Man is useless
August 17, 2011
Psalm 108:12 "Man is useless"
Read John 15 and 16
Key Takeaways:
First, He planted clarity and vision in my heart that He would use me to build a ministry for women. Within three weeks, through prayer and godly counsel, He led me to Stephanie Enders and Rippleofone.org.
Second, in this same time frame, I prayed fervently over what sort of income production I needed to pursue, and He showed me that Aflac was the answer, but clearly showed me that my husband is to lead our household and we are to live on his income. The first of October God empowered me to pass my test and receive my license. I worked part time October and November and we never missed a bill.
Third, in God's word, He showed me scripture that said, "I will give you two kingdoms". This was so early on before anything was developing and the only option that I had was to Trust in Him. The Keri in me wanted to build a utility focused marketing company, but by December, God showed me that was not His plan at all and that I needed to let go of everything that did not make me more like Jesus. The utility focused marketing business would have put me back in a world where I had wrong influences and an ego focused on me - so I laid it all at His feet. I had already spent $1500.00 on a website and branding, a very detailed business plan that drew investor attention through the Clemson SBDC, but I knew that I was not going to make the mistake again of not following His design - because outside of His design there is no complete joy. So I moved away from this work immediately. During the month of December, I took the entire month off to enjoy the Holidays, which I had never been able to do in my previous venture. I prayed and really spent time asking God for clarity and vision for Aflac, Unsworth Marketing, and Ripple of One. One week into this, my mom Lynn received a diagnosis for lung cancer. She had an Aflac policy and called and asked if I could service her claims for her during this time. Romans 8:28 - and this clearly was the sign and clarity that I needed to see that Aflac was part of God's plan for me. During this time, I began meeting with Ben Smith at the Clemson Small Business Development Center. Every meeting and daily I would pray that God would show me the opportunities that He needed for me to see. Quickly, opportunities emerged for me to focus Unsworth Marketing Group on strategic marketing planning services for small local businesses across the upstate. I was given opportunities to teach and lead workshops which are both passions of mine. As all of this emerged, it became very clear that Aflac and UMG business were clearly meant to provide me the time, capacity, and prosperity needed to fuel Ripple of One. I have not once questioned God's call for me to pour my time and resources into this ministry. By February, the Lord brought me opportunities to build an Aflac business that has received State recognition and put me in the Top 500 of 59,000 agents worldwide, and a marketing company where I get to teach and lead other professionals through divine circumstances full of meaning - brought on by God's design - creating for me business contracts with results for more than twice the amount of what I made per hour in my previous career. God is bigger than our economy FOLKS!!! Mark 9:23 - Believe and then ask - John 16. and take action Proverbs 31.
The third major clarity and vision evolved in January as we identified roles and responsibilities for Ripple of One. God called me to step away from mentoring and into fundraising and community outreach full time. By February, the Lord's favor as we were obedient to this took us into experiences where we were seeing giving, donations, and Ripplemaking increase two fold. In this economic climate, you can not question God's Hand and Power in all of this. To date, the power of Jesus Christ has Ripple well positioned to keep at least 10 families off of government assistance as we teach them God's design for their life with respect to education, health and wellness, spiritual gifts, and parenting. The greatest rewards and blessings over the last 12 months have come through the dream building and results as God's providence is revealed one day at a time as we reach out to rescue single parents that want to help themselves, and need a roadmap. Recently. we had a young lady come to us needing rehab. Single parents have to be free of addiction before they are accepted as Ripple clients. Through a partnership that God designed with Shalom House in Anderson, SC - we were able to reach out to some of our donors for Ripple and ask for the $566.00 needed to scholarship this young lady into Shalom for treatment. Two of our donors answered instantly without hesitation - THAT is the power of God. She has a three year old daughter - whose smile can light up a room. And now this three year old has a chance in life because her mother realized that God's design for her life is far better than low income housing and smoking pot all day. What a story we are going to see with this young lady!!
Fourth, many of you may not know my husband well - but one of the greatest miracles I have seen this year is happening within him. He leads our household, he is finishing his master's degree in December - FINALLY !!! and more than ever he gets on his knees before God and asks for the wisdom and power to lead our family. See, God just needed SuperKeri to get out of His way. I have no idea what God could have done had I gotten out of His way sooner - but man what an unbelievable blessing to see my husband take care of us - and have a sense of urgency to fulfill God's plan for his life. He BELIEVES that the Lord will provide Him clarity and vision that will take him into experiences ordained by His plan - and because of what he has seen happen over the last 12 months - Jon KNOWS that His plan is our only TRUE complete joy. Robert Morris tells us in his book "The Blessed Life" that people who follow and sell out to God's design for their life experience joy and completeness that billionaires envy. I can tell you that if your life is based on stock price, shareholdings, job title, paycheck, merit increases, killing the competition - or anything that you focus on of this Earth more than you do Jesus and His plan - it is your idol and you will never be fulfilled. I used to live a life everyday that was all about me. Even though I "talked the talk" and had my "quiet time" each day and prayed for joy - I was not where God called me to be. I know the difference know between experiencing joy because of man's circumstances and experiencing joy because of God's providence - and no amount of money or glamor can compare - and nothing can really matter and have the meaningfulness that comes with having clarity and vision from God with how best to use your life - and then receiving the courage to follow that clarity and vision with action. Men are useless - that is what God tells us 2,000+ years ago and FOLKS it HASNT CHANGED!!! If you are not 100% focused on Jesus and His plan - then you are serving men. If you are not lifting up your journey and receiving clarity and vision from Him for your life - and giving him everything - EVERYTHING - not meaning your possessions - but your HEART for those possessions - Jesus wants all of us! That means, when you walk to the top of the driveway and look over at your house and say "Lord, its all yours" and your car and your boat and your eating out budget, and your designer purse, and your clothes - and your time, and your energy - all your heart, all your soul, all your mind - and you take it ALL - and you lay it at His feet - and you give it ALL to him - when you have given it all to Him - you will not have one urge to try and control what happens to the presence of those 'things' in your life - you will relinquish control over to Him - and work hard - and pray hard - and let Him design what needs to be in your life.
Many of you have no idea what it meant for me to walk away from a career - and a paycheck that literally in many ways - paid for our house. We clearly knew that it was very possible that we would have to put our house on the market. And someday, may still have to. But when I tell you "everything" is everything - I mean without manipulation - without justification for "oh but this is really important to me...and God understands" ...well - here is how important to me our house is - and I stood before God and said 'everything Lord - it all belongs to you - its all yours Lord - and do with it what you will - ":
When I was 16 my parents divorced. I did not know it, but my mother was taking the child support my father was giving us $400 per month and gambling it all away at the casino. I was 16, trying to finish high school and working at Kmart so that I could buy us groceries and toilet paper. I drove a beat up blue car with a brown door on it that belonged to my mamaw for 20 years. Each day I would come home and more of our furniture would be missing. I had no idea what was going on. We lived in a townhouse since I was 9 years old -my sister and I shared a room and we lived in about 900 square feet and 400 of that was shared with my sister. I came home one afternoon to take a nap before work. Kmart was not letting me off at night until 11 or 12 and it was rough. During my nap, a stranger walks into my bedroom and tells me that my mom sold her the bed and that I needed to get up so she could put it in her truck. And so I did. And that would make twice in my life that we lost everything - once when I was 9 and again when I was 16. I did not have the luxury of a home. My mom moved from place to place and I had to stay with friends on the weekends - and most of the places my mom moved to were not fit for anyone - roofs caving in and animals everywhere. Having a home for my family you see, is everything to me, its everything that I never had - not the square footage per say - but the place of rest, safe place to fall, haven, stability and love. So for those of you that may think I did not have that much to lose - think again - because the idea of our home was worth far more to me - and a responsibility for me to provide to my family - and when I realized that it never belonged to me anyway - I knew that the Lord would show favor - because my heart was right. I was willing to give it to Him - and that is why He has given it to us. Anything, even a house, or working to pay for it, can set us apart from Him. And apart from Him we can do nothing. I fought a corporate world for 8 years that never worked for me. I was pushing doors to open that were not meant for me - because there was a call on my life to do something else. And the only reason I hung on as long as I did was because of our house and the Lake. HOW INSANE but my the power of our Earthly possessions. And I can sit before you today and tell you that I pray each day that nothing of man will ever have a hold over the clarity and vision that God designs for us to have - Ephesians 3:20.
The final awesome story to bring you up to date is this - the one bill that we have struggled to pay on time this year is my car. Through God's providence each month we are provided just enough to catch up - so a few months ago we started praying that God would show us what to do with our budget - and even prayed about putting our house on the market. God did not lead us down that path but He did tell us that he had a better plan for our car situation. We even prayed about going down to one car - but no peace there. We kept lifting it up in prayer - and we had not shared this with ANYONE. On Monday last week, my father in law called my husband and asked if we wanted his car. He is just going to give it to us. We get to sell mine - and pay off our debt. And his dad has no idea that God used him to answer needs in our life. All part of God's plan to show His glory so that others meet Jesus. I had 0 production for Aflac for going on 5 weeks. Monday, during a meeting, I just prayed that God would show me where to go and what I needed to do with my time. He put a specific business in my mind and the first thing I did when I left the meeting is went by there. I was received immediately by the HR manager of a 100+ person company - and in less than two minutes they said, "I know how awesome Aflac is. My brother has cancer and so does his wife and they sing the praises of their cancer policies. When can we enroll?" - No one can explain that other than God's ordained divine ordering of my day - because I asked and took action.
Our family is experiencing complete joy - I spend hours a day with my son. And he is awake now so I must go - !!!
XXOO
In Christ,
Keri Unsworth
Psalm 108:12 "Man is useless"
Read John 15 and 16
Key Takeaways:
- Man is useless
- God is the vine, we are the branches, apart from Him we can NOTHING
- His promise: Our joy will be complete
First, He planted clarity and vision in my heart that He would use me to build a ministry for women. Within three weeks, through prayer and godly counsel, He led me to Stephanie Enders and Rippleofone.org.
Second, in this same time frame, I prayed fervently over what sort of income production I needed to pursue, and He showed me that Aflac was the answer, but clearly showed me that my husband is to lead our household and we are to live on his income. The first of October God empowered me to pass my test and receive my license. I worked part time October and November and we never missed a bill.
Third, in God's word, He showed me scripture that said, "I will give you two kingdoms". This was so early on before anything was developing and the only option that I had was to Trust in Him. The Keri in me wanted to build a utility focused marketing company, but by December, God showed me that was not His plan at all and that I needed to let go of everything that did not make me more like Jesus. The utility focused marketing business would have put me back in a world where I had wrong influences and an ego focused on me - so I laid it all at His feet. I had already spent $1500.00 on a website and branding, a very detailed business plan that drew investor attention through the Clemson SBDC, but I knew that I was not going to make the mistake again of not following His design - because outside of His design there is no complete joy. So I moved away from this work immediately. During the month of December, I took the entire month off to enjoy the Holidays, which I had never been able to do in my previous venture. I prayed and really spent time asking God for clarity and vision for Aflac, Unsworth Marketing, and Ripple of One. One week into this, my mom Lynn received a diagnosis for lung cancer. She had an Aflac policy and called and asked if I could service her claims for her during this time. Romans 8:28 - and this clearly was the sign and clarity that I needed to see that Aflac was part of God's plan for me. During this time, I began meeting with Ben Smith at the Clemson Small Business Development Center. Every meeting and daily I would pray that God would show me the opportunities that He needed for me to see. Quickly, opportunities emerged for me to focus Unsworth Marketing Group on strategic marketing planning services for small local businesses across the upstate. I was given opportunities to teach and lead workshops which are both passions of mine. As all of this emerged, it became very clear that Aflac and UMG business were clearly meant to provide me the time, capacity, and prosperity needed to fuel Ripple of One. I have not once questioned God's call for me to pour my time and resources into this ministry. By February, the Lord brought me opportunities to build an Aflac business that has received State recognition and put me in the Top 500 of 59,000 agents worldwide, and a marketing company where I get to teach and lead other professionals through divine circumstances full of meaning - brought on by God's design - creating for me business contracts with results for more than twice the amount of what I made per hour in my previous career. God is bigger than our economy FOLKS!!! Mark 9:23 - Believe and then ask - John 16. and take action Proverbs 31.
The third major clarity and vision evolved in January as we identified roles and responsibilities for Ripple of One. God called me to step away from mentoring and into fundraising and community outreach full time. By February, the Lord's favor as we were obedient to this took us into experiences where we were seeing giving, donations, and Ripplemaking increase two fold. In this economic climate, you can not question God's Hand and Power in all of this. To date, the power of Jesus Christ has Ripple well positioned to keep at least 10 families off of government assistance as we teach them God's design for their life with respect to education, health and wellness, spiritual gifts, and parenting. The greatest rewards and blessings over the last 12 months have come through the dream building and results as God's providence is revealed one day at a time as we reach out to rescue single parents that want to help themselves, and need a roadmap. Recently. we had a young lady come to us needing rehab. Single parents have to be free of addiction before they are accepted as Ripple clients. Through a partnership that God designed with Shalom House in Anderson, SC - we were able to reach out to some of our donors for Ripple and ask for the $566.00 needed to scholarship this young lady into Shalom for treatment. Two of our donors answered instantly without hesitation - THAT is the power of God. She has a three year old daughter - whose smile can light up a room. And now this three year old has a chance in life because her mother realized that God's design for her life is far better than low income housing and smoking pot all day. What a story we are going to see with this young lady!!
Fourth, many of you may not know my husband well - but one of the greatest miracles I have seen this year is happening within him. He leads our household, he is finishing his master's degree in December - FINALLY !!! and more than ever he gets on his knees before God and asks for the wisdom and power to lead our family. See, God just needed SuperKeri to get out of His way. I have no idea what God could have done had I gotten out of His way sooner - but man what an unbelievable blessing to see my husband take care of us - and have a sense of urgency to fulfill God's plan for his life. He BELIEVES that the Lord will provide Him clarity and vision that will take him into experiences ordained by His plan - and because of what he has seen happen over the last 12 months - Jon KNOWS that His plan is our only TRUE complete joy. Robert Morris tells us in his book "The Blessed Life" that people who follow and sell out to God's design for their life experience joy and completeness that billionaires envy. I can tell you that if your life is based on stock price, shareholdings, job title, paycheck, merit increases, killing the competition - or anything that you focus on of this Earth more than you do Jesus and His plan - it is your idol and you will never be fulfilled. I used to live a life everyday that was all about me. Even though I "talked the talk" and had my "quiet time" each day and prayed for joy - I was not where God called me to be. I know the difference know between experiencing joy because of man's circumstances and experiencing joy because of God's providence - and no amount of money or glamor can compare - and nothing can really matter and have the meaningfulness that comes with having clarity and vision from God with how best to use your life - and then receiving the courage to follow that clarity and vision with action. Men are useless - that is what God tells us 2,000+ years ago and FOLKS it HASNT CHANGED!!! If you are not 100% focused on Jesus and His plan - then you are serving men. If you are not lifting up your journey and receiving clarity and vision from Him for your life - and giving him everything - EVERYTHING - not meaning your possessions - but your HEART for those possessions - Jesus wants all of us! That means, when you walk to the top of the driveway and look over at your house and say "Lord, its all yours" and your car and your boat and your eating out budget, and your designer purse, and your clothes - and your time, and your energy - all your heart, all your soul, all your mind - and you take it ALL - and you lay it at His feet - and you give it ALL to him - when you have given it all to Him - you will not have one urge to try and control what happens to the presence of those 'things' in your life - you will relinquish control over to Him - and work hard - and pray hard - and let Him design what needs to be in your life.
Many of you have no idea what it meant for me to walk away from a career - and a paycheck that literally in many ways - paid for our house. We clearly knew that it was very possible that we would have to put our house on the market. And someday, may still have to. But when I tell you "everything" is everything - I mean without manipulation - without justification for "oh but this is really important to me...and God understands" ...well - here is how important to me our house is - and I stood before God and said 'everything Lord - it all belongs to you - its all yours Lord - and do with it what you will - ":
When I was 16 my parents divorced. I did not know it, but my mother was taking the child support my father was giving us $400 per month and gambling it all away at the casino. I was 16, trying to finish high school and working at Kmart so that I could buy us groceries and toilet paper. I drove a beat up blue car with a brown door on it that belonged to my mamaw for 20 years. Each day I would come home and more of our furniture would be missing. I had no idea what was going on. We lived in a townhouse since I was 9 years old -my sister and I shared a room and we lived in about 900 square feet and 400 of that was shared with my sister. I came home one afternoon to take a nap before work. Kmart was not letting me off at night until 11 or 12 and it was rough. During my nap, a stranger walks into my bedroom and tells me that my mom sold her the bed and that I needed to get up so she could put it in her truck. And so I did. And that would make twice in my life that we lost everything - once when I was 9 and again when I was 16. I did not have the luxury of a home. My mom moved from place to place and I had to stay with friends on the weekends - and most of the places my mom moved to were not fit for anyone - roofs caving in and animals everywhere. Having a home for my family you see, is everything to me, its everything that I never had - not the square footage per say - but the place of rest, safe place to fall, haven, stability and love. So for those of you that may think I did not have that much to lose - think again - because the idea of our home was worth far more to me - and a responsibility for me to provide to my family - and when I realized that it never belonged to me anyway - I knew that the Lord would show favor - because my heart was right. I was willing to give it to Him - and that is why He has given it to us. Anything, even a house, or working to pay for it, can set us apart from Him. And apart from Him we can do nothing. I fought a corporate world for 8 years that never worked for me. I was pushing doors to open that were not meant for me - because there was a call on my life to do something else. And the only reason I hung on as long as I did was because of our house and the Lake. HOW INSANE but my the power of our Earthly possessions. And I can sit before you today and tell you that I pray each day that nothing of man will ever have a hold over the clarity and vision that God designs for us to have - Ephesians 3:20.
The final awesome story to bring you up to date is this - the one bill that we have struggled to pay on time this year is my car. Through God's providence each month we are provided just enough to catch up - so a few months ago we started praying that God would show us what to do with our budget - and even prayed about putting our house on the market. God did not lead us down that path but He did tell us that he had a better plan for our car situation. We even prayed about going down to one car - but no peace there. We kept lifting it up in prayer - and we had not shared this with ANYONE. On Monday last week, my father in law called my husband and asked if we wanted his car. He is just going to give it to us. We get to sell mine - and pay off our debt. And his dad has no idea that God used him to answer needs in our life. All part of God's plan to show His glory so that others meet Jesus. I had 0 production for Aflac for going on 5 weeks. Monday, during a meeting, I just prayed that God would show me where to go and what I needed to do with my time. He put a specific business in my mind and the first thing I did when I left the meeting is went by there. I was received immediately by the HR manager of a 100+ person company - and in less than two minutes they said, "I know how awesome Aflac is. My brother has cancer and so does his wife and they sing the praises of their cancer policies. When can we enroll?" - No one can explain that other than God's ordained divine ordering of my day - because I asked and took action.
Our family is experiencing complete joy - I spend hours a day with my son. And he is awake now so I must go - !!!
XXOO
In Christ,
Keri Unsworth
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