Calling all hearts!

Music Video:  Be One
   (Natalie Grant)

“It's time to get our hands dirty
Be love there's a whole lot of hurting
Calling all hearts
Calling all hands
Calling all feet to take a stand
Why sit around and wait for a miracle to come
When we can be one
When we can be one
When we can be one”

Hey there!  Hope everyone is doing great out there!  I just love our coffee chats on here.

I recently attended the movie debut of the Dare to Be movie.  It was amazing and inspirational.  Sitting in the theater and listening to these women share their story and why they do what they are called to do and how they work with God through it all.  Natalie Grant presented some powerful songs from the beginning of the movie.  Then it came time for her to sing the song, Ever Be.  I love this song, "your praise will ever be on my lips"  and that's what it should be...always.  God's praise should be upon our lips.  It's hard though, right.  Circumstances through out our day get us down and it's hard to sing that praise.  God can help us through that, taking our mind off our own circumstances and situations and putting our focus solely on God and his presence in our lives.  
It's not about who we our in our life, it's about whose we are in God's family and what God has called us to do.  

"...Faithful you have been and faithful you will be..."

As I was listening to Charlotte Gambill give a message in the movie, she talked about not letting the misunderstandings of your past claim your future. Isn't that the truth?  So often we feel so dragged down by the past hurts in our lives that we stomp out all the good that is awaiting for us in the future.  Our destiny is far greater than our past. 

I love how Matthew 11:28-30 states this passage in the Message Bible,  "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?  (Hand raise in the air) Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. (Amen) I'll show you how to take a real rest.   Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. (YES!)  Learn from unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Have you ever felt like this?  You can work for God, you can work with God and these two are far different from each other.  God tells us to walk with Him.  Walk with Him and He will be with us and help us.  

I love the saying, “all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage.  Just literally 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery.  And I promise you, something great will come of it."

What happens when we take that 20 seconds and do something so incredibly brave that our lives could just possibly change forever.  What if we dared to be fearless?  What if we set out to do that one thing that we have been scared to do?  What would happen?  How would you help someone?  What would you do?  How would you feel after it was all over? You may go out there wanting to be able to bless someone, but just maybe you'll find yourself just as blessed by them. 

What would it take for you to get out there and Be One for Someone? To recognize there is a need that you can help out with.  To be able to share the love of Christ with someone else.  What would happen in your 20 seconds of courage? 

Dare to be what God is calling you to be!  What are you daring to be known as?

Here's a little take home. Leave a comment with your dare to be answer.  

I Dare to Be known as __________________.  


Praying for you!


Blessings, 

Today I Dare to Be….

I love listening to inspirational messages and there happens to be a great daily inspirational message I have found so to be incredibly uplifting and motivational.  This person was talking about the blessings that come from our lives we live.  She refers to a prayer from the Bible in the book of Isaiah, where she talked about how we are to bloom where we are planted and how to prepare ourselves for what is coming up.  We may see ourselves somewhere completely different but we were put in this specific position for a reason, most likely to learn from our experience’s and grow from where we are. If we continue to “bloom” where we are “planted” then we can see we are growing continually.  We can look back at the “blessings” we saw from the circumstances and the challenges we faced.  It’s like the song Blessings says…                              'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
                                       What if Your healing comes through tears
               What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
                                 What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
She moved on to gratitude.  When she was talking about being grateful she reminded me of something I read a few months ago from a "dare to be" challenge. Challenging yourself to dare to be grateful for what you have and where you are in your life. Fits right in with here message.  Love it!  What are you daring to be today, this week, this month?  More grateful, more confident, better listener….we can always think of something we want to be better in our lives.  Something that can help us be more aware of our surroundings and what is happening all around us and not just in our “immediate world.”  Big things are constantly going on and no matter where we are we can do something to help, whether in our small community town or out in the big city or maybe in another country.  If we dare to step out of our comfort zones then we can make a difference.  We can be the voice to the voiceless and help the helpless.

And when you learn what you need to learn things will begin to happen...when your ready! Sometimes we feel we're ready but this is so true "are we really ready?" Have we actually learned everything from our circumstances to be able to help others where we once were, so we can inspire them?  Hmmm...something to really think about, right?  If we’re patient then things will eventually happen.  I know it seems to take forever, right?  I totally agree with that one, patience is defiantly a struggle for me all the time, but when I put my trust in the my Heavenly Father with it all…then I know I can have the strength to make it through anything.  

I love that she referred to Jeremiah 29:11. One of my favorites verses that can get me through so much. Knowing that God has His plans laid out for me. Probably why I have it in my signature in my emails. What a great reminder. :-) “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.”

The message ended with this quote, ‘Be thankful and enjoy the ride!’ :-)  I loved this, and it’s totally true, when were being thankful for what we have and what we've been through, whether we’ve gone through the good or the bad, if were thankful for all circumstances we have grown through so much and have learned through it all.  Then we can enjoy the ride without all the worries.

Be Thankful!