Great Beginnings...Tragic Endings

In any contest, the start is important, but the finish is even more crucial. How many times have I started something and before I even reached the middle of the race I began to fade. I started out all hyped up, I had a plan, I knew what I was going to do. This time I was going to make it, I would not quit until I not only saw the finish line, I had made up my mind that I would cross it this time. Yet I didn't. !

Recently a family member said to me, "You are doing the same thing with the same results." She was referring to the boys whom we take in our home. Many of them go back to their old lives, but each time I grow, each time I get a call when they do go back and they are telling me how they regretted their decision. I am not always the one who sees the harvest, I am just plowing the field, planting the seed. How can I judge someone else, when I too fall, when I too don't always cross the finish line.

Sometimes the endings are tragic, sometimes there is victory and in each time there are things God is teaching me. If everytime I started the race, I finished in victory, then there would be no need to depend on Him and I might even start thinking it was something I did. Where there is no struggle, there is no strength. I need Him! Only He gives the victory.

So the story ends, that I made an appointment with this family member and I told her she shouldn't be getting mad or disappointed, because it wasn't all about her, it was about Him. She said, "I know, but sometimes I get me in the way." I said, "yes you do and that is the flesh." God has given me grace with this person, last year I began to tell her the truth in a loving way, she is not walking with Him and she is always looking at the past. She even said to me, "you are a now and future person, I am a past person." I thought how strange that was that she recognized this and was doing nothing to change it.

I continue to point the way, I hope one day she gets it. What a tragedy if she never does.

Challenges, Opportunities & Situations

Life is filled with challenges that can be turned into opportunities. I have come to understand that all it takes is for me to be willing to be God's servant wherever I am, opening my eyes and looking for those who are hurting, who need assistance or help in some way.

I don't look for anything extraordinary, I may just be able to offer someone a word of encouragement, a pat on the back, or a simple smile, to let them know I noticed them.

God is using the situations I face each day to weave a pattern of godliness into my character. He is waiting for me to respond appropriately to the situations I find myself in today. I try to imagine Him using me in any situation, rather than allowing that situation to control me, to upset me, I am taking control of my flesh and becoming more aware of what I am doing, thinking and saying in any given situation.

I am to represent Him and in doing so, I look for opportunities to serve not necessarily in big ways, but in some small way, because Small things are Big things.

I am not sure this makes sense, but I understand it. I understand now more than ever before in my life, that when I take myself completely out of the equasion, that is it about Him. It is about allowing Him to make me into the person He created me to be, which is to be more like Him.

I like to think He would have smiled if He passed me in the hall or on the street, I like to think He would have encouraged me, when I was down, or opened the door for me if I needed assistance, or just listened when I needed someone to hear me. I like to think He was frustrated or angry at times, but He didn't allow it to change who He was. I want to be more like that.

"Greatness"

A person's greatest accomplishment may be helping others to accomplish great things. Likewise, a person's greatest failure may be preventing others from achieving greatness.

I have three boys in my home. God has placed them there. When the third one arrived this week, I watched as the other two began to kind of team up together. The funny thing about it was they don't really have that much in common and are friends, however their interests are so different, they rarely do anything together. They get along to a certain point, but one is older and prideful and the other one is shy and uncertain. So when I noticed this change in their behavior, and one made a comment in the kitchen that was derogatory about the new boy, and he did it where the boy could have heard him.

So as I watched what was going on I decided I needed to address the situation before it got out of hand. I confronted the two of them and asked them how they would feel if they were in this boy's position.

I explained he is now a part of our family and was looking for a chance. He had just shared with me how he had been suicidal while he was in junior high and his whole life everyone had told him he was a failure and would never make it. He said to me, "Dana, this is my last chance. I want to learn how to live, how to make it, I want to live for God." He said, "I want to stay with yall as long as you will let me and until I am ready to make it on my own."

So as I shared this with the boys, I explained to them, that we are our brother's keeper and God had brought this boy to us, just as He had brought them. I then said, it is our responsibiltiy to do everything possible to help him succeed, that if he didn't succeed, it would not be because of something they had done or we had done.

We talked about love and committment, about how no one wants to be a failure, no one wants to be abusive, no one really wants to be unhappy, that all of us want to succeed and be who God wants us to be. I then asked if I could count on them to do everything possible to help us to be a big happy family where each of them could accomplish great things. I was assured they would help and as of the last two days, I have been amazed at how they are doing everything to help him, but they are much more willing to do the things we ask them to do also.

Later I was thinking about how we view greatness. Sometimes we may mistake a position, money, success, being famous or something else for greatness, but truly greatness can be a small thing like helping someone else achieve something they may not believe they can accomplish.

Applauding Sin

There's an old story about a man who tried to save the city of Sodom from destruction by warning the citizens. But the people ignored him. One day someone asked, "Why bother everyone? You can't change them." "Maybe I can't," the man replied, "but I still shout and scream to prevent them from changing me!

Television, newspapers, books, magazines, billboards, radio announcers, music, movies are all screaming for our attention. Sexual sin, drugs, drinking, homosexuality, witchcraft, demonic images flood the TV and our minds.

If we speak out about something we find offensive we are criticized, ridiculed or shunned. No one wants to hear that we shouldn't watch something that is blatantly sinful. We shouldn't try to share our beliefs with others, let them believe what they want, let them alone, we are not being tolerant. The world wants us to applaud sin. If we speak out we are labeled as right wing or bible beaters. I don't care...cause although I speak out and I am not always heard, they come to me and ask me to pray for them, they come to me and ask my advice, I point them to Him because I am just the messenger.

I am in the middle of a battle and I refuse to give in to the enemy. I will stay on the front lines, in the trenches, shouting and screaming, doing whatever I can, whenever I can, as long as I can.

Perhaps I sound extreme at times, I guess it is because I see the results, I live it, the three boys who live with me from the Boy's home are casualities, who have been wounded deeply. They are needy, they consume my time, now they see there is hope, there is a better way.

Now they see there is right and there is wrong, there is hope, someone loves them, someone cares. It is not about what I do, it is about sharing Him with them, showing them a better way. Teaching morals, values, character, right and wrong. Leading them, guiding them, loving them, teaching His truth. His way is THE WAY, it doesn't matter what we think, it matters that it is Truth.

No matter how many studies or done, or how many disagree, we have been given a charge to keep. I am not gonna be a wimp, I am going to stand. I want to make a difference. I don't want to look back and say...could I have done more? Was there something God wanted me to do, a purpose I could've fulfilled?

Harlem Globetrotters

I'm back!! I went to see the Harlem Globe Trotters and had a wonderful time. I kept meaning to blog but didn't seem to find the time.

This year I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions, I just decided to do something fun and out of the ordinary at least once a month.

So next month it is going to be Body Worlds at the Science and Nature Museum in Dallas. I am ready!

I'll post more tomorrow!! Hugs to everyone!