Preparing Day 26 & 27

 

Day 26

3 Gifts Preparing

 

1- DREAMS-I know God is preparing me for something big. You know how I know? Because I have dreams about my future that I never dreamed of, never ever thought of accomplishing when I was youn ger. In fact most of my dreams have formed within the last year when I fully committed to letting go and letting God work in my life. The only explanation is they are from God! He knows my true hearts desires and He is slowly preparing me for those dreams.

Refer back to THIS blog to get a list of my dreams.

 

 

2- One of our athletes and one of our coaches are preparing to head over to the Philippines to play for their National team. We did a last minute clothing/canned food drive with our department and fans. We received way more than I thought we would! So grateful for this community and to be able to have the platform to help. Below is my office full of the items!

 

3- Preparing for Thanksgiving! My mom and dad are at home setting the table, gathering the extar chairs and cleaning every square inch of our house. Preparing for a day full of family, food, laughter, joy and of course thankfulness.

 

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Day 27

A Gift Homemade, Held, and Happy

 

Homemade-  Every year when the kids were little, my parents took us around Deep Lake and we collected leaves. We then made placemats with the leaves. My mom still not onyl has them but puts them up as decorations around the house. Something so loving and nostalgic seeing them around the house when I come home.

 

Held- Cant wait to hold my nephew Jace! It has been almost two weeks and I am dying. The love I have for the child amazes me.

 

Happy- My parents- true joy and happiness.

Now that they are both retired, they have more time to live a life of adventure. Its is like they are  "dating" all over again! They go on dates, they make time for eachother to just enjoy life. It makes me happy to see them so in love and taking care of themselves! So proud of them and their committment to eating healthier, taking supplements, being more active and growing in their faith...together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Time For Everything

 

I think my time is coming

Maybe it is already here

Either way I feel God moving in my life

Moving me into the directions of my dreams

Moving me towards the desires of my heart

Moving through my heart

Deep in soul 

I know it

When I started at SPU I would have told you I would stay there forever

Continue my knowledge for marketing through conferences like NACMA

Possibly move up to assistant athletic director

I loved everything about athletics and what it entails

And then I would meet someone at SPU

I would raise my children going to SPU events on weekends and evenings 

 I would have a completely happy and content life working at SPU

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more 

than all we ask or imagine, 

according to his power that is at work within us"

Ephesians 3:20 

Do you remember this post?

The Purpose Driven Life 

This post was written almost a year ago

I prayed circles around this post

And then I started seeing the life I was meant to live

Dreams started forming in my soul I never imagined

I started seeing the adventure from God

That is my dream

That is my purpose to bring Him Glory

Bringing faith, hope, love to children 

All around the nation 

All around world

I knew from this day I wouldn't be at SPU much longer

The Lords great commission started becoming the life I wanted 

I didn't know when or how it would happen but it was coming

All I knew was I needed to GO

Leave SPU?

Leave the students I have come to love?

Leave the financial and medical stability?

Are you sure God?

I sure LOVE what I do 

I prayed all year for God to make it clear

Give me peace when the timing was right 

"The Moment I Knew" 

Friday, October 11th , 2013 

That was the day I knew You were calling me in another direction 

 I was driving past the airport, Christmas music playing and that was when I knew 

I wasn't even thinking about it. 

"This is my last year at SPU" I told myself 

It was an instant decision

Then the dreams and visions started flooding

I saw me traveling to Africa
Traveling to Germany
Not asking a boss for time off

Coming home to play with Jace and the new baby
In the middle of the week!

A life of freedom

I would volunteer  whenever I wanted 

Make-A-Wish

St. Jude

Jessie Rees Foundation

It was exactly the sign I needed

So easy

So much peace 

I have no reservations, no holding back

I am committing to Advocare to provide financially but I know You have a plan for me

No doubt, I see my dreams coming alive the next couple months and it excites me deep in my soul
Lord, I am ready for the next season in my life, a season of freedom and traveling, serving and giving, and of course my deep longing of becoming one with my husband

Lord, I know You are saving me for Your best
Right now may seem like a huge trial and hurdle, lots of negativity and distress
Maybe for him too, but I have hope!

The One in my heart is greater than any insecurities and unfulfilled dreams. 

I will continue to pray circles around my bold dreams Lord

I know that when you fulfill them You will get all the Glory! 

Lord, show the world Your glory. 

Amen. 

*I wrote this about a week after to remember exactly what I was feeling 

We will praise Your name forever, Christ the Lord 

He Provides

Today was a pretty exhausting day

Rushing from meetings and bombarded with details about this week

I was drained of my strength

BUT

Just when I thought this day was a bust and I was going to give myself a pity party

I was able to get away after work for a bit to workout with a friend I have not seen in awhile

We met at Queen Anne track and had a great workout but more importantly a great conversation

You know that feeling when you leave from a visit with a friend and you are just encouraged and filled up? It is no wonder we are called to be in fellowship with believers

He provided the right time for my friend to meet me to workout

He provided the sunshine an crisp, fall air

He provided fellowship and great conversation

Our dreams He has placed on our hearts

He provided everything I needed today

For the first time in a long time I am at peace

About work

My life

Where God is taking me and molding me

I see it daily in the small things

For once I see Gods hand on my life

Everyday I wake up with expectation that He will show up

Take my hand to lead

Take my anxiety and stress away

Give me the strength when I feel weak

Give me wisdom when I am without words

And guess what?

He provides

Every.Single.Day

What is on my heart

I do love Seattle Pacific University

But SPU is NOT the church 

 It is a company, a not-for-profit business that is still about the bottom line 

At best SPU is a para-church organization within a Christian context, but it is not the church

and  I should not confuse myself that I ought to give too much

The pursuit of balance is a life-long chore
 

With that, I do get tired, and feel pressured to do it right, do it often, and do it without complaining

The pursuit of balance has been on my heart lately

My ache to serve God in a way that is pleasing and honors Him is high

I am trying to find my purpose here at SPU. Why am I here? What does God want from me here?

Some days are easier to see than others. I know I have a desire to impact young lives

I have a desire to be a role model and share my faith and Gods love to other

I know SPU gives me that platform and when I am around the students I feel that purpose

Then there is my other burning passion. To spread faith, hope, love to those children in need

I desire to work with a children’s charity and be around children all day

That dream has become stronger as I am able to be more involved
with charities around the area as well as nation

Sometimes it takes all of my being not to just leave and pursue that dream

Especially when the atmosphere around here gets negative and discouraging

 

But I know God will lead me into those dreams when the time is right

Spending time with Him in the mornings and meditating on Him throughout the day helps me stay focused on my heavenly calling and not what the world is calling me

 

 

 

Hindrances to Success

Hi Jamil!

Oh wow. Has my bloggng been lacking as of late! As you know, this time of year is crazy busy for us both. I recieved this devotion today and let me tell you this is exactly what I needed. I am sure you can relate to this at work as well :) I have a bloh post stirring up in my mind. I am hoping to write it out tonight! Love you!

 

Hindrances to Success Wednesday, August 21, 2013 Galatians 6:9-10  Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. No matter how carefully we plan our time, we will now and then run into obstacles. They might be interruptions, miscommunications, cancellations, or delays. We have no control over many of these types of situations, but we are able to change certain kinds of hindrances. We can, for example, adjust misplaced priorities. Consider how often we allow others to dictate how we spend our time. Instead of maintaining a God-centered schedule, we may be responding to the demands of other people, permitting them to decide our activities without regard for what God has in mind for us. Circumstances can also determine our schedule, if we permit. But we cannot succeed in life if we let ourselves be drawn away from what God wants. Investing time in the Word and learning God’s ways must be an integral part of our schedule. Another hindrance to reaching our goal is procrastination. We all experience this on occasion, but for some of us, putting things off has become a habit. When that’s the case, we no doubt have many good intentions but lack follow-through. Success will evade us as long as we dally. A third hindrance that we can work to overcome is lack of concentration. To be successful, we must focus our minds on a particular task and stay with it until it is finished. Having a strong motivation to achieve the Lord’s plan is helpful, as we work at completing what we value and desire. How important to you is achieving the Lord’s plan? Align your thinking and your time with His ways, and success—in God’s eyes—will follow.   Excellent tips for success.  Again, the distinction is success “in God’s eyes, this version is of significantly greater eternal value than the worldly values.  Not to be hapless patsies, but the Christ-like calling of service thru living sacrifice is downward mobility and it is foolishness in the eyes of the culture. I appreciate the first hindrance, misplaced priorities.  We tend to get all wrapped up on time management when in actuality our time is driven by what is prioritized (what’s important to us at that moment).  If we start each day in devotion, our priorities become embedded more readily in what God wants for us.

Bad Times Can Make You Better or Bitter

Being that we both work in collegiate sports, we see adversity on many different levels. We see it in the work our department strives to achieve. We see it in our student athletes as they grow on and off the court/field. We see it our student workers that are challenged by what they want to become after college. And lastly, we see it in our day to day battles: internal and external. 

One of my mentors consistently shares a newsletter about the words of John Wooden with me every week. I believe that Mr. Wooden was fairly spiritual and led by example. “A setback is a set up for a comeback” describes Coach Wooden's philosophy for dealing with adversity.

In his book The Pyramid of Success with Jay Carty Coach described his perspective on adversity.

We cannot allow difficulties to discourage us. Roadblocks may cause us to alter our course a bit, but we cannot let them deter us from our destination. I have often said that we grow stronger through adversity. We become stronger physically through a weight-lifting program. Our muscles work against heavy objects. That's adversity. We get stronger mentally through the progressive difficulty of education. We don't start with calculus; we start with arithmetic. After we learn the basics, we move on to algebra, then to geometry and so on. We work our way up to calculus. In the same way, we grow stronger spiritually through the tests of life. Losing my beloved wife, Nellie, was the hardest event in my life. For a couple of years, it slowed me down; but it didn't stop me. In the end even her loss has made me stronger. In every way-physically, morally, emotionally and spiritually-we increase our strength when life is hard; therefore, we must not dread adversity, nor can we allow it to stop us from becoming the best we can be through the steadfast pursuit of our goals. In fact, as we become stronger we can and should expand our goals. Extending our capabilities to their limits requires us to realistically reevaluate our potential.

  

Dealing with adversity in a positive way requires the two top mortar pieces of coach’s Pyramid of Success: Faith and Patience and remembering as Coach put it:

Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.

Say It Out Loud

 

Say It Out Loud

by Joyce Meyer - posted July 19, 2013

 

I am alert and active, watching over my word to perform it. —Jeremiah 1:12

Today I want to share with you some powerful truths that are based in God’s Word. I encourage you to confess these words over and over, so they will change your thinking and become part of your belief system about yourself. As you confess them with a heart full of faith, doing your best to believe them and act on them, you’ll be well on your way to a healthy self-image.

 

 

Love Yourself Today: Review the list of six confessions that will help you gain a healthy, biblical self-image.