Faith Action Item for Today – Keep Your Eyes on Him

“The Lord reached down from above and took me; he pulled me from the deep water.” ~ 2 Samuels 22:17

Sometimes we bring about our own troubles.  Recently I made the ‘mistake’ of posting my opinion on social media.  It was an opinion some people didn’t agree with, and some of them disagreed with me harshly.  I took the brunt of their criticism.

This was painful as it came from some people in the same industry from which I work.  Some of the criticism came from people that I didn’t expect.  If I had kept my mouth shut from the beginning, none of this would have happened, however I felt I was speaking out against something that is wrong.  Something that needs to be corrected.  It didn’t matter to them.  They didn’t see the issue the same way I saw it.

Jesus was attacked many times.  He was called a fraud. A deceiver. A liar. A coward. He was called every name in the book.  He was tempted by others to save himself, or to lash back at his accusers.  He did neither.  Jesus kept this eyes focused on the Father.  He persevered and he accomplished his mission, and the world was changed forever.

HAVE YOU READ?

Diagnosis – Rare Disease by Denise Crompton.  This amazing book tells the stories of 13 incredible families.  Don’t miss it.

Angel Gabriel – A True Story

I Am Not a Syndrome – My Name is Simon

This is the gripping and moving story of a baby diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a genetic disorder in which a person has a third copy of material from chromosome 18.  “I Am Not a Syndrome – My Name is Simon” by Trisomy mom Sheryl Crosier details the struggle of her son Simon from the early stages of pregnancy to his life here on earth for 88 1/2 days…  read on about Simon.

DID YOU MISS?

We are not promised tomorrow

How to become spiritually mature – Theologian Charles W. Stanley said…

 

Happy, Thankful and Awed

I have a personal mission statement for my life.  Hokey… yes.  Academic… just a little.  Trite and frivolous… no way.

You see, my mission statement pushes me to live my life and to view things in a particular way…in a way that I have consciously chosen to look at things.  A realist by nature and downright pessimistic at times, the life view demanded by my mission statement is completely different than how I would naturally look at things.  This mission statement forces me in a direction that is uniquely different from the way I would approach life on autopilot.

My mission statement is a bit of intentional dreaming I did years ago under one of my mentors, Tricia Thurman.  Tricia taught me that personal mission statements should capture the type of person we want to be, which for me was a long distance away from the type of person I was.

I wrote my mission statement as part of a class, and then reviewed it and edited it daily until it seemed right.  It took me three week of off-and-on thinking to craft my mission statement, and the months and years following were perhaps the happiest time of my life.  Everything I did, everything I saw, and everything I felt snuggled warmly against my newfound mission.  For the first time, all of life seemed to fit together, like a jigsaw puzzle with no missing pieces.

But then life got busy, two more kids came along, my mother-in-law got Alzheimer’s, my father-in-law died, my dad died, and for some reason I forgot my mission.  I started to withdraw.  Life for me grew darker…not bad, just darker.

Out of the blue, my mission statement popped into my head the other day.  I don’t know why it did.  I was just driving down the road and I guess my mind wandered.  (Thank you, wandering mind.)  Since then, my view of life has been a little clearer, my work has been a bit more productive, and I have seen a joy I haven’t noticed in quite some time.  Welcome back, mission statement.  I’ve missed you.

I know the path to your mission will be different than mine.  I know it won’t take you three weeks…it may be shorter or perhaps longer.  But I also know you will be happier if you spend the intentional time deciding what type of person you want to be when you grow up.

Post your mission statements on this blog, and let me know the process you went through to get to yours.  We’ll all grow from sharing our experiences.

James Hale—MISSION STATEMENT:  Happy with my life, thankful for my gifts, and awed by inspirations from those around me.