Purpose, passion, Life

What is your purpose in life? Why are you on this earth? The daily stresses of life keep us in this box that says I must pay my bills, get a diploma, find a career, get married, have kids, support my family... Whoa! slow down. Yes those are all awesome things we should set a goal for, but why are we living? Is it to accomplish a list and then die? I would love to hear your ideas. Just thinking about it though, we are breathing to glorify God, to bring His Kingdom to earth. We immerse ourselves in His Word and focus on growing in our faith. We find where He is working around us and we join Him. That's where our true success will take place because all things are possible with Him. We must join God's active work not expect Him to join our agenda.

Something to consider: when thinking about work and what we want to do in life, I've always used the concept "what would I do for free?" What do you find yourself doing, thinking about, and planning in your spare time? Where do you feel God is placing you in the moment? What is your role when it comes to people and serving in God's Kingdom? Think about what you like to do for others and receive nothing in return. Where is your heart and what are you constantly wanting to see change or enhance? 

For example, I constantly think about the youth in our age. I see kids and hear stories and want to see them loved and feel secure. I recently started working with a business that uses nature and outdoor guided trips to enhance quality of life. I find that getting back to the simplicity of God's creation is sometimes what is needed to refresh the mind and ease stress/depression. Along with that, building community with activities and learning healthy communication among teens is so important. Social media, video games, and phones have created shallow relationships, leaving no understanding of how to trust, talk, and express. 

Another example is my cleaning business. I truly love to clean and I like to serve people. I like being able to help someone and feel that satisfaction. Yes I would even do this for free. Laugh if you want, but I find myself cleaning even in my spare time. I see my cleaning business as a ministry. If you consider your work as a ministry, it is so much more rewarding to finish the daily work and many times I forget I'm even getting paid.

These are just some examples to get your mind working, now think about what YOU could write pages about or talk about for hours or do for days on end. What is your passion? Identify it, live it, and share it!

The power of one word

Faith in Action

"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." -James 2:17


I've had people ask me about what I think about politics and if the world is headed for collapse. What do you think? I put it back in their court. How many hours a day are we bombarded with news, social media, and much of which can be gossip? I am not saying to shut yourself in a room and block out all global communications. Rather I think it is important to be aware of what is going on in our world and how things are changing throughout history. 

The important thing to recognize is how are we going to react to this information and what is our role within it. If we start to stress that the world is ending and that one person is going to make that happen, we have lost all faith. We are just a dead leaf that is blown anywhere by the wind and ultimately piles up with all the others to cause a mess. 

So what do we do? Well, what can you do? What are you passionate about? Where do you feel that action needs to be taken? And I'm not talking about walking down a street holding a sign. I'm talking about using your hands, feet, mind, and heart to make a difference. Use that energy to build programs, start support groups, or volunteer. Why are we blaming one person for making the world collapse if we are not contributing to improving society?

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” 
― Robert F. Kennedy

You will get discouraged, you will experience failure and rejection, you will want to give up. That is good, that means that something is happening! You are learning, growing, becoming stronger! Every mistake should get you more pumped to try again because now you know more than you did before. You might not see the change that come from your efforts...ever...but there is always a reaction to the action.

“It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

"Can we be optimistic about the future? What about the prediction that things will get worse before they get better? Is our obligation simply to hold on as the world collapses around us? What if we are invited to trust that God is at work in our time and that, even if we can't see whether the world is getting better or worse, we can cooperate with our Creator's agenda that we become better people who live out a legacy of love in a world desperate for healing?" -Mark Scandrette from Soul Graffiti: Making a life in the way of Jesus.

God has the ultimate power, so find where He is working and join in. He has given you the gifts to accomplish what He places before you.

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” 
― Catherine of Siena

Let's change our future

Do you feel like something is missing in life? Everything is going great but there is a feeling of disconnection and loneliness? We text our friends to see if they are still there. We post on Facebook to see if we are still liked. We post a pic on Instagram or Snapchat to let people know we are having the time of our life. But deep inside is there contentment? Is there peace and fulfillment when you wake up and face another day. Are we excited for the future? What's missing? Could it be that real physical, emotional, verbal connection that has been lost over the last 10 years with social media? Even health problems and digestive issues have exploded during this time. Do you think our deep emotional satisfaction has something to do with our digestive health. Are we stressed, depressed, removed from relationships?...Which obviously can hurt one's health. Please watch this video!! I cried because it brought back memories of the love my grandparents had. And the relationships that they could build and treasure with others. It's a love I don't see anymore. We hide fear of rejection and judge others. What if we just took a chance to be who God made us and love unconditionally no matter the flaws. This is my ultimate goal this year...Will you join me?

Courage to fail

Beginning of the year we make all these goals, resolutions, think of a new start on life. Then what happens? Life gets hectic, plans fail, we feel rejection, and lose motivation. What happened to your courage and hope? Oh I was just feeding off the spirit of the season, I can't do it. That is pathetic!... come on, we all know anything can be accomplished with the right desire behind it.

Look at Beethoven who was deaf and is known to be one of the greatest classical musicians, or what about Rookie White who did a 250+ ft jump on a moto track, or Roger Bannister who ran a 4 minute mile.

It takes courage to get out of your comfort zone and try something that doesn't feel possible. So do it! Forget your reputation, what people will think, how this will effect your social status, get off your shrunken pedestal and fail for once. You're not going to succeed the first time so keep trying. Get creative and go after your dreams in new ways. Make it happen!!!

"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill. 

End of the world?

Oh my goodness every election is the end of the world! Really? We get so dramatic and loose all trust that there is a God in control of it all. It's amazing how we can get distracted by the media and get caught up in how the world sees the future. We tend to think everything is out of our hands and out of control. That is why God gave us the gift of prayer, intercession, communicating with the God of the universe. Do what is within our power to do and then pray. Pray for our president, intercede for the people, ask that God's will be accomplished. That is what we can do and then trust, believe,  and have faith in our Creator.

God Fills every void

Does God create an emptiness so that he can fill it? I wonder that as I have felt such deep losses in my life and realized the pain in others lives. I was so in love with God before one of my deepest losses and realized I had separated myself from acknowledging God's unconditional love and fearing him. Their is a great void that he is now slowly filling as I choose to seek him. The more I listen to his words and realize his all consuming glory over everything, I understand why I was so in love with God and why I need to surrender all to him.

I encourage you to do as Daniel did. " Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God." You don't have to get down on your knees. But it does something to put you body along with your heart and mind in a position of surrender to God.

Living by the strength of God

I commented on this article in November of 2014 and thought I'd share what I reflected on then..."Some people do experience more than they can handle and i known this. This world ain't perfect and sometimes we just have to admit that life will never be easy here. "We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5 stop telling people they have the strength to do it if they don't! Some day everyone will have to realize they can't do it alone. We are not meant to do things on our own"

http://natepyle.com/confronting-the-lie-god-wont-give-you-more-than-you-can-handle/

Honesty is freedom

There is freedom in being honest. It's ok to be wrong. It's ok to fail. It's ok to have brokenness. Wait! what? you mean we aren't perfect? Dang it... But did you really think there is anyone out there who is perfect, other than our Savior Jesus Christ? I tend to put on a face and make it look like I'm faultless. I'm learning the vulnerability of just being honest. There are people out there that need to know they aren't the only ones broken, or who feel they made unforgivable mistakes, or who don't want to be condemned by others. If we show that we aren't perfect, it gives people the space to be honest. You may offend someone or they might point something out to you and you're pride is hurt. Great! Take it with an open mind and understand how to benefit and bring new growth into your life.

Let's get real

Friendships, relationships,personal encounters. These have all lost meaning and depth. I walk down the street and see people on their phones, sitting on park benches together, but starring at their mobile devices. Pokémon go, tender, and Snapchat have replaced conversation, meeting people and doing physical activities together. People are starving for recognition, companionship and belonging. We need someone to confide with. Why are we allowing our world to become so shallow? Relationships require time, intentionality, and goals. We are so afraid to be honest, real and open with people because of the fear of judgment and rejection. It's a real fear that causes anxiety and depression. I am one to blame for pointing out the "problems" of a person, when I should allow them to be real. I can't fix or change anything, neither can you, but we can listen as people share. I have some close friends that I can be real with even in the bad times. By having that trust to be raw I have learned more about myself, what I can improve on to become a stronger follower of Christ, and learn how to accept love.
      I encourage you to find a person you can trust to be real with. Confess, maybe open up the past that has not been healed, and learn to recognize your own bruises and scars. Accept them, learn how they affect you and your relationships, and then let go. And then practice becoming that trusting friend by allowing depth in your conversations with people, recognizing their need to be loved and connected with another, and realize you are not the judge or healer. Let them open up, let things go and let God do the work as you are the mediator. Our relationship with Christ will deepen through our conversations, interactions and harmony with others as we learn love, acceptance and healing.

Love will never leave

Wait silently