Powerful Thoughts

Do you believe that the God who is in control of the universe is also in control of what happens in our lives?

I do.

He blesses us, and He allows the bad stuff to happen. He uses it all to build us into who He wants us to be. Through it all, it does seem as if there are specific moments and times in life that have a huge impact on who we've become. When I think about it, there are 5 of these "defining moments" that come to mind.

One defining moment for me came when I was in 7th grade. It was when I learned that reading the Bible for myself was a source of strength and encouragement. That year a modern translation called The Living Bible came out. Prior to that my Bible experience had either been in fun Bible stories and activities from children's church, or hearing or trying to read a King James version of the Bible that made no sense to me. But that year as I experienced the beginning of that extra emotional, angst ridden, adolescent intensity, I discovered that I could totally relate to the writer of the Psalms. So I began pouring over the Psalms. That practice of spending time in the Word became a habit for me. That habit has brought countless good things into my life.

Another defining moment for me was when I was 16 and a Campus Crusade for Christ staff person took an interest in me and invested in me and taught me how to share with people what God had done for me, and how to study and teach the Bible. Those foundational tools have stayed with me throughout my life. Those foundational skills have been blessed repeatedly through the years and God has used them to allow me to minister in various ways during various seasons of my life. From working both one on one and in small groups with high school girls, to developing and facilitating Christ centered recovery groups, to teaching 4th & 5th grade Sunday school, and now coordinating women's ministries curriculum and Bible studies. In all of these experiences I've felt overwhelmed at the goodness of God that He would use me.

Then when I was 40 and my then-husband left me and I realized that life was not going to turn out as I'd planned it, God surprised me with a new time of defining. As I've described before on this blog, this was a time in my life when God taught me gratitude and how to live in thanksgiving and joy. My life has never been the same since!

Just after this God blessed me with a man, who wasn't even a Christian (yet, I'm still praying for him) who chose to invest into me and my career. He made me his assistant and he worked me over and above what was reasonable. But he taught me how to lead, how to produce and perform, how to take care of my staff, and how to come up with new ways to make money. This experience lighted a fire inside me, a passion, that still burns.

When I turned 49 I was terminated from a career job that I'd worked for years to develop and hone the skills to be able to perform. I felt bereft and confused. Yet God used this time to deepen the resolve within to praise Him and live for Him no matter what He allowed in my life; in the good and in the bad.

Looking back on these moments in my life causes me to look forward to the future and whatever else God has in store for me.

What does thinking about your defining moments do for you?

An Inciting Incident

In Don Miller’s book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, he writes:

Robert McKee says humans naturally seek comfort and stability. Without an inciting incident that disrupts their comfort, they won’t enter into a story...The character has to jump into the story, into the discomfort and the fear, otherwise the story will never happen.

Defining moments, inciting incidents – they’re the same thing; the action or moment that changes the story of your life. Recently I described on this blog, a sweet moment of joy with Jesus. Aside from it being an incredible moment of savouring the presence of Jesus, something else happened that evening – I picked up a worship flag. The action was innocuous in and of itself but it was a defining moment for me.

The back-story (and there is always a back-story) is that I had been watching people use flags during worship. I didn’t grow up with worship flags, nor were there tambourines or dance or people even raising their hands for that matter, so the flags were new and exciting for me. I was mesmerized and I wished to try. But I was afraid. Afraid that I’d look silly, afraid that I’d hit someone else in the head, afraid that I’d hit myself in the head. Mostly I was afraid I’d look silly.

During the evening worship that I described earlier, my intoxication with Jesus lowered my inhibitions and I picked up a large, beautiful purple flag that just happened to be lying at my feet. I picked it up and ran with it. Seriously. I literally ran with it. Not only that, I ran to the front and waved it in the air in front of everybody. Who was this crazy person, running around the church with no shoes and a flag? That certainly wasn’t the me I was used to. But it was glorious and I felt heaven agree.

I’m a warrior – I’ve always known that. When I read, “until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force,” I am charged up, like a horse race bracing against the stall impatient to run. I thought, as a warrior, I had to push back the gates of hell but the Lord showed me a better way. When I flag and worship, the glory of God descends like a weight and the Bible tells us that when light appears, the darkness must flee; taking the gate is child’s work after that.

I am a warrior and I carry the battle standard in worship, which makes the enemy flee (Isaiah 31:9); picking up a flag was a defining moment for me.

The Recipe of My Life - Building Blocks To Individualism

Some Days I am a Lot of Things!

Dr. Phil wrote a cool book entitled "Defining Moments" or something like that. I heard him hawking it on his show. It was all about the 7 or 8 experiences in life that really define us, the significant ones make us who we are. And with a spiritual twist, that is what each one of the Kingdom Bloggers will be writing about this week.

I suppose that if I was to go back through my life I would find some experiences that defined who I was; well when I first met Jesus. I was abused kid from a broken home. I ended up with a drug and alcohol problem (I kept running out!). I had certain talents and likes that shaped some of my decisions: art, hockey, and music. I still like all of them nearly 50 years later. There were activities that I did with my family, or because someone in it enjoyed, so I joined in. Many of those I don't do anymore. Especially camping!

I have an average intelligence with and aptitude for mechanics and logic. It comes in pretty handy as a software engineer. My love language is "time together" and I love kids, especially girls. Both are required skills for navigating the sea of progesterone at the Johndrow' house!

This topic is about moments, but in July of 1978 I crossed the river that separates light from darkness. That moment, the perspective of my addiction, the abuse, even my own talents changed so dramatically, some of the guys from high school don't believe what they see in me 35 years later. Jesus will do that to you. He can take those moments of pain and agony, the ones filled with hopelessness and despair, and poof, they are healed and meaningless.

Don't get me wrong, I still have stuff, but I have piled on years and years of blessings which far outweighs the good old days.

My life is most easily defined by the risks (steps of faith) I have been willing to take. Jesus says go here, and when I do, amazing things begin to happen. I am going to talk about those, and leave some horror stories of my alcoholism and insane family life on the blogs in which I have already written about them. HERE is one on my alcoholism. HERE is one about my dad - a difficult relationship until he was finally saved.

So, in chronological order this is a list of my defining spiritual moments. Each title is linked to the full story!

-1 Salvation: This was pretty amazing, and so powerful I wept every time I talked about it, and sometimes I still do! I was sent off to an Alateen conference, and there, I went from being an atheist to a believer. It took some time, but it certainly took deep roots.
-2 Baptism of the Holy Spirit: I thought I had it all and then God opened up a faucet from heaven. David began to understand the Scripture "Rivers of Living Water will flow from your belly." (John 7:38) All I can say is that I went from passionate, to ON FIRE for Jesus. It was the doorway to releasing my spiritual gifts, a deeper relationship with Jesus, and eyes that opened to the spiritual realms.
-3 My Complete Overhaul: I went to a Marilyn Hickey "Save the Family Encounter" in 1994. Wow! All I can say is that I was not the same when I came back. Healing, encouragement, impartation - wow!
-4 Ken Sill's Prophecy: In 1994 I went to see a career counselor who was also a Christian. He gave me all the standard tests, and some of his own. In the end we prayed and the Lord told him to tell me to buy a Macintosh computer and the software Photoshop in 1994. It opened the door for me to be in business during the DOT COM boom, and I am still happily coding even today!
-5 Denny Cramer's Prophecy: over me in January of 1998 regarding writing, mission and prophesying. I had not had any significant experiences with prophetic people until this day in January of 1998. Hi words about writing, about missions, and about prophesying were amazing, wonderful and seemingly far fetched.... until they began to happen.
-6 My first mission trip to Brazil: I cannot describe what it is like to get on a plane in the US and land in a country where you do not know that language. Until it happened, I did not have a paradigm for it. It was as life changing as being Born Again for me. I love to do short term missions, and I am waiting for the next opportunity.
-7 Marriage: What can one say about the spouse who changed their life; all for the better!
-8 God leading me to Faith Worship Center: In 2010 I came to the end of a three-and-half-year journey in the desert. There 10 years of revelation, hope and anointing were released! So often it is easy t see the desert as a place of death. For this with spiritual eye, there is life everywhere.

How about you, can you tell us about one defining spiritual "ah ha"?