Category Archives: Faith

A selection of posts mentioning faith or belief in God. My Midlife Project includes reading numerous books about Bible study, faith, spiritual gifts, and discipleship.

Stack of wooden building blocks spelling HOPE

Hope and a Good Future [Part 2]

Leave a reply

“I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me! I will let you find me,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. I forced you to leave this place, but I will gather you from all the nations, from the places I have sent you as captives,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back to this place.” ~ Jeremiah 29:11-14 (New Century Version)

[This post is Part 2 of a tale that I started telling you a week ago.]

If you have followed my blog for any length of time (like before I started my 30-day Early To Rise book challenge), you may remember me mentioning that I have felt like something was getting ready to happen. I have had the distinct feeling God was getting ready to move tell me to get busy again.

In the two-and-a-half years since I left my previous job in nonprofit healthcare, I’ve wandered in the desert for a while. Spent some time in the wilderness, too.

Meanwhile, I got my Personal Training certification from the American College of Sports Medicine. (No easy task, for sure. Especially for someone whose college degree has “Computer” instead of “Exercise” in front of “Science”. The exam probably isn’t very hard if you’ve spent a few years in Exercise or Kinesiology classes.)

I also began studying for a Nutrition Coach certification… and one of these days, I’ll actually get around to taking THAT exam!

Part of the reason I haven’t been as focused as I would like is because while I was grieving my dream job, taking care of my family and studying for my exams, I also lost my church. (The church my husband and I helped plant eight years ago went through some changes, lots of people left, and the church faded away.) We had to look for another church.

Eventually (after bouncing around for nearly a year), we found a new congregation.

We almost joined another church, but something held us back. It wasn’t until six months later that we realized why we weren’t supposed to be at THAT church… but that’s another story.

Delays. Delays. As my life went through changes, I began to feel as if I wasn’t supposed to use my personal training and nutrition knowledge in the way I had first thought. I kept going, anyway.

A friend at my new church decided a few months ago to restart a health ministry she had started almost 10 years ago. The health ministry trained and supported parish nurses and congregational health workers in local faith communities. It had gone dormant during the past several years, for a variety of reasons. She now felt led to take a different path and get it going again. She and I have talked about this new path for several years…

This time, we decided to add some preventive care opportunities and support (physical activity and wellness education) to the health screenings.

I’ve been working on two grant proposals for the health ministry – applying for start-up funding – for a couple of months. Research. Write. Research some more. Write some more. Edit. Edit. Research. Write.

During February (just a month ago), I felt as if I was on pins and needles almost all the time. You know that feeling when you expect someone to jump out from behind a corner or a closet and scream, “Boo!”? That’s how I felt. I knew something was going to happen.

And it did.

My friend contacted me three weeks ago to say she thinks the health ministry needs a Program Director for the next year (contract). Someone to tie all the loose ends.

She asked if I would be willing to take on the task.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I was. I also knew this was “the thing” I am here to do. God was putting the pieces together for all these years.

I’m ready.

Are you ready? Do you know what your purpose is? What is that one thing you are uniquely designed to do? Have you figured it out yet? Will you know when the opportunity comes your way?

Girl Holding Plant

Hope and a Good Future

3 Replies

“I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me!  I will let you find me,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. I forced you to leave this place, but I will gather you from all the nations, from the places I have sent you as captives,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back to this place.” ~ Jeremiah 29:11-14 (New Century Version)

You would think that by now, with almost 56 years of experience at this sort of thing, I would know how God works. You would think that He would no longer surprise me. You would think that I would KNOW that He would eventually lead me out of the Wilderness.

Um. Yeah. Well, so much for thinking…

Several years ago (eight, to be exact), a series of hunches, feelings, yearnings, coincidences and a HUGE leap of faith brought me to a job that was perfect for me. The pay was lousy (less than 20% of the salary I walked away from a few months earlier), and some most of my friends thought I was crazy. Still, I knew I was supposed to be there. I knew the special seeds of purpose that God planted in my heart when I was in the 4th grade had finally reached maturity.

I worked hard at that job for the next year. I turned down some seemingly better (MUCH better) job offers along the way because I believed I was already doing the job God planned for me.

Almost exactly a year later, another job became available in the same organization. As I explained in this post, I really didn’t want THAT job. I argued with God and agonized about the future…. but He had a plan.

A plan for hope and a GOOD future.

And I believed I would be doing what He called me to do in that very place for the rest of my working life.

I was wrong.

Three years ago, near the beginning of 2010, I realized I wasn’t supposed to be there forever after all. Once again, I questioned God’s authority. (Yes, I know we aren’t supposed to do that, but I feel sure I’m not the only one. Just maybe one of the few who admits it…)

God has a special way of making His point with me when I resist His direction, so I finally gave up the fight and walked away from my “dream job” in the fall of 2010. I grieved for the next two years.

Until….

[It’s time for me to get ready for church. I will finish the story another day.]

What do you believe God has planned for your life? What do you believe your purpose is?

Photo Credit: Microsoft Images

Fasting from Fear

3 Replies

Today is Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent.

Board with word FEAR painted

I’m not going to spend much time today talking about religion or the meaning of Lent. I will just mention that Lent begins today and ends on Easter. Lent is 46 days long. Sundays are excluded, so it lasts for “40 days”.

Not all Christians observe Lent. I am a member of a denomination that DOES observe the Lenten period. This evening I will attend a brief worship service at my church, and I will spend the time between now and Easter with a little extra reflection and a little less of something else…

Lenten tradition encourages fasting or abstinence. Chocolate. Facebook. Soda pop. Television. Those are just a few of the more popular habits, addictions, or luxuries people choose to abstain from during Lent.

Some people add exercise, healthy eating, and daily Bible reading to their daily practice during this time. I already do all of those things, so I’m probably not going to add anything.

For several weeks, I’ve thought about what I should give up for Lent. I’ve thought about whether I needed to give up anything. After all – God still loves me, no matter what. He won’t love me less if I don’t fast from Facebook or chuck the chocolate.

Then it hit me. This morning. While I was in the shower. I suddenly knew what I need to give up for Lent.

I need to give up Fear.

Like chocolate, Facebook, and a good glass of wine, I’ve allowed myself to become overly attached to Fear. In fact, Fear is so much a part of me lately that I don’t remember who I was before it knit itself into the fiber of my soul.

Fear is much more damaging than a daily dose of dark chocolate could EVER be.

In Friday’s post (The Friday Five), I’ll share a few things I’m afraid of. For now, I will sign off with this favorite and popular quote from Marianne Williamson:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Does your spiritual practice include fasting for Lent? If so, what are you abstaining from? Have you ever “given up” something (food, Facebook, alcohol, television) for a time so you could move closer to God or a Higher Power or clarity?

photo by: amboo who?

What Are You Risking?

1 Reply

risk care dream expect

“What are you risking?”

That’s the question that popped up on my computer screen this morning. It appeared shortly after I read an email with the title “Do Something That Scares You.” The email included the following statement:

“People who have made a difference in the world began by doing something uncomfortable.” (Jeff Goins)

Jeff’s statement echoed a message from another Jeff – Jeff Jones, my pastor. The name of yesterday’s sermon at church was “The Call”. The message referenced scriptures in Exodus 4.

The 4th chapter of Exodus always makes me nervous. Emotional. Fidgety. Scared. Uncomfortable.

“Moses said, ‘Please, Lord, send someone else.’” (Exodus 4:13, NCV)

In January of 2006, I began ambitiously following a 365-day Bible reading plan at 4 times the normal pace. I don’t remember why I decided to do it. I just set out to read through the Bible in 90 days and picked a plan with variety. The scheduled readings were from different parts of the Bible each day.

Right around the beginning of February, Exodus 4 was in my daily plan. When I read it, I freaked out. Chill bumps. Tears. The whole messy deal.

Why? Because I was in the midst of an internal struggle involving a risk. I’d been asked to apply for a job as Manager/Executive Director of a local nonprofit. I knew it would be challenging. I knew it would be life-changing. I knew it would be fulfilling.

I knew I didn’t want to do it.

I normally read my Bible early, but I didn’t get around to it that morning. Three different people approached me during the day. Three people who don’t know each other crossed my path. All three said the same thing: “Brenda, you really should apply for that nonprofit job.”

My response to all three of them was the same: “Lord, here I am. Send somebody else!”  Then I chuckled, brushed them off and walked away — or hung up the phone.

When I went home that night and read my Bible before going to sleep, I stopped chuckling. Although I had thought of Isaiah 6:8 when I flippantly replied to everyone (“Here I am. Send me!”), I realized in my reading of Exodus that Moses had said almost the exact words. But he wasn’t laughing.

I cried.

And I realized I couldn’t say, “Send somebody else!” any longer.

Seven years later, I’m at another fork in the road. This time, I don’t have a consensus of people telling me what they think I should do. In fact, I’m not even sure most people realize I’m at a decision point.

That’s okay. I didn’t know it either… until I began to sense that “change” was in the air. Something is getting ready to happen. I don’t know what. I just know it’s coming.

And I know it involves RISK.

Another quote from Jeff Goins’ email:

“We never worry about competency when we’re comfortable. We’re just trying to maintain what we’re doing, which isn’t much. We only worry when we’re taking risks, when we’re stepping out into the unknown. And that’s a good thing. It’s how we find our life’s work: not by sitting still, but by doing something.”

What are YOU risking? What would you be doing now if you knew you couldn’t fail? What is keeping you from doing that thing? 

photo by: KV*Photography

Everything Has a Purpose

Leave a reply

“Everything has a purpose — even machines. Clocks tell the time. Trains takes you places. They do what they’re meant to do… I’d imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn’t be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason too.” ~ Hugo Cabret

What is YOUR purpose?

I’ve thought about that question often throughout my life. Since I tend to spend lots of time in my head, no doubt I think about my purpose more often than most people. Especially lately.

My pastor recently completed a 4-week sermon series about “Shift”. He spoke about how important it is to know our purpose. We can find our purpose by looking at our past experiences, our core values, and our spiritual gifts and natural abilities.

Ironically, as the pastor encouraged us to seek out our purpose, I’ve met twice this month with a team of men and women to discuss forming a grass-roots health ministry.

I say “ironically” because I’ve known “health” was a part of my purpose since I was eight years old… The means have changed during the past several decades, but the end — “making sick people well” — never wavered.

As I drove home from last night’s session, I couldn’t help but marvel at the circumstances that placed me with that group of people at this particular time. Two of the most painful and devastating events of my life  – although a decade apart — eventually led me to the here and now. They are key milestones on the path to last night’s gathering of health workers.  I sure didn’t know it at the time. If I ever write down my life story, it will seem unlikely to most readers. As a friend told me ten years ago, “If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were making this stuff up. Your life is a never-ending series of coincidences.”

The funny thing is — I’ve had even MORE serendipitous events since she made that statement.

The suspense is building. I think the next few months may reveal how the completed puzzle will look. God isn’t finished with me yet!  Stay tuned…

What IS your purpose?  Are you there yet or do you believe there’s more to come? What circumstances (good or bad) have carried you to where you are now?