A New Day and a New Way

Where do I start... Well lets just say that although I have not been posting much lately. It is not because things are not happening. Just the opposite is true. God has been very busy in my life. The biggest news is that I am no longer a smoker. I knew that God has been pushing me here for a long time. Yet Gods timing is always perfect. God has always known my heart in regards to this. I have been a smoker since I was 11 years old. I knew there was no way I could stop on my own. I still know that I know that each day, each hour, each minute I am not smoking is all because of God. I have learned that He is sufficiant to meet ALL my needs. I have taken alot of things I knew in my head and have finally been able to allow God to move them to my heart. Kind of like what He did for me in February of "06". The best way i can describe it is He took me from being someone who knows to someone who believes. OK so huge news huh,! I cannot begin to tell you how greatful to God I am for what He is doing in my life. I am just humbled that He would even consider me... but instead He tells me that He delights in me! Honest.... I just this morning have started using a new 4 part Journal I have developed for Ready Set Bloom and when I got to the part in the Spiritual section about listening to God... well you all know how difficult I find it to listen instead of talking... anyway I opened my bible up determined to listen to Him. The pages fell open to Isaiah 42: 1-9. You have to read them all but here are a few of the things that jumped out at me.

1Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4He will not grow faint or be discouraged[a]
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
5Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6"I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
7 to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8I am the LORD; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
9Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them

Now please understand that I know "in context" this is not talking about me. Yet God has used the words of the scripture to share with me some truths, Truths I needed to be reminded of.

Things like He will uphold me, He has chosen me, He delights in me, He has put His Spirit upon me, I will not grow faint or be discouraged, He will take me by the hand and keep me, He has given me a message to share with others, my past is no more it is over and He has declared new things for me!

So much love He showered on me this morning! GOD IS SO AWESOME!!!

Celebrate Him with me today!!!!!!! If you are interested in seeing or using the new journal God has given to me... just let me know. I will be happy to share.

I received this today from a dear friend and wanted to share... make sure you read to the bottom for a personal note from me. I promise you will be glad you did!

Isaiah 65:24 "Before they call, I will answer" This story was written by a doctor who worked in South AfricaOne night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).We also had no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle , it h ad burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). "And it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways."All right," I said, "put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother h ad diedDuring pr ayer t ime, one ten-year old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God" she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon."While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, "And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say,"Amen". I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything, the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I liv ed on the equator! Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door.By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children.Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend Then, as I put m y hand in again, I felt the.....could it really be? I gr asped it and pulled it out - yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly too!"Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "that afternoon.""Before they call, I will answer" (Isaiah 65:24)

I do not know if the story above is true or not. I do know that God's promises in scripture are! I also have seen this happen in my own life. I had made a decision recently to step out in faith about something. I did not have all that I needed to make that happen so I sent an e-mail to several friends asking them to say a prayer for me that God would provide for the need. 10 minutes later I received an e-mail from one of the men who told me he was laughing because his wife had told him several days before that she had a dream that she was providing me this same something so I could go do something God needed me to do. He told me to move forward in confidence that they would provide as God had instructed them to through her dream.

This is one of those breathtaking moments when I realized God had answered even before I prayed or asked others to pray. God is sooooooooo AWESOME!!!!

A new Website and e-mail address

I am very excited to let you know that I have registered my domain of readysetbloom.com and as of today I have what I am calling my temproary site up and running. This is not what the finished site will look like however it allowed me to get something up right away using a pre-made template the hosting company had available.

you can check out my site at www.readysetbloom.com and my new e-mail address to go along with that is kathy@readysetbloom.com

Both are big steps forward to getting this all wrapped up and ready to go!

Please keep praying. I still have a few legal things to take care of and then I hope to be open for business by the end of the month.

Wow... when I think of all that has happened since the beginning of April... Well I feel my head spinning!

Keep living each day on purpose... knowing that you will never be able to go back and capture that time. Make sure you keep making choices, and realize that to not make a decision to change is to make the decision to stay the same.

Love ya!

A Logo!

Take a look at the new Logo just below and to the right. 

Please leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!

Thanks!

I want to take this time to thank all that prayed for the Ladies Retreat last weekend. What a blessing it was to me and to the Ladies that went. God honored your prayers and we had a wonderful weekend! God was present and with us from the moment we left. All of the Ladies that went told me what a wonderful time they had and how much it meant to them to take the time to spend with God in drawing closer to Him and leaving behind all that was troubling them, and distracting them from worshiping Him. 

OK so the chocolate was amazing as well. LOL  

I also want to thank all that stepped up to help lead this event. From those who spoke, led worship, helped with an activity or was a table leader. All of you did a phenomenal job and made this event what it was! Without you I never could have pulled it off. You all were AMAZING!

Thanks again!

A Retreat

Be Still and Know that I am God...

This verse is one that has made a huge impact on my life over the past 8 years. It is one that at first seemed to haunt me. I continuously would hear it in my mind. Yes, I think God was trying to tell me something and I still do. this is a verse that we all seem to want, yet have no idea of how to accomplish it. How do we "be still" in this day and age where everything moves at the speed of light? How can we "be still" with so much to do? How can we "be still" when everyone needs something from us and, well, needs it NOW! 

And let's face it even if... and that is a big IF... we find some time to "be still" how does that help us Know that He is God? I mean really, let's get serious... can anyone know that He is God? isn't He God? Well, after much contemplation on this verse for the past 8 years, I think I may have a clue what this means. I have started to wake up early, and although I have always thought that getting up early must mean you have a serious problem, I am beginning to truly enjoy that time of day when the earth starts to wake up. when God gently nudges the sun over the horizon. I sit on the back porch when most sane people are still in bed dreaming and am learning how to "be Still" and what I have found is that in the stillness and quietness of the early morning, I am beginning to know that He is God. This time has become like a mini retreat. It is a time of refreshing, and sitting in the stillness and knowing that the day is new with no mistakes yet. I am new and have made no mistakes yet. 

Tomorrow morning I will not have much time to enjoy the stillness of the morning and I am already missing it. yet I will be spending that day and the next taking time to taste and see that the Lord is good at the FBCK annual Ladies Retreat. This year is going to be different, for many reasons. yet, I am looking forward to this retreat more than many others, I believe that it is there away from the day to day routines, when we set aside time to spend with Him that we can truly "be Still and Know that He is God"  Join me even if for an hour this week to take time, make time, to "be still and know that I am God"  

Say a prayer for us, ask God to prepare our hearts to receive Him and His blessings this weekend! 

Certification

This morning when I reached for my blackberry to make sure there were no major crisis taking place in the world - that I would need to respond to immediately, I found an e-mail that took my breath away and made my heart skip a beat.... and then resume at a frantic pace. I knew immediately that my world had just shifted a bit and life would never be the same... 

There was the e-mail that I had hoped for, arriving much sooner than expected. Yet just like God, knowing that waiting is not my strongest trait. My eyes scanned the words and then again making sure I had read them correctly. my eyes started to fill and make it difficult to read them a third time... yes my certification was done and would be mailed to me later this week! 

As with all endings there is a beginning. The circle of life continues. The training, at least for now, was complete and it is now time to move forward and really start this! 

I have just this minute decided that I need to host a launch party to celebrate and officially "launch" this Ministry. I am thinking May 25th. This is a very special day for me. It was my Father's Birthday. and I can think of no better way to honor the man who was my earthly Father and believed in me without reservations and who in his final days told me he knew I would be OK and do OK because I had a firm knowledge of God as my Heavenly Father and I was willing to allow Him to  guide and direct me. I also want to Honor the one who is my Heavenly Father for being faithful to not only guide and direct me but also to provide for me and love me beyond measure. The one who has gently coaxed me to this place and given me the confidence to be all He created me to be. 

So May 25th will be the official launch of Ready Set Bloom Ministries. I hope you will join me for this celebration. Watch for your official invite! 

Love ya, 

It is Finished! or is it Just Beginning?

Well...

This morning I sent in the final documents and requirements for my Level one training. If all is OK, I will be receiving word of my certification as a life purpose coach within the next few days! 

I also today registered a domain name for my personal web site which A friend is helping me develop. the URL will be readysetbloom.com

So big steps and lots happening! stay tuned I hope to have some big news soon! 

Please keep me in prayer as I finalize all the details for the FBCK Ladies Retreat this weekend. We leave Friday morning and will return Saturday evening. God is amazing in how He once again is pulling everything together!  

Thanks! 

Moving forward two big steps

Well, here I am over the biggest hurdle (well at least the one in my mind) I had my photo shoot last night and now I feel like I am moving forward! That really had me down a bit as that for me was the most difficult task of all. As of today, April 18th I am finished with the "classes" and have submitted all the info, evaluations, quizzes etc. for certification. I still have some housekeeping things to finish like the web page, my final two sessions with my life coach, and I still need to finish my pro-bono sessions. That is ok though, I am meeting with my coach this afternoon, and I have one pro-bono scheduled for tonight and I am trying to schedule the other for tomorrow.  Sunday at the latest. I will need to get a one paragraph testimonial from them to submit and then I believe I will have completed all of the necessary requirements for certification! Yahoo! almost there. 

My wonderful friend who is working on the logo has been doing a wonderful job! I think we have just about nailed that down too! 

Getting closer.... 

It feels soooooo good to be in the center of God's will for my life! 

The voice of God

Well tonight I find myself in an unusual place I am not typically prone to musings yet tonight that is how I feel. It has been a day of contrasts, new beginnings and endings, joy and sadness, laughter and tears. I am struggling a bit to find my balance as the pendulum swings strongly back and forth between the extremes. 

The past two days have been emotional ones. A lot of people I know and love are hurting, emotionally right now. So I will take this time and space to share a few thoughts with those of you who are in that place. (you know who you are.. and I love you and I dedicate today's blog to you) 

We sometimes allow ourselves to go to places in our minds that we believe, or think or feel is the right path. We pray about these things but often pray that God reveal to us that we are right or please God convince others that we are right and they are wrong. We often use our feelings as a gauge as to what we believe or the path we should take. We tend to not dig deeply into the right places and think things through in the right way. we tend to see things as black or white our way or the highway. This kind of thinking can be dangerous and more times than not faulty. Mostly because it is not Gods way of seeing things. We forget that scripture tells us that Gods ways are not our ways and Gods thoughts are not our thoughts. It is easy to get caught up in our feelings or the way we see something and forget that God sees everything, the beginning and the end all at the same time. He sees things that we cannot see. He knows things we cannot know. Most importantly we forget God is faithful. He is faithful to Love us in spite of ourselves, He is faithful to guide and direct us into the paths that He knows are best for us, He is faithful to help us to grow into the people He wants us to become. No matter what that takes. That is the part that catches us up. we don't understand why He would allow some things to happen in our lives. instead of crying why, we should be crying out what. not why God are you allowing this, but rather What God would you have me learn through this. Not easy when we are hurting. If we could just step back for a moment and let our anger, and disappointments and feelings fade into the background and ask the right questions we would have much more peace in our hearts as we surrender to God those things that are Gods. 

Gods word tells us that we were never meant to understand but to trust even when we do not understand. I loved the words to a popular song that starts off ... "I'm not skilled to understand, what Gods has willed what God has planned" What a truth. One we need to remind ourselves of often. God spoke to us through this Sunday morning, Did you catch it? Did you hear God's voice in the voices of the children? I was reminded of the verse that says and a child shall lead them. 

Love ya!