Lovely Ladies

I'm following in the footsteps of my radio station, KLOVE, because they do Make A Difference Monday. They have people call in and tell of how they made a difference in someone's life, or how someone made a difference in their own life. I wanted to showcase these lovely ladies from TurningPoint Church. They're in a kitchen at Ronald McDonald House where they helped with dinner and clean up for the families there, specifically to make it a little easier on fathers having a (probably) less than ideal Father's Day. THIS is being Jesus to people. Simple as that. And these ladies are already crazy busy all the time - one has 5 children under the age of 14, others have toddlers and school age kiddos. And another is a mom of a mom in the picture! I, honestly, don't know how they do it and are still functioning in life. 

But, it's quite simple really:  I can do all things through Him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13). 

Check out the Lexington Ronald McDonald House here

Kim is on the far right. 

Check out her blog about life, kids and being a pastor's wife here

Christina is third from the left and is a Thirty One Gifts consultant (among other talents), check out the super cute bags and organizational tools here

Cory is third from the right and the one with the 5 children, which includes one set of twins. She generously passed down some of their cute clothes to Emersen as well. She is amazing on a camera, check her out.

here or check it out on Facebook here.

And the other ladies so other fun things too - I just don't know about them yet! 

Sunday Sunday

To get ahead of schedule, I'm posting about Father's Day this Sunday. We'll be celebrating with a cookout, games, fun, etc after a shorter Sunday service at TurningPoint Church. I'm thankful for a church presenting the opportunity to hang out with family and hang out with other families. And for providing the opportunity to eat!

Childcare will cover nursery/toddler for the shorter service, while junior/elementary will be welcomed in with the adults - so fun for them!

This is my personal invitation to anyone who reads the blog. We would love to have you join us to celebrate our dad's! Much to my....dismay? despair? blah?...there will be bounce houses for kids. And burgers, corn hole, etc. If we don't see you, Happy Father's Day!

Making a Jump

So the last notes I posted were for Chapter 4. And tomorrow we're meeting to finish up the book. Oops. 

Tomorrow is Friday you say? Yep. We're moving our "day" to Friday, at least for the summer. And we're aiming for family friendly after tomorrow night. Games, activities, the park, etc. Looking forward to hanging out with people and unwinding on a Friday night. And hopefully, we can invite some other folks given a new night and new "topic". 


Which will lead into some discussion we'll be having as a group - probably not in a formal manner though. TurningPoint is going to be switching things up a bit to MOBILIZE us into the city of Lexington. Doesn't sound like church? Church as you know it? Good. That's the point. Stay tuned!

More Lions - Ch 4

The Art of Reframing


Reframe -to change the focus or perspective of (a view) through a lens.


“Reframing circumstances, and you start focusing on what’s right with God.”-Mark Batterson


Reframing requires shifting the context. Context determines what and how we see things, events, people, problems, etc. , much in the same way a picture frame determines what portion of the scene we see. When we learn to “reframe” our problems, we change the context, bringing God and his truth into the situation…and that changes how we see everything!


A frame=limits. The smaller we zoom in on a problem, the bigger the problem seems in our minds. The farther we zoom out, the smaller the problems seems. We see the big picture, and we see how God wants to use problems to serve a bigger purpose.


So how can you “reframe” your problems? It requires that you….


1) Refocus your prayer


-Are you asking God to take away your difficult circumstance, or are you asking God to show you what He wants you to get out of the difficult circumstance?


Matthew 26:42: 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.


Romans 8:28-30: 28 ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.


2) Refocus on worship


Worship allows us to zoom out and focus on the big picture


We we worship God, our focus is naturally taken off of our circumstances and is instead directed at Him.


Worship provides perspective about who we are in Christ


3) Refocus your view of adversity


More problems=more potential


Your suffering becomes your ministry!


Ex. Paul’s sufferings


1 Peter 1:6-7 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.


Closing Thought: How’s your focus these days? Are you praying to get out of trouble instead of praying through it? Are you worrying when instead you should be worshiping? Are you so focused on how much adversity that you’re facing that you have forgotten how great your God is? Take some time this week to refocus in each of these areas. Pray through your lion encounters. Worship God despite the fact you are staring a lion in the eyes. And remember that the scars that these lions inevitably give you will serve as a declaration to others of how great your God is and what He brought you through.


Note from Morgan: I've been really realizing the truth in the idea that if we refocus on worship, our perspective on adversity will change. A wise man (that I wouldn't dare want him to know I think is wise) that I work with gave me the advise to "keep looking up and not at [my problems]." Same premise. When we focus on God - who is REAL BIG - things around you can become smaller. It's a weird version of distraction...I mean really, if we're first focused on God, we won't BE distracted by the annoying/frustrating/challenging things in your life. And while worship isn't just singing and music, it's my "love language" in terms of worship and nothing refocuses me that turning up some of my favorite praise songs (thank you Spotify) and singing real loud (I wait to do this to KLOVE in the car...). 

In a Pit with A Llion on A Snowy Day - Ch 3

What is your irrational fear? Where did it come from?

1) Virtually all fear is learned

We are born with only 2 fears: the fear of falling, and the fear of loud noises….the rest is
learned.
The problem with fear is that it drives us to make decisions based on our own flawed wisdom,
not God’s….and the results are always bad when that happens.
Many examples in Scripture of fears that kept people from doing what God wanted them to do.
(Jonah, Saul, for example) .
God doesn’t want us to live in fear… He wants us to turn to Him knowing that He alone is greater
than all fears we might have.
2 Timothy 1:7-- 7For God has not given us a spirit[a] of fearfulness,(A) but one of power,(B) love,(C) and sound judgment.

2) Faith is unlearning the senseless worries and misguided beliefs that keep us
captive

It is far more complex than simply modifying behavior.
Romans 12:2--- 2 Do not be conformed(C)to this age,(D) but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind,(E) so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will(F) of God.
We need to replace the corrupt thoughts in our minds with uncorrupt ones.

How do we do this? Read/memorize Scripture. We replace our corrupt thoughts with God’s
perfect ones.

3) When God’s thoughts replace our thoughts, our faith outweighs our fear.

This is when becoming a lion chaser moves from being a nice concept to becoming who you are
as a person. It becomes part of your DNA.
Does that mean all fear is gone? No! But our faith allows us to overcome our fear because we
know God is greater than anything that crosses our path.
Matthew 14:22-33-Peter’s faith was overcome by fear because he was relying on his own logic
and not God’s.

Closing Thought: The old Jedi adage says “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to
suffering.” While that’s just a quote from a movie, the first and last parts of it are definitely true: fear
leads to suffering. It may or may not be physical suffering, but it will definitely lead to mental anguish, spiritual turmoil, and can have disastrous physical consequences. So why do we put ourselves through this? It all comes back to what our focus is on. Is our focus on our circumstances? Our ability to get the job done? The unknown road ahead of us? When we focus on anything but who God is and his Word, fear and doubt overtakes us and we sink just like Peter. But when our focus is on Him, our faith becomes real and God will take us to heights we could never have imagined. Remember, it’s a process. You don’t unlearn fear in just a night, because you don’t memorize all of Scripture in just one night. But if you commit to working at it, allowing God to seep into your mind and replace your thoughts with His, then He will change you, and your faith will grow like never before. So the question is, are you committed to doing that, knowing that God promises a life of victory? Or are you willing to accept a life of fear and defeat?