Jon and I are recipients of Oz Hillman's "Daily Workplace Inspiration". I usually use this blog to write updates on the happenings of our family but loved today's post so much I had to share it. What an inspiration and challenge that wherever the Lord has called us to "work" we should be persistent and skilled at what we are working towards! Lord, help us to be this bold in our workplaces and with those we come in contact with everyday! Check out the post by Oz Hillman...
"Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men" (Proverbs 22:29).
I was sitting in a room of 400 business people from 75 different nations to begin an international conference. After a time of worship, a man stood up and exhorted Christians in the United States to pray for their president. It was a difficult time in our nation because president Bill Clinton was in the midst of a scandal.
The man who challenged us to pray was pastor Romain Zannou from the small African nation of Benin. Romain had earned the right to exhort us. Many years ago, God had given him a burden to pray for his Marxist dictator president, Mathieu Kerekou. For 10 years, he prayed for two hours a day for Kerekou's salvation and for God to give Kerekou wisdom to lead the nation. One day while he was praying, Romain felt that the Lord had a message for the president. Within 24 hours, he was standing in a room with Kerekou to deliver the word of the Lord.
Though he and Romain had agreed to meet after their first free elections for a time of Bible study, the former president refused to meet with Romain after only a few meetings. Almost every day after that, Romain went to Kerekou's home, only to be told that Kerekou did not wish to see him. Each day he said, "I will wait," and stood outside the wall for hours, many times in the rain and heat, in hopes that Kerekou would let him in.
After a year and a half of these unsuccessful visits, the former president finally received him and greeted him with the words, "Pastor Zannou, you are a very persistent man." They began an in-depth study of the Bible. Through this study of the word of God, the former president received Christ!
Romain Zannou is one of many unknown leaders being used to impact nations through their own workplace calling. They are an unlikely group of people - pastors, flower shop owners, builders, industrialists and even a former golf pro (me).
Be skilled in what you do. You may be standing before a king in the future.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Celebrate The Joy of Reading!
I hope this is not too "teachery" of me! Just wanted to invite my friends and family to join "Jumpstart’s Read for the Record" on October 8th! My kindergarten class will be participating and we will also participate as a family at home with Ansley! This year, Jumpstart invites everyone to read the classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, on October 8th. We are reading the book and doing some fun activities that coorelate with the story at school, and I figured why not share the idea with my friends and family so they can do the same whether they are teachers or are at home with their kids? There are some suggested activities on their website (www.readfortherecord.org).
Jumpstart's Read for the Record is an international campaign to bring children together with valued grownups in their lives to read the same book, on the same day, in communities all over the world! How cool is that? In 2008, they broke their own world record as nearly 700,000 readers shared the classic children’s tale, Corduroy! To quote from the website, "On one historic day, one amazing book will be read aloud in classrooms, libraries and homes from Japan, Germany and Brazil to cities and rural communities across America. Hushed with wonder and tickled with giggles, children around the world will simultaneously experience the joy of reading!"
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Blessed
If you woke up this morning
with more health than illness,
you are more blessed than the
million who won't survive the week.
If you have never experienced
the danger of battle,
the loneliness of imprisonment,
the agony of torture or
the pangs of starvation,
you are ahead of 20 million people
around the world.
If you can attend a church meeting
without fear of harassment,
arrest, torture, or death,
you are more blessed than almost
three billion people in the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator,
clothes on your back, a roof over
your head and a place to sleep,
you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet, and spare change
someplace, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If your parents are still married and alive,
you are very rare,
especially in the United States.
If you hold up your head with a smile
on your face and are truly thankful,
you are blessed because the majority can,
but most do not.
If you can hold someone's hand, hug them
or even touch them on the shoulder,
you are blessed because you can
offer God's healing touch.
If you can read this message and God's Word,
you are more blessed than over
two billion people in the world
that cannot read anything at all.
You are so blessed in ways
you may never even know!
Consider your blessings today...
with more health than illness,
you are more blessed than the
million who won't survive the week.
If you have never experienced
the danger of battle,
the loneliness of imprisonment,
the agony of torture or
the pangs of starvation,
you are ahead of 20 million people
around the world.
If you can attend a church meeting
without fear of harassment,
arrest, torture, or death,
you are more blessed than almost
three billion people in the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator,
clothes on your back, a roof over
your head and a place to sleep,
you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet, and spare change
someplace, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If your parents are still married and alive,
you are very rare,
especially in the United States.
If you hold up your head with a smile
on your face and are truly thankful,
you are blessed because the majority can,
but most do not.
If you can hold someone's hand, hug them
or even touch them on the shoulder,
you are blessed because you can
offer God's healing touch.
If you can read this message and God's Word,
you are more blessed than over
two billion people in the world
that cannot read anything at all.
You are so blessed in ways
you may never even know!
Consider your blessings today...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Where We've Been...The Waiting Room
Do me a favor and take a moment and look at your watch or a clock in the room....watch the second hand move around the clock face for just two minutes....did it seem like an eternity? Sometimes sitting in the "waiting room" of life seems like an eternity doesn't it? Waiting is a season that begins and you are not sure when it will end.
These past few months in the Mitchell home have been spent in the waiting room...both literally and figuratively. This season has been one of mixed emotions, stress, anxiety, prayerful intercession, joy and pain, healing and miracles, and times filled with more questions than answers. Since April, we have experienced the birth of our beautiful daughter, Jon's loss of a job, Jon and I both spending the summer together at home with Ansley, me starting back to teaching in August, Ansley starting school, Jon working part-time, health concerns in my family, Jon's parents seeking new direction in their ministry, my own health concerns as I dealt with numbness, tingling, and muscle spasms which led to blood work, a brain MRI, an EKG, an Echocardiogram, and visits to the ENT, Ob/Gyn, Neurologist, Internal Medicine Doctor, Chiropractor, Cardiologist, and E.R. Jon's job search has been full of ups and downs as he sends out resumes, makes phone calls, and has leads which rarely turn out to be fruitful. Ansley, despite this season in our lives and home, is resilient, peaceful, thriving, and content. Yet, there are joys as we celebrate the amazing milestones our daughter reaches almost daily, as we rejoice in the favor the Lord keeps giving us and our extended family, as the anticipation builds as we await my sister's baby, Jack, due in October and Jon's sister's baby due in March.
I list all of these happenings in our home and hearts not in the hopes that you will pity us or even as prayer requests, I list them because it is our life right now and it is where God has positioned us for such a time as this. And yet, do you know what? During this dry summer season of what some would have classified a drought, God is proving to us that He is preparing us for a harvest in our family. We are in the waiting room and we can say only through the grace of God that we are content in being here. We are learning that the enemy wants to steal our joy through focusing on two things: failure and that which is incomplete. It's easy right now to feel like we are not succeeding and have not reached a place of ultimate victory in this battle we are fighting. However, the truth is WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED!!
Whether you are sitting in a literal waiting room or a figurative waiting room, I bet you have two questions: "WHEN is this going to get better or change?" and "WHAT do I do right now?" Guess what we have learned? If what you are waiting ON becomes what you are hoping IN...it is a dangerous spot to be in! Why during this season should we complain or think that our way is disregarded from the Lord? Do we not know? Have we not heard? Isaiah 40:28 says, "How can you say that the Lord does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case? Have you not heard or understood? Don't you know that the Lord is the everlasting God!"
Wow, did you get that? We have to shift our perspective from the "WHAT" and the "WHEN" to the WHO!! Jon and I are learning that WHO we are waiting on is WHO we are hoping in! HE IS THE EVERLASTING GOD!
My mantra these days has been, "Karen, when you don't know what to do, your hope is not what or when but WHO!"
Through prayer, Jon and I are content to linger where He has us. We are wrestling with how we can disconnect from the world in order to reconnect with God. We believe that this is where we will find the strength and wisdom to follow Him to where He is leveling a new place for our family. WE ARE LEARNING TO BE CONTENT IN THE PROCESS. We will stop lusting for the vision or ultimate victory. Right now, we enter this fall season with expectant hearts as we linger in the PROCESS of what God is doing in our lives now.
In 1 Samuel 14:1-17, Jonathan was fighting and his father, Saul, was sleeping. When Saul awoke, Jonathan had already killed 20 men. Later, Saul joined his son and the rest of the army. Later after the battle, Saul did not want anyone to eat the honeycomb on the ground in the forest until ALL of his battles were won. You see, Saul did not want to celebrate a partial victory. Jonathan disregarded his father's command and ate the honey. Saul did not want them to celebrate the partial or the process but Jonathan said, "A command like that only hurts us. See how much better I feel now that I have eaten this little bit of honey. If the men had been allowed to eat freely from the food they found among our enemies, think how many more we could have killed!" When Jonathan ate the honey...he was celebrating a partial victory.
Today, Jon and I are choosing to celebrate the victories we have in Jesus Christ. If we ever want to get to the ultimate victory, we have got to celebrate the process or the partial victory. Everyday in our home and in my workplace and in our world we see victories. We need to have a "little taste of honey" and realize that we don't have to wait until ALL is good to have a "nice day"! My friends, learn with us that God never intended for us to fight battle after battle with no refreshment or honey. We must praise Him before He will perform. There is something that happens everyday that causes each one of us to lose our joy...but we do not have to be a "cover model" for the book of Lamentations!!! We need to PRAISE HIM! Remember while in your waiting room all that God has already conquered, the miracles He has done, the ways He has moved, the blessings He has given, and praise Him where you are right now! We are tying to learn how to do this.
We do not know the next direction our lives will take. Where will Jon work? Will I be completely healed from these muscle spasms? Will we stay here in Birmingham? Where do you want our family to minister outside of our home and workplaces? Will people in our family who are suffering be healed of pain? Where are you leading our family and extended family next? Here we sit Lord...Jon, Ansley, and myself. We choose to celebrate where we are right now. After all, you created the world in 7 days not 1. On the first day, you only made light! You could have done it all BUT YOU DID NOT! You are a God of process!! After that first day, you stepped back and said "It is Good!" You didn't wait until the 7th day to say "It is Good." So, we wait.....
On that 7th day, you said "It is VERY Good!!" That was the ultimate victory. We anticipate the ultimate victory in our family...The Mitchell Family. But until then, however long it may be, we stop and like Jonathan we taste the honey! We celebrate all you are doing RIGHT NOW in our family...for we can stand and say that "It is Good!"
These past few months in the Mitchell home have been spent in the waiting room...both literally and figuratively. This season has been one of mixed emotions, stress, anxiety, prayerful intercession, joy and pain, healing and miracles, and times filled with more questions than answers. Since April, we have experienced the birth of our beautiful daughter, Jon's loss of a job, Jon and I both spending the summer together at home with Ansley, me starting back to teaching in August, Ansley starting school, Jon working part-time, health concerns in my family, Jon's parents seeking new direction in their ministry, my own health concerns as I dealt with numbness, tingling, and muscle spasms which led to blood work, a brain MRI, an EKG, an Echocardiogram, and visits to the ENT, Ob/Gyn, Neurologist, Internal Medicine Doctor, Chiropractor, Cardiologist, and E.R. Jon's job search has been full of ups and downs as he sends out resumes, makes phone calls, and has leads which rarely turn out to be fruitful. Ansley, despite this season in our lives and home, is resilient, peaceful, thriving, and content. Yet, there are joys as we celebrate the amazing milestones our daughter reaches almost daily, as we rejoice in the favor the Lord keeps giving us and our extended family, as the anticipation builds as we await my sister's baby, Jack, due in October and Jon's sister's baby due in March.
I list all of these happenings in our home and hearts not in the hopes that you will pity us or even as prayer requests, I list them because it is our life right now and it is where God has positioned us for such a time as this. And yet, do you know what? During this dry summer season of what some would have classified a drought, God is proving to us that He is preparing us for a harvest in our family. We are in the waiting room and we can say only through the grace of God that we are content in being here. We are learning that the enemy wants to steal our joy through focusing on two things: failure and that which is incomplete. It's easy right now to feel like we are not succeeding and have not reached a place of ultimate victory in this battle we are fighting. However, the truth is WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED!!
Whether you are sitting in a literal waiting room or a figurative waiting room, I bet you have two questions: "WHEN is this going to get better or change?" and "WHAT do I do right now?" Guess what we have learned? If what you are waiting ON becomes what you are hoping IN...it is a dangerous spot to be in! Why during this season should we complain or think that our way is disregarded from the Lord? Do we not know? Have we not heard? Isaiah 40:28 says, "How can you say that the Lord does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case? Have you not heard or understood? Don't you know that the Lord is the everlasting God!"
Wow, did you get that? We have to shift our perspective from the "WHAT" and the "WHEN" to the WHO!! Jon and I are learning that WHO we are waiting on is WHO we are hoping in! HE IS THE EVERLASTING GOD!
My mantra these days has been, "Karen, when you don't know what to do, your hope is not what or when but WHO!"
Through prayer, Jon and I are content to linger where He has us. We are wrestling with how we can disconnect from the world in order to reconnect with God. We believe that this is where we will find the strength and wisdom to follow Him to where He is leveling a new place for our family. WE ARE LEARNING TO BE CONTENT IN THE PROCESS. We will stop lusting for the vision or ultimate victory. Right now, we enter this fall season with expectant hearts as we linger in the PROCESS of what God is doing in our lives now.
In 1 Samuel 14:1-17, Jonathan was fighting and his father, Saul, was sleeping. When Saul awoke, Jonathan had already killed 20 men. Later, Saul joined his son and the rest of the army. Later after the battle, Saul did not want anyone to eat the honeycomb on the ground in the forest until ALL of his battles were won. You see, Saul did not want to celebrate a partial victory. Jonathan disregarded his father's command and ate the honey. Saul did not want them to celebrate the partial or the process but Jonathan said, "A command like that only hurts us. See how much better I feel now that I have eaten this little bit of honey. If the men had been allowed to eat freely from the food they found among our enemies, think how many more we could have killed!" When Jonathan ate the honey...he was celebrating a partial victory.
Today, Jon and I are choosing to celebrate the victories we have in Jesus Christ. If we ever want to get to the ultimate victory, we have got to celebrate the process or the partial victory. Everyday in our home and in my workplace and in our world we see victories. We need to have a "little taste of honey" and realize that we don't have to wait until ALL is good to have a "nice day"! My friends, learn with us that God never intended for us to fight battle after battle with no refreshment or honey. We must praise Him before He will perform. There is something that happens everyday that causes each one of us to lose our joy...but we do not have to be a "cover model" for the book of Lamentations!!! We need to PRAISE HIM! Remember while in your waiting room all that God has already conquered, the miracles He has done, the ways He has moved, the blessings He has given, and praise Him where you are right now! We are tying to learn how to do this.
We do not know the next direction our lives will take. Where will Jon work? Will I be completely healed from these muscle spasms? Will we stay here in Birmingham? Where do you want our family to minister outside of our home and workplaces? Will people in our family who are suffering be healed of pain? Where are you leading our family and extended family next? Here we sit Lord...Jon, Ansley, and myself. We choose to celebrate where we are right now. After all, you created the world in 7 days not 1. On the first day, you only made light! You could have done it all BUT YOU DID NOT! You are a God of process!! After that first day, you stepped back and said "It is Good!" You didn't wait until the 7th day to say "It is Good." So, we wait.....
On that 7th day, you said "It is VERY Good!!" That was the ultimate victory. We anticipate the ultimate victory in our family...The Mitchell Family. But until then, however long it may be, we stop and like Jonathan we taste the honey! We celebrate all you are doing RIGHT NOW in our family...for we can stand and say that "It is Good!"
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
