WEEK 2: Crazy love challenge...SMALL steps...

how many times have you asked for the strength and faith to take a small step toward a goal; breaking a habit, learning something new, getting to know someone, mending a relationship... there are SO many things that we as human beings would love to be/do but we can be overwhelmed with "self"...
our internal dialogue might go something like this...

"that's not my gift, i'm not talented in that area (music, art, communication, interpersonal relationships...)"

"but i've lived in this neighborhood for 20 some odd years, i'm gonna start talking to my neighbors now?? they'll think i'm really strange/odd/weird... "crazy"...hmmm..."

"every time i talk to them i feel like an idiot, they either patronize me or they cut me off, what do i do with that?"

these are all very valid reasons to not do something, to not try, to stay in the same spot... BUT what has God been saying to you in your 10 minutes of focus time this past week?? i'm sure, (like me) you have been hearing something pretty persistently in your ear and in your heart... what keeps coming back into your mind like a merry-go-round... what keeps repeating that God won't let you NOT hear... yep, we can ignore it? but we can also start with small steps... little things...

moses didn't think that he was a communicator (at ALL) yet he was asked to lead a whole bunch of people through a wilderness for forty years... God gave him the tools to be a leader, moses didn't really start out that way:)

maybe you've been wanting an opportunity to talk with a neighbor that you might see several times a week as you put out your trash bins...now follow me on this... lift up your hand, put it in the air, look at said neighbor, wiggle your fingers and say "hi"... it's a start... a small step...no, you don't have to present the gospel to them right there at the curb with your hand on your recycled trash bin... but you can do something...

lastly, this is a hard one, and maybe not something that is pressing on your heart or mind? but maybe it is... a broken or bruised relationship... something that has really taken a beating... small step? be the first one to open the door to communication, once more a simple "hi" can be a beginning...

prayer is a powerful thing, and God is opening all sorts of doors inside of you if you allow Him to make you aware...

i want to leave you with a little bit of a small step "vision"...

how many of you remember "indiana jones and the last crusade" (spoiler alert if you have never seen this movie...!!)

i will often think of a particular scene (many of you probably already know where i'm headed with this...) where indiana's father (a beautiful codger role played by sean connery, you gotta love it...) has been shot and indiana in order to save him must accomplish some tasks to encounter the holy grail which will save his father's life... the particular moment that i envision is when indiana is in a large cavern with no apparent way to get from one side to other without plummeting to his death, literally closes his eyes and takes one small step into what he presumes to be thin air... with the first step the optical illusion of rocks that create a bridge to the other side of the cavern to obtain the holy grail? is clearly marked and he makes his way across (of course throwing a bit of sandy rock across it to make it clear for the way back....oh indy...you're SO brilliant... or at least your writers did a great job...)... of course indy did this to save his father's life and this is completely fictional but i LOVE the graphic illustration of taking a small step of faith...

what is your small step? what will you do this week that takes you one step closer to what God is calling you to do??
close your eyes, put your hand over your heart, take a breath and step out...

2 Corinthians 5:7 for we walk by faith not by sight...

just checking in: crazy love week one challenge PRAYER

i realize i'm a day early in checking in with all of us that raised our collective facebook thumbs in agreement to get up 10 minutes early and pray daily to ask God "what do you want me to do??" but i'm kind of excited due to some vague "niggles" that have been stirred in my heart and mind due to this daily practice.... i must admit, i did NOT succeed in actually waking up the deadly ten minutes earlier in the past six days (too many nightly interruptions from my dear puppy, sweetpea... who knew that thunder and lightning could constitute such a shaking mass of fur?...poor thing...) anyway, i did manage to carve out the 10 minutes of complete quiet and distraction free time to devote specifically to our question...i am amazed at how LONG and how SHORT ten minutes can be when i am attempting to focus solely on God and truly try to listen to Him...it all seems so quiet...but, this is what i learned...

a. if something keeps coming back to my mind continually? God is in it... whether it is something i'm being convicted about? or it's something i should be doing (or not doing) God is in it...

b. if i sit there long enough? my mind does slowly begin to focus around the edges...(sometimes it's reallllly slow...)

c. time with God is never wasted:)

now, in this past week God has called me to step out in a manner of ways that i never dreamed possible... He has asked me to mend personal fences that i thought were beyond the realm of possibility to mend...humbling yes, and i would like to say that they mended beautifully? but God isn't finished with this little home repair project apparently...He has also asked timmy and i to look more carefully at our finances and our time management...where are we spending these precious commodities? on frivolous "things" and "shtuff"?? or sitting in front of a television set that is spewing out negative words, thoughts and ideas and invading our own conscious actions... once again, this is a process...i would love to share with all of you that i have miraculously been able to give a TON of our $$ to the poor and that i don't fall asleep to the glow of a t.v. every night... but God is helping me to make steps, some have been small, some a bit more like falling off a cliff;)...

i love that quote "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step..."


so what steps are being whispered in your ear by a patient and persistent God who wants the best for you??
what tugging on your heart and soul is being so insistent that to ignore it is almost a physical impossibility??

new challenge coming up tomorrow:) get ready!!


3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Take delight in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37 3 & 4