The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
I cleaned up our patio yesterday from the New Year's Eve party we had 56 days ago. True story. The chairs were still in the same little circle around the fire pit and the blankets right where everyone left them. The wood next to the fire pit needed to be reorganized and the blankets washed. I even found a stray napkin and cup in the yard. They had migrated all the way over to the tangerine tree. While I was at it, I finally took the Christmas lights off of the bushes in the backyard. This was in between the normal household chores yesterday and doing some cooking in advance for our leadership meeting tonight at CC.
I didn't get a moment to take care of the patio til' yesterday. It's been on my "to do" list that long. I say this for the benefit of everyone who says to me, "how do you do it all, Deanna?" Well, there's just one practical example for all of you who wonder, of one thing on the list that never got done until later. I'm fixin' to make a point here, so hold on...
I'm on the road this morning by myself headed to the Orlando area to preach at New Destiny Assembly of God, pastored by some amazing friends, Pastors Victor & Keila Vega. I know God is going to show up at New Destiny and he's also going to do a great work at Celebration Church Tampa where the rest of my family will be this morning with our church family. On Monday through Wednesday it'll be crunch time to cover my responsibilities with church and with NextJob. I'll speak at Fusion service at Celebration on Wednesday night and then leave Thursday morning for Oklahoma, where I'll speak for another friend and get back late Saturday night in time to be with my church family again Sunday morning.
Life is busy. This is why it sometimes takes me 56 days to do one household chore.
I was at a seminar a few years ago where the speaker (a woman) mentioned that she was coming back into a speaking ministry after taking time off. The reason was that in the past she was sitting at her dining room table preparing a message to preach at a church and as she did so, looked up to see that her ceiling fan was dirty. Upon seeing the dirty ceiling fan she had the thought that she shouldn't be going anywhere to teach God's Word if her ceiling fan at home wasn't clean. Her thought was, "what kind of woman am I if I am not keeping my ceiling fans clean at home yet I go out to preach the gospel?
My thought was that my husband preached for a few years straight and some of our sprinkler heads in the yard weren't working. He didn't stop preaching until they were fixed.
I give him a list of "honey do" chores and sometimes he doesn't get to them for a while. Sometimes he gets to them in days, other times weeks or months depending on his schedule. Even so he doesn't stop bringing God's Word. He's not a bad man, an unfit husband, father or preacher. I assure you he hasn't lost sleep for even a night over sprinkler heads or thought he was unfit for ministry because of it.
Sometimes women can really get a case of the guilts over the fact that our homes aren't absolutely perfect. Make no mistake, I do believe keeping the home fires burning. We have to keep our marriage strong and spend time with and care for our children. We also must cover the basic necessities of life - meals cooked, clothes washed, etc. Those things are critical, but the truth is that some other things can keep for a while, especially if it's for the sake of the gospel. A lost soul is worth some dirt on a ceiling fan or some patio chairs that need to be reorganized.
Yes, it took me 56 days to do one thing. All things considered, it's worth it. God is going to do a great work this morning at New Destiny and it will be worth my linen closet that needs to be reorganized. Give me another 56 days...
I didn't get a moment to take care of the patio til' yesterday. It's been on my "to do" list that long. I say this for the benefit of everyone who says to me, "how do you do it all, Deanna?" Well, there's just one practical example for all of you who wonder, of one thing on the list that never got done until later. I'm fixin' to make a point here, so hold on...
Life is busy. This is why it sometimes takes me 56 days to do one household chore.
I was at a seminar a few years ago where the speaker (a woman) mentioned that she was coming back into a speaking ministry after taking time off. The reason was that in the past she was sitting at her dining room table preparing a message to preach at a church and as she did so, looked up to see that her ceiling fan was dirty. Upon seeing the dirty ceiling fan she had the thought that she shouldn't be going anywhere to teach God's Word if her ceiling fan at home wasn't clean. Her thought was, "what kind of woman am I if I am not keeping my ceiling fans clean at home yet I go out to preach the gospel?
My thought was that my husband preached for a few years straight and some of our sprinkler heads in the yard weren't working. He didn't stop preaching until they were fixed.
I give him a list of "honey do" chores and sometimes he doesn't get to them for a while. Sometimes he gets to them in days, other times weeks or months depending on his schedule. Even so he doesn't stop bringing God's Word. He's not a bad man, an unfit husband, father or preacher. I assure you he hasn't lost sleep for even a night over sprinkler heads or thought he was unfit for ministry because of it.
Sometimes women can really get a case of the guilts over the fact that our homes aren't absolutely perfect. Make no mistake, I do believe keeping the home fires burning. We have to keep our marriage strong and spend time with and care for our children. We also must cover the basic necessities of life - meals cooked, clothes washed, etc. Those things are critical, but the truth is that some other things can keep for a while, especially if it's for the sake of the gospel. A lost soul is worth some dirt on a ceiling fan or some patio chairs that need to be reorganized.
Yes, it took me 56 days to do one thing. All things considered, it's worth it. God is going to do a great work this morning at New Destiny and it will be worth my linen closet that needs to be reorganized. Give me another 56 days...
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