Week Four: I WILL...continued!

What has God put on your heart to do?  I will...

Again inspired by the leader, Henrietta Mears, I challenge each of us to consider the ways/statements she used to inspire those under her tutelage:

(1) "...goals were never met by happenstance. . .be specific. . . don't trust your memory, nor merely have vague ideas.  I wrote down specifics."

(2) "God has a job for every Christian and no one else can fulfill it."

Please consider these statements and post your comments!  I look forward to how they inspire you.  I will share mine on the call!

Be encouraged,

Becky

Week Three: More on...I WILL!

I will.  These words indicate resolve, decisiveness; a deliberate choice.

Henrietta Mears, speaker, author, and founder of Forest Home Conference Center as well as Regal/Gospel Light Publishers was truly a woman ahead of her time.  But more than her influence upon more than 400 collegians who went into full-time ministry (including Bill Bright and Richard Halverson), she was known for her personal 10 Commandments.  Each of her “Commandments” began with the words, “I will …”

Her list of “I will’s” were not only guidelines for mentoring others, but personal mandates for how she wanted to live every day of her life.  Here are just a few:

            • I will never let anyone think I am disappointed in him.  (When I first read this, I could hardly imagine not using the statement, “I’m disappointed …” But since reading her list almost a decade ago, I’ve embraced this one as my own.)

            • I will bring Christianity out of the unreal into everyday life.  I will show others the practical things they should be doing … the ministrations that the world needs so much—meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty …

            • I will instill a divine discontent into the mind of everyone who can do more than he is doing, not by telling him the pettiness of his life, but by giving him a vision of great things to be done enthusiastically, passionately.

What in this post inspires or challenges you personally?  (More on I Won't and I Must in the next few weeks.)

Be encouraged,

Becky

Week Two: The Quarterly Life

Once a child enters the education system, a parent quickly learns to record (and pay close attention to) all important dates on a family calendar—noting exam weeks, vacation days, sporting events, as well as start and end dates.  Every quarter, it seems, from elementary days through college years, kids and parents are confronted with a new set of relationships, responsibilities, courses, and concerns.  Most often the new quarter offers a fresh start, which is both exciting and inviting, while the end of a quarter often brings an intense convergence of time and emotion.

The quarterly life, even after school schedules are no longer the rule, is a fabulous rhythm for living that I believe should never be discontinued.  It can become a tremendous method for managing your time, fitness routines, as well as your personal, intellectual, and spiritual goals. 

I am a fan of the quarterly life. 

The quarterly life allows for big (often overwhelming) goals to be divided into small chunks, giving you 90 days to achieve a stated conclusion before moving onto a greater or broader goal.  It gives you focus to sustain a strong pace for a manageable amount of time, when in reality, you might have to face a challenge for 90 more weeks or even 90 months. 

What will, won’t or must you do for this quarter of your life?

Please post!

Be encouraged,

Becky

Week One: The Meaning of Your Words

I WILL...is a deliberate choice, a determination.

I WON'T...is a contraction of I will not, a decree of refusal; the resolve of ones mind to NOT partake or act upon.

I MUST...a requirement of law, morality, or custom; being compelled by necessity or requirement.

In my life, these statements have lifted me from good intention to accomplishment, from good ideas to achievements, from "I hope to do ____" to "I will do ____."  They have kept from going back on my word, causing/forcing me to keep my word.  They have given me a purpose and focus to fulfill the dreams of my heart.

Please share your thoughts on the blog about these statements as you currently use them in your life.  (You have to identify "where" you are NOW to know "where" you want to go in the future!)

Be encouraged,

Becky