Mentoring and Modeling

My dear friend is a retired pastor's wife. They served 50 years in ministry and have been slowly going through the elaborate book collection that they have acquired over that time. Last week she brought a box of them to church and I was very excited to find this fabulous book on mentoring by Dr. John Goetsch and Dr. Mark Rasmussen.

The first five sentences had me hooked.

"There is an old Chinese Proverb that says:

If you are planting for a year, plant grain.

If you are planting for a decade, plant trees.

If you are planting for a century, plant people.

As Christians, we are planting for eternity!"

I couldn't stop reading. They go on to quote Ron Lee Davis, "For all the thousands who are eager to share their knowledge and skills with others, there are just a handful who are willing to share their LIVES, who are willing to be transparent, vulnerable, and open about their successes and their failures, their joys and their pain, their faith and their doubts." 

The introduction alone left me in tears as they continue to share the story of a young boy and the teacher who became his mentor. "We seem content to impress from a distance, which is easily done, but hesitate to impact up close, which is what our Lord exemplified for us in His life and ministry." 

It made me look deep in my heart to analyze my motives and evaluate my life. Where can I do a better job mentoring? 

As I read this book, I was reminded of my last visit with my mentor, Jan Stockdale. She was in women's ministry for 11 years and continues to speak to and encourage women. She was imparting some wisdom as I was preparing for speaking and hosting a ladies retreat. She said, "By my strength I can influence you, but by my brokenness I can connect with you" and encouraged me to connect with the women.

Too many times we want to influence and impress, when what they need is to be impacted up close with a real connection.

Get connected!

The Shepherd's Field

My heart was blessed as I read the story of St Patrick a few weeks ago.  I didn't know that St. Patrick's Day began as a celebration of his life.  He was kidnapped at age 16 and enslaved by Irish marauders (pirates).  His slave job was a herder of animals.  While in the fields he drew close to the Lord.

This reminded me of David, the shepherd boy who was a man after God's own heart.  His time in the shepherd's field drew him close to the Lord.  After David is anointed King but before he takes the throne, he went to the battleground where Goliath was taunting the armies of God; 1 Samuel 17:32-37.  David is confident to go and fight Goliath because God prepared him in the shepherd's field with the lion and the bear. "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine" 1 Samuel 17:37

It is important for all of us to find our shepherd's field; the place where you get alone with God.  Where He can build your confidence and show up in miraculous ways.  We tend to multi-task with our prayer time in our busy life, just like we do everything else.  While it is true that we should "pray without ceasing" 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we should not forget to get alone with God in the shepherds field.

My shepherd's field is on my couch in my office.  Spending time there means more to me now than it did before I read St. Patrick's story.  I would like to challenge you to find your shepherd's field and spend some time there being encouraged.

Where's your shepherd's field?

You can listen to a condensed version of his story on the broadcast of the Proverbs 31:30 Woman to Woman Show recorded March 17, 2017.

Recorded live on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio - Grove Ok.

The Evalutionary Race

In light of the current events surrounding our country, I thought I would share an interesting article I read this week about racism.  I realize that racism is an ongoing issue in America and among many other issues we have here, this one seems to never end.  I have often wondered, "what will it take for Americans to be Americans without division" I have this hope.  We fight, blame, picket, protest, march, rally, and demand but no real change takes place.  Laws may be changed with these efforts but people are still discriminated against.

How can we elicit real change?  How can discrimination be eradicated?

These are questions that I'm sure many people have asked and maybe even thought they had the solution.  I'm not writing to answer these questions or give a solution.  I simply want to share some information that might help us look at each other with a different set of eyes.  Isn't that really the problem; our perceptions?

This article is entitled, "Where Did the "Races" Come From?" by Ken Ham, Dr. Carl Wieland, & Dr. Don Batten.  It is located in the back of my King James Bible with permission from "Answers in Genesis," a ministry of Ken Ham.

This article talks about how the acceptance of evolution has made people think that some races are further along on the road to being more human and less animal than other races, which gives them a superior thinking of themselves.  "A leading evolutionary spokesperson, Stephen Jay Gould, stated that 'Biological arguments for racism may have been common before 1850, but they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory.'"

Now, maybe many of you already knew this and I am among a few who are being enlightened.  However, I believe that when we know where the root is then it is a lot easier to kill.

On a side note, I have a wisteria tree in my backyard.  Five years ago I thought it was beautiful and couldn't wait to plant it,  Now, there are wisteria trees trying to grow all over my yard.  I spent several days last summer digging up roots that all lead back to my original tree.  If I want to kill them, I have to do something with the original root.

"Knowing is half the battle" (GI Joe).  I love this phrase because after we gain knowledge then we can begin to make real change.

How do we fight the other half of the battle?  I don't really know, but at least we have a starting point that can change how we have been fighting.

There is only one race - the human race!

Ways to Start the New Year Right - Episodes 3 & 4

Janie and I did not realize that our show was going to be right in the middle of the inaugural festivities until the Wednesday before the show.  We had big plans to talk about faith and discuss the way we have used the word faith in place of our denomination; Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, etc. is my faith.  We thought all our plans were foiled, but God made it clear that we could still talk about faith.

Some people are very scared about the new administration, but we can still trust God in the unknown future of our country.  So we spent some time talking about the inauguration and how we can continue to trust God because He is the ultimate authority.

Episode 3 - Recorded live on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio

The following Friday, we continued our discustion on faith and gave some encouragement for how to grow in our faith through our relationship with the Lord.  Faith is the foundational building block for our spiritual growth.  All other aspects of spiritual growth is built upon it.  2 Peter 1:5 "...giving all diligence add to your faith..."

Episode 4 - Recorded live on KWXC 88.9 Christian Talk Radio

 We invite you to listen to the show live every Friday at noon CST on kwxcradio.com 

Ways to Start the New Year Right - Episode 2

Janie and I have enjoyed getting to spend some time reminiscing about 2016 and established our turning points for the year.

My turning point was April 2016 when I understood the protocols of forgiveness through Bruce and Toni Hebel and their ministry at forgivingforward.com.

Janie shared that her turning point was when God taught her to perserve through the daily pain in her body.

Establishing turning points will always help us to remember where God has brought us from and allow us to continually hold on to that victory.

We invite you to listen live every Friday at noon CST at kwxcradio.com

Episode 2 discusses things we can do differently in our conversations with God and each other.

Starting the New Year 2017 - Episode 1

It's been a few weeks since I have stopped to share with you my mentoring journey.  I have had a heavy class load at school which consumed my time before the Christmas season hit.

Now the new year is here and, like many of you, I have taken some time to reflect.  I have shared with you much of what God has done for me this past year; from helping me to learn how to forgive through the forgiveness protocols to opening the door for the Proverbs 31:30 Woman to Woman broadcast, it has been an amazing journey.  

As I begin this new year, my "resolution" is to have a closer relationship with the Lord at the end of this year than I have right now.  I know that may sound like a silly resolution since most Christians are naturally working toward growing in the Lord anyway, but I want to make a conscious effort toward my relationship with God.

It is easy to get busy, just as I did over the past few months, and neglect the most important relationship(s) in our lives; which includes our families.  Between work, school, church, chores, and errands, we can neglect spending time with our spouse, children, friends, and God.

I know I'm not alone in these struggles and I want to use all the resources God has given me, so the Woman to Woman show is changing slightly this year to be more focused on being a mentor on air.  I have asked Janie Ratzlaff to join me each week on the show to discuss a topic that relates to our Christian journey.

Janie has become a mentor to me over the past six months, not because I asked her to be, but because when I spend time with her I always walk away encouraged in the Lord, strengthend in my faith, and lifted in my spirit.  I hope you feel the same way as you spend time with us listening as we share in our relationship to the Lord.

We invite you to listen to the show live, every Friday at noon CST on kwxcradio.com

Episode 1 - Ways to Start the New Year Right