I have many dreams for my life. I could list them all, but you would probably find it rather boring. I can sum up my dreams though; "to know God, to pursue Him and to motivate as many people as I can to do the same." Yes, I want to be an incredible wife and mom. Of course, I want my kids to grow up safe and knowing the Lord. And I want to be happy. Really really happy. I want to feel alive and have purpose. I can't live if I feel I have no purpose. I might breathe in and breathe out, I might get out of bed each day and go through motions, but without purpose, I have no LIFE. My purpose is Jesus. He is my reason for living and for giving a flying rip about anything and anybody. He is my goal and He is my prize. He is my reason, my answer and my hope. I love Him. I can honestly say that. Nothing and nobody can make me feel the way that Jesus can. And because of my relationship with Him, and my pursuit of Him, I believe I am a pretty darn good wife and mom, and that as a result, the people around me are happier too.
I bet you want to be happy too. If you boiled everything down to the very bottom, it's what you want. I really truly believe that the way to real happiness is pursuing God and that God has designed us with a desire to invest ourselves into "something that matters." What matters most to you? Likely your family is at the very top of your list, as it should be. We need to invest ourselves into those God has placed around us for sure. What else matters to you? I hope that your relationship, your pursuit of God pops into your head too. And I hope it popped into your head before your job, your car, that vacation you want to take, your nice camera, and on and on. If you are feeling a little guilty now, maybe we should take a minute to talk about our priorities.
I have a "life coach" right now. Her job is to listen to me present a "problem" in my life, and then coach me to discovering the solution for myself. My first meeting with her, I brought up my constant struggle with the ever- unachievable "balance." She was quick to reply. She asked me why I feel like I have to balance everything in my life. I rambled on about something that sounded important, but she was quick to point out that not everything in my life (demanding my time!) is equal, so I am not looking for balance, I am looking for priorities. That really hit me! I do want to be a balanced person. Brandon is ever-challenging me to balance myself in what he calls "the four main areas": spiritually, mentally, physically and relationally, and I do work on that! Exercise is important to me, reading books about raising kids and cooking healthy meals is important to me, having friendships and accountability partners is important, and growing in my study of what I believe as a Christian....studying the Word of God, those are all important! But my priority is God. Plain and simple. And as I pursue God and a growing relationship with Him, I continue to grow; and I bear fruit.
The dictionary defines fruitfulness as: "producing good results; beneficial; profitable" and "producing an abundant growth." We understand fruitful to include offspring, but fruitulness really encompasses our entire life and what is produced from it. Someday when I am gone from this earth, I hope to have left a legacy by what I have invested in others, my husband and children for sure, but beyond that, I hope to have impacted neighbors, friends, extended family, and even my kids' playmates in a way that "produces good results" is "beneficial" and is "profitable."
In John 15:5 Jesus says "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit." Just before that, in verse 4, Jesus warns us that "neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." Remain here means to "live or dwell." Or maybe we could bluntly say, our job is to keep God our priority. How are you doing with that? In your desire to invest yourself into something that matters, has God slipped from the top of your priority list? Where is spending time with Him on your weekly "to do " list? Is it before or after grocery shopping, sporting events, tv shows and SLEEP. Come on, this is not condemnation, I am right there with you. Re-evaluating my priorities and re-arranging things so that God is first. This past week was a monster of a week for me, so spending time with God slid down my list a bit. So what do I do? Fix it. Re-prioritize, and know that God forgives me! What do you do? Recognize it (like me) and re-prioritize. Seasons come and go and sometimes it really is easier to put God first, and sometimes it really is harder, this week's Bible Study is meant to remind you where your pursuit of God belongs; first. The fruit comes from remaining in Him, and so does the happiness.
Your assignment:
The bottom line is, when we make God our priority, we invest ourselves into something that matters and we become fruitful.
(For further study, please read John 15:1-17. I would LOVE to hear feedback on these verses. I am going to study them this week myself.)
1. Evaluate yourself on where God is at in your priorities. Be honest.
2. Evaluate where you are investing yourself most. Is that the best use of your time? Do things need to be re-adjusted?
3. How is your fruit? Often we judge our fruit by how many of our prayers have been answered and how many people we have led to Jesus. I want to know how you are doing affecting the lives of others. How are you doing with that yelling at your kids problem? Where is your "happiness" quotient at? Fulfilled? Dying? Purposeful? Purposeless?
Pick at least one of the above and post it to the group.
I want to know how you are doing. I really do.
di
To post, go to www.canyoncreekchicks.blogspot.com
If you have forgotten your login name or password, please email me (dibeals@yahoo.com) so I can help you!
I bet you want to be happy too. If you boiled everything down to the very bottom, it's what you want. I really truly believe that the way to real happiness is pursuing God and that God has designed us with a desire to invest ourselves into "something that matters." What matters most to you? Likely your family is at the very top of your list, as it should be. We need to invest ourselves into those God has placed around us for sure. What else matters to you? I hope that your relationship, your pursuit of God pops into your head too. And I hope it popped into your head before your job, your car, that vacation you want to take, your nice camera, and on and on. If you are feeling a little guilty now, maybe we should take a minute to talk about our priorities.
I have a "life coach" right now. Her job is to listen to me present a "problem" in my life, and then coach me to discovering the solution for myself. My first meeting with her, I brought up my constant struggle with the ever- unachievable "balance." She was quick to reply. She asked me why I feel like I have to balance everything in my life. I rambled on about something that sounded important, but she was quick to point out that not everything in my life (demanding my time!) is equal, so I am not looking for balance, I am looking for priorities. That really hit me! I do want to be a balanced person. Brandon is ever-challenging me to balance myself in what he calls "the four main areas": spiritually, mentally, physically and relationally, and I do work on that! Exercise is important to me, reading books about raising kids and cooking healthy meals is important to me, having friendships and accountability partners is important, and growing in my study of what I believe as a Christian....studying the Word of God, those are all important! But my priority is God. Plain and simple. And as I pursue God and a growing relationship with Him, I continue to grow; and I bear fruit.
The dictionary defines fruitfulness as: "producing good results; beneficial; profitable" and "producing an abundant growth." We understand fruitful to include offspring, but fruitulness really encompasses our entire life and what is produced from it. Someday when I am gone from this earth, I hope to have left a legacy by what I have invested in others, my husband and children for sure, but beyond that, I hope to have impacted neighbors, friends, extended family, and even my kids' playmates in a way that "produces good results" is "beneficial" and is "profitable."
In John 15:5 Jesus says "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit." Just before that, in verse 4, Jesus warns us that "neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." Remain here means to "live or dwell." Or maybe we could bluntly say, our job is to keep God our priority. How are you doing with that? In your desire to invest yourself into something that matters, has God slipped from the top of your priority list? Where is spending time with Him on your weekly "to do " list? Is it before or after grocery shopping, sporting events, tv shows and SLEEP. Come on, this is not condemnation, I am right there with you. Re-evaluating my priorities and re-arranging things so that God is first. This past week was a monster of a week for me, so spending time with God slid down my list a bit. So what do I do? Fix it. Re-prioritize, and know that God forgives me! What do you do? Recognize it (like me) and re-prioritize. Seasons come and go and sometimes it really is easier to put God first, and sometimes it really is harder, this week's Bible Study is meant to remind you where your pursuit of God belongs; first. The fruit comes from remaining in Him, and so does the happiness.
Your assignment:
The bottom line is, when we make God our priority, we invest ourselves into something that matters and we become fruitful.
(For further study, please read John 15:1-17. I would LOVE to hear feedback on these verses. I am going to study them this week myself.)
1. Evaluate yourself on where God is at in your priorities. Be honest.
2. Evaluate where you are investing yourself most. Is that the best use of your time? Do things need to be re-adjusted?
3. How is your fruit? Often we judge our fruit by how many of our prayers have been answered and how many people we have led to Jesus. I want to know how you are doing affecting the lives of others. How are you doing with that yelling at your kids problem? Where is your "happiness" quotient at? Fulfilled? Dying? Purposeful? Purposeless?
Pick at least one of the above and post it to the group.
I want to know how you are doing. I really do.
di
To post, go to www.canyoncreekchicks.blogspot.com
If you have forgotten your login name or password, please email me (dibeals@yahoo.com) so I can help you!
posted by Di Beals | 9:23 PM
2 Comments:
I have been struggling for the past several years, on and off, on fruitfullness. I go from being satisfied to be a mom and business owner, to feeling like i have missed something.
We got married young and had kids fast. Which none of i regret. I feel like i have accomplished so little for the amount of time i have been here.
I too, am trying to put the priorities in order and find true fullfillment in what God has put on my plate now. I have beening growing more the last couple of months in the area of hearing God's voice again and relying on Him to be Happy and fullfilled and fruitful, not circumstances. Being able to be part of a worship team again and use my gifts in that area have been a big help in feeling fruitful.
Sorry for rambling. I have all these thoughts floating around and trying to type in a meaninful way is tough.
For Rachel:
I know how you feel about that fruitful thing. Like you, we got married young and had kids soon after. Many times I wonder if there's anyone who feels like their life has been changed by my being there (other than Andy and the kids). I think, sometimes, it would be great if all us moms could just have a George Bailey experience to see how much we impact others. If we did, I'm sure both of us would find that our lives have been more fruitful than we ever knew!
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