Guts, glory, & God's ways win!

This week's message is wisdom rich with life lessons from a baseball field.  "God will often move you to change by moving you through change." ~ Craig Groeschel.

I'm empowered by the truth used in this weeks flick At the Movies with "42". The true-life-story hits a home run with Jackie Robinson, from his signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1945 to his historic 1947 rookie season when he broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.  

The Dodger's owner was burdened by the injustice separating players in the sport, and over the years, had robbed him of his love of baseball.  Robinson was hired because of his talents he brings to the team.  In the ninth inning, racial injustice makes a heavy hit in Robinson's life, and like our Savior, Robinson "has to have the guts to turn the other cheek."  

Robinson does just that.  He's hit in his emotional gut as he responds with godly guts. Encouragement spoken from the owner, brought courage and bravery into Robinson's spirit thus bringing change to speak bravery into the legacy of many others.  Now Robinson's courage is modeled by the number "42" in the Baseball Hall of Fame and on many baseball fields.  

Robinson's courageous battle against an injustice speaks volumes in my life.  It takes bigger courage to stand up for what you believe in, rather than what is popular.

"What is impossible for men, is possible with God."  Luke 18:27.  Jesus speaks truth into the lives of the disciples by saying He is the way of Life, and has the power to change people by the authority given to him by God, the Father.

  

Our vision reminds us the difference we want to make.  

We win when we join God in what He is already doing in the lives of others, and find strength in numbers when we are aligned with His truth.  I am compelled to make a difference by doing what God has put before me.  Vision is hard to focus on, it leaks, and we lose sight of the goal set before us, modeled by Jesus' life.  The rewards are worth it.  However the suffering comes, or whatever hits to the gut that life brings, if we are making a difference,  for the sake of knowing God and spreading the message of Christ.  

The guts and obedience well-played in Jackie Robinson's life is a base hitter and it inspires me to embrace what God has put before us all as kingdom builders to reach everyone with the message of Christ and letting nothing hinder or hold us back from sharing the change that God has made in us.  When God's holy, true change is at work in us, we will be change for someone else.    

"A life is not important except for the impact that it would have on others." ~ Jackie Robinson

Hebrews 5:8  "Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.

Guts for God's glory in God's way win!

God won’t call you to do a team job all by yourself. He will call others at the same time to assist you. When you say yes to the will of God — bringing all your time, money, talents, and tenacity to the Lord — you will discover that other hitters will be right there by your side to help you with the task.  It's a win, win!

Today is the new start you prayed for

I wrote about how one word can transform your life.

I must confess that I don't make new year's resolutions anymore. I refuse to make a half-hearted list of self-proclaimed promises to myself, and then get swept away by life's currents of business and busyness.  I only set myself up for disappointment and failures.  

If only we didn't get distracted with the busyness of life.  My life seems to be much more doable when I make one change at a time.

There's power in making just one change.  There's power in the One who helps you change.  God longs to empower you to change.  (tweet this, tag me @thejanellekeith)

With a demanding virtuous agenda, intense focus is needed just to allow change to happen in the first place.  I can easily excuse away my motivations to improve my weaknesses.

When making changes for the better, my goals usually direct me at doing things that are of the opposite of my current behavior.  I need a lot of help...you do too that's why you are reading this.  

My inability to focus on many ideas at once quickly aborts the total of my desire and then I simply give up trying.  I take on too many changes, become overwhelmed at the burden of each one, and am consumed by the commitment it takes to develop each positive change.

I take on too many changes at the start and forget the work involved with each commitment.  

One of my weaknesses that God is developing in me is the finish.  I'm really great at starting a lot of ideas....really lame at seeing the ideas to the end...

For instance last year, I started at least 10 feed-my-soul-books plus dove deeper into God's Word.  I only finished one of those books, however I'm still continuing the dive into Truth.

I have over 100 posts in my drafts folder of this blog that I want to write for you, I am challenged to go back and look at each one to finish them.

I have 1000+ ideas for teams to be the hands and feet of Jesus, only to have one trip scheduled for this year, plus writing at least 100 more Africa stories from what God taught me this past October.  

I started a podcast idea and have recognized that I might have some public speaking skills that I haven't even tapped into.  And now that my schedule is more flexible those opportunities are looming like a giant shadow waiting to battle.  

You see, I have areas of growth that I need to let God massage and work His best plan in.  So that's why I start change with the ask.  I'm asking God to help finish just one change...learn the training manual about change, allowing God to change me no matter what it takes, and then live the change.  

That's how I focus, that's how I change.  I embrace God's change in me, just one change at a time.

Last year my word was Hope.  This year my word is Freedom.

I resolve to be devoted to focus on this one task, discovering the freedom I have in knowing my source of Freedom.  And not succumb to resolution exhaustion by trying to keep pace with other resolution makers.

I resolve to let God deeply discover and uncover new faces of freedom, and embrace freedom as defined by Him and His Holy Word.  

I resolve to not let the list of weak excuses choke out attempts for a new and fresh start and leave a reject, dejected and brimful of regret.  

How many times have you kicked your resolutions to the cub because they got too hard?  Or life got in the way?   I don’t blame you if you’ve stopped making resolutions. You’re busy enough and the last ones didn’t work.

It's not that you wrestle with determination or drive, you wrestle with managing priorities.

When it gets tough for us moms, we usually put bottom out on priority.  Plus you are at the max on all circuits of life.

There's something more empowering in making just one change.  Embrace life by making one change at a time.  We all have the deep desire to change to be our best but we do not want to go through the work of changing. Drastic changes require drastic actions. 

Do you trust God to lead you through that change?  Listen to this!

We can trust our changes to an unchangeable God.  His steadfastness supersedes our failures and fears.

The possibilities are endless when you invite God to be part of your do-overs. 

You can embrace change by asking these three simple questions:
What do I need? ~ What’s in my way? ~ What needs to go?

Then your why question:  “The why is always more important than the what.”

Look up by asking God for your word, 

Listen; ~ Write it down; ~ Take some actions steps today.  Don’t check the box; experience the journey.  Work hard.  Sweat.

Here are simple some action steps that will help you slip into successful changes:

Connect your change with a verse in the Bible, that will anchor your heart to why you want to change.
Take a picture of your word -keep it on your mind,in your pocket and tuck it in your heart, always.
Keep a One Word journal write a thought about it everyday.
Look for sayings and quotes that relate to your word.
Pick a song that reminds you of your word.
Get a tattoo. I suggest temporary body art or a ink pen in your favorite color.  

Write it a sticky statement on a post it and then stick everywhere you need to focus on your change.  

There will be a day when your resolve will weaken and you will want to smack your goals out to left field and you'll remember that you are doing this one step at a time.  That sticky note will remind you to try again or give yourself some mercy to try harder.  

These actions steps will remind you of your why.

Might I suggest one more idea.  Write a letter to yourself as if you have succeeded in your change.  Like you are on the other side of 10 or 50 lbs. for example and pat yourself on the back with some positive feedback to boost your success.    

You are the only you that will take care of you.  

Care for yourself like you would care for a prized possession.  That's the way God sees you... as something to treasure.  Remind yourself that you are an overcomer if Christ is in you.

You can do it!  Embrace change and then celebrate your changes along the journey.  

What do you have to lose with just one change?  What change do you want to make?

Soon I will tell you about my one word journey and what I am doing about it.

   

Feeling awkward

Haircuts always bring a change

Nine times out of ten, when I ask you that question, you say to me that you don't like change.   That helps, but honestly, we don't like change because it wrecks us.  

Why?

Change causes transformation, we have to let go of a little, our familiar places, maybe places that need healing or growth, and that feels awkward.

It feels awkward because we don't like to let God in to do His work.  It feels different and strange in the middle of the conflict, the tension, the problem, and change.

I don't like feeling awkward either.  Lately, I have been making a lot of changes.

Most of my recent changes have felt very awkward, but right.

I walked into get a haircut the other day, needless to say I almost talked myself out of it.  Maybe, this winter I want to let my hair grow out a little.  I have this inner hairy conflict every time my hair grows to the nape of my neck.  What I need is a more time-saving hairdo where I can just gel up and go.  But I don't like to make time for the actual appointment.  The haircut process was easy this time, I checked in online, saving myself a few minutes of waiting.

As I walked in, it was time for my appointment and the stylist asked what I wanted.  I told him how my hair had grown over the last I don't know how many months, the style I used to have and described the look I liked.  He nodded, visualized my new hair style in his head, then went to snipping my hair.

Don't you love it when hair falls and tickles your nose?  Awkward....

Think about how many times the stylist deals with change.  Every time he puts scissors in his hand, he creates change for someone.  And I would dare to say a little change for himself.  Every artist knows when you pick up the tools to create, transformation happens.

Haircuts are good, even though I don't like to make time for them.  The cutting process brings a new fresh look and stimulates more growth.  So as the stylist is snipping away at my outgrown style, I'm asking God to teach me something while I am sitting in the chair, unable to brush off the awkwardness of change in that moment.  

God's changes are good, even though we don't like to make time for them.  Transformation brings a new fresh attitude and stimulates more faith growth.  And change is hard for me, and honestly it's hard for you too.  It makes us feel uncomfortable and weird.  

I'm learning to love changes that cause us to grow in our faith and to discover things we didn't already know or at least realize about ourselves, our situations and circumstances and especially about God!  It's silly to think about how our resistance quickly becomes more about our comfort and safety zones.  

We often don't see the need for change until we are out of options, at the end of ourselves and our current situation feels more like death.  Changes with my hair or with my faith always feel a little awkward for me too.

There is a tension that rises while in the barber's chair as you see locks of hair fall.  Depending on whether you like the new look, will you be able to handle the new you?  That's why I go with what I know.  I very rarely go all crazy with a trendy cut.  Let's say there has been that one haircut, that... well, let's just say it didn't turn out so well.  

Because of one awkward change we tend to avoid it all together.    

I can't handle a lot of change all at once either.  I have to let the stylist trim a little at a time.  Still I resist making time for it and try to talk myself out of a haircut most days.  Again there is the tension that when the stylist is done with your new do, I will be able to manage it and look good in it?

AND getting your haircut can be risky too, especially if you walk-in on a stylist having a bad day. We are at the mercy of person's skill level of who ever our stylist is, whether they love their jobs or hate it on any certain day, and who they fought with before they punched the time clock this morning.

Change is risky when you don't trust the operator.

Fortunately, when we think about change in regards to our faith, we can trust our Operator, our Manager, our Controller and our God who wants nothing but the best for us and wants change to grow us from the inside out.  Knowing this brings peace, but at first I will have to admit, yes change for me, is more about feeling awkward.

We don't like to take time to ask the Craftsman where we need to change, because we tend to stray down a path that makes us crave the comfortable and familiar, the safe ways of faith with predicted results, the known and well-worn ways we Christians tend to fall prey to.  And fear keeps us bound up to think we can't change, don't need to change, or even think about change. So much tension, conflict, and turmoil. 

God's best in the change quickly becomes the sacrifice we put to the side for fear of change. Ugh!

All because doing new things scares us and makes us feel awkward.

So there you have it....out loud.  

Fear keeps us from changing and striking out and saying yes to change, saying yes to God.

Fear keeps us from obeying God.

Fear keeps us from doing what God has asked us to do.  

Fear keeps us out of that mindset that I don't need to change, I'm fine the way I am.  

Fear keeps us from rearranging our daily schedule to help someone who needs our help.

Fear keeps us from going on mission trips.

Fear keeps us from looking outside ourselves and finding out who our neighbors really are.

Fear keeps us safe in our own little Christian bubble.

Fear keeps us feeling awkward when we make bold faith steps.

Fear keeps us from changing.

Fear keeps us.

Man....all these thoughts just from a haircut.  Now...this feels awkward.  

Take some time today to ask God where you need to change to be His best.  Believe me, He cares more about who you are becoming than about your feeling awkward.  

Waiting for an update?

You will have to wait a few more days.  This is a look at change a little bit along the way...  

Before I give you the great reveal with the whole new me, I must remind you from where I came from and show you how...

First I  want to stop and praise my Savior who has made this all possible.  I truly couldn't have lost one ounce without Jesus coming into changing my heart of stone and exchanged it for His heart of purity in the area of food.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36: 26 

This journey of losing weight and God's transformation in my soul has been life changing.

So let's give God the glory due here...

It's almost party time people...lift your voices, your hands, and put your feet together in celebration.

If you need a little healthy hope today...let me dish some up for you.  You can change too.  Just start.  

Can you invite change into your heart?  Sure you can...change is just a prayer away.  I talk about change and the heart a lot here but that is where God likes to work His purity plan.  

Don't give up because if you want change God will empower you to make the pure changes that He desires. AND, don't be discouraged when you don't see change immediately. This is a hard process, it takes God's timing and endurance to win this.

Here's what you need to know...the real win is your obedience to God in the area of purity.

God's changes are worth the hard journey it takes to get you there.  

God wants you to continue to seek change because He is waiting for the perfect time where He gets all the praise.

And you know what....we can stand back and say...."WOW!  God did that...."

So let's give God the glory here....

WOW! God did that, God is doing that...

Are you throwing confetti yet?

Just start.

My Opposite way

Change...Why don't we want to change?

Change is hard.  Do we not think that we are capable?

Do you trust God enough to bring great results from change?  Or is it because we are afraid of change itself?

Those are some hard hitting questions that I have cross-examined myself with and the answers I came up with, before God, were not beautiful.  All I had to offer God in these self-probing questions were my own lame excuses.

Excuses...one lame excuse after another.

Excuses were my offering to God's call to change.  It was at that point that I went my opposite way.

When it comes to change, I don't like it anymore than you do.  Change requires action to go the opposite way.  We have the natural desire to do what comes easy and with the least amount of effort.  And when I look at all the change that I need to make, I quickly become overwhelmed and shut down emotionally because it all seems so huge in my mind.  

My mind escalates into a tailspin resulting in an apathetic and inattentive attitude, then when the idea of change comes, I am resistant to it.  I don't know if you have felt this way but....

God's breakthrough came in spite of my denial that change was needed. 

I am now going my opposite way.

Being healthy is a life-long journey and it keeps me undone most days.  So there are daily chioces I must make to be healthy.  Daily.  Sometimes hourly on those days when you are faced with Carder's grandmother's heavenly Buttermilk pie.  Minute by minute, choices are present on one's daily life menu.  

What healthy choices are you looking for?  What healthy choices are you needing to make?  Healthy choices require healthy actions and changes.  Will you go the opposite way?  

I'm going to just put this out there...

Losing in my battle of the bulge has always been a spiritual battle for me.  This is personal, this is serious.  So when I say I need change, in the area of eating for example, it is usually connected to a spiritual truth that I struggle with as well.  

Can I give you a little hope to change today?

What an awesome God we serve who loves us so tenderly that He cares about what we put into our mouths, our bodies and His temples?  

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own." ~ 1 Corinthians 6:19

I have committed to go the opposite way that my body desires.  I have sought out God's best changes for me.  This choice takes great energy as God has refocused my will and intention with God-honoring food responses.  And let me tell you my struggling friends....

....this journey of good health is worth it.  Worth it.  Worth all the hard work, worth all the missed ice cream Sundaes, the chocolate, the chips, the bad healthy choices I was making.  

God's changes are always worth the journey it takes to get there.

Good changes and Godly changes require action. God's changes require the opposite way.  I don't like telling you this because it's a hard truth that I had to learn.  And I know it's hard to hear because you just want to be skinny.  I know...I know...

You just want to be accepted.  
You just want to be healthy.
You just want to be whole.
You just want your health problems to go way like a bad nightmare.  
You just want to give up, because it's so hard.    
You just want...
You just want God changes to happen on their own, without your participation.  

God is calling you to go the opposite way.  Will you join in?

You may not even know why at this point in the journey...But if you are struggling with eating issues, then let me speak some truth into your life....if you want to get healthy, then you have to make some changes and go the opposite way.

Carder and I are joining Wendie Pett who leads the way in getting Visibly Fit™.  She will show us some good godly changes towards your personal goals.  She will address good changes and I have learned that God's changes require action.  

Ask yourself ...is what I am doing now benefiting me in being healthy?  If the answer is yes, then you will be encouraged by what Wendie has to share.  If your answer is no, then you will be encouraged by what Wendie has to share.  Either way, God will show up to your seeking heart in your quest to be healthy.

Because here's what I DO know....

We have a God who loves us, so much that He cares about us.  We matter to Him and it matters to God what we are cramming into His temples.  It matters to God what his Holy Spirit dwells in.  So what kind of dwelling are you giving the Holy Spirit?  

Yeah...that's what I thought.  I had some changes to do also.  I have gone God's opposite way.  

Dear God, bring your awareness of how we need to go the opposite way of our own selfish desires.  Bring your holy changes to your healthy plans so that when people see us....God we say first....God did that...and in their wonder....God your wonder will be displayed.   God bring your good, godly, holy changes so that we mirror You and your Holiness, for your glory...Amen.  

Just Maybe Out of Your Clutter

Whew...out of the clutter of 2012, I am finding simplicity.  Out of the clutter of my mind being weighted with 30 extra pounds, I can see things more clearly.  Out of the clutter of trying to have many prayer filled conversations at one time, God is helping me see Him more clearly.

Out of the clutter of my heart...with so much...left to do here, 

I have a bigger awareness of God.

I start most conversations with the phrase "there are so many words I could say."  That's because I have I have about 10 conversations going on in my mind at once while at the same time about 20 conversations going on in my heart.  It's a clutter issue.

Let me back this cluttered blog conversation up.

Perhaps you noticed this blog has taken a serious tone for the worse or maybe you have noticed an improvement for the better.  And speaking of personally, God has narrowed the cluttered writing field down to one purpose.  My posts will be fewer each week, but hopefully (wishfully thinking) more meaningful.

2013 needs to be the year I get my hands dirty with the book(s) I want to write.  I have failed at my writing goals from last year.  I am overwhelmed with the idea of sharing my clutter with you.

It took a deep breath.....and lots of cluttered guts to just tell you that.  

This doesn't come easy for me.

What goals have you failed at or want to get your hands dirty with?  (My thoughts coming on dirty hands coming later...yes a tease to keep you coming back).

Take a look at your clutter from last year. Maybe, just maybe, your perspective of who God is and what kind of clutter you need to muddle through or get rid of, or better yet...change will come to mind.  

Maybe you will just notice the next sunset and think about your own clutter.  That's a bright spot in this post isn't it?  

"Out of clutter, find simplicity.  From discord find harmony.  

In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity."  ~ Albert Einstein

I am excited about the 2013 year of clutter change.  There will be good clutter...full storms that God will bring this year.  As I pray for His best how can I NOT be excited about my clutter-free changes that are coming?

Dear God....bring the clutter!  I want to be YOUR BEST!  

Not perfect, just Your best.  You, of all, know what changes I need to make, and what changes are best for me.  And God, as you bring my clutter to the forefront, bring your wonderful grace to help me accept the difference.  

I am desperate to see God's grace in my own clutter.

Just maybe, you want changes for yourself.  Let me tell you, with the beginning of a fresh new year, full of potential, full of promise, full of God, full of a clutter free lifestyle...full of God's grace..... that is a great place to start.  Just maybe, today is the day you want to make one change.  

Just one.  Just start with one. 

Do you realize that by changing one thing a month you will have made 12 changes for a whole year by the end of 2013?  Just maybe... you can take a look at change in the midst of your own clutter.

Change for God's best will change you and it will bring life change.  Just start with one.  

Just start with the One.  

Five Minute Friday - Prayer

I don't know about you...but I only know of one way to make in this world.  

If you don't do it...your missing out.

If you do, then you know what i am talking about.  It's all about prayer.

Prayer is the gateway to God.  To experience His presence, to hear His voice, to know Him.

There are many postures to prayer.  Salvation comes through a prayer...

simple words to God.  Confessing...repenting...turning away...starting anew.

I have experienced the power of prayer.  And prayers can be powerful with praying God's words back to Him.

Change can happen in prayer, and prayer causes change.

In the still of the night, the silence, God answers some desperate prayers.

Prayer can be worship, an act of obedience and bring deliverance.

We can pray long and hard, and in the end...God wins.

We can be real in our prayers because God can handle our honesty.

God honors bold prayer, bold prayers honor God.

When you are floored with life, allow others go to the floor for you.  There is nothing like a group of brothers and sisters in Christ lifting your name to the Father.

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 20:18  

Prayer unites our hearts to God, God unites our hearts through prayer.

Prayers...are awesome faith conversations with the 

One who knows you inside and out.

Who doesn't want more of that?

Five Minute Friday - Change

I write about change a lot because I have the desire to.  I feel like I need a lot of it.  I tend to constantly evaluate everything.  My goal is to I want to honor God with my words, deeds and thoughts.  It's the least I can do in my response to His grace that has been given to me.


So where do I need to change?  Well maybe you should tell me.  I tend to be too hard on myself actually.  I have a friend who says "Don't change".  But I don't want to stay where I am...I want to be a better person, I want to lose another 30 lbs., I want to know God more, I want to serve more, I want to write a book, I want to run a half-marathon, I want to go back to Africa!   Their has to be changes to make all this happen.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever‑increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:11

God likes to change too.  This verse reminds me that He is in indeed changing me....from one phase of me to another.  He wants more for me, in His holy transformation, to become like Jesus.  There has to be some "me" changes to make that ever increasing glory change happen.  Those changes are hard.  There are times when change feels like you have an open wound that won't heal.  God comes along and uses His rough sanding stone of change to make the painful wound a little more clean.  That refining process is for His glory as He does His work in me.  The results?  His ever-increasing glory...and that makes change worth it.  


So what do you want to change?  How are you letting God change you?

Be Change!

You want to make a difference? Read the link below. Inspiring post by Perry Noble, even if you don't work in "ministry", you can apply the same prayers to your own personal walk.

Want to grow in your personal and professional ministry?

We are all ambassadors chosen by God sent from Heaven to earth with the gospel message.