Make your dreams happen!

Love this, make your dreams happen! Go for it!

Happy Independence Day!

Most likely when you think of the Fourth of July, you think of a day of with family and friends, fun, barbecue picnics and fireworks.  You may also think of this being a day to remember those who fought for and stood up for this countries freedom so long ago and right now today.  This also being a day to remember our freedom to worship Christ whenever we want with out having to hide!  

John 8:36 says, " So if the Son sets you free,you will be free indeed."

As time passes by and years come and go, our jobs as follower's of Christ gets more important day after day.  The harder the times get in this world the more we need to share the love of Christ and why He is so important to our lives as Christians.  In this day and age people tend to take for granted that we have so many churches around in our country, but seriously what's the point of having so many "church buildings" if we're just sitting around talking among ourselves.  If we were really being "the church" we would be stepping out of the building we worship in more often and 'hitting the streets,'  bring church to the one's who have been afraid to step into a church building or traumatized in some way by "so-called Christians."  Even by changing they way we have our worship services by being able to make our services casual enough for people to really feel welcome and comfortable enough to 'walk-in off the street' and sit down have a cup of coffee or glass of ice tea and hear about the love that Christ has to offer them, without feeling judged by their attire or past behavior. 

Acts 20:24 says, "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God."

I love this verse, we used this verse in my drama group in college for the back of our t-shirts. It was a great reminder to remember what our work is to do here on Earth.

Today is a another great reminder of what Christ did for us in the cross over 2000 years ago. By giving us the freedom to live. Now we can tell others about the same freedom. 

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Side note: Also, it's another great day to bake something fun and different!. Here's a firework cake made! 
:-)  

       

Blessings,

Give it your very best….Never Give Up!

I’ve seen Facing the Giants so many times but this is probably one of my favorite motivational scenes.  I’ve seen the clip below used many times and at various times through out inspirational messages that I’ve listened to as a way to motivate us into doing our VERY BEST!  Isn’t it true though?  Sometimes we think we ‘can’t’ do something, and we convince ourselves it’s ‘too late’ or ‘too hard.’  Check out my previous post, Defying the odds, because a bumblebee was never meant to fly, but it did anyway!

It’s probably one of the hardest things to do, to force ourselves to keep going when things get hard or tough.  It may seem like it’s too difficult and it’s easier to do what we need to do ‘to just get by.’  You think, 'I’ve done just enough to meet my minimum goal.’  And, the minimum goal is all you think you can do, but what about that Big Hairy Audacious Goal you have set for yourself?  How are you going to ever meet that if you never get past that small goal?  So many times we find ourselves sitting by the sidelines when we should be out playing the game.  I know you’re probably thinking, “but the game’s pretty scary, I could get hurt, I can’t make it though the entire way.”  I have those exact same thoughts at times.  What if I get in the game, and I totally…well, ‘mess up?’ “What if I get out there and people laugh at me and think I’m crazy?”  Well, we all make mistakes, we’re human.  If we never take risks, we can never mess up and we can never learn from our ‘mistakes.’  It’s the ‘mistakes’ that make us stronger and help us grow.  Also, if we never step out of our comfort zone because we are afraid of people laughing at us or making fun of us, we will be missing out on so much more that God has planned for our lives.  Like it says in, Joshua 1:9, “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” If we let God in and give him control of our life, He is with us where ever we go and we don’t have to be afraid. 

If you really give it your all and step out of your comfort zone and really push yourself….yes, people are going to watch you, but it’s the people who are really seriously watching you who are going to be ‘in awe’ of the courage and strength you have to do something so insanely courageous.  It’s the same people who want to do something courageous as well, but needed to see you as an example. I can remember this quote from, We Bought a Zoo, ‘all it takes is 20 seconds of insane courage’  and your life could completely change.

What if everyone took 20 seconds to do something insane and incredibly courageous?  What would that look like?  How would you feel?
Take a few minutes to watch these short clips from Facing the Giants and We Bought a Zoo.

Just when something may seem really, really hard to start and even harder to finish, just remember when you finally make it through it’s all going to be worth it! Then, it’s time to start something NEW again!

What’s your 20 seconds of insane courage?  Please feel free to share your thoughts below.

Motivational Scene from “Facing the Giants” -- Give it your VERY BEST!

20 Seconds of Insane Courage

Blessings,