants. They don't want anything else, but to help get IT done. Whatever IT might be. I mean...it can be anything from juggling the doctor appointments of 3 family members throughout the week, to riding along with you to HELP....IF you need it, to dropping what they are doing to help someone else accomplish what they NEED to accomplish. Like I said before, God created us all uniquely...right down to the WAY we serve. I think God designed us to long to SERVE others & we all do in some capacity. It's yet another way God created us, to HELP each other.

"Point to Ponder: I serve God by serving others."

Daily Verse: "If you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded." Matthew 10:42 (NLT)

Daily Question: "Which of the six characteristics of real servants offers the greatest challenge to me?

From my Journal: Doing every task with equal dedication. There are some tasks that I don't like doing. This goes through areas of life and work & I really have a hard time with this characteristic.

If I'd have to share my progress from that point to now...I'd say that it has gotten BETTER, but I still have a lot to work on with it. I mean I'm not beaming with enthusiasm or anything, but have started to accept the IMPORTANCE of some tasks...more than what I once did.

Buck Up Baby & Ride With Jesus! He'll show you WHERE he needs you to serve & when He needs you to, also. God Bless!    

Day 30: "Shaped for Serving God"

I just LOVE this chapter! LOVE IT!! Welcome to ALL the readers & thanks for following along as we go through the daily chapters of The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For? by Pastor Rick Warren.

Today we continue to LEARN more about our own PERSONAL ministry. Today BEGINS the discussion of helping us understand our SHAPE.

I remember as a college student I encountered all kinds of students that had all kinds of different beliefs OR were REALLY confused about their beliefs & I remember being questioned by a classmate of mine...one where I really enjoyed his company & the discussion he brought to our class. See...I used to ALWAYS wear a necklace with a cross on it, not the same one...I had one in EVERY color, BUT he asked me, as we were walking from class..."You don't really believe in that, do you?" He pointed & I asked what he was talking about. He said..."Your cross...I just don't want you to be disappointed one day." I said: "You don't believe in it?!" I was TOTALLY shocked. I had a phone call coming in & I walked to my class & he walked to his. Our next class was quite awkward to say the least. I didn't even know how to talk to him after that. I'd be lying if I didn't confess that he got me to thinkin' about things. I never questioned IF God was real or not, but put myself on a journey to try and really wrap my head around some of the tough things. What I concluded & where I am now is the thinking that: God would not have created us how he created us, if there wasn't some PURPOSE behind it. All these emotions & thoughts & relationships & knowledge & skills & talents & EMOTIONS (I know I said it twice!) just can not be for nothing. Why? How could anyone not acknowledge that part of us? I mean if our jobs, our money, our luxuries were stripped away from us...wouldn't we still have WORTH? Wouldn't we still have EMOTIONS? Wouldn't there still be a PURPOSE for them? That is why I believe that when our physical body dies...it turns to dust, but our DEEP innards...you know our SOULS...don't just disappear. I can't understand it all...only our Maker can & I TRUST & have FAITH that he made us for a purpose, because he sure didn't HAVE to.

Another thing this book has taught me, or made me think about is how God PREPARES for the Plan Bs & Cs & Ds & even Es & Fs & Gs in our life. He has our life mapped out. He KNOWS what our purpose is & he knows how to get us to see it (this chapter teaches you that). He also KNOWS that the devil is going to try and detour us EVERY chance he gets. That's what leads to the Plan Bs & Cs, etc. I think about when I REALLY make a plan for something...I mean REALLY put everything into it & do the research (no shortcuts) & KNOW what things could POSSIBLY come at me. There is no way of me knowing if they will, but it is the BEST way I can PREPARE myself to be prepared to COMBAT it. When you study like this...you LEARN your competition (just an example) or your drawback. Many times you become SO educated about it...you could teach a class on it. That is how God is with the devil...at least that is what I believe. First of all he created his being...he knows how he operates. Secondly, he has been dealin' with him for SO LONG that he knows the kind of tricks & kniving schemes he will try and put into play. He knows what member of his army, he'll send after you. God has a counter for EVERY trick the devil can throw at us. Earlier in the book we learned that there are some situations where the SPECIFIC job you're in is not the IMPORTANT part in God's overall plan. For example....You could have offers from 3 different companies, but all 3 of those companies will allow God to develop the skills he wants to develop in you. The specific job you choose is kind of irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. God knows several ways to keep you on your journey to learning & SHARING your purpose.

We are going to start to learn about our SHAPE!! This was REALLY eye-opening to me.

S-Spiritual Gifts
H-Heart
A-Abilities
P-Personality
E-Experience

Today we will learn about our Spiritual Gifts & our Heart, but first I just want to share something. It USED to be REALLY hard for me to understand people who didn't think like I did...and honestly I just couldn't figure out a way to understand their way of thinking. I used to think they were just WRONG and that was it. As I got older...I realized that EVERY person has REASONS for thinking they way they think, or emotions that hang them up on things, or DIffErent experiences that cause them to see things in a different light. This chapter really drives home how we are ALL created COMPLETELY UNIQUELY. Every one of us has a different mixture of the "SHAPE" recipe that makes us uniqUe.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS: "These are special God-empowered abilities for serving him that are given only to believers." How SPECIAL is that?! This chapter goes on to tell us how all of our gifts our different & how our gifts actually help others, just like the gifts of others are meant to help us. God keeps us NEEDING each other! This is a REALLY important part from this chapter: "Two common problems are 'gift-envy' & 'gift-projection.' The first occurs when we compare our gifts with others', feel dissatisfied with what God gave us, and become resentful or jealous of how God uses others. The second problem happens when we expect everyone else to have our gifts, do what we are called to do, and feel as passionate about it as we do." My experience of not understanding others is shown in the second problem. We ALL experience things, but the more AWARE of the problems you become...the quicker you can PUMP THE BRAKES on them.

HEART: "The Bible uses the term heart to describe the bundle of desire, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections you have. Your heart represents the source of all your motivations - what you love to do and what you care about most." What Pastor Warren goes on to discuss in this section is SO good. It makes me think of this internal struGgLe I've been having with myself about what direction I should go with my auction business. Let me tell you...there are ALL kinds of auctions...ALL KINDS & sometimes it is hard to know what direction you are meant to go/supposed to go/which one is an opportunity/which way is a diversion.... I've been guided to & from several different ones including: general consignment auctions, benefit/fundraising auctions, & estate auctions. I've learned a lot in the last couple months & have gotten some of the BEST ADVICE from some of the BEST in the industry, that has provided some clarity to me. Here is what I have learned, b/c (BEFORE the convention) I have gone in the WRONG direction (for me) based on the advice of others....others that I fully respect. Just because someone can see ALL the reasons that a certain business direction will work GREAT for you...does not mean that YOU can see how that business direction will work for you. YOU have to know & you have to WANT to do it. I had been guided away from the direction I want to go...because others in my field didn't necessarily see things how I saw it & THEY had experienced certain difficulties that made them want to deter me from that road. There are some areas of this industry that I truly don't know if I'd like or not. There's only one way to figure that out...go & do it. Just because I learn about an area I'm NOT familiar with, DOES NOT mean that I can't grow MY business in the direction that I KNOW I CAN. You can be an ASSET to your company...at the same time you are an ASSET to another. It all depends on your HEART...Do you have a DESIRE? Do you HOPE to grow from the experience? Are you INTERSTed in it? Do you have the AMBITION to go after it? Do you DREAM to be well-rounded in your trade?

I'm gonna share 4 more quotes from the book that really say it all for me:

"Your emotional heartbeat is the second key to understanding your shape for service. DON'T IGNORE YOUR INTERESTS."

"How do you know when you are serving God from your heart? The first telltale sign is enthusiasm."

**Side note on this one. That year when I did VERY few auctions & I called the Ledbetter Fireman's Auction in October...I got in the car with my Uncle & his girlfriend & said: "This is what I'm SUPPOSED to be doing! I just NEED to figure it out. I'm not sure HOW I'm gonna make a living at it, but this is what I'm supposed to be doing."

"When you don't have a heart for what you're doing, you are easily discouraged."

**A PERFECT example of this for me is the JOY I get when doing a benefit auction vs. a consignment auction.

"Whenever you do what God wired you to love to do, you get good at it. Passion drives perfection."

"Point to Ponder: I was shaped for serving God."

Daily Bible Verse: "God works through different men in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purposes through them all." 1 Corinthians 12:6 (PH)

Daily Question: "In what way can I see myself passionately serving others and loving it?"

From my journal the first time of reading: Auctions, fundraising, raising money for people and causes, event planning and coordination, spreading God's word to the masses, playing with children and teaching them.

Buck Up Baby & Ride With Jesus!! If you haven't yet...GO GET THIS BOOK!!

God Bless!
Heather Schoenst Kaspar
TXL 17037

Day 29: "Accepting Your Assignment"

Hey all! I tell you what! It's gettin' harder & harder for me to stay up & get these posts out! I'm gonna try and double up for ya today! Today we move onto our 4th PURPOSE: "You were shaped for serving God."

Today talks about "Accepting Your Assignment." This is Day 29 in Rick Warren's book: The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For?

There are 3 parts of this chapter that I want to discuss, because I have had specific conversations about them OR I just think they are important.

Here is the first: "Another term for serving God that's misunderstood by most people is the word MINISTRY. When most people hear "ministry," they think of pastors, priests, and professional clergy, but God says every member of his family is a minister."

I had a conversation with a VERY dear friend. We actually met for lunch/brainstorming session & that turned into almost a 3-hour long discussion. One of the things I talked to her about was starting a ministry...& calling it "Buck Up Baby & Ride With Jesus." After our discussion (& lots of thought) I think I will call it a MISSION, but it will accomplish the same thing. Some of the things brought up were: "Is it necessary to use "Jesus" in the name of the ministry & would I be up there PREACHING to people?" We can speak VERY plainly to each other & know that the other has each other's best interests in mind when asking the questions we ask. After the first question...my head initially went to...."If I take his name OUT of it....that will be like taking his name out of the Pledge of Allegiance & out of schools & out of whatever they can get it out of." She stopped me and reminded me that Jesus was humble & doesn't need his name everywhere....& he doesn't. I know she was coming to me from a place of concern & she doesn't want ANYTHING to curtail my business....but he is ALL UP IN my business & I WANT to .

Then she asked: "What would this ministry do?" I told her my ROUGH vision: Have the ability to provide scholarships & grants to students & new business owners because I know how you can feel limited as both, if you don't have the money it takes to do something that you really think needs to be done. I'd like to also be able to provide religious education grants for children and adults. Then I told her how I'd like to take my employees & volunteers on specific missions to help spread our mission. Not only that, but the group of people that work with me have experiences that (if shared) can REALLY help others & I'm not opposed to speaking engagements...alone or as a team. So...to answer the question about if we would be preaching to people....not really. We'd be sharing our experiences with people...and doing for people.

I kind of delved into WHY it concerned her as much as it did & she shared some of her experiences, which were quite eye-opening. She is a BELIEVER...by all means, but LIKE MANY OF US (myself included...once upon a time)...is RESERVED about sharing her experiences or her FAITH because we don't want to offend anyone or rub anyone the wrong way. I agree that...depending on what you want to accomplish...some conversations have to be approached with finesse. She also told me about her childhood growing up & how many parents & adults kind of shoved religion down your throat & TOLD you what you had to be & what was GOOD & BAD...ACCEPTABLE & UNACCEPTABLE...ultimately leaving the impression that you had to be, act, dress, look a certain way to be acceptable to GOD. One example she told me was when she was a little girl one of her neighbors (parents of her little neighbor friend) gave her a Bible & then told her to take it home & tell her Daddy that he OWED them $2 or something for it.

All I want to do is SHARE MY GOOD NEWS WITH OTHERS. SHARE what I have learned & what I BELIEVE & give examples & tell stories & GIVE GOD THE GLORY. I'm not sure WHAT that will look like exactly... I just feel like I'm supposed to do it. I also know that I don't want to SHOVE IT DOWN PEOPLE'S THROATS. It won't mean a thing to them. I want to SHARE with who wants me to share it with them or who THINKS they want to know what I am talking about or who WANTS to be a part of whatever I'm doing. I don't want to FORCE anything. I realize that some people may put a wall up...just by the words I choose to use...but some won't & if something GOOD is coming from it the GOODNESS will spread & continue to spread...even if there are only a handful that want anything to do with it at first.

Here is the second thing I want to share that kind of reiterates what I discussed above. "The Bible says, 'He saved us and called us to be his own people, not because of what we have done, but because of his own purpose.' Peter adds, 'You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you.' Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help others, you are fulfilling your calling." After typing & re-reading this...something else struck me. In this business I have started I have found that A LOT of people don't UNDERSTAND where I am going with this, what the purpose is, WHY I'm doing it & just don't go out and get a job. HONESTLY...sometimes I'm not sure of the EXACT direction I am going or the EXACT purpose behind ALL these lessons I'm learning, but I KNEW before I went at it FULL-time I was supposed to be doing SOMETHING with it. I KNEW I needed to do more. It has been CONFIRMED to me I don't even know how many times now. I still can't say what it will look like 6 months, a year, or 10 years from now & I STILL have people trying to tell me how I'm supposed to live my life when they have NO CLUE...at all...about what has been done, what is in the works, what I have learned, & what God has GIVEN me. Heck...some of them don't even know what God has GIVEN them. YET...I still march on b/c I UNDERSTAND my PURPOSE for doing it. I share this because....We aren't even close to UNDERSTANDING GOD's purpose for our lives...God's purpose for saving us & blessing us with the gifts he gave no other living creature...what is SO special about us that God CHOSE to save us...WHY we have the experiences & feelings that we have... & (EVEN AFTER HE PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE) we QUESTION Him & get MAD at him & HIDE from Him, Some of us LOSE our belief in Him, we take his name OUT of things...YET he marches on....blessing families with more babies, loving us through our sins...teaching us to know ourselves when we don't understand WHY he doesn't just tell us. You know.... I don't UNDERSTAND his PURPOSE, but I BELIEVE in his PURPOSE & mine is linked with His.

Here is the THIRD thing I want to share from this chapter: "We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe. Impression without expression caused depression. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation." AMEN!!!!! This happened to me when I took another job, when I KNEW I should pursue something with my auction license. This happened to me when I read the chapter about HARD conversations & SAT on it b/c I didn't want to have them. This happened to me when I didn't feel RIGHT to write posts for a blog called "Buck Up Baby!" when I couldn't even get the nerve to BUCK UP & do what I knew I was supposed to be doing. This happens when I see a friend I haven't seen in years that wants to catch up on old pals...which eventually leads to gossiping. Honestly...this still happens to me from post to post. I share this information with ya'll & some days....even though I KNOW what I SHOULD do....I just don't. I've told you before that I die daily...sometimes several times a day & my faith wains, BUT I can say that the more AWARE of things you become...the more you EXPRESS yourself & the less you put yourself in depressing situations.

READ the chapter. There is LOTS more in there. Buck Up Baby & Ride With Jesus! Find your ministry, name it what you want to, & go to sharin' that sucker! Here is the flyer for the BABY stages of my ministry/mission. I am HOPING to give as many $1000 scholarships away as possible to students pursuing a higher level of education, whether that be: a college, university, trade school, licensing school, or religious education school. It will be open to any high-school graduate student, currently enrolled college student, or someone wishing to return to school. The candidates will have to answer 1 of 2 essay questions: 1) Give us an example of an experience where you have had to "BUCK UP" & do something that has pushed you out of your comfort zone & how that made an impact on your life & possibly others OR 2) Tell us about an area/idea/dream that you have, but you have not mustered up the courage yet to "Buck Up." What is holding you back?  

Just realized...I didn't share the daily stuff....

"Point to Ponder: Service is not optional."

Daily Bible Verse: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Daily Question: "What is holding me back from accepting God's call to serve him?"\

From my journal the first time of reading: In December 2013 I quit my job to pursue my service/talent God has given me. The things that stopped me and still hang me up are: fear, family and friends not understanding, perception, pride, my perceived image, money. I can sit here - happy to say that I can feel the good Lord working in me, blessing others, and melting away some of my previous concerns.

A little more to say now...as some of those concerns melt away...some days others intensify. Daily...I tell you...DAILY you have to work through ALL the processes....of all the things & JUST HOLD FAITH that the PURPOSE you are working towards is worth it.

God Bless Pretties!!
Heather Schoenst Kaspar
TXL 17037