The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
It was a good day today. But...I had a rough start. Nothing like setting all my ducks in a row perfectly, with care and precision on my part and then dealing with other ducks that weren't lined up right. I am learning that this is truly part of my "lifetime intimate portrait" -- lifetime being the operative word here. I have got to come to the point of accepting this in some form or fashion, because unless every single person in my world takes details as seriously as I do, it's just going to be a factor.
Not being a pessimist, but what is the likelihood of everybody doing that?
Had a thought on this...the Bible talks about "as far as it depends on you" with different things like peace. But I think it can be applied to other things. Such as: as far as it depends on you, make sure you take care of all that has been placed in YOUR CARE. Dot all your own"i's" and cross all your "t's". Regardless of what happens, as far as it depends on you maintain a standard of excellence. When it comes down to it, the one thing we can all be sure of is what WE DO, and that is what we answer for - to God and to others. I can't control everything, nor can I vouch for where other people's ducks will be, but I can make sure my things that I'm personally supposed to handle are always done with due diligence. Thank you Jesus that we are all "in control where it counts" - we have choice to do right, to be faithful, to be excellent, etc. And I choose this.
About details, I am a voice crying in the wilderness a lot of the time. There are many people I know who share my fascination with creativity, passion, the Word of God or any myriad of other things, but to have people passionate about details is quite another thing. When I get a friend who is detail driven it is like a cold cup of water in a thirsty land. Tara, I know you're reading this and I just want to say this is one thing I admire about you - "details". You are one of the first people that come to mind when I think of this. Hearing about how you have structured an outreach (your Desperate Housewives one was AMAZING...I remember thinking, "how in the WORLD did she do all that?") or really anything you set your hand to do is a real example even to people like me who are detail oriented. People like you keep us all sharper and on our toes.
Part of my quandry is, most details seem so simple to me. They are not an extensive mathematical equation. It's not even as hard as 2 + 2 =4. It's only a matter of having something to do, being mindful of it, following through on doing it, and in a timely fashion. Why does this seem so hard for so much of the human race?
The more "mixed ducks" on any given Sunday morning, (or any given work week in some cases) the more I realize when we are going to have a great day in the house! And we did. We had at least six or seven people saved, not sure the exact count but it was at least that many. There was a great sense of the presence of the Lord there today. I asked Rosemay to do a reading this morning as part of worship and it went so well. She's very, very anointed with that. We had a ton of visitors. We are really growing more this month which is amazing for summer. Can't wait to see what will happen come fall if things are going this way now. God is awesome!
We had lunch at Moe's today with a few families from church and it was a very enjoyable time. I love connecting with people and getting to know people better. I love hearing their hearts. It's one of my very favorite things to do! Then we had a great vision meeting tonight. I made dinner and thank God, tonight it did turn out! (ha ha!) I wouldn't have sprung something new on a crowd...I did some standby's that I knew would be great. What a time of prayer we had. I love pressing in to God like that. Good stuff. (If all people truly knew how good God is...they wouldn't be able to contain themselves!!!)
During the announcements this morning, Pastor Aaron leaned up to Larry and I and made motion to the crowd and said that it's not going to take much growth at all before we have to have to add another service. What a glorious day we had!!! I am so grateful. It was worth a pile of jumbled up ducks, even double the amount as crazy as they drive me.
I just thank God because truly...I see just how much it all comes back to HIM, HIM, HIM. I have to be honest that I went into this morning prayed up, stuffed with the Word, spiritually armed, practically organized and ready. But when, despite my best preparation things go wrong when I get there, I just find myself totally, 100% needy and leaning on God saying, "please take this mess and turn it into a miracle..." because I'm SO desperate for you right now. And He steps in.
Maybe he allows me to come to that point before the service just to prove it to me once again that everything is Him. Maybe He just wants me to pray in tongues constantly. But if He's doing that I sure wish He'd quit because I have the message now in this head of mine that any success is all His doing, and I already pray in the spirit all the time. So He can stop with the mixed up ducks now, if that's what He's trying to show me...I got the message loud and clear.
Thank you Lord, for this wonderful day filled with your SALVATION, your PRESENCE and your POWER. It really is worth going through anything to experience it.
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