Live On Purpose

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Time Out

I want to take a break from talking about the Armor of God and just ask you a question.

What is it you need today?

Is it quiet alone time?

Time with your spouse?

Maybe it is a rousing game of Uno with your kids or a walk through the park to soak up the Fall sun and take in the leaves turning.

Take the time to do it. Breathe in some peace. Enjoy these moments.

This life is crazy busy. Sometimes you think a day will be a lazy-lay-around-the-house kind of day and you do not stop moving and going from the time you get up.

Sometimes you think everything is fine and then the phone rings.

That happened to a colleague of mine just the other day. Author and blogger, Mary DeMuth  was on a missions trip to Haiti when she got a call: her daughter was ill. Strangely ill.

Mary boarded a plane, defied customs by talking on her phone, cried, prayed, and now sits at her daughter's side at the children's hospital, waiting for answers. You can read more about it here.

The doctors have ruled out many things, but answers are not as easily available. Will you pray?

When Trouble Comes

As you go about your weekend, look around. No one is promised tomorrow. No one is promised life won't be messy or bumpy. As a matter of face, Jesus said this:

" I've said these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have distress. But be encouraged! I have conquered the world.” John 16:33 (CEB)

In this moment, be grateful and in this moment be present. Live now, on purpose, with purpose your best life in Christ. When the storms of life gather, and they will, remember who you are rooted in, remember the good moments now. This is how we overcome the adversary: by faith in what Jesus did for us and by the WORD of our TESTIMONY. 

So be grateful now. Remember the good times now. If you are going through a hard time, begin to recall God's faithfulness and goodness in your life. If you are in a good place and things are at peace, then worship God and give thanks. This is a time you will need to remember later.

Join the Conversation: 

Will you take the time to pray for Mary and her family. Her daughter's name is Julia. And is there anything you want me to pray for? Leave it in the comments below.

Like Your Life More - Part One in the Prioritize Your Life Series

Priorities matter. 

But how do you organize your priorities in a way that makes your life make sense? 

Like you, I have gone round and round on this question in different stages of my life, always thinking that this time I have “it” right. 

Priorities are a matter of balance and counterbalance. We must be resolute in our priorities, but we need to allow room for growth and change. 

How do we develop priorities? 

Priorities are more than goals. Priorities are the manifestation of your Point of View combined with your actions. 

Personal core values are things you truly believe (consciously or subconsciously) that create your unique point of view. Everyone has a point of view, and as Christians we should have a personal point of view that is biblical in origin. 

When our beliefs and our actions (you know, the things that you actually do, not necessarily the things you intended to do) combine we begin placing value on different aspects of our lives and with or without intention we develop priorities. 

Priorities answer this question: What is important to you? 

Step 1: Self-Evaluation 

Now comes the hard part: taking a nice hard long look at where we are in our life. Grab a pen and paper. You will need it for this next part. Look at your life in these areas: 

· Faith 
· Personal Growth (Self) 
· Marriage 
· Children/Family 
· Friendships 
· Career 
· Finances 
· Ministry 
· Health 

Now List them in order of the most important for you AS THEY REALLY ARE, not how you want them to be. 

Now beside each one write one thing you want to change in that area of your life. If one of the above is not that important to you, take it off your list. If you think I missed something, add that to your list. 

Once you have done that, ask yourself this: What would it take to make those changes a reality in a year? In six months? In 90 days? In 30 days? Right Now? 

This honest assessment of our priorities allows us to rank the different parts of our lives as we truly live them, so we can see if and where changes need to be made. 

A Word of Caution 

Rearranging our lives in a total priorities makeover can be more harmful than good if we make drastic changes all at once. The key is to make incremental, purposeful and targeted changes over time. This will lead to a more consistent result of positive change. 

Step 2: The Revised List 

Okay, so now what? Now, you re-write the list. Write each one in order from MOST important to you to LEAST important. I can hear you now- “They are all important, I can’t do that! What if I hurt one of my priorities feelings?” 

Well, maybe not that last part, but you cringed a little when I said LEAST. 

The truth of the matter is that something is going to be the low man on the totem pole. The fact is that if it made your list, then it is IMPORTANT enough to make a priority in the first place. Don’t worry on list placement as much as priority goal setting. 

This list is what you want your priorities to be in the near future. 

Once you have it re-written, remember that question I said to ask? “What would make this change a reality?” 

Write your answer to that question for each category next to each newly ranked priority. 

This is the thing you focus on making true. 

Here is what part of my revised list looks like. 

Step 3: Implementation 

You have made a list; you have checked it twice, now the fun begins. (That was sarcasm, and if you did not read it with a sarcastic voice, do me a favor and read it again.) 

No, all kidding aside, this is not an easy process. Why? Because living according to priorities requires living with intention. Purposing in your heart to follow through on goals and standards is not a natural thing to do. 

Our very nature is to rebel from rules and regulations. This is part of the curse and the fall of man. We are human and that is the state of the world. 

As you work every day toward your goals, read over this revised list. It should take a few seconds. No more, no less. Keep the vision for your life before you. 

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” Proverbs 29:18a

(Hint: I put mine on a post it and stuck it to my bathroom mirror so I can see it every morning!) 

Now, as you make your way through your day check to see if your actions are lining up with your new priorities. Make notes to yourself (mental will do, but I love to write stuff down in my phone or in a journal to refer to later). 

If after a week you see that you have not really progressed the way you wanted, take that list out again and re-ask “What would make this change a reality?” Tweak as needed. 

This is a process. There is no quick and easy shortcut. You have to do the work. I realize that will not make me popular, but I do not write this so you will like me, but so you will like your LIFE more. 

So what is the hardest part of setting priorities for you?

Have It All?

There are moments, when I am up at dawn, planning out my day, looking at the pile of work I have to do and feeling overwhelmed because my time management has not been up to par that I wonder “How am I going to do it all?”

Not exactly a Proverbs 31 woman kind of question. 

In my head a woman who is “the proverbs 31” woman is up at dawn with a project going, make-up on, no hair curlers left in her hair, praying over her house and children, making breakfast and kissing her husband as he heads off to work.

Instead I am up, haven’t showered yet, I have prepped the ribs I am going to barbecue later, helped my 16 year old put on her false eyelashes for a modeling gig, did a load of dishes, checked out Twitter and Facebook, and now am writing this.

Sans the hair and make-up I have not done too poorly. Then how come I feel so overwhelmed and dissatisfied?

I am doing more than I have ever done before. I am maintaining a household in a higher standard, though it is not up to the level I want it yet. I am praying and studying more than ever, and I still feel like I don’t study enough. I have small successes and even little Kisses from God, and I “feel” like it is not enough.

So what is the problem? I am.

The word says to be content in whatever circumstances I am in because God’s grace is sufficient. I also know that there is a difference between conviction, God’s spirit prompting me to repent and change, and condemnation, feeling bad for no reason other than to feel bad.

I need to let go of the pressure I put on myself to get it all done right now! I need to relax and enjoy the moments I have, and when I get more done than I planned, THEN I can be impressed rather than depressed.

So my hair isn’t perfectly blown out and styled. So what I have a day that is packed with “to do’s” and not enough time “to do”. My world will not come to a screeching halt because something fell through the cracks this once.

I need to stop living by my feelings and begin living by God’s word. I know He says I am his child, joint heirs with His son Jesus, and I have a purpose. I will keep plugging away at that: sowing – sowing - sowing into what He has told me to do, and let Him bring the increase.

I am not meant to do it all, I am meant to have God as my All in All.

Question: Have you felt pressure to get it “all” done before? How do you handle that?