Birthdays and Getting Old

Last week marked another birthday. How do you deal with them? So you won't be wondering how old I am, I will just tell you, 47. Back to my question, how do you deal with them? How do we react?

My daughter announced earlier this year that they were going to have a baby. I am going to be a grandmother in 10 weeks. She asked me what I wanted to be called, which was about everyone's question after they congratulated me. I thought about it for about a half a second and decided...grandma. What other time do you get "grand" before your name. My grandmothers were some of my most favorite people. I count it a privilege. 

Christmas is around the corner. I'm sure I will get my share of family letters which I love to read. What a great look at the year, trials and celebrations. For my birthday I made a list of goals for 47. I definitely want to celebrate what a great year 46 was. But you all know that as you get older, the years go faster. I want to be intentional about each one that I am given. Here is a look at some of the things that made the list.

• I don't like that my body feels older but that is mostly my fault. It went down on my list to get in shape. 
• I put family on my list. With my kids all adults and their lives getting busy. I don't want to get to far away from being a part of their life.
• For work and my entire life, I want to be totally centered on what God has for me. He created me for a purpose and I want to make sure I fulfill it. No more wrong turns ... no more Ishmaels.
• It is also a time to really focus my work. As one that has a tendency to say "yes" to lots of things. It's time to trim back the things that don't fit. It's no longer about saying no to bad things, it saying no to good things that keep you from great things.
• In the spirit of bringing things together, God came through with a great blessing. And that is faith for a family business that my husband and I are starting. Only He (our Abba father) could pull our strengths, our past experiences, and our desires from two relatively different people. 
• Here is what I say to 47...bring it!

Each year is not something to regret but something to look forward to. God has something for us every day, every week, every month, and every year. It's a testimony of His faithfulness and goodness. 

Ephesians 3:13-21

Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, ²¹ to Him be the glory 

30 Days To Be Thankful in Your Work!

It's hard to believe that November is here already. Every year we seem to say where did the year go. November is one of my favorite months. While the weather hardly ever proves to be something to brag about in Illinois, it is my birthday month and the month of my favorite holiday.  I love Thanksgiving. You get all the benefits of Christmas without the gift buying. Guaranteed four day weekend, great food, amazing family get together, and a great kick-off for all the season.

My sister is doing her own Thanksgiving "Advent"...every day she writes on facebook what she is thankful for. I think that would be great exercise for us this month. Let's do it in the framework of our work and see if how we view our work changes in the next month.

We are already a couple days behind but the first days of the month are easier anyway.  I'll start I'm thankful...

November 1 - that God puts a vocational desire on my heart.
November 2 - for my husband and how he supports my business ideas.
November 3 - for my great friend, Tina, that I get to do life with and discuss how we see God in our work life.
November 4 - for all the great support I get in MERGE.
November 5 - for how God speaks to me in my work.
November 6 - (let's continue together)

Philippians 4:4-7

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. ⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Just because November and December are holiday months doesn't mean the demands and pressures of our work go on hold. But being intentional about being thankful can only benefit us during this season and any actually. I love verse 6, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication. Let's bring all our requests before God.

Then share with someone or comment on this blog for how it works.

MERGE Halloween Blog: Zombie Apocalypse

I don't know how many of you have actually watched a zombie movie. I have, and I have found most of them uninspiring and not that overly entertaining. Although I do like the one that tells you all the rules and they are on the hunt for Hostess Twinkies and get upset when they find a truckload full of Hostess Snowballs. No one likes a snowball. That was amusing. When watching all the zombie stuff, I always wonder about the fascination with it and where is the truth and the life lesson. Then I saw this on Facebook, which I had thoughts of this as well.

We have so many distractions in our world today. That we are not present to what is really going on. Not much different then a zombie. One of the enemy's tactics is to distract us. Whether you are dressing up for Halloween or not, let's make sure we are present to what God is doing right in front of us. You have been created for something amazing.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them:
        “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!

October 31st is also Reformation Day. On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther wrote to Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, protesting against the sale of indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy of his "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences," which came to be known as The 95 Theses. 

Don't let the distractions in your life take away from the amazing things God is doing.

Living on the Edge!

A friend on Facebook posted this picture with a question, "How can cats sleep like this without worrying about falling off?" I replied, "they always land on their feet."

I think there is a lesson in this picture. Do we not live life on the edge because we are worrying about falling off? This unsuspecting cat is not just living on the edge but sleeping on the edge.  The lesson then becomes two-fold. Are you living life to the fullest, taking risks and are you resting in that place?

I know what my answer would be, and I would have to say that I have some work to do in this area.  I find myself either willing to take a risk but then worrying about the outcome or not being comfortable in the risk. But merging risk and rest...  

After all isn't risk really faith? 

If we have heard clearly from the Father to risk than we should rest in it. I think about the story of Peter walking on the water. What an experience that would have been! To jump out of the boat and find yourself walking on water. And it worked as long as Peter's eyes were on Jesus and not the rough water.  Likewise, looking at the water makes us worry; looking at Jesus allows us to sit down and rest in where the Father is asking us to go.


"But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” - Matthew 14:27



Never thought I would blog about a cat...but the Holy Spirit will use anything to speak to us.

Read up on Peter walking on water (Matthew 14:22-33)...remember eyes on who? Eyes on Jesus!

Mulligan - Do Over!

How many of us in life want a "do over?" Although I am not a golfer, I believe it is called a Mulligan. The definition of a Mulligan in Wikipedia: "it is a stroke that is replayed from the spot of the previous stroke without penalty, due to an errant shot made on the previous stroke. The result is, as the hole is played and scored, as if the first errant shot had never been made."

I love that, "it is as if the first errant shot had never been made." Probably many of us don't think this way but what Adam did in the Garden of Eden, which brought sin into the world. Jesus did a do over, and his life, death and resurrection made as if we had never made the first errant shot or sin in this case.  Not only that, but we keep getting them. When we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, than God doesn't see our sin, He sees Jesus.

In Hebrews 10:16-17, "“This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, And on their mind I will write them,” He then says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

The parallels to a Mulligan shot and what Jesus did are interesting. When we attempt to keep the law in our own effort, our shot can go into the water or the weeds. We get a do over, we get a better position to try it again in Him.

Wikipedia also says that in strict rules this practice is not allowed and can be disqualified from sanctioned competitions. While I have nothing against the golfing rules, in our lives, this is what the enemy wants to do to us. When we take a bad shot or do something we aren't supposed to do, he wants us to think we are disqualified. Which doesn't leave any room for how God wants to speak into the situation.

Friends, in Jesus, we are never disqualified! The reason for Mulligans were to speed up play, reduce frustration, increase enjoyment and help a player "shake off" a bad shot. Ironically, isn't that what God wants for us? He wants us back into relationship with Him where we are not fretting over the error, get back on track with where He wants to take us, and increase or enjoyment.  He wants to restore joy to our lives.

In a bad spot, call "Mulligan", thank Jesus that He went to the cross for it, ask Him into the next step, and live from joy that you are totally loved, not condemned and He wants to prosper you.

Jeremiah 29:11, ^"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Exchange Rate

There is a lot of focus on money today and the value of the dollar.  Our exchange rate for our U.S. currency appears dismal.  There is another exchange that can be equally dismal. What did we exchange our life for?  God created us in his image and we exchanged that for a lie of being like him, we already were.  Jesus exchanged his heavenly position for humanity in order to save the world.  We exchange our worldview for a Biblical view to believe in Him.  We exchange death for life again.  We exchange a life of bad choices for a life of transformation that brings abundant life.  We exchange our comfort to reach out to those who do not have.  The amazing thing is our exchange when choosing life, or Jesus, will always be better than what we give up.  Because Jesus paid it all!

Business is an exchange of products or services for money.  When we build products and services that transform the universe then we are showing love and doing the work of the Father.  We then have the opportunity with the wealth that we have accumulated to show the generous heart of the Father.  Our personal story and business story can be in alignment with God's story.  We also get to exchange our fallen story for God's story.  It's the story that Hollywood unknowingly writes about.  Where good triumphs over evil, where people find love, where lives are transformed, where ugliness is transformed into something unexpectedly beautiful.

I think about so many young people that graduate college and have great hopes and desires to change the world.  They have a passion written on their heart, college has equipped them, and they are ready to go.  Usually, it doesn't take too long before they are kicked in the teeth by the world and many exchange their passion and gifting for making money.  Then their lives become getting to the quickest retirement plan possible so they can do what they want to do and what they want to do has now been exchanged for rest, relaxation and parties.  Where did their passions and big ideas go, they exchanged them for a lie.  How do we avoid it?

We have to exchange our worldview for a biblical view.  We have to know the greatest story of all and how it continues to unfold in front of us.  We have to know the heart of our creator or "Abba" Father.  We need to engage in a relationship with him, the author of our life, and ask Him to unfold the story of our life so we can live it.  It's a daily process, it's an incredible journey.

C.S. Lewis was great at telling stories that so mirrored the story of Jesus.  In an article by Eric Metaxas, he discusses that C.S. Lewis didn't intentionally write these stories to push an agenda, it came out of his biblical worldview.  He understood the story.  So much of our worldview is formed by cynism from television and our story becomes skewed.  We need to exchange our worldview for a biblical worldview and out of that will flow stories that reflect the greatest story ever told.

Covenant Friendship - What a Blessing!

I just spent a weekend with one of my best friends.  It's the type of friendship I have always wanted.  Our friendship puts me in the mind of the story of Jonathan and David.

I Samuel 18
Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself. ² Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father’s house. ³ Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. ⁴ Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.

What I love about my friendship and what I believe makes it covenant is:

• We know the plans that God has for each other both professionally and personally
• We protect those plans
• We become the eyes and ears to see what God is doing in times of harvest and in times of famine for each other
• We pray for our families
• We learn from each other
• We push one another on to more of what God has for us
• We encourage one another
• We support one another
• We have shoulders to cry on (but no longer than 48 hours)
• We have cheesecake together
• We regret cheesecake together
• We love one another 
• We compliment, we complete, and we don't compete!

• Best of all...God orchestrates the relationship! 

This type of relationship is a one way God shows us how much He loves us and is a great asset for Kingdom business!  How do you get one?  Pray!  Both of us prayed for this relationship before God introduced us.  He will be faithful, community is His design.

Check out www.MergeBusiness.com to find a MERGE Community near you.