5 Questions

Saw these on another pastor's blog today and thought I'd take a stab at answering them for myself... my mind is fried from preparing several messages in one day and as all you regular readers know, when I get that way, I "relax" by typing something that doesn't require a lot of study or thought, but is just light and easy writing.

1. Share a moment/ time of real encouragement in your journey of faith.

So many. But I guess the task here is to pick just one. So...I would say the past few months have been a time of real encouragement in my journey of faith. I've gone through a lot with everything from a serious situation with Savanna's teacher at school, to my car being wrecked and totaled, to my son being very sick and hospitalized, to just the day in and day out rigors of pastoring a church. And through all that I've learned even more who's really "with me". My true friends have been of great encouragement and have not failed to lift me up not only in prayer, but in sharing a cup of coffee, a card, a hug or even doing something special to let my children know they are loved. The other thing about all this in the past year is that I've grown a lot closer to God - so much deeper in my walk Him...I truly am, as Pastor Lisa says, "in another place in Him."

2. Do you have a current vision / dream for your work/ family/ministry?

Oh yes, always. I believe if you aim at nothing, that's exactly what you'll hit. For some time now, (actually when I turned 40 a year ago) I developed a personal "statement of purpose" and then my mission/goals written out. I keep them in my daytimer and look at them each day so I know where I'm headed in life just in case a bad day comes and I forget just what is in store for me as I seek Him and continue on the path. I will share them here with you -

My purpose statement:
The purpose of my life is to reach people for Christ and restore and empower them through writing, speaking and personal mentorship, bringing them to a place of impacting others
with their God-given potential.

My lifetime mission/goals:

1) To facilitate a healthy marriage, for life.

2) To do the best I can to raise my children to love and serve the Lord, and to dedicate themselves to furthering His Kingdom in whatever capacity they are called - whether to full time ministry or marketplace ministry.

3) To serve as a true co-pastor/ministry partner, not just in title but in function as a true spiritual mother of a local church body.

4) To spend my life profoundly affecting untold numbers of people through writing.

5) To continue to take local, regional, national and international speaking engagements - as many as I can handle with whatever current season I'm in, and still effectively keep my family and the church as priority.

6) To write, speak and mentor in such a way that leads people to permanent life change, reproducing other leaders in ministry through mentoring/coaching utilizing all three of these avenues.

7) To continue to grow during all seasons of my life, furthering my education in both formalized and non-traditional learning settings.

8) To facilitate health and wholeness for myself personally on a regular basis so I can stay at my optimal best to reach my lifetime goals.

9) To be a full time writer by my life's end.

So there you have it! The great thing about a life purpose statement and mission/goals is that when things come along (which they will in everyone's life) that you aren't sure about doing or not doing, the purpose/mission/goals help you clear away ideas and opportunities that are not for you and focus on God's agenda for your life.

Having this made clear for me makes things much easier and also helps me form the relationships I need in life. (All of mine are built within the framework of these goals. I realize I also need friends that move me toward these goals, not away from them. This also helps me in knowing the difference between a good friend and a God friend!)

3. Money is no object and so you will.....

Pay somebody else to clean my house so I can spend all my time focusing on the above 9 things rather than cleaning toilets and scrubbing floors.

4. How do you see your way through the disappointments? What keeps you going?

A steady, intimate relationship with God where He speaks to me through the disappointments is most crucial. He says in His Word in Isaiah 45:3 that " I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name." We can only get certain things by going through the dark times. As we are in those dark times, He shares things with us that we couldn't possibly learn when all is going well. There are things we would learn no other way than facing disappointments. There, you become so attuned to His voice - as He whispers your name. His Word, His power keeps me going. In addition to that I just enjoy going with a friend for coffee and talking about it just to have someone else "with skin on" to listen and pray for me.

5. How important are your roots?

Very important. My hairdresser Ada colors them every four weeks for me. Okay, seriously...my roots are upside down. I believe for the Christian, our roots are in heaven. This world is not our home. First and foremost I'm a daughter of God. I am His alone. At the end of my life, no one will stand with me to answer for my life, just me - before God. No matter where I go in life, where I live or who I do life with, it is God the Father who claims me first and foremost as His own. And I'm so thankful for that. I am His. He is mine. I like it that way.