Karen Moore's Blog, page 9

Who Do You Think You Are?

Even though this question could bring up a rather negative memory from your childhood, it poses a thought that is worth considering. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to realize that who you think you are, actually is very important to helping you navigate life. Who you think you are often defines your life purpose and your actions. Some of us can generate self-confidence to do the things we’re good at. We can teach others, or write, or lead organizations because in that one arena we’ve come to terms with who we think we are.  

It seems to me that the problem with human beings is not that we think too highly of ourselves, though there are those who certainly lean in that direction, but that we think too little of ourselves. When we imagine that we’re less than we hoped we might be, or when we assume others do not find us capable or valuable, we can miss out on what life really has to offer. More than that, we miss out on what God absolutely wants for us. God wants us to always remember who we are. He wants us to know without any doubt that we are valued, loved, important to the max, because we belong to Him. We are part of His family, and you can’t get closer to royalty than that. God wants us to be able to answer this question with an enthusiastic response that says something like, “I’m Yours!” 

Why is that realization a better way for us to think? It’s better because then we have some place to turn, when life is running amok. We can stop the world and invite God in because He is the Father of all of us, the Father who knows us, and the One who sees everything beautiful that we can be. In fact, He wants you to tell everyone who you are because He’s so proud of you.

So, if you ever heard this question as a kid and it made you cringe a bit, turn it around. You’re not a kid anymore. You’re a fully-grown beloved member of God’s family and He will never leave you. Sure, you might wander off, you might disappoint Him, because human beings always disappoint one another, but you won’t lose His love for you and His joy in helping you become even more special than you already are.

Who do you think you are? You are an awesome, totally loved child of God and it doesn’t get better than that. In fact, you’ve been together long enough now, you’re starting to look a bit more like Him. It’s great to see the family resemblance.

Blessings to you today!

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I Didn’t Sign Up for That!

Have you ever gone through stressful moments, maybe weeks or months of craziness, and you thought to yourself, “I didn’t sign up for this?” Chances are it’s one of those comments that comes up when you feel like you’ve tried everything to make things better, but nothing helped. Recently, I found myself uttering those words, and I immediately felt dismayed. Let me explain.

Many of us approach new opportunities with a very optimistic sense that finally, things are going to right themselves around. We start a new job and think, this one is going to be the best one ever! We move to a new city, and we imagine things will be marvelous. We get married and we can only imagine the best that is yet to be. For a while, we enjoy those beautiful times and are grateful. Of course, life happens. Things change. The job is good, but nobody told you all the hidden agendas that were also going to be part of what you were asked to do. The city was great, but it took a lot of searching to get fully aligned and established there. The marriage was sweet, but you didn’t really know one another as well as you thought and so there was a bigger learning curve than you expected. 

All of these are true, but I think believers can take all this on with a different perspective.  When we signed up with God, and especially with our faith in Jesus, then we signed up for the whole thing. We signed up for whatever God knew we could handle, and anything that took us by surprise, did not surprise God, and so we learned how to manage it. We got what we signed up for because all of life, any aspect of life has its ups and downs, its awesome over the moon times, and its flaming disasters. Everyone lives exactly like this, and no one escapes it. Some may have more of something you imagine you’re missing, some may suffer far more than you ever will, but the gift of faith is that you signed an eternal agreement. That means you always have somewhere to go when life gets stormy. You always have someone to listen to you when you come to the end of your own resources. When you get to the place where things feel like it’s not what you signed up for, then turn it over to God. He signed up with you and nothing will change that. He sees your stress, your pain, your doubt, and anything else that makes you feel like things are haywire. 

So, here’s what you do. You pray and you thank God for that job that actually helped move you into a far better career path than you ever dreamed. You remember the amazing things you learned by living in a city that was so different than the place where you grew up, and you praise God for giving you a spouse who honors you and challenges you and loves you more than anyone else ever has. With all that, you realize that you have been blessed with far more than you signed up for.

Frustration may give you pause now and then, but your reality is not just fixed on today; it’s taking you through eternity.  Sign up for that!

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Reckless, Lavish, Prodigal

Lately, I’ve been reading one of Pastor Timothy Keller’s earlier works called The Prodigal God.  I appreciate Keller’s approach to trying to teach me things. He changes my perspective by weaving the spirit of God into every complex matter. He makes me want to understand God better than I do.

Before, I started reading this book, I thought I understood the story of the Prodigal Son, as Jesus tells the tale in Luke 15. Anyone who has been lost, anyone who has fallen from grace, anyone who simply imagined they could navigate the world all on their own, can probably relate to this story. A father who has built a legacy, has two sons. These two sons would both inherit from him when he died, but the younger son decides he’d like to get moving, get out and see the world, and so he doesn’t want to wait. He wants his inheritance now! Of course, it’s a real insult to his father. Clearly the son cares nothing about this man who raised him, so the father gives him his inheritance. 

Of course, we know the son is thoughtless and goes through the money like a person winning a lottery ticket and then has nothing left. As he looks at his dire circumstances, he finally realizes his father’s servants live better than he does. Maybe he should go home, beg forgiveness and see if he can be one of his father’s servants. Mind you, he isn’t asking to be a son, just a servant.

His father is overcome with compassion when he sees his son and runs to welcome him. He invites him to come back to the family. In fact, he throws him a party. The older son, who has simply obeyed the father all these years, is outraged at the father’s response. After all, he’s been an obedient son, doing everything he should, and the father has never thrown a party for him. 

It turns out both sons are lost. Both sons are motivated by the desire to gain the father’s inheritance. One does it badly, the other does it dutifully to get the reward. Neither son does it to gain the love of the father. Neither son cares about the father at all. They are both about getting what they want. The younger son, like the children of Israel, finally gets it and turns around, seeking the Father. 

Since prodigal can also be a positive word, we see that the father loves the son with reckless abandon. He forgives him and brings him back home. He lavishes love on him because he was lost and now, he is found. God doesn’t lavish his love on us because we deserve it or because we do everything right. He does it because He is the Father. His love is unconditional!

May God lavish His love on you today!

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Let’s Go to the Well

Have you ever had a chance meeting? Perhaps you sat next to someone on an airplane and the conversation you shared made a difference in your life. Maybe you were in line at Starbuck’s, and someone left you with a parting comment that intrigued you. In fact, you still think about it.

A Samaritan woman in Jesus’ day didn’t expect to have a random conversation as she stepped up to Jacob’s well. She was surprised when Jesus spoke to her, requesting a drink as she began to put water in her own jar. Since Jews and Samaritans, much less men and women, did not speak in public, the woman was surprised at His request. Noting that Jesus didn’t have anything to draw water with, she agreed to give him a drink.

The Samaritan woman thought her life story had already been written. She knew the poor life choices she had made, and that even in her own community, she was an outcast. After all, she had had several husbands and simply lived with the current man in her life. She knew that, but she couldn’t understand how Jesus knew it too. The more He questioned her, the more she realized who He was, who He had to be. The Samaritans were eagerly awaiting the Messiah and Jesus declared to the woman that He was the Messiah.  In her excitement she ran back to her village to tell everyone what had happened. Ordinarily, she would not have tried to talk with anyone, but now she wanted everyone to know about the man at the well. “Go see for yourself,” she told them. 

The more the woman explained how Jesus knew everything about her and that He didn’t condemn her, the more she wanted to spread the news. Now she had a way to rewrite her story. This Jesus gave her a new perspective on life. Here was living water and He had given it to her. Wow! You might call this the chance meeting of a lifetime. 

I love this story because most of us are the Samaritan woman in one way or another. Jesus could easily point out our sins of pride, or jealousy, or disobedience. The thing is, He meets us at the well of our lives every day. He waits for us to receive Him and share the good news He has to offer. He’s excited to renew us, to pour out the stubbornness of yesterday, and fill us with a spirit of eternal goodness.   

You can rewrite your story too. Let’s go to the well!

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Now that’s Just Peachy!

So, the Pantone Color of 2024 is peach, actually titled Peach Fuzz. Now the good news is that this color is nurturing and inviting and warm and says, “Let’s visit over tea!” The bad news is that some people have an aversion to peach fuzz, remembering the way they were required to eat the “whole” peach when they were just a kid. There wasn’t much that felt nurturing or warm about that. So, as I took in this little tidbit from the color marketing world, I wondered how many of us are going into 2024 feeling peachy. 

Peachy feelings are those with high hopes and expectations. They are personal feelings that aren’t initially influenced by the political climate or cultural bias. Philippians 4:8 reminds us to think about the things that are peachy. Think about the things that are right, pure, lovely, and admirable. The people of Paul’s day, the writer of this Philippians verse, may not have had much more to look forward to than we imagine we do. They certainly lived in a turbulent political arena. Only a few people possessed the things that money can buy. But Paul said, that’s okay because the world is peachy.  It’s peachy because God knows all about you and me and He hasn’t given up on us. It’s peachy because there are incredible things to think about that will keep our minds and hearts in a good place.

What are they, you say? You can think about your blessings, your warm bed, your sweet friends, and those who laugh at your stories, or comfort your tears. You can think about your courage and those moments where you could breathe in the spirit of goodness and contentment. You can give God praise for those who listen with compassion and love you just the way you are. You can break out in song or do a little dance because you’re a child of God. You can think about all that’s good.

When you think about the things that are joyful and creative and delightful, you get to spend the hours of your day filled with hope and possibilities. You see things from a view of beautiful morning sunrises and incredible landscapes. You see what else is out there, meaning what else is still, shall we say…peachy! As you go about your day today and we close the door on January, look for those things that bring life to your spirit and joy to your soul. Remind yourself that you are the one who creates the view around you. Let your heart trust in all that is good and worthy of your time and attention. Look for those things that God has done that are simply peachy!

Now, let’s have tea!

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Act Your Age

When you were a kid, chances are good someone suggested now and then that you should, “act your age.” The assumption was that you were being silly or inappropriate in some way, and needed to remember to behave in a way that was a bit more adult. It may have been a message with a shred of truth in it, but is it possible to take that adage a bit too far? We might imagine that acting our age when we’re a responsible adult means we never slip back into those childlike moments of gleeful silliness. In fact, we can become so good at acting our age, we can hardly find a reason to smile. Beyond that, when we get somewhere around retirement age, we might assume that to act our age means we simply give up our hopes and dreams and cruise on to the finish line. 

Personally, I love stories of people who don’t act their age. The artist known as Grandma Moses decided at the age of 73 that she wanted to paint. Her desire to paint started a whole new career to the ripe age of 101, and one of her paintings outlived her and sold for over a million and a half dollars. No doubt, some of her companions likely told her that what she wanted to do was impossible, impractical, and couldn’t be commercially viable. She should settle down, paint for a hobby and act her age. Fortunately, she didn’t give age a second thought. She simply decided to do something new, and it turned out she was good at it.

You might remember a guy named Joshua who was with Moses and helped search out the promised land. He was in his forties then, but at 85 he had this to say. “I am 85 years old and I’m just as strong today as I was when Moses sent me out. I am still strong enough for war or anything else. Now then, give me the hill country that the LORD promised me on that day when my men and I reported.”  Time had slipped by, and the promise of God had not yet been fulfilled, but Joshua was just as ready forty years later as he was before. His strength had not failed him because his heart was filled with God’s promise.

So what about us? What does it mean to act your age? Maybe it means to take everything you’ve learned so far and put it to better use than you ever have. Maybe it means to make the choices you’ve longed to make for years, but simply haven’t because those choices didn’t meet the approval of others. Maybe it means you surrender everything you are to God and let Him shape and mold you into a new possibility. “Act your age” could mean it’s time to be the you God created and live out your life and your dreams as fully as possible. 

Remember, with God all things are possible, no matter what your age may be.

It’s time for a happy dance!

 

See also on Feedspot: Top 100 Christian Women Blogs

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Yup! You Get Another Chance

Psalm 30:2-3 in The Message version, says, “God, my God, I yelled for help and you put me together. God, you pulled me out of the grave, gave me another chance at life when I was down-and-out.”

King David was a guy who appreciated second chances. Like us, he often made a mess of things, and was relieved when God helped him, perhaps even dragged him out of a pit of despair and gave him another chance. So, how did a man who kept falling down in matters of life still become known as a “man after God’s own heart?” He did it the same way you and I can do it. He did it by admitting his stubbornness and his failures. He turned toward God and called, no yelled out, for God to rescue him. He didn’t stand in front of God with a list of reasons why he failed, or with excuses that he hoped would make God happy, he simply surrendered. He knew he was wrong, and he was willing to admit it so he could move on. It doesn’t mean that God didn’t let him learn things by suffering the consequences, but it did mean that God never gave up on him. After all, they had developed a relationship that required honesty.

. When David failed, he remembered God’s great love and turned back to Him every time.

Getting a second chance, or a seventy-second chance is what humans need. We can’t forgive ourselves without God’s help. We can’t move on from past foolishness, without the One who gives us a chance to do better. We struggle with giving someone else another chance, until we realize our own failings. When you take another chance, you can grow and change and become more of what God designed you to be. Give your spouse a second chance because love always has to come with forgiveness. Give every child of God a second chance because that is what your Father in heaven does for you. 

You may be amazed at what God can do through you when you turn back to Him and ask His help to do better next time. You are His handiwork, His treasure, and every time you seek His forgiveness and His mercy, He will be there, ready to pull you out of the mess and set you on the solid ground of new possibilities. 

Yup! You get a second chance right now.

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Time to Be Daring!

 

One of my friends shared with me that her word for the year of 2024 is to BE BOLD! Since we can all benefit from being bolder in our work for the Lord, I thought I would share this piece from my book, It’s Still Possible. Together, we can do it!

 

 

The British author and photographer Cecil Beaton wrote, “Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”

A similar message can be read in Ecclesiastes 11:1, which says, “Cast your bread on the surface of the waters” and see what happens. Discovering all that is possible often means you must move past what you know and take a chance. You must be willing to be bold. Casting bread on the waters is an interesting metaphor. Literally, you would see little pieces of bread spreading out and floating away, one by one. Some bread would become dinner for a passing fish, but some, at least those that represent new opportunities, would go beyond your expectation where new possibilities emerge.

What bread can you cast on the waters in 2024? Is it your vision for a new product or service, your time or talents? Or perhaps it’s your goals and intentions?

Renewed faith, slowly moving beyond the bounds of your comfort zones and routines, guiding you with hope, has the ability to change your life. Nothing can happen, nothing can go forward, if you do not take the first step. Is God calling you to be a bit more daring, somewhat impractical, and step outside your safety zone? Is He asking you to trust Him and take that next leap of faith?

Jesus came to Earth and stepped into a world that wasn’t fully prepared for Him. He cast His Spirit on those around Him with daring and with integrity of purpose. He knew who He was and what He had to offer. He never doubted God’s plan, even when He could not see the fruit of His labors. He simply kept being the One who shared a different point of view and who went against the “play it safers” of His day.

One way you can share in His imaginative vision is to step out in faith, moving beyond what you know and choosing to believe God has a way to make things work together for good. Today is the perfect day to cast your bread upon the waters of faith and see what God has in mind for you. Be bold!

 

 

 

 

 

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Are You Sure about That?

 I was thinking about the often-quoted Hebrews 11:1 verse that describes what faith is. It says, “faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.”

It’s a nice verse, but when you think about it, we’re already in over our heads by the first principle in the sentence. “Faith means being sure.” Being sure! That sounds easy enough, but is it? How many things do you feel absolutely sure of as you look at your own life story? How many times have you been totally sure of something and been disappointed when it didn’t work out? Being sure means you are certain, confident, not a smidgeon of doubt anywhere. You know what you know what you know! How can we know something is real even when we can’t see it? 

Of course, this is where we circle back to that word called faith. We know because we have faith. So, let’s go back to how we are sure that God is a reality. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” That’s a good clue. It says that somewhere deep within my heart and mind, I have to want to find God. When I truly want to find Him, He’ll show up. He’ll show me He is real. I will know Him because I will have the experience of being in His presence. Yes, I can be sure of that.

What else helps? Romans 1:20 reminds us that God has been trying to show us His handiwork simply by seeing the creation. The scripture says, “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities have been clearly seen.” Few of us can witness an incredible panorama of mountains, oceans, and landscapes without feeling deep down that there is indeed a Creator. We can’t help but applaud God’s amazing artistry. 

Going back to Hebrews 11, we might also ponder this thought. “Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” So, we can be sure of our faith because God has made Himself known to us in every image, every landscape, every love story, every delight that makes life beautiful. 

We have hope because we believe. We believe because we have been given the gift of faith. We know God’s real because He continually strives to reveal Himself to us, any time we search for Him. We are sure that He exists, and nothing could be more comforting than that. 

Be sure of your faith. It is your everlasting connection to the One who calls Himself, “I Am!” 

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Well, Bless My Soul!

Could you be more intentional about those things that effect your beliefs?  If you want to step into January 2024 with a faith-building checklist, here are a few ideas that may just bless your soul. Consider some of these:

Start every morning with God. That’s right! Take time to chat, one on one.Ask God to help you change your negative habits and attitudes.Keep a journal to note one thing you do each day to please God and make your soul happy.Begin a daily Bible reading plan.Pray. And then pray again!Read a daily devotional book or a devotional blog.Seek opportunities to share your faith at home…at work… or anywhere you happen to be.Be intentional about giving God credit for good things that happen in your life.Thank God for showing up just for you. Hand your worries over to God.Step aside from the news and those things that dampen your spirit.Seek out a faith partner, someone you can pray with and learn from.Go to church because you really want to be there.Practice loving people who are different from you.Let your light shine!Be grateful.Ask others to pray for you.Know God is with you in every circumstance. When you fall down, ask forgiveness, and get up and start again.Most of all, remember that God knew you even before you were born, and He’s been loving you ever since. Let this be the year you truly say, “All is well with my soul!”

May God bless you with an exciting New Year as you continue to grow in faith and fulfill your divine purpose.

Time for a soul dance!

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