Royal Blood

I'm over at 4:12 Live today:-)

Avoiding real work...

Yeah, I should be writing and I'm taking quizzes instead... oh well. Turned out as Snow White - which is interesting - I think the only thing that scared me was the Beast showed up third. I suppose it's because I do feel misunderstood. People often see me one way and fail to try to find all that's underneath. Boy I could go on about that one. Or I guess it could just be because I have a temper (dropping my head in shame...)

You scored as Snow White. Your alter ego is Snow White! You are very kind and happen to have 7 short dwarf friends... your only flaw is that you easily feel sorry for the less fortunate, and then you get poisoned. Snow White 100% Peter Pan 81% The Beast 75% Ariel 69% Pinocchio 63% Donald Duck 50% Cinderella 50% Sleeping Beauty 44% Goofy 44% Cruella De Ville 25% Which Disney Character is your Alter Ego? created with QuizFarm.com

Mission Minded cont.

I don't know if you have a church like mine , but there is always a need for someone to do something. I get more phone calls asking me to teach this, serve on that team or do some other task. I love the church - I do - but saying "no" has always been hard for me. Admittedly I like to be liked - who doesn't? I would rather have people think of me as "Sarah who will jump in and help with anything" than "Sarah who's too busy to help with anything".

What I really need is balance. The best choice is not do everything possible, or nothing, but to figure out what it is "I" am supposed to be doing.

And in itself, that is a kind of mission statement - "I, Sarah, being of relatively sound mind, do promise to go only where God leads."

It's simple, but for me, it can be very effective.

I got a call just this week about teaching Sunday School this summer. And to be horribly honest - especially since I want all of you to like me, too - I've been avoiding the phone calls. I don't want to teach Sunday School. I'm with my three kids all week long - church is practically the only time I ever speak to adults anymore. And they want me to sit in a room with more kids?

I do serve in the church - always have - and for more years than I should have I taught and administrated the whole Sunday School program. Maybe I got completely burned out on it and am still licking the burns. Maybe I needed a change. I realize that some use "I don't feel lead to" as an excuse to not help out. But I don't think it's an excuse - I have no desire to do it.

One of the places I cheerfully serve is in our cafe. We have this fabulous little espresso bar in our church and even though I have to get up early to do it (not always fun for me) - I absolutely love doing it. I take orders and make frothy, syrupy jolts of caffeine for our bleary-eyed visitors and church members. I get to chat, welcome and even pray for all sorts of people I'd probably never run into otherwise. I just love it.

The day may come that I need a break from it too, and perhaps the day will come that God will fan a flame in me to teach junior high or something similiarly crazy. But for now, I want to serve coffee. I think it's the Holy Spirit within us that jumps for joy when we are rightly fitted into the Body of Christ, serving where we can be a blessing to others. We love and serve out of the overflow of what God has put in us. I'm all for trying things out, seeing where you fit, but the fact is that a hand does not attach to the bottom of a leg - we have a particular place in the Body of Christ - a place where we will function well and with joy.

I'm after that place - not just in Church, but in my life. Yes, we will still have to do lots of things that are hard and not fun - I'm not saying everything should be easy and fun for us. But I am saying that when we find that "right spot" - it's SO good! Like getting that spot in the middle of your back scratched. It just feels right.

So tomorrow I'll go serve coffee, and when I get cornered by the Sunday School lady? Maybe I'll offer her an extra shot in her coffee. It could work:-)

Something fun...

Saw this on LAQ and Barb's blog and had to give it a try - but I turned out as a different movie...hmmm..interesting.

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Wednesday...

I'm over at 4:12 LIVE today.

Superwoman...or not...

Sometimes I feel like I should throw a red cape over my shoulders and just run around the house. I am not Superwoman but I seem to try to play her role. The last few weeks have been so overwhelming and my list of things I need to do just seems to grow longer and longer.

And there are days like today when I can either become paralyzed by having too much to do and actually do nothing...or I need to sit down and take a look at it all and let God help me figure out the priorities.

What needs to be finished first?

And after that?

Focus on today, and what you can accomplish right now - it's great advice, but that's harder than it sounds. It's so easy to gaze out in front of you and feel like some things will never get done.

And ultimately, I need to do only what God has asked me to do and let go of the rest. Also not so easy for a first-born, Type-A, everything's gotta be perfect, kind of girl.

Come to think of it, maybe that's exactly what God may be trying to tell me...

Life on Hold...

I've been spending most of my time lately driving back and forth to a hospital an hour away from my home (hence the lack of posting). My 88-year-old grandmother, who lives with us, went in with chest pain and this week had bypass surgery.

It's amazing how things like this can just put the rest of your life on hold.

And then there are the things that just refuse to be put on hold even though you need them to be.

I suppose it teaches me to lean on God more, trust in His wisdom and let go of some things - all good lessons, but I'm ready for life to settle down into some boring routine.

Like that's going to happen...

Mission Minded...

So we've been discussing mission statements on one of the multiple e-mails loops I'm on. I'm going to try and dig up my original one to share here in the next few days but today, I thought I'd mention a few reasons why it's good to have one at all.

We all know ministries have mission statements - they basically state the purpose for existing. No one would build a business without an express purpose. But as individuals, we should know what our purpose is too. Otherwise we wander aimlessly from one phase of our lives to the next with no real focus other than dealing with what life throws at us. Yes, we can survive, but I'm talking about thriving here. To really thrive, we should have an understanding of why God put us here and what He wants us to do with that time.

That purpose is different for each of us, and may be expressed a little differently during different phases of our lives.

So why a mission statement?

1. It provides direction. When you are presented with a dozen different opportunities to serve, a mission statement can help you wade through all the needs to find the one that fits in with the purpose God has given you. We should always be willing to serve in basic everyday ways, but when taking on big projects, they should be things God has actually called us to do.

2. It reminds us that we really do have purpose and of the passion God placed in us. I don't know about you, but my passion for anything can wane when I'm feeling tired and overwhelmed with everyday labors.

3. It helps us remember that we are to do "all things unto Him" and it is in Him that "we live and move and have our being". A mission statement calls us back to the One who created us - with our own unique gifts and talents, likes and dislikes...

4. It provides focus for what we ARE doing. My writing could go in SO many different directions - there are way too many possibilities. So just knowing that I'm supposed to write doesn't necessarily help me very much. What am I supposed to write and to whom? I'm still figuring some stuff out but a mission statement makes it easier to sort out the rabbit trails from everything else.

So how do you start? The first step is to write down all the things that get you excited. What are your natural talents and abilities? What do you enjoy doing? What are you really passionate about?

More to come:-)

Intelligence quiz...

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Being Brave

It is more the exception than the rule that music grabs a hold of me in a way that I actually anticipate the release of an album. But it happened about a month ago when I heard the song "Brave" by Nichole Nordeman. It touched a nerve in me and I knew God was whispering it to my soul. It has become my anthem - a song that demonstrates what I see God doing in my life right now...

Here are the lyrics to Brave...


The gate is wide
The road is paved to moderation
The crowd is kind and quick to pull you in
Welcome to the middle ground
It's safe and sound and
Until now it's where I've been

'cause it's been fear
That ties me down to everything
But it's been love, Your love
That cuts the strings

So long, status quo
I think I've just let go
You make me wanna be brave
The way it always was
It's no longer good enough
You make me wanna be brave
Brave, brave

I am small
And I speak when I'm spoken to
But I am willing to risk it all
To say Your name
Just Your name, and I'm ready to go
Even ready to fall

Why did I
Take this vow of compromise
Why did I
Try to keep it all inside

I've never known a fire that didn't begin with a flame
And every storm will start with just a drop of rain
But if You believe in me
That changes everything

- Nichole Nordeman


When Israel was freed from Egypt, they were headed to the promised land. But everything went awry in the wilderness and none of them, except for Caleb, lived to see to it. They grumbled and complained, they gave way to fear, they wallowed in unbelief.

It's not a very nice thought, but it's a thought that should make us all sit up and look at our lives - we can miss out on our promised land. We can live our entire Christian lives wandering around in the wilderness, never willing to press in and receive the promised land.

More later - a minor crisis just arose...

Knowing enough to say you don't know...

I just hired someone to help me hammer out all the details to sell my father's business. Dad left it behind when he died and since my mom doesn't want anything to do with it, it was left to me to try and sell.

All praise to God, and against all odds, we actually did find a buyer, but that turned out to be the easy part. Stocks, assets, loans, liens and something that has to be filed at the courthouse? I don't know what I'm doing. So when the guy said he can do all of it and X is his fee - well, I'm not really in a position to say no. I did feel kind of stupid when I had to shrug a lot and say "I don't know" when he asked some questions.

But at least I know enough to know I don't know - and that's why sometimes it's smart to find someone who does and pay them for their expertise.

But it doesn't make the emotional side of selling the business any easier. I left the meeting and cried all the way home. It's like the last piece of my dad - the business I watched him build and run for over twelve years - and when it's time to let go of it, it's like letting go of another piece of him. It was also one of the last few statements he made to me the weekend he died. When he realized he wouldn't live long enough to sell it, he looked at me and said, "You're gonna have to close the deal." I'd like to keep that promise if I can.

Maybe I'm just feeling melancholy because the weather outside my window is gray and dreary.

Either way, I can't tell you what a relief it was to have somebody say "I can take care of this."

Here's to getting it done.