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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Success

I had to write an essay about how I defined success in one of my college classes. I am going to post the essay because I felt that it really showed what I am striving towards, and sometimes what I am failing at. It is kind of long, so if you don't read it, I won't be offended.

How do I define success? That is a hard question. One definition of success, according to dictionary.com, is the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. To me, success is so much more than that. Success is more than monetary gain or power. Success for me is based on what my God says success in life is. Everything I need to know about success in this life is found in God’s Word. I spent my first year after high school at the Great Commission Bible Institute. I am not an expert or scholar, but I do know the importance of living for my Savior. Success to me is the same as the Biblical definition of peace. Peace literally means the ability to lay your head on your pillow at night knowing that all is as it should be. That is success; to lay my head on my pillow and know that I have done everything that day to please my Lord.

Success doesn’t have to be a long term goal. A person can have success in their everyday life. For a mother, she can succeed by nurturing her children and protecting them from any outside influence that shouldn’t be permitted in her children’s lives. For a college student like me, success can be doing my best in school, paying attention to the people in authority in my life, and by keeping my heart and mind pure throughout my day. For a pastor, success can be shepherding the members of the church and taking his responsibilities seriously. Everyone has the opportunity to succeed. Success is very much about our choices.

Success can be determined somewhat by the choices we make. Little decisions we make can have a long term effect on our lives. By making the hard choices now, in the long run we can actually create “a pattern for success.” When we make right choices now, we can continue making good choices in the future. Success is more attainable when we make choices that will have a positive effect on our lives and also the way we define success.

As I said earlier, success to me is about the same as the Biblical definition as peace. In order to achieve this peace it is important for me to start the day by acknowledging my life is not about me. My life should be all about pointing other people to my Lord. When I do something kind or right, it should be to show people Who I live for. I don’t think that success is just a feeling or an award or job that you get. Success can be about an outside acknowledgement, but I think that success is so much more about meeting a personal goal or living out a belief or value.

As I also said in my introduction, success to me is pleasing my God. I have a personal Savior who gave His life for mine. He sacrificed Himself in order to have a relationship with me. So, when I choose to live my life for Him I am choosing to see life as He says it is. When I do this, I see success as what He wants my life to be.

I don’t want it to seem like I don’t have goals or that success is a vague feeling. I do have specific things in my life that I want to achieve. I want to go to college and finish my education responsibly and well. I want to be a teacher and I know that this is a desire that the Lord has placed in my life. I want to get married, have kids, and become the type of successful mother that I described earlier. All of these desires and goals are just one of the ways that I can define success in my life. I know that not all of this may be possible and some of my longings may change, but I know that as long as I am following God’s will for my life, I will succeed overall.

Success isn’t easy. Success takes work and a lot of deliberate action. It may take years for me to achieve and to perfect, but I know that by making good, responsible choices now and always remembering that my life is not meant to be lived for myself, I can make a difference. Success is possible.


Thursday, April 15, 2010

Responsibility

Since I was 8 years old, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I was that annoying little girl who wanted to "teach" all of her friends and never let them be the teacher. I would teach my baby dolls or my Barbies and even my younger siblings. As I grew older, I knew that this was what I wanted to do with me life. As I grew, so did my love for little kids. I remember wanting to be in the nursery when I was 12.

I love the way little kids interact with each other and with the teachers. I love the way their faces light up when they realize they understand what you are telling them. I love their thirst for knowledge and how, even though it may get repetitive, they ask you why or how something happens. I love seeing the joy on their faces as they run around the playground and run from each other when they play duck, duck, goose.

I thank the Lord that I know my calling in life. I thank Him that He has my life planned out, for His glory and that He has told me why I am here. I love influencing little kids lives. But with that comes responsibility. I am realizing that more and more as I continue my education to become a teacher. I am learning that I will have the opportunity as a teacher to help guide them in their lives as they become a teacher themselves or maybe the president. I am learning that this gift with children and this passion must be used to bring God glory. I know that He is the one who has given that desire to me and I know that I need to take that role seriously and learn early on the effect, whether positive or negative, that I can have on the children I come in contact with.

*Father, help me to become the teacher and woman that You want me to be. Help me to bring glory to You in all that I say and do. Thank you for this passion and this desire to help others as they grow and learn.*

Friday, April 9, 2010

God's Love


Today Kayla and I went to HGMS to lead the first girl talk. I was a little nervous, but I knew it would be alright. The topic that we chose for girl talk was the fruit of the Spirit. We figured we would start at the first characteristic. Love. We wanted to talk to the girls about God's love and all about salvation. Sixth grade had a lot of girls so, I don't know how well they were able to hear us, but the gospel was definitely presented and I think they understood. Eighth grade was a little rough, but seventh grade was awesome. We started talking to the girls about love and immediately what they thought of was romance and defined love as feelings you have for another person. Its totally understandable considering the culture that we live in and the fact that they loved the Twilight books the most. But what Kayla and I tried to get them to understand was that love means giving of yourself. We wanted them to know that there were so many ways to show people love without having to be mushy and gushy.

The girls started to feel more comfortable and started to ask us questions. The one question that stuck out to me the most and was the hardest to explain was, "How do you know God loves you?" Wow. Think about that. How do you know? This is something in my life that I have never doubted or really given a second thought. I couldn't think of a way to tell them that I know God's love because of the family that I have or all the blessings He has given me. I didn't know how to tell them that sometimes, as odd as it sounds, I could feel that love. I could stand without a doubt and feel His presence and His love.

Above all though, we told them it all comes down to if you believe that the Bible is true. If they believe it is truth then they will know of God's love. It is spoken of throughout the entire book. We told them about John 3:16 and the verse in 1 John that says God is love. I think they got it. I think that they went away with, hopefully a better knowledge of who God is and how He loves them. Pray for these girls please. Pray for their hearts and minds. Pray that they will truly be able to grasp God's love for them and to allow that love to change their lives.

At the end of the day, the song that is stuck in my mind is one that seems even more true and encouraging to me says simply that "He loves us. Oh, how He loves us so."

Sunday, April 4, 2010

True Love


I love this song by Phil Wickham, I thought it was appropriate for Easter Sunday. Enjoy.

Lose your life just so you can find it.


Jesus is alive!