A little Dream (and a little faith) goes a long way...

I have had a pretty emotional couple of weeks and as I sort through my thoughts I wanted to bring you along this crazy little world that I live in.

It started around January of this year.

I was invited to a corporate meeting for the Internet Sales Directors of all of Raycom's TV stations, on January 24-26th. I met a lot of the people responsible for overseeing the budgets for the internet and how the website content helps the actual on-air element at KPLC. It was interesting and of course I never just listen, I talked and shared ideas and got to know a couple of the head dudes at Raycom Media. Never in my wildest imaginations did I think at that time that I was being prepared to take over the Internet Sales Director position... but that's just how God works...

Anyway, when I came back from the seminar my boss told me that I had made a good impression on the corporate guys and that he thought about me as far as a general sales managers' position opening in another market. I was flattered by the suggestion and I hadn't thought of moving out of the market, but then I know how God works and I didn't discount the idea. I took it to the Lord and this is what I want to share with you that has been revealed to me over a period of 7 months.

Dana was doing a lesson for the college department for the 5th Sunday Gathering on the 31st and he was reading out of Hebrews 4... where the word of God is alive and active... it cuts to the quick and speaks to us... I was meditating on those words and as I read a little further down in Hebrews 5:4 these words jumped off the page at me... No one can exalt himself to a position of honor... but it is the Lord who promotes you... (My paraphrase because this is what I interpreted from the Lord) Okay Lord, this is timely I thought. Even though I had not thought of the promotion on my own, I was listening to the still small voice that was guiding me down this path.

The next thing that happened is a meeting of the corporate dudes here in Lake Charles where we discussed the launching of KPLC Connections to some of the very guys that I had met in January. Another divine set up in my mind.

March offered another sign of God's guidance in a breakthrough for me with words from Psalm 109:8 ...May his days be few may another take his place of leadership...This came on a day that was very emotional for one of my managers. I didn't know what this meant at the time and I thought okay God, what are you doing here?

I'm feeling the pull of going into leadership, I just didn't know what direction God was leading me in. Now it's May and my general manager announced that someone else in the station would be the new Director of KPLC Connections, which is basically what I've been responsible for over the last 2 years so needless to say, I was a little shocked... I mean, what does that mean for me? Right?

But less than a hour later, Cecile announced that she and Bert were going to get married and she was going to leave Lake Charles and move to New York... this happened at the same time... Perfect timing... and needless to say... the job details for her job has been worked out with my management and they worked it out with Corporate that I didn't even have to compete for the job. They didn't have to post the position on the Raycom Media site that would allow other Internet Sales Directors to apply if they wanted to... It all worked out in perfect timing for me to be ready to step into this position. A position that would start on August 27th... which is also the same date as the closing on the house... Which is a whole 'nother story and thing that has been going on in my life since January...

Abundant living... not being afraid of change... inviting the unknown into your life to allow a little dreaming to occur... Dreams I didn't even know I was dreaming but God was placing in my heart. He brought it to pass... It just brings the passage back to mind that started me on this path... Hebrews 5:4... No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God...

When God brings you to it, he'll bring you through it...

I'll let you know how it goes with the transition... I'm just living in obedience to the word of God and letting him direct my steps... Hope this offers a little hope to someone today who is a little lost as far as what direction you are going. Just trust and obey...

Loving Life,
Lea Anne

Want to know why your Prayers won't get off the ground?

Isaiah 58

Wonder Why Your Prayers Won't Get Off the Ground?

1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what's wrong with their lives,
face my family Jacob with their sins!
They're busy, busy, busy at worship,
and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people—
law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?'
and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
'Why do we fast and you don't look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?'

The Bottom Line

3-5"Well, here's why:
"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit.
You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
won't get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after:
a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
a fast day that I, God, would like?

This is the kind of fast day I'm after:

6-9 to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,

being available to your own families.
(knock, knock, as I was hit upon the forehead)

Do this and the lights will turn on,

and your lives will turn around at once.

Your righteousness will pave your way.

The God of glory will secure your passage.

Then when you pray, God will answer.

You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go.

I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

You will rebuild those houses
left in ruins for years;

You'll be known as those who can fix anything,

restore old ruins,

rebuild and renovate,

make the community livable again.

This is straight from scripture and I can't tell you how refreshed I feel as I read these words. I have a word from God after months of seeking his face. Of asking for answered prayer. Months of trusting and waiting and trying to remain faithful to his will. And he answered after I came to a place of brokenness in my life that I cried out to him in earnestness and with full surrender to the things that I had been trying to control in my life. He had the control the whole time and all he wanted was for me to let go of it.

MAN, what a relief to know I don't have to wonder. I have heard from God and now it is just a matter of time that He will bring it to pass. I can boldly proclaim the word I received and speak it as if it were already in existence. We will sell this house and the plans he has for us to renovate and rebuild one that has been in ruins for over 5 years, he will give us... I just have to wait on his perfect timing and for the people he has waiting to buy our house here. God's WILL will prevail. It just so happens to be my will as well because he placed the desire in my heart. I didn't have it before but because I truly wanted to walk in his path for me, I asked him to give me the desire that he wanted for me and that's what it was... Now I just have to move toward that gift...

More to come as this unfolds...

I love when I hear from the Lord and will gladly give him praise for it as long as I live... Thank you, Jesus...

LeaAnne

PS. As a reminder of what happened this day when I wrote this, we had a couple come see our house at 5pm this day, then come back for a second look on Friday, and they contracted our house that weekend. We closed on this Tuesday August 10th 3 weeks after the first look. Amazing Lord what you do in your perfect timing. Help me to always remember that you are always at work behind the scenes.

Be thankful for your spouse...

My heart is so tender right now and I've had such a time of self-reflection over the last few days. Being vulnerable is very uncomfortable. It can be scary because by baring my soul, it may open me up to circumspect. It could cast doubts on my character. It could cause someone to question my walk. But I know that if I don't look deep into myself and view me as God views me, that I will never truly grow. I don't want to stay the same in my Christian life. I want to go deeper and wider with Christ. But that stretching... that pulling at my guts... that growth spurt... It hurts...

Most of my pain has been as a result of major conviction from one sentence in Church on Sunday...

There should be no secrets in a marriage

Doesn't sound threatening... doesn't really seem to be scary at all when you speak it... but was. it. ever! the earthquake of emotion that I didn't see coming. A simple statement, but sometimes the most simplest of statement are the most convicting and life-changing. I have had a little bit of yuck in my past. And there is a limitation of opening up about the yuck that lies under the surface. I'm not needing confession therapy here, but I do have a few secrets in my past. Things that weren't beneficial to talk about. They wouldn't benefit anyone so I kept them to myself... But now I know that going deeper into where my heart is means digging out the yucky parts.

And that statement...

There should be no secrets in a marriage.

It shook me a little to say the least. I don't want to go into detail and maybe one day I will, but right now I'm too tender. I'll just say that we should always be thankful for our spouses. We should always treat them with the respect and honor due them. We shouldn't take them for granted because it could be so easy to lose them. Someone else could come in and steal them away without either one of you realizing it. It could happen so easily...

Breathe...

Pray...

Praise...

Be Thankful...

I am so in love with my husband and just want to shout it to the whole world. I want to encourage you to do the same with your spouse.

Love him... Laugh with him... spend time with him... have fun with him...invest in him... encourage him... dote on him... seduce him... woo him... praise him... cherish him... allow him to lead you... submit to him... don't ever give up on him... tell him how much he means to you and how thankful you are for him.

Only you can do that... that honor and privilege is yours to give... Don't waste the opportunity to share your life with him. Don't just live with him... abide in him... hold him close and never let him go...

Hearing things about ourselves that seem hurtful at the time can really be a good thing if we turn that pain into a self-reflection and learn from it and grow into a better, deeper person. Someone who will encourage those around them and build them up and become the person that we are created to be. But only if we dig a little deeper and unearth some of the yuck and face things about ourselves that aren't pleasant... Then we can truly be free...

I love you, Dana, and I'm thankful for the little reminder that you are my best friend... I look forward to a lifetime of tomorrow's with you.
Love,
your wife...

Summer Siesta Bible Study... Ruth...

I've just finished the first week's lessons of Kelly Minter's Bible Study... Ruth. I am loving it and already have learned some interesting things that I didn't know about the book of Ruth. This is a special season in my life where I feel like I'm just where I'm supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Waiting on the next thing to happen in my life, but all in all feeling pretty stable.
That is not the case in a few of my friends lives. This week I have encountered three women who are at a loss as to what to do with their lives. Their marriages. Their jobs... My heart goes out to them.

This statement from the bible study just keeps coming to my mind as if it's my duty to meditate on it. It's a quote from Matthew Henry reminding us that fleeing our circumstances doesn't necessarily remedy them. "It is our wisdom to make the best of that which is, for it is seldom that changing our place is mending it."

I think this verse means that even if we find ourselves in a situation that seems hopeless, or desperate, or completely wasting our time, that we should learn to make the best of it. That changing the situation isn't going to fix the problem... Because, honestly, the problem we have with anything, be it another a person, a situation, a marriage, a job, a child, a sibling, a co-worker, a whatever, the problem is OURS... It's not anyone else's... And even if we leave that "thing" that we think is causing all our grief, we really don't leave it, because the problem is IN us... Unless we resolve the issue that we have a problem with in our own hearts and minds, we will always have the problem...

Honestly, if we leave one situation, chances are we'd just find fault in another situation as soon as we got involved because again, the problem is IN us.

We must choose to humble ourselves and lean not on our own understanding of things. Let God be in control of our comings and our goings. We have to turn to God for our daily bread. We have to seek him for our paths. Willful disobedience is a scary thing. It is choosing to not surrender to the Lord. It is trying to do things in your own might.. by your own willpower. God says that nothing is impossibly for him, and that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me... But it all must be done through Christ... Through a daily dependence upon Him. Oh, for those who struggle with depending on Jesus... If you only knew that there was FREEDOM through OBEDIENCE... It is for our blessed freedom that we learn to depend on Jesus...

It's not just enough to know God's will, but we must DO God's will. We must actually follow him along the path he has laid out for us. The Bible Study gave two examples of men who wept and was asked to do the will of God. One did it and the other didn't... Paul in Acts 20:22, 34-36 knew God was leading him to Jerusalem where he may have to suffer tribulation and possibly jail... but he went... The other example was the Rich man in Mark 10:17-22. Jesus asked him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, and then come follow him, but the man wept because he had a lot of money and loved his money more than God... He walked away from what he knew the Lord wanted him to do... Willful Disobedience... What a scary place to be in... This is where the hardening of the heart comes into play... Once we start saying no to God, our hearts will become harder and harder to hear his voice and to do his will... Oh, my friends... listen and head the voice of God today. Turn from the path of selfishness, and thinking of only yourself, and heed the voice of the Lord... Let him love you into the fullness of his righteousness and surrender your heart to him today.

Oh what peace we often forfeit because we don't trust and obey...

What a lesson for me through the book of Ruth... I can't wait to see what God is going to do next in my life, but until then, I will fill myself up with his goodness and grace...

Until next time,
Lea Anne

40 years of the good life...

I turned 40 last week and I have to say it's been a pretty good ride so far.



I've been reflecting on the things in my life that have developed who I am...



I've decided to put a few reflections down on paper and in no certain order so that I can measure my growth in the coming years. I believe the best is yet to come and I have a lot to learn yet.



1. 19 was way too young to have a baby... but 44 seems just right to have all adult children... Perspective is important.



2. What I know about God couldn't have been told to me at an early age, I had to live it to learn it.



3. Childhood friends last a lifetime...



4. You don't have to know what your career will be when you're 13... People change and likes and dislikes change also.



5. You get out of life what you put into it.

6. Faith is only grown when you trust in something bigger than your own ability to accomplish something.

7. Prayer works!

8. Attitude is everything. Talent is just added value...

9. Live... Laugh... Love.... there's a reason this is on plaques!

10. The joy of the Lord is my strength... Nehemiah 8:10

These are just few reflections that have gotten me through the last 40 years. Important ones...

Waiting on the Lord...

http://www.chattingatthesky.com/2010/04/27/tuesdays-unwrapped-6/
I'm linking to Chatting at the Sky Tuesdays unwrapped


I am gaining a new understanding of waiting on the Lord. As I was reading in Isaiah last night I was reminded of this verse...

For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him Isaiah 64:4

I received such a gift as I meditated on these words. God WORKS for those who wait on him. I have learned before that God is always at work. He is always aligning things around the unseen so that he can lay out the path for us to walk upon. At just the right time he shows us the next step. If we are listening and watching for the Lord to act, we are always walking along the path that he has directed us toward. He asks us to walk along, trusting that he has the next thing already in place, but that next thing might take awhile to bring to pass. The fact of the matter is, do we believe that God is always at work? I believe that he is. But the rest of the scripture is what impressed me the most in my meditation... "for those of us who WAIT for Him."

How do we "wait" for the Lord?

I wait by learning more about Him. I wait by praying for others. I wait by loving others more. I wait by being still and KNOWING that he is God. I wait as I tell others about what I'm waiting on. I wait by sharing my belief that God is always at work. As I wait, I am doing... Waiting is not passive... It is actively demonstrating my faith in the Holy God working on my behalf...

I was sharing this with Keelea yesterday and she got frustrated about the house and didn't want to even talk about the showings. She said the whole thing just aggravated her. This was an opportunity to share with her how my faith was being developed as I waited. Waiting for God builds character traits in us that only faith in the Holy Spirit can do... Patience... Long-suffering... Peace... Goodness... The fruit of the spirit is developed as we Wait...

If we were given everything that we wanted without having to wait for it, how would that grow our faith? That would make our faith useless and then we would think that it all depended on us. That we could bring to pass everthing we wanted. That's not faith... That's ego... That's not scriptural, it's self-empowerment. It's not believing in the One who orchestrates our life, it's just living by our own standards... Things do just happen and life does just exist... but without faith in the ONE TRUE GOD that works for those who WAIT for HIM, our life wouldn't have the same substance. It wouldn't be as astonishing for those that don't believe. There wouldn't be any meaning to life as we know it. It would just exist.... What's the meaning in that?

Our meaning and purpose in life is to lead others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as the One TRUE savior. As the one TRUE source of life...

That's why we're here... To proclaim the goodness of God. That's what I get to do as I wait. I get to praise God for his goodness and mercy and love.

He's also been showing me about grace... That's for another post.

Go WAIT for God today and bring praise to him through your waiting...
Love
Lea Anne

Life passing by... one day at a time...

I've been thinking... or rather not thinking... I've let the whole day go by without much thought as to taking action... Taking responsibility for my tomorrow... I've just let the day pass by...

I don't like when I do that.

Life has a way of just happening without conscious thought. We don't have to even think about it and it just ticks along... second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour until you realize a whole day has been lost. That's how my today went.

I don't like when I do that.

Maybe we need a day to goof off... to not think... to not act... to just "be"...

I'm trying to grasp the meaning of why it matters so much.

What's one day to not be intentional about?

Every second counts. I get that. Every decision starts with intentional effort to change your current situation. Every day is an opportunity to do it better than the day before. To be intentional takes motivation and inspiration. It takes action.

I just have to forgive my wastefulness of today and decide to do it better tomorrow...

Only tomorrow is not guaranteed... we only have today...

I want to make the most of it...

Reflection is a good thing... It keeps us honest... It keeps us open to change... It helps us be better... Take stock of your life and decide what it is you need to do to grow...

I took a day off from life, but life keeps on ticking... I have to get back in there and remember my mission... Be intentional...

Lea Anne