Ever have a recurring thought?

Maybe you are second-guessing a decision, or feeling bad about something you haven't done yet.

Maybe self-doubt is haunting you, but you wonder if there really is something you need to adjust in your life.

Recently I read John 9:42. It's the last verse of the story where Jesus heals the blind man by putting clay on his eyes and telling him to wash it off in a certain pool. Then the Pharisees don't want to believe it and they grill his parents and then him about the healing. Jesus finds the man who was healed and reveals His deity to him. He tells him He came to make the blind see and show those who think they can see that they are blind. The Pharisees are indignant and ask if He is saying they are blind. Then the final verse says,

“If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see."

When I read that verse I had an Aha moment.

God's Spirit is always...

Meet our friends Alex and Delia!

Eric first met Alex a few years back when he went on a mission trip to Mexico. He and Alex hit it off and have been fast friends since then.

When we joined the Worship Center (WC) staff, we made the Bridges Coach Training material available to all our global partners and Alex and his then fiance, Delia, took us up on the offer. 

The coaching paradigm caught on with them, so much so that after they got married and moved to Germany, Delia asked if she could begin adding German subscripts to all the videos. THANK YOU Delia! Many tedious hours later they now offer Bridges Coach Training in German! (Scroll to the bottom of that page and you'll see their picture.)

So, what does that have to do with Costa Rica? I'm glad you asked.

We have kept up a relationship with Alex and Delia who are now living there. They work with an organization called Answering the Call. Their organization's mission is to reach people in difficult-to-reach places....

Hey friends,

I'm off to BASICCON this weekend and wanted to let you in on some offers we created just for this weekend!

But first - what is BASICCON? Thanks for asking! BASIC stands for Brothers And Sisters In Christ. It's a network of college students in the Northeast who come together to enjoy life, learn about God, and make difference in the world. BASICCON (think conference)  is a gathering of the various groups in one location - this year Rochester, NY.

If you have a college campus near you but have never heard of BASIC, connecting with them could give your church a means to reach out to young adults and invest in them as they launch into the next generation of the church. Maybe it's worth looking  into.

BONUS #1

This weekend I'll be doing the Saturday afternoon workshop. I'm sharing a short version of our Life On Purpose personal workshop retreat. Since we won't be able to go through the entire workshop we are offering the video course for an...

Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes when I sing a song that says something like “He won’t fail” it kind of sends me into a bit of a tailspin. (Or maybe it’s the one that says, “God is good, good, so good...”)

I think of so many situations that still really hurt, or are confusing, or didn’t happen, and it makes me feel awkward singing a song like that.  

Here are some situations that come to my mind:

• The accident that took young parents from their children.
• The couple that birthed a still-born child after years of infertility.
• The man who prayed for healing but still deals with chronic pain.
• The family who felt like God was guiding them to launch a business, but it’s been years and the business is just making it.
• The person who faced a trauma well, but then slowly drifted from active faith.
• Someone waiting ... for a transplant, or a husband, or a baby or ...
• The woman who is diligently trying to make an impact but often feels...

Life is a journey. We have a final destination and lots of big and little milestones along the way.

Unless we don't.

It is possible to just drift through life... Drifting is like living in rote, doing the same things over and over without taking notice - without celebrating milestones, planning for new memories, or moving toward valued goals.

Sometimes I personally miss celebrating and just move on to the next goal without stopping to acknowledge what just happened! How sad. I'm embarrassed to say that living in the moment is often hard for me, even when I am with family I am envisioning how long it will be till we get to be together again. 

Good coaching includes planning for celebration!

First, we need to choose a worthy goal like:

• Completing that project
• Making that appointment
• Planning a gathering
• Working a new habit in
• Focusing on a character goal (yes, even those can be coached!)

Then we work the system and adjust as needed. (See the demystifying SMART goals blog...

Have you ever been triggered by something or someone? That’s where you feel like you had an emotional reaction that was not healthy. Maybe it was an overreaction, or maybe you clammed up, but either way, you know you were not walking in God’s best plan for your response. 

Triggering is angsty. It’s not God’s way but is often more our norm when storms come up in our life.

Triggering hurts us and hurts those around us.

We’re all human so we’ve all built neuro pathways for how we react when certain events happen. It’s like they prompt us to be angry, or aggressive, or maybe we swing the other way and feel depressed, sullen, or hopeless.

Either way, we feel stuck.

We know we don’t want to respond in that way. We hope there is a kingdom way, a healing possible, but we aren’t sure what to do next.

Feeling hurt, misunderstood, confused or angry, and frustrated doesn’t have to be our norm!

       ...

Last Sunday our pastor ended the service with a question:

"Do you know God is pleased with you?"

I"ve been pondering that all week. What does it mean for God to be pleased with us?

We all get that our works are not what pleases Him. We can never be enough. It would be like trying to fill an ocean with our tears, we will always fall short...

So, what about us pleases Him?

I've been doing a word study on just that and want to share some initial thoughts here. Here are some verses that really stuck out to me.

"Those who are right with me will live by faith. But if they turn back with fear, I will not be pleased with them.” Hebrews 10:38

"A person might have to suffer even when it is unfair, but if he thinks of God and can stand the pain, God is pleased". 1 Peter 2:19

 

"The Lord is pleased with those who respect him, with those who trust his love." Psalm 147:11

 

"The Lord is pleased with his people; he...

Do you believe in MONSTERS?!

Step One to escaping your monsters is believing that there are monsters!

It can be easy just to pretend there are no monsters. We can avoid dealing with negative things in our lives, or we can place the blame on ourselves and wallow in condemnation.

1 Peter 5:8 says,

Control yourselves and be careful! The devil, your enemy, goes around like a roaring lion looking for someone to eat. (NCV)

Other versions say "devour", whatever version you use it's clear we have an enemy who wants to hurt us. To ruin us even. To place us in a state of fear, anger, or shame that discredits us and isolates us from others and from God.

Step Two to escaping your monsters is to identify them!

I think each of us is susceptible to different "monsters". We each have different internal designs that cause us to be susceptible to different negative thought patterns that take us into scary places. 

What do your monsters look like?

In full disclosure, I deal with all kinds of lies...

I'm learning to discern more. You'd think I'd be better at it by now, but it turns out I'm still learning. For me, following my heart means having the "courage" to call things out when I see them. I have the compulsion to set things right. I feel culpable to say what I see, especially as a leader. I almost always feel I am missing the mark if I don't say something when I hear or see something out of line.

(Feels kind of judgy when I say it like that... maybe because it sometimes is judgy and that's where the Pendulum Process needs to come in!)

Is it always right to say something?

Is it never right to step in?

Sometimes it is "courage" that is needed and I do indeed need to speak up. After all, Proverbs 9:8b says,

"... But correct the wise, and they will love you."

 Yet, at other times we are encouraged to be wise by not speaking up. Proverbs 10:19b says,

"...if you are wise, you will keep quiet."

So what's a gal to do?  Let's take a look at the Pendulum...

So, it's come to this. I went to Costco to get a hearing aid! I KNOW RIGHT! I can't be getting older, I should be able to hear for a lot longer... and all the things.

When my appointment finally came around it was way shorter than planned for two reasons.

1- they said that asymmetrical hearing loss was a medical red flag and I needed to go to an ENT specialist before moving forward.

2- they threw me a curve ball and said my good ear was completely blocked and they wondered how I could hear out of it at all.

(This is where the gross part comes in.) They told me never to clean my ears with a Q-tip but to use soap and hot water in the shower. 

So, I tried it.

It didn't work!!

My "good ear" then became my bad ear! I must have dislodged the build-up and really messed up my ear. I couldn't even hear my blow dryer from that side that morning. With only the hearing from my bad ear, I was nearly deaf. It felt like people were teasing my, moving their lips but not saying anything....