08/13/13

First day of school.

First day of seventh grade for Wes and Mikayla.

The hardest part of the seventh grade day seemed to be the combinations on the lockers.  Everyone needs that as a rite of passage, in my opinion.  :)

Speaking of hard things....

A couple of weeks ago I took a teacher workshop from Dr. Phil Johnson.  If you have never heard of him, I highly recommend you learn more about him.  He is a Christian that thinks deeply, out of the box, and is so true in what he says about living this life we have been given by God, that I was chewing on all he had to say for days to come.  In fact, I am still chewing today.

He talked about the past few generations and discussed their differences.  There were a lot of laughs and "oh my... that is me, my parents, etc..."

He discussed how our world is changing... and changing fast.  He has an office in Texas and one in Egypt.  He deals with Muslims on a regular basis.  He is not afraid to stand up for his faith in Christ.

One of the things he talked about with us was "jumping your shadow"... doing things that require you to get past yourself and have faith in God.  That has been one that I have thought of quite often.

This one has stuck with me the most is another one, though.  It is this.... 

"DO HARD THINGS."

This term came from a book that was written by 18 year old twins about low expectations in the teenage world.  You can read the bio about it here - Do Hard Things.


When was the last time you did something hard?  Something challenging that caused you to depend so much on the Lord to see you through?

When was the last time you encouraged your child/children to do something that was hard just because it taught life lessons, perseverance, and dependence on the Lord?

This is something we have been doing with Wesley lately, and it is something I have been challenged by as well.

For Wesley, it is the responsibility aspect and the doing of things for which he has been given a talent... not because they are always easy or "fun", but because the Lord gave him a talent and he is to use it for God's glory.

I found a card today that I pray will encourage Wesley (and me... maybe, you...) in his learning of this important fact of "Doing Hard Things"....

Strength for the Journey

Don't worry that you're not strong enough before you begin.

It is in the journey that God makes you strong.

Isaiah 58:11 - The Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul.

For me, it is that the Lord is telling me it is time to get back into doing hard things myself.  For a few years the Lord has taken me down a path of stillness before Him.  He taught me to step back from some of the things that I had been so determined to do, but after sitting still before Him I realized some of it, if not most of it, was for my own glory. 

Instead of complaining about hard a task might be, He is helping me to see that He is giving me a time of strengthening and growing.  I may be doing some of the same things I was doing before He had to bring me quiet before Him, but now my mindset is on glorifying the Lord in all of it.

I have honestly been hearing "Do Hard Things" over and over in my brain since that workshop and it has been such an encouragement to me when I thought something may be too hard. If God is with me, nothing can be too hard.

Jeremiah 32:27

Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

Now... it is your challenge.  Are you ready to "DO HARD THINGS?"