Tag Archive | Expansion

Have You Authorized Any Updates Lately?

Sep26

Sometimes we get to choose what updates to take,

And which ones to walk  away from.

Before the beginning of this year,

I was offered an update.

It wasn’t a hard sell.

 No one pushed or pulled.

There was no bait and switch.

The opportunity was an amazing one,

and I was given all the time needed to make the right decision.

Several years of training were already under my belt for this very thing.

So slowly I began to observe this group.

I began to spend time with its members to see if it would indeed be a good fit.

I also used this time to tie up some loose ends so as to be able to fully commit to the tasks at hand.

The authorization to update was given.

Now some time has passed and it is time to begin installation.

New files are being copied.

The tasks are tasks I am accustomed to,

but as much as they are the same,

they are also different.

Click to continue?

Yes.

I believe so.

But where to begin.

Where all things begin.

At the beginning.

The excitement I felt at the beginning when I was asked,

was exhilarating.

Then the clicking began for all the updates,

Making all the settings so they would work well.

A little while into my observation of the members,

I began to realize how much I could so work with them.

Their hearts match mine.

Even so,

they are much more mature in their handling of the program.

A maturity that comes with the doing.

The learning process will be no doubt be spread out over much time.

Something else came to me after spending time observing these members.

That is the knowledge that this thing is so much bigger than what I had

imagined some months ago when it was only a thought.

Knowing things in my head,

reading things on paper,

and then actually beginning to DO what I said I would,

are two totally different issues.

Miles apart.

Who authorized these updates anyway?

Then came the knowing.

Way down in my knower.

This is right.

This is what I was created for.

This is what I’ve been trained for.

This what will give glory to the God who created me.

Fearfully and wonderfully He did.

Click to continue?

You bet.

http://wp.me/p1Deai-kT

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You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Home Again, Home Again, Lickety Split.

Sep24

Well, maybe not so lickety split after all ………. Seems like forever.

I’ve been scanning over and re-reading some of my blog posts.

Sort of to jog my memory of what things I had written about before very unceremoniously being torn away from learning more about this craft that am beginning to love.

This year, 2012, has not turned out anything like I had pictured.

Quite the opposite actually.

One of my prayers has been that I would learn the lessons hidden inside the upheaval,

so that I could get on to other things.

Things prayerfully more to my liking.

Four posts stuck out to me in my re-readings.

Each with a different point.

Each has been well taken and well lived out so far this year.

He has our best interest at heart,

and if we choose to listen,

we can learn m0re than we ever dreamed.

I’ll be sharing something from each of those posts,

and also some truths that God has made real to me over the past months.

I am so glad to be back,

 and fully hope that I will be able to share some things with you that will not only encourage you,

but challenge and stretch you as well.

I feel like I’m coming home.

 

Fearfully and wonderfully made,

Deb

 

 

 

Balloon Therapy

Apr14

Recently I’ve felt a bit like a balloon.

A balloon that has been blown up, then deflated.

Then blown up again, only bigger this time.

This has been going on for the last four months.

Each time that balloon has been blown up,

It has been a bit bigger than the last time.

Just when a bit of recovery was felt, the inflation process would begin again.

Each time, I have felt stretched farther than possible.

After each new challenge, I found myself feeling a bit more like a stretched and wilted balloon left behind at a child’s birthday party.

 

It is very common in scripture, for God’s people to come upon circumstances, either random or brought on by themselves, which “stretched” them.

The things they thought they knew were called into question.

The way they did things proved to be requiring a change.

The circumstances they endured made them realize that God was indeed big enough take care of them even in the direst of circumstances.

They learned that when exhaustion knocked on their door, they learned that the joy of the Lord was their strength, that in their own power, collapse was inevitable.

Probably the most important thing they learned was that even if their state of affairs was grueling, taxing and grievous, they could still be joyful.

The details of the first quarter of my personal 2012 don’t even need to be shared.

To be sure, they involved all of the above.

There was challenge.

There was stretching.

I’ve been called to know what I believe and why I believe it.  This will be a lifelong process I am quite sure.

My routines for doing things were totally flipped on edge, causing me to take note about why I do things a certain way.

Speaking the truth when it is not popular to do so can be delicate, but it can be done.  People will not always be happy that you did, but God knows the truth about the love in your heart.

Perhaps even the five minutes you give God each day, can be enough to recharge your batteries.

When you make a commitment, regardless of how large, you do your best even if that means from a distance. 

In the end, keeping your word is something that folks won’t even expect you to do if things change and make it even more difficult. 

God knows.  You still do it.  You do it as unto Him.  It is He who holds the scales.

Often, the reward is not in what you see with your eyes as a result of your difficulty, but a sense that you did what you were supposed to do.  You did it well.  You did your best.

The invisible reward is feeling God’s pleasure.

Philippians 4:12-14 (NIV1984)12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength. 14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

Nehemiah 8:10 (NASB)10 Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”