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An extra minute
After college and internship, I worked for a doctor that took an extra minute of his time when I got to the point of desiring to broaden my surgical opportunities. Though we worked together well and felt like family, he walked to his office after appointments one day and wrote out a heartfelt recommendation for me to go to a big hospital and leave that office practice. A few days later, he called my house to make sure that was what I really wanted to do and he offered me a promotion to stay. I just couldn’t help but be more curious about the bigger picture forming in my head.…
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End of the rope
Some people do come to the end of their rope! An example is the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. What will our Help do? He will come along as He did for her and turn our end-of-the-rope status into a water holder for the world and a well worker to the world. He’s going to say Come Forth! Live again. Love again. What will you say? You start saying “God is my Source. God is my Light. God is my Deliverer. God is my Help.“ He’s going to say: I am your Help. Come on out. Out of depression, out of this storm, out of death, out…
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Healthy Attention
Trying to gain a healthy focus when it comes to attention, can be one of the biggest challenges of all time. Though I don’t normally put much emphasis on the physical, I am currently choosing to accept challenges that make me better equipped to bring in the kind of awareness or regard that could be used to direct others toward the One who can really help them. I’m finding the balance between extreme immodesty (too proud in speech, dress, or conduct) of culture and extreme modesty of religions, and in that- I am finding out how to let the supernatural stand out!! I knew it was possible but it’s been…
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Throwing Lifelines
Extending hope in times of difficulty is throwing a life line. Saying a prayer is throwing a life line. Being there when somebody is crashing down, giving a person discipline and guidance in a time that calls for it, is being a lifeline. Having an answer or just pointing them in a right direction, is tossing a spiritual rope of life in their direction! Human lifelines can be objects of obedience that act as pulleys. These “pulleys” are designed to support movement and change. They make it easier to lift what is heavy. They create a system of help that makes the difference.A couple months ago, I was able to…
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“Like” YOU!
If you don’t like you, you’ll give off vibes to other people. Those vibes will keep most people away. Believe me, it isn’t good to push the right people away. You need to be around folks who’ve got a healthy outlook about themselves, and learn something from them.God may not have us going down the same exact path and that’s okay. Go the right way based on where He is leading you. Follow. Trust and obey. Here are three things to straighten SELF out and like YOU again! Pursue Integrity. Become honest again instead of trying to hide what’s bothering you. Get help if you need it. Be willing to…
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Is faithfulness a place? (2!)
Faithful can be a place within us where we’ve made a decision to trust and trust and trust. Dwell there with God. How many times have we been in a place of doubt and it was truly a place we would describe as sad, limited, and confusing…? But faith kicked in and brought certainty again. Faith stands the tests and refuses to be run off the land! Our land of faithfulness has promises! Though layered with peace, places where the faithful reside can be a mixture sometimes of unease and unrest. These places are not absent of occasional problems and impatience. Pain is present at times. Tension often visits. But being faithful is to push…
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Energizing the Ordinary
LEARN TO ENERGIZE THE ORDINARY by being creatively noncompliant with ego. We let go of our ego to see the worth and importance of other people and what they have to offer. That means we resist going along with the crowd or what is popular. The ulterior? Yes it creeps in sometimes. Ulterior is “existing beyond what is obvious or admitted; intentionally hidden.” Ulterior motives can often: 1. Translate messages. 2. Take things out of context. 3. Miss the point. 4. Deflate energy. Self-importance translates selfish. This is where no one else leaves feeling significant. But when we know our value, we can circulate value: God-importance translates significance. This is where someone else is…
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Heart Teams
It often takes a team of people to get one person back on their feet. Years ago before answering the call to ministry, I was a surgical tech on one of the first heart teams at SpringHill Hospital. All into the world of surgery, I would study and research everything before a case. Working my way through ENT, GYN, GEN, ORTHO, NEURO, UROLOGY, etc. brought me into one of the most interesting atmospheres that is strongly coming to my mind right now as I write about the subject of aching hearts! The atmosphere of pain is often silent after the gasps, cries, shrieks of shock, and agony of surprise or…
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Achy Breaky Hearts
Surface scrapes and cuts heal up easy. Heartaches are much harder to get to. Here lately, my heart hurts. Emotionally. For several relational reasons. Oh and you too? I sense I’m definitely not the only one experiencing an array of heart hurts. People are walking around everywhere with no “skin signs” of aching hearts. The stuff that’s down deep doesn’t always show up to others. -I’m choosing an attempt to write it out and I hope you can relate. The subject deserves some attention! You can tell anybody anything “But don’t tell my heart, my achy breaky heart. I just don’t think he’d understand.” Achy Breaky Heart was written by…
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Shed a good light
Starting in Genesis, God brought light into everyday life. Plants lean into it. People can’t exist without it. In the New Testament, God shed a bright light to get a man’s attention. This man was someone who spread bad energy around. Saul even killed Christians. But one day. On a road to Damascus. Saul was “blinded (3 days) by the light” that changed his life. Saul was on his way with wrong intentions, threats, and imprisonment in mind for the Lord’s disciples. To harm. Christians. But God’s light changed his course. It suddenly flashed around him from heaven! Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice. Jesus spoke directly…