Positivity Challenge

There is a "Positivity Challenge" going around on Facebook. I want to part take in the "challenge" but on my blog instead. So...

Day One:
1. I passed my Critical Thinking class with a "B!" It was touch and go all semester so don't ask me how that happened!
2. I ran across a "Little Couple" episode that I had never seen before so I watched it.
3. I went on a crazy long walk and caught up on Steven Furtick's #DeathtoSelfie sermons.

Day Two:
1. On my walk, I saw wild Turkeys- Mom and four babies.
2. Both families I work for expressed their gratitude for me today.
3. One of the girls I nanny for took a bath without tears! Hooray for shaving cream in the tub!

Day Three:
1. I made the cranky (seriously always cranky) lady at the DMV smile. #kindnesskills
2. I went to Costco with my parents and we had Chick- Fil- A for dinner.
3. I re- connected with an old co-worker and made plans to get together.

Day Four:
1. I went to the candy store with the bestie.
2. I ate at Cracker Barrel for the first time in years and it was amazing!
3. I watched Castle re- runs on ABC and they were all episodes I had never been before.

Day Five:
1. I heard my favorite song, "Beachin'" on the radio.
2. I tried a "Zero" candy bar. It's totally not as good as my "Nut Goodie" but I think that's because I am not a white chocolate fan.
3. I received a super sweet e-mail and had a comment left on my blog which made me happy.

Day Six:
1. I tried Sonic for the first time and thought it was disgusting! The people I were with liked it though.
2. I met with my new mentor teacher and we were at the coffee shop for two hours.
3. I went shopping! I bought a few new outfits and a bunch of children's books!

Day Seven:
1. I heard a song called, "Ticks." The lyrics were, "I wanna check you for ticks" and I burst out laughing hysterically.
2. I won a book from GoodReads!
3. I had a great day with the girls I nanny for! No tears in the tub and on our walk we saw a dead snake (GROSS!!). At the park we saw four dead baby birds and their nest laying on the ground, it was ridiculously sad but I am grateful for the learning opportunity for the kiddos.

Day Eight:
1. A close friend of mine gave me over 50 chapter books for my future classroom.
2. I tried Good Day Cafe for the first time and my Pulled Pork Sandwich was delicious!
3. I went shopping with my mom and we actually got along the whole entire time!!

Day Nine:
1. I volunteered at church.
2. I went out to eat with my family at my favorite restaurant.
3. I wrote my very first "Meet the Teacher" letter.

Day Ten:
1. I went to the dentist- No cavities!
2. I went to the eye doctor and my eyes have not gotten worse (I thought they had).
3. We had a good old- fashioned thunderstorm!

Sun Stand Still

I finished reading Steven Furtick's book, "Sun Stand Still" a few weeks ago. The book is about audacious faith. Below are a few quotes I wrote down:

- " If you're not daring to believe God for the impossible, you may be sleeping through some of the best parts of your Christian Life."

- "If the size of your vision for your life isn't intimidating to you, there's a good chance it is insulting to God."

- "If we have the audacity to ask, God has the ability to perform."

- "God gives people the exact experiences he wants them to have in order to shape the specific destiny he's designed for them."

- "When you examine the lives of people who are called to do great things for God, you'll notice 3 things:

They offer God a long list of excuses, God doesn't seem surprised, and God doesn't change his mind." 

- "I'm not raising two kids to survive the world. I am raising them to change it."

- "Extraordinary moves of God begin with ordinary acts of obedience."

- "Faith opens your eyes to see the potential to serve a God who is already at work on your behalf."

- "Audacity is believing that God's promise is bigger than any (my) perhaps."

- "It's not wrong to feel fear. It is wrong to let that fear have the last word in your life."

- "The level of you impact will be directly proportional to the price you are willing to pay."

- "If your problem is to big for you, it is just the right size for God."

- "The image that comes to mind when you think of God is the most important thing about you."

- "Build your confidence in his goodness and his greatness and He will do the impossible."

- "If your faith isn't rooted in God's promises, it's not scriptural faith. It is just wishful thinking."

- "You can't claim God's promises if you don't know God's promises."

- "God's grace is so audacious that he will use failure itself to show off just how capable He is."

- "Nothing you've ever done is so repulsive that God can't redeem your potential and love you through it."

- "The very sin you've been ignoring and minimizing may be the one that's limiting your ability to rise to greater heights in Christ."

- "Sometimes we get to see the miracle; other times we get to be the miracle."

- "Sometimes God lets the sun go down so that he can be our only light."

- "Most of the time, if you don't move, God wont move. That's just the way He designed faith to work."

- "People who walk in audacious faith don't stop and pray. Audacious faith teaches us to push and pray."

- "Vision begins when you hear the sound of God's voice speaking something to your heart. It's not an audible voice. It's more like an unshakable impression, an inner sense." (2 Cor. 5:7)

I had 13 pages of notes so this post was very brief and doesn't get into the book like it could, but I encourage you to check it out. You won't be let down!

Room 101: Part 3

This is Pastor Steven's newest sermon. I watched online this morning and will definitely be downloading the podcast, I loved it!

Room 101: Fear's Greatest Hit

Link to the sermon: http://www.elevationchurch.org/sermons/room101/part3

Bible Verses:

1 Samuel 17

Matthew 25: 24- 30 (1 Talent)

Daniel 3: 15- 18

 

Notes:

- The perfect love of God, turns fear out of doors

- FEARS SONG: What If (depressing, discouraging)

- Fear takes over when I give more weight to my what if's than to what God says and who he is.

- Fear is misplaced faith (have faith in the wrong thing)

- Fears never go away, but you learn how to wade past your what ifs

- Did you know you are only born with two fears? Fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All other fears are acquired which means they can be unlearned. 

- You don't try to get "what ifs" to go away. You play it out to the very end and when you do that, you learn something about God's character and purpose for you that actually takes the initial fear you felt and converts it into stronger faith than you've ever had.

- PAINS SONG: That Would (be the hardest thing I ever went through)

- You don't need to wade into your what ifs casually and stay there anymore. Instead, He wants us to learn how to dive down to the bottom of our what if and find that at the bottom there us a God who would still be beneath it all even on the worst day of your life. 

   - My darkest day has a light

- PROMISE SONG: God Is

- We have the promises of who God is (sustainer, comforter, mender of broken hearts...)

- There's other stuff God wants to do in your life, but you never went down to the bottom and found out that God was there. That he would bring you back to the top stronger than you were before you ever went into your fear to begin with.

- God doesn't judge your life based on what you did. He judges it based on what you did in comparison to what he called you to do.

- If I let fear imprison me at some point, I missed an opportunity to be used by God.

- If you have the wrong view of the Master, you are going to do the wrong thing with what he gave you.

- The Devil always gets us to focu on what if i do what God is calling me to do and it fails, backfires, or it's hard or challenging or it's uncomfortable. But, you have to look at the flip side as well. 

- We always look at the cost of stepping out in faith, but when's the last time you calculated the cost of staying locked in fear?

- You are going to take this test of the next thing God calls you to do.

- You are hiding the instruction God gave you because it would cost you so much to step out. I'll suggest that it would be cost you much more if you don't.

- It's better to step out in faith and fail. In some of the failures that I've had that I really got familiar with the track called God is.

- A life of faith isn't staying at the surface never trusting God never pressing forawrd. It's actually diving so deep to what God has called you to do that you don't know if you'll ever get up for air in time. But, you get to the bottom and say God's still down there. You know what, he's still good down there, he's still loving. I have found him to be even more compassionate when I lost the thing I thought I couldn't live without. I found out he's still loving, still good, and still strong. 

- Put more faith in who God is than your what if.

- 1 author said, "Faith is believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse."

   - Play it backwards

- When I look at my own life, I realize the times when I felt the greatest fear, but stepped forward with God in faith, when I went down to the bottom of my own uncertainty, when I went down to the bottom of the even if scenarios- those were some og the times when God's faithfulness in my life resounded the most. That's some of the times when who he was came clear to me more than ever before. That's when his voice became so strong to me. You see, that's when you are going to hear him clearly so play it backwards.

- All that time there was a promise while you were stuck on what if.

Room 101

3 weeks ago Pastor Steven Furtick started a new message series titled, "Room 101." The series is about fear and has really hit home for me. I am debating switching my major to Ministry. I went the Education path because it was the logical thing to do. I have my doubts about if I can and should make this switch, but this series has really helped me move past my fears. 

Room 101: Forever Fearful, Never Scared

Link to the sermon: http://www.stevenfurtick.com/sermons/forever-fearful-never-scared/

Bible Verses:

1 John 4: 18 (AMP) "... full grown (complete, perfect) love TURNS FEAR OUT OF DOORS and expels every trace of terror!" 

Proverbs 1:7 "Command me to love and fear him."

Genesis 3: 10- 11 "The fear that you feel is usually the result of a lie that you have believed."

Revelation 1: 17- 18 DO NOT BE AFRAID. I am the 1st and last... 

Notes:

- The child of God never has to live in fear of what life brings his or her way.

- The only limit fear has potential to place on your life is what you allow fear to limit your life to based on your misunderstanding of God's love. 

- Fear the consequences of living a life apart from Him. 

- "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge." 

- In Adam (our condition without Christ) we hide from God because in our sin we have everything to fear. But, in Christ we worship God because in his righteousness we have nothing to hide.

- Perfect love drives out fear.

- The fear of the Lord is different than being scared of God. When you're scared of God, you are scared of what he's going to do to you because of what you've done against him. When you realize that the love of God means that God already did to Jesus what he should have done to you because of what you did to him the fear of the Lord is no longer being scared of God. It is being terrified to ever be outside of his protection.

- Fear comes to stop somebody who God has called to do something before they ever get the opportunity to do it. Your fear isn't an indication that you won't do anything great for God, it's actually a sign that the enemy is threatened by you. If you ever get free of your fear, you'll set others free too.

- God's love comes in and says thank you very much fear, but you can't stand here anymore. God's love turns fear out of doors! Fear, you've gotta go. You can't stop this destiny from being fulfilled anymore. God's love is greater and stronger. Fear, you are about to be kicked out!

How to Hug a Vampire Part 3

Here's part two of Pastor Steven Furtick's series, "How to Hug a Vampire." This sermon is titled, "Suck Proof Soul." I absolutely loved this sermon and have pages of notes so I'll do my best to condense it!

How to Hug a Vampire Part 3- Suck Proof Soul

Link you'll need to watch the sermon: http://www.elevationchurch.org/sermons/howtohugavampire/part3

4 Truths that Allow Jesus to Change our Lives:

1. Nobody can take what you've already given away.

2. Never write anybody off, but always watch your balance sheet. 

3. Real love doesn't leak, it overflows.

4. Don't look for people to pay you back, claim your reward from the Lord.

Notes:

- You cannot have a suck proof life, but you can have a suck proof soul.

- Example of being a "sucker:"Kids! It's possible to love someone who sucks the life right out of you.

- Living in bitterness over something you lost- it was something God wanted you to surrender fromt he beginning

  - Jesus offered himself, nobody killed him. What seemed to be murder was a sacrifice. 

- If we'll be like Jesus we dont have to walk around with dead expectations, we'll bury our expectations of others in the ground. God will resurrect those expectations and give us more through his Spirit than any human being is capable of giving us- it's a Spiritual transition.

- You don't have to be riding shot gun to have control of your climate, you have rear control. You can choose to have peace in your heart even when you don't have peace in your home. Give God control!

- NOBODY can make YOU miserable!

- The peace you experience in your heart has very little to do with the imputes of others and everything to do with your relationship and intimacy with your heavenly Father.

- God could have and should have written me off, but he didn't. He is merciful!

- Have enough people in your life who irigate your life to offset the ones who drain your life or eventually, you're going to be dry. 

- If the withdrawls exceed deposits the overdraft is inevitable.

- We're guilty of giving the best of us to people who are not good ground. We're thinking everybody needs our love, but what they really need is God's love through us!

- He wants his love to overflow from your life because you are full of His promise. 

- More blessed than to recieve, but you have something to give and that only comes from God.

- You're serving the Lord, your inheritance comes from Him.

- Someone walks out of your life say, Lord you took them away I need you to give me somebody back because my reward comes from You. You've blessed me in so many ways. You fill me to overflowing. I don't need to depend on anybody else because he's my God, he's more than enough. He's more than enough for you today. More tan enough to meet your needs. More than enough to heal your life. More than enough to restore your soul, He's more than enough!

Bible Verses:

John 10: 17- 18

Acts 20: 33- 35

Matthew 13: 1-9

2 Timothy 4: 9-13

Matthew 14: 13- 24

John 13: 1-5

Future read: 5 Types of People by Mark Gordan

How to Hug a Vampire

Steven Furtick's church is in North Carolina so I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to watch him preach live, but I am grateful I can watch his messages online.

How to Hug a Vampire Part 1: We All Suck!

Link you'll need to watch the message: http://wwww.elevationchurch.org/sermons/howtohugavampire/part1

Notes I took out of the sermon:

- Loving the people who suck life out of you starts with realizing how much you suck too.

- It's impossible to help anyone else before embracing humility in yourself. 

- Put down the magnifying glass and pick up a mirror!

- Before you can really reach out to anybody else, you've got to define your own property lines. (Boundaries, Henry Cloud)

- You can give unconditional love without giving unrestricted access (Boundaries are Biblical)

- Can't help people who need help, can only help people who want help

  - Some people you can love long distance. Jesus needs to hug that person for you

- Certain things you can do for people and certain things you can't even though you love them and there's wisdom to help you do this. 

- *I can help you bury your burden but I CANNOT carry your load for you!

- It's not the load that breaks you down, it's how you carry it. 

- When withdrawls exceed deposits bankrupcy is inevitabe no matter how much you love them or God. There will come a time when you have nothing left to give. 

- Frustration is the gap between what I expect and what I experience.

- Lower expectations or be frustrated 24/7. Or, let God fill the gap between what you expect and what you experience and place expectation on the One who is able to wear it on His shoulders and bare it on His back, the One who died on the cross.

Bible Verses:

Romans 12: 9- 18

Romans 7: 21- 25

Romans 5:8

1 Timothy 1:15-16

Matthew 7: 1- 5

Boundaries are Biblical: Psalm 1:1, Proverbs 4:23, Matthew 16:18, Matthew 18: 15- 17, Titus 3:10 Galatians 6: 1-5

If you watch the sermon, leave a comment telling me what hit you the hardest.

God Bless!