Don't go Jonah!
August 1, 2011
Yes, it has been since March since my last post. I can tell each of you that the last 9 months "have been filled with divine coincidences" and heavenly meaning (28 Morris The Blessed Life). God has shown favor on Ripple of One Ministries, Unsworth Marketing Group, LLC., and my Aflac business. I will update you on all of these at the end of this post.
I just returned from 5 days in Daytona Florida serving the youth ministry at NewSpring Church. (www.newspring.cc) One of the greatest movements in our history is about to take place and our youth are definitely going to be leading the way! But what was just as amazing, is the work that the Lord did in my life, as a leader, to continue to change me even more so that I can pursue His design for my life.
The first Monday session, Perry Noble, preached on running from God. As a person involved in ministry daily, my first inclination was to think, "This is not for me. I am good!". But as I prayed before service that God would open my eyes and help me see what He needs for me to hear. And believe me, God always answers that prayer!
"Running from God ALWAYS leads to regret in life". I think one of Satan's most powerful vehicles is the action of prayer - because we build a false confidence - we get prideful - when we know that we are "praying" we often validate our choices because of our action of prayer, but the truth is we really have not HEARD from God and they are not God ordained choices. I realized that I may still be running from God on this call to ministry. The story of Jonah tells us where that running gets you and so I took a long hard look at my choices over the last 9 months. I realized that because my businesses are successful and I have lifted them up in prayer that they are both what God has for me. Like a ton of bricks, reality hit me that I have not been giving God my first everyday and lifting up in prayer that He show me what makes me more like Him - and what of all of this truly is His plan - and is not about career, ambition, money, our house, my ego, etc. See, in this tough economic climate, I just thought since I am doing so well that it MUST be God because how else can you explain it. Oh, AND, I pray everyday over every business client and planning that God show favor. But is this really following Him? I walked away from Itron and gave Him everything. If I am to stay completely sold out to His design for my life - then I have to ask Him if both of these businesses are His design - or is it more Keri's desires. Man, that is tough! The time and energy to build successful companies would be insanely hard to let go of - but the truth is I know - KNOW - I have heard Him call me to ministry. Last Monday at Daytona I started praying over this. I felt God tugging hard and pulling me towards more prayer time over this to really HEAR Him answer. On Tuesday, I was hugely blessed with a new friendship and we spent some time on the beach. She was sharing with me and ministering to me without even knowing it. God put her right there with the words he needed me to hear. I was telling her about the journey the last 9 months, and she asked, "How are doing 2 businesses and a ministry?" I could not answer because I KNOW that really I can not sustain this and keep God's priorities for my life. So I told her to pray for me because I feel I am at a crossroads and God is shaping up a new direction out of all of this. She shared that her husband was called to ministry, quit his job, and has received a second opportunity to pursue an internship in a position that he is clearly gifted for. They had to make ALOT of financial adjustments to make this work and now her husband is wondering if he should get a job to help them have a little bit more. Then she dropped a bomb on me and said, "I believe that God lays out in scripture that once you are called to ministry then you stay put or otherwise you are running from Him because of our desire for "stuff"...". I knew that the Lord put me in her path and gave her those words to help guide me and answer my prayer. Wait! It gets better so keep reading.
As a leader, we are assigned 3 girls to our rooms. When I heard God call me to go on the Gauntlet during church service, I argued for a while. I was like, "No you don't mean me. I have a 2 year old and I have never left him that long. Lord I quit my career to never have to leave him for that long and travel away from my family." And for the next three weeks every day He said to me, "Keri, everything you have belongs to me. Even your family. I come first and I will show favor in your obedience to this call, but you need to trust me. James belongs to me. Jon belongs to me. You need to trust me". Once I filled out the application and had my interview, Satan threw one thing after another on our family to keep me questioning what I was doing. I had no idea - NO CLUE - why God was calling me to this trip. The day I got on the bus and met my girls - it was instantly clear. All three of my sweet girls are in a group home - property of DSS. Their parents are the ones that we build RippleOfOne to save and rescue - and had Ripple of One found their parents years ago, they would not be in this group home. I was astounded at God's power to design this trip and place those girls with me - out of 450 leaders - they were given to me. I quickly became overwhelmed by the awesomeness that God trusted me as their leader - to spend five days building good soil to firmly plant their feet on. He broke my heart for children in their circumstances and showed me the sense of urgency and need we have as the Body of Christ to teach these children that God is a father to the fatherless as He commands in Isaiah 1.
THEY SAW JESUS!!!!
During our first quiet time, God just kept pounding at me Jeremiah 29:11. I did not understand this because none of our session notes or message topics really focused on that, but it has always been my favorite verse. And God also pulled us to have a quiet time before service which was not really "scheduled" but I obeyed even though they were not real excited about reading scripture and praying before the real series had even kicked off. During this time, One of my girls shared that she did not believe she really understood salvation and we made that the goal prayer for her - that by Friday she would understand and receive Christ. We got up, walked into service. The message that night Perry threw out alot that I know was really hitting home with my girls. And then out of nowhere, he drops Jeremiah 29:11. WOW - it was like God was speaking just to them. And sure enough, the one that needed to receive Christ recognized the opportunity and came forward. She said she thought God put that in Perry's message just for her so how could she ignore it? Follow the rest of the story to find out at the end how God used His word and this verse again for them to see Jesus.
Part II: Clarity and Vision for God
Some things need to fade in our lives and others need to grow. Culture does not bring us clarity. Are your decisions governed by culture or by scripture? In Isaiah 6 we see God's word for value and vision. Brad Cooper threw out the question, "Have you SEEN God?" How essential is Jesus Christ in your life? How much do you see Him in everything that you are doing? After reading Ezekiel 1:28 and 2:1 and 2, I started to add to Monday's prayer over God's design for my life and ask God to really SHOW me - that I could see - through providing me godly counsel and divine circumstances what needs to fade and what needs to grow in my life and to show my girls the same thing.
HIS ANSWER for me:
Yes, it has been since March since my last post. I can tell each of you that the last 9 months "have been filled with divine coincidences" and heavenly meaning (28 Morris The Blessed Life). God has shown favor on Ripple of One Ministries, Unsworth Marketing Group, LLC., and my Aflac business. I will update you on all of these at the end of this post.
I just returned from 5 days in Daytona Florida serving the youth ministry at NewSpring Church. (www.newspring.cc) One of the greatest movements in our history is about to take place and our youth are definitely going to be leading the way! But what was just as amazing, is the work that the Lord did in my life, as a leader, to continue to change me even more so that I can pursue His design for my life.
The first Monday session, Perry Noble, preached on running from God. As a person involved in ministry daily, my first inclination was to think, "This is not for me. I am good!". But as I prayed before service that God would open my eyes and help me see what He needs for me to hear. And believe me, God always answers that prayer!
"Running from God ALWAYS leads to regret in life". I think one of Satan's most powerful vehicles is the action of prayer - because we build a false confidence - we get prideful - when we know that we are "praying" we often validate our choices because of our action of prayer, but the truth is we really have not HEARD from God and they are not God ordained choices. I realized that I may still be running from God on this call to ministry. The story of Jonah tells us where that running gets you and so I took a long hard look at my choices over the last 9 months. I realized that because my businesses are successful and I have lifted them up in prayer that they are both what God has for me. Like a ton of bricks, reality hit me that I have not been giving God my first everyday and lifting up in prayer that He show me what makes me more like Him - and what of all of this truly is His plan - and is not about career, ambition, money, our house, my ego, etc. See, in this tough economic climate, I just thought since I am doing so well that it MUST be God because how else can you explain it. Oh, AND, I pray everyday over every business client and planning that God show favor. But is this really following Him? I walked away from Itron and gave Him everything. If I am to stay completely sold out to His design for my life - then I have to ask Him if both of these businesses are His design - or is it more Keri's desires. Man, that is tough! The time and energy to build successful companies would be insanely hard to let go of - but the truth is I know - KNOW - I have heard Him call me to ministry. Last Monday at Daytona I started praying over this. I felt God tugging hard and pulling me towards more prayer time over this to really HEAR Him answer. On Tuesday, I was hugely blessed with a new friendship and we spent some time on the beach. She was sharing with me and ministering to me without even knowing it. God put her right there with the words he needed me to hear. I was telling her about the journey the last 9 months, and she asked, "How are doing 2 businesses and a ministry?" I could not answer because I KNOW that really I can not sustain this and keep God's priorities for my life. So I told her to pray for me because I feel I am at a crossroads and God is shaping up a new direction out of all of this. She shared that her husband was called to ministry, quit his job, and has received a second opportunity to pursue an internship in a position that he is clearly gifted for. They had to make ALOT of financial adjustments to make this work and now her husband is wondering if he should get a job to help them have a little bit more. Then she dropped a bomb on me and said, "I believe that God lays out in scripture that once you are called to ministry then you stay put or otherwise you are running from Him because of our desire for "stuff"...". I knew that the Lord put me in her path and gave her those words to help guide me and answer my prayer. Wait! It gets better so keep reading.
As a leader, we are assigned 3 girls to our rooms. When I heard God call me to go on the Gauntlet during church service, I argued for a while. I was like, "No you don't mean me. I have a 2 year old and I have never left him that long. Lord I quit my career to never have to leave him for that long and travel away from my family." And for the next three weeks every day He said to me, "Keri, everything you have belongs to me. Even your family. I come first and I will show favor in your obedience to this call, but you need to trust me. James belongs to me. Jon belongs to me. You need to trust me". Once I filled out the application and had my interview, Satan threw one thing after another on our family to keep me questioning what I was doing. I had no idea - NO CLUE - why God was calling me to this trip. The day I got on the bus and met my girls - it was instantly clear. All three of my sweet girls are in a group home - property of DSS. Their parents are the ones that we build RippleOfOne to save and rescue - and had Ripple of One found their parents years ago, they would not be in this group home. I was astounded at God's power to design this trip and place those girls with me - out of 450 leaders - they were given to me. I quickly became overwhelmed by the awesomeness that God trusted me as their leader - to spend five days building good soil to firmly plant their feet on. He broke my heart for children in their circumstances and showed me the sense of urgency and need we have as the Body of Christ to teach these children that God is a father to the fatherless as He commands in Isaiah 1.
THEY SAW JESUS!!!!
During our first quiet time, God just kept pounding at me Jeremiah 29:11. I did not understand this because none of our session notes or message topics really focused on that, but it has always been my favorite verse. And God also pulled us to have a quiet time before service which was not really "scheduled" but I obeyed even though they were not real excited about reading scripture and praying before the real series had even kicked off. During this time, One of my girls shared that she did not believe she really understood salvation and we made that the goal prayer for her - that by Friday she would understand and receive Christ. We got up, walked into service. The message that night Perry threw out alot that I know was really hitting home with my girls. And then out of nowhere, he drops Jeremiah 29:11. WOW - it was like God was speaking just to them. And sure enough, the one that needed to receive Christ recognized the opportunity and came forward. She said she thought God put that in Perry's message just for her so how could she ignore it? Follow the rest of the story to find out at the end how God used His word and this verse again for them to see Jesus.
Part II: Clarity and Vision for God
Some things need to fade in our lives and others need to grow. Culture does not bring us clarity. Are your decisions governed by culture or by scripture? In Isaiah 6 we see God's word for value and vision. Brad Cooper threw out the question, "Have you SEEN God?" How essential is Jesus Christ in your life? How much do you see Him in everything that you are doing? After reading Ezekiel 1:28 and 2:1 and 2, I started to add to Monday's prayer over God's design for my life and ask God to really SHOW me - that I could see - through providing me godly counsel and divine circumstances what needs to fade and what needs to grow in my life and to show my girls the same thing.
HIS ANSWER for me:
- Prayer for His plan in my husband's life needs to grow
- Prayer for my husbands vision and focus to be on HIM
- God needs for me to see which things need to grow and which things need to fade - I just need to pray that and take action- of all that I am doing, what is essential to being a disciple for Him?
- Without a doubt, I know that I am called to ministry full time - and I am clearly running from God on that one with these companies I am running - so now I need to pray for clarity and vision from Him on this
- Once I realized #4, I immediately started praying for God to build opportunities for my husband, His vision, for my husband's life that would allow for me to pursue His plan and for us to shave off and let fade the things that are holding us back in our marriage and household. Was I working so hard to keep us in our house? How is that any different than where I was in my corporate career? God REALLY opened my eyes. You see, before I left for Gauntlet I was working over 80 hours a week for about 4 weeks. I was starting to get drained and I realized that our life and family dynamic was starting to look alot like what God had already called me to change. Was I regressing because I believed I was on His plan but really still idolizing competition, success, ambition, - things that are all about me? I knew instantly that God is big enough to build leadership and financial opportunity in my husband that would allow for me to pursue His plan full time - and that I had never prayed that because I have been running from it - and too afraid to TOTALLY let go - as the breadwinner. And God took it all away as I prayed more and more that we would work out what we need to work out for His plan and not our own.
RESULTS:- While I was on my knees in prayer every day at the Gauntlet, my husband was experiencing overwhelming desires to follow up on some opportunities that had come his way while I was gone. He felt strongly pulled to take action and MAN UP!!! When he shared his story with me of what God did in his heart the week I was gone, it moved me to tears because we were both SEEING Him! Part of God's plan for me to take this trip had nothing to do with me leading these girls, but everything to do with our marriage and God's plan for Jon's life. I was so incredibly blown away.
- Another divine meaningful circumstance is that when I got home, my ministry partner called and shared with me that a very generous giver has stepped forward for Ripple of One and wants to explore opportunities to offer us operating budget - which could cover salaries. This was very surreal - and impossible to explain outside the divine powerful HAND OF GOD! Everything that I felt God pulling me toward - which is to let go of all this extra marketing "Keri" work and go for it in the ministry - was just confirmed. God is definitely working that all out.
- AND one of my girls that I was leading has a mother that we can probably help through Ripple of One ministries - that could be a large reason why God appointed me as their leader - to help her mother
Okay, so I know this is a long post - but imagine experiencing all of this in a week. WHEW! God is good. But I am still not done yet with sharing what God did at the Gauntlet...Tuesday night I took my girls to eat at Johnny Rocket's following a sermon from Perry that was about getting rid of what you love more than God. Of course, for many girls, that idol is a boy that is no where close to God's best for them. As we were leaving the restaurant, God told me to ask the waitress how I could pray for her. I did not want to do this - because I did not even know her. As I got closer to the door - I really felt God scream at me that I better not leave without doing it. So I did. I said, "Maggie, how can I pray for you?" She started to cry. She said, "I am in a bad relationship and I have been going to church for a little while now since last summer and I know I need to break it off, but I just can't seem to do it." My girls were blown away at how they were seeing Jesus work in people that we did not even know because we were obedient. We invited Maggie to attend services the next night which were going to be on dating. Folks that is no coincidence! To get Maggie approved and into the service, we had to find security. We only had a few minutes before curfew and we had no phone numbers and had no idea how we were going to coordinate this in time to get her the info before she left the restaurant. We hurried into the hotel and God put one of NewSpring's security people right smack in front of us. It was incredible. And mind you, there was not anyone else from NewSpring in the lobby because it was almost time for lights out. God worked that out. We rushed back to the restaurant and told Maggie where to go and who to see to get checked in. She had written down the name of our church, my name, and the verse I wrote for her on the receipt - Jeremiah 29:11. Maggie will never be the same because she saw Jesus reach down for her through complete strangers.
God continued to move in us the entire week - to get rid of distractions and anything that narrows our focus on Jesus. That could be Facebook, technology, boys, and even our own families!! Not one youth walked away without knowing that it is ESSENTIAL in our life that we SEE Jesus! Full satisfaction only comes - Psalm 17:15 - through seeing Jesus. You and I will become whatever we behold - and it is real easy to see in your life what you behold. How much time do you spend on things? Write it out. Make categories and assign percentages. I can GUARANTEE you that you are not praying and building disciples as much as you are your # of friends on your facebook page or your video games. Seeking God's best for you is what life is really about. All of us...ALL OF US... every single one of us will SEE Him in all His glory one day REVELATION 6: 15-17 - will you fall at your feet with joy and admiration - or will you go hide because you are ashamed that you never knew him. - While I was on my knees in prayer every day at the Gauntlet, my husband was experiencing overwhelming desires to follow up on some opportunities that had come his way while I was gone. He felt strongly pulled to take action and MAN UP!!! When he shared his story with me of what God did in his heart the week I was gone, it moved me to tears because we were both SEEING Him! Part of God's plan for me to take this trip had nothing to do with me leading these girls, but everything to do with our marriage and God's plan for Jon's life. I was so incredibly blown away.
- 1 John 3 - The more clearly we follow Christ the more we will be like him. WHOSE WE ARE LEADS TO WHO WE ARE!!
- Romans 15:4-6 - Take personal responsibility for knowing the TRUTH and APPLYING IT - seeking God's glory
- Psalm 115 - THIS LIFE IS NOT ABOUT US !!!!
- Ephesians 2 and 3 - When you follow Him with all of your heart, your strength, your spirit, and your mind - you are GUARANTEED to be loved like Him
- Obedience to God even when its hard leads to the blessings of God - I do not know exactly what Jon and I will have to let go of, but I am sure what God lays on our hearts that we are physically attached to - whether its our house - or our jobs - or our time - is going to be hard letting what He calls us to shave off fade from our lives. BUT - satisfaction is achieved and promised!
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