Planting New Dreams

A few weeks ago I was approached by my life coach, who has become a dear friend, to write a story, my story, well at least part of it. It would be for a chapter in a book she is currently writing called planting new dreams. At the time I honestly just blew it off. I have been approached by many wonderful friends through the years about writing my story. It is nothing I have felt compelled to do. I know I have a story to tell. It is a story of a Love so amazing and wonderful that it touches the hearts of all those who hear it and has the ability to transform their lives.

Why then you ask, would I blow off the opportunity to share such a story? Well, for several reasons. The biggest, because the timing was just not right, until possibly now... Please allow me to explain...

I am in a place in my life right now where everything is in transition. Everything is not as it was... If you have been following this blog you know that. You have read about most of those changes and transitions. You have read how I have struggled though getting my certification as a life purpose coach, through my struggle to stop smoking, my emotional and mental struggle about becoming a missionary, my challenges with my children becoming adults and moving out of my home, through the beginning of my weight loss journey and the challenge God graciously allowed me to win. One of the biggest transitions God has me in though, is his direction to me about being transplanted. When God clearly told me it was time to leave my church home of 15 years i felt my heart break. The analogy was very clear It was about a plant having outgrown it's little pot and if it was not transplanted it would never become the large plant it was supposed to be. So, with tears in my eyes and with a huge hole in my heart I bid goodbye to my church family and began the search for a new church home. I visited several churches specifically searching out "larger" churches, as I felt that would be the "bigger pot" God spoke of in His analogy. well, all were bigger except for the first one I visited. the first one was a small start up church. They were meeting in a store front. very casual, very small, very different than the "churches" I had attended in the past and those I visited on this journey. yet something about this church had drawn me from the first time I seen a sign promoting it in my community.

A few weeks ago I felt compelled to return. Then again the following week. At the third visit I started questioning God if this was possibly where I might belong, even if for just a season. Today I returned for the 4th time. Halfway though what I thought was a pretty typical and honestly pretty tame message, based on I Corinthians 12: 12-28 about the body of Christ, something happened that rocked my world. The Pastor was preaching on how we are all part of the body and each has been given different gifts and how each is important none more than the other. Then the Pastor takes a wide turn to the right and asks us to go to a verse in Colossians Chapter 2 verse 7 where it says "rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with Thanksgiving." I was pretty confused what did that have to do with being part of the body. Huh? I sat up straight and tried to follow... He walked over to a table where on it rested two potted plants and he tells us that we need to be planted and not potted. He picks up this tall beautiful blooming plant in one of the pots and tells us that unfortunately although this plant looks healthy the truth is it is not planted it is potted. He pulls the plant out of the clay pot and proceeds to show us how root bound it is. We can see that the roots are all tangled and tightly wound up in itself. The Pastor used this as an analogy to share how some of us can come and sit in church each week and we have no idea how wound up in themselves they are. How they never reach out to others to be a part of all that is going on or to interact with the "body of believer they only appear to be a part of.

Then he walks over to the other plant and pulls it out of the pot it is in and shows us how the roots of this plant are not all wound up around themselves how they are actually growing out and down and how this plant although in a clay pot is actually planted and growing. He used this as an analogy of how we as Christians need to allow our roots to grow down into Gods word and His love and how they need to grow out to grab hold of others because it is when our roots grow out that we are able to touch others. How it is when we wrap ourselves around them that we gain and give strength and sustenance. God then reminded me of a place in my garden out back where there is a gardenia plant my children gave me many years ago. I planted it between two trees and how years later I realized that the root of the one tree had grown around this plant and completely encased the trunk of this gardenia bush within itself. Then the pastor picked up a hammer and smashed the pot the one plant was Potted in and told us it might be time to break out of the pots that were holding us back from being a part of the body. Allowing us to be planted into the fellowship, and love of the body where all strength comes from. He then took us to a favorite verse of mine in Jeremiah 17:8 where the word tells us we shall be like a tree planted by the waters where our roots will grow deep and spread out and we will yield much fruit.

As I looked at the dirt and broken pottery scattered on the table surrounding the plants I heard God whisper to my heart It is time again to be planted. How awesome that God continued to use the analogy of plants and being planted to clearly articulate to me His will for this next season of my life. It is time to once again allow the soil of my heart to be open to allowing God to plant a few new dreams in my life. I know this will not be easy, I can hear my mom telling me many years ago that a transplanted plant needs lots of food, water and sunshine to grow. She shared with me that it is hard work for a newly transplanted plant to grow deep roots and become a healthy part of the garden. I know that this next season of my life will require much hard and intentional work on my part. I will need the nutrition gained from the spiritual disciplins God has taught me in the past I will also need large quantities of God's word, the living water and Large amounts of time spent in the "Sonshine", to be spiritually healthy and grow strong deep roots. Roots that grow out to reach others. Honestly this scares me I feel tremors in my heart. I also am reminded of an answer provided to me by a wise man. He recently told me that the reason we feel scared and trembling in our soul when we know we are following Gods will for us is that all growth takes place outside of our comfort zone.

So I take a moment to follow the advice of another God placed in my life many years ago and I breath, just still my mind and heart and breath... I am reminded that I know that I know, that I know, that my God is Faithful to never leave me nor forsake me and that He has great plans for me! Plans to prosper me, to give me a future with hope. That He is with me, and takes great delight in me. He will quiet me with His love and He will rejoice over me with signing. I now find myself knowing I can do nothing but praise His name and rest in His love and righteousness as I allow the new dreams He is planting to take root and flourish in my life.


Blessing my friends,

Define Healthy living... for you!

I have been thinking quite a bit while away from home breathing the fresh mountain air in the TN and NC mountains about what healthy living is...

I have realized when talking to others that this can be very different for people. For some, healthy living may be an active lifestyle with lots of outdoor activities like hiking, biking, jogging, playing football or volleyball or other sport. For still others it may eating only organic foods, or being a vegetarian. Still others may say no it just means that I am not overeating and going for a walk every day. Others may tell you that they just want a good report for the Dr regarding their blood work.

I have been trying to evaluate what true health means to me. I will encourage you to do the same. If we do not take the time to evaluate this and know what it means for ourselves, how will we know when we have achieved the goal of healthy in our lives. This is my challenge to you. You are worth the time spent figuring this out. You are important and you need to be responsible to yourself in this area of your life!

For me I am currently redefining this in my life. when I embarked on this journey I defined health as not smoking, exercising and loosing weight, and getting off my meds. well then does that mean that I have achieved total health? I have done all of those things... Of course not. I still have a long way to go to be completely healthy! but I am making progress. so my redefined healthily goals are as follows....

Balanced healthy living for me now includes making daily decisions in each of the following categories... here are just a few examples...

PHYSICALLY - good food choices eating whole natural foods created by God and not re-manufactured by man. Exercise at least three times per week, preferably 5 days per week.

EMOTIONALLY - spend time each day to evaluate why I am making the choices I am making and recording my discoveries in a journal. Reading the list of "who I am in Christ" daily. start and end each day listing at least 10 things I am thankful for.

MENTALLY - Spending time each day learning something new about health.
Memorizing a new scripture each week. "Me Time"

SPIRITUALLY - Attending a worship service weekly with a body of believers. Daily time with God reading scripture, prayer, and just being still and listening. Daily times of worship. listening to Praise and Worship music whenever I can.



Make your list... and make sure the list is written down somewhere, not just in your head.

Blessings,