Don’t let emotions ruin the moment. I’m an emotional person. I have no problem admitting that, and emotions can be a fabulous part of who we are, if used correctly. If emotions are steering the course, though, the outcome is normally not the best. When I am golfing and I allow my emotions to take control, my focus is in the wrong place and what I set out to achieve normally falls short.
I encourage you, to keep your emotions in check (good and bad), as you work towards what you’re trying to achieve. That doesn’t mean to not have any emotions, but as they say, you have to keep your head in the game.
You will have plenty of time to rejoice later, or to possibly feel bad over what could have been, but at least you’ll know that you gave it your all.
While one is doing what must be done, take time to enjoy the view. One of the big reasons that I love golf is getting to be outdoors. I love seeing God’s creation. It’s absolutely amazing! Most of the time, as I am at work, at home, at the store, at church, at the gym, or wherever, I’m indoors. Golf gives me the chance to be outside! It’s awesome.
So, as I end this blog series, let me encourage you, one last time. As you believe in yourself, follow through, try to improve, pay attention to the details, work through your plan and not let your emotions ruin all you’ve done, take the time to look around. What’s the point of the journey, if you missed out on all the great points of interest along the way? The end goal is necessary, but life is lived in the seconds and minutes. Make the best of them.
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One may have the best of intentions, but without a plan of action and a means of executing that action, those intentions are going nowhere. When I set up to hit a golf ball, I have the best of intentions. I have a goal in mind that I aim for, I think through my movements and placement (most of the time anyway), and I do the best I can to recall and repeat what has worked before. However, I admit that I don’t practice enough, and I don’t look enough at those who know what they’re doing, so I can improve more quickly.
So my intentions may be fantastic, but if I don’t have a plan of action, what do my intentions matter? Like with any sport, I need to plan out what I’m going to do, if I plan to have more success. This is so true to life, as well. How many times have you heard someone say they were going to do something, and you know they had every intention of doing it, but they failed to plan it out?
You know what happens to those who fail to plan. It’s great to have a positive attitude and want the best, but success doesn’t usually just happen. If it is worth it, then it is worth taking the time to plan out how to reach that goal.
When facing a tough situation, go into it prepared.
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Details matter. Something else that I’ve learned, as I’ve worked on improving my game, is that details are extremely important in the game of golf. Wrong foot positioning, incorrect movements of the head, wrong analysis of angles, even if slightly off, will affect the entire trajectory of the ball and ultimately, your game.
We often go through life, oblivious to many of the details around us. People can walk in and out of our day, without us even noticing. The emotions played out on their faces, evidence of who they are and what they’re going through, ignored. The beauty of nature, art, and so many other things are too often replaced by our electronic devices and a myriad of other distractions.
The impact we are truly meant to have on one another, even if it’s only a small impact, may never happen. Those seemingly small details can and do change the trajectory of a person’s day, and at times, a person’s life. We often underestimate the influence our actions have on others, let alone ourselves.
That is a huge mistake, because it is no longer some game of golf. When we ignore details in our everyday lives, the impact is one that ripples to those we may never meet. Golf is fun, but life is important. Don’t let it pass you by.
“Don’t look back at tomorrow and say you could have done more.” – a fire chief on “Chicago Fire”
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Our actions are worth nothing, without follow through. As much as I’ve improved in my game, one of my biggest problems is not following through. My club will hit the ball, and almost immediately my momentum stops. If you know anything about golf, continuing to follow through is necessary for the ball to go the distance in which you initially sent it.
The same is true with anything we do, in life. We may start off strong or gain some great momentum along the way, but following our actions through to the end is what counts. Often, obstacles get in our way. If what was once started truly matters, those obstacles will strengthen us. Just like the follow through, in golf, provides the rest of the power to take your game where it needs to go, as we are strengthened through overcoming each obstacle, our overall ability increases and we come to realize that our potential is much greater than we ever imagined.
Is there an area of your life where you began something, something important and gave up along the way? Or have you achieved a certain level of success, in some part of your life, but then stopped reaching higher, stopped believing that you could do more?
Follow through, all the way. See all that you are capable of doing. Don’t slow down. Don’t settle. Don’t quit.
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This blog may be one of my longest ones to date. Over a long time, God has shown me to dream beyond my imagining to dreaming God sized dreams. I can remember a time, as a teenage girl, when my youth pastor encouraged us to pray for our future spouses. He wasn’t encouraging us to focus on looking for the one God might have for us. He was encouraging us to pray “for” that person now, not after he/she entered our lives. I can still remember him saying, “You never know if you are the only one praying for them.” Powerful words!
Well, as I prayed for the man who would later become my husband, God showed me the attributes that this man would and should have, if he was to marry me. They seemed way beyond what even other Christians were hoping for, but as I continued to study the Word, I saw that they lined up directly with God. Not only that, but focusing my eyes on who God would have for me, kept me from making some major mistakes. Years later, when I did meet my husband, I learned that he came to know the Lord during his teen years, in a powerful way! God only knows how much my prayers may have helped to shape him into the man he was and would become. Even more, my husband is all God wanted for me, not an impossible dream.
I can also remember the time when I had to decide which colleges to apply to, and though I’m not advocating applying to just one school (unless God makes that VERY CLEAR), I knew that I knew that I knew that I was meant to go to a specific state college. Others, especially family, thought I was nuts. How could I put all my eggs literally in one basket? This was my future, we were talking about!
To help provide a peace to my loved ones, I decided to apply for early acceptance, which meant I would know months before others if I was going there that fall, but most importantly, I would know ahead of having to submit more college applications, before the deadlines to other schools. Though I did fairly well through my school years, there was no logical reason why the school God wanted me to attend would send me an early acceptance.
As God would have it, I got early acceptance, and He did one even better. They offered me a good-sized scholarship. What had already been clear to me, became clear to others. What’s more is that I grew more spiritually in that place, than ever before, not because it is some special school, but because of daring to dream and trusting God for the results.
I can also tell you of the numerous times I would feel God showing me who He wanted me to be and what He wanted me to do, down the road. However, the location of where this would occur, was completely foreign to me. Then, many years later, as my husband and I were traveling from the airport, for his final pastoral interview and for my teacher interview, I couldn’t help but notice something. Outside the car windows, for miles and miles, I was looking right at the location of my dreams. As we arrived, and did some exploring, more of what God had shown me for so long, were now right before me, in living color and in some cases, in flesh and blood! I cried joyful tears, many times during that weekend.
I have long felt an affinity for Joshua, in the Old Testament. He was a man who clearly dreamed God sized dreams. As he was mentored by Moses, it spoke to me when I read, “Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, would remain behind in the Tent of Meeting,” in Exodus 33:11. Here was a man God was shaping to see the Promised Land before he would ever step into it. Twelve men had been sent to scout out the Promised Land and report back to Moses, Aaron and the rest of the Israelites. Ten of the twelve could only see what was in front of them, and they passed along their fears to the others that this was not of God, without consulting Him. However, in Numbers 14:5-9, we see Joshua and Caleb not only dreaming God’s way, but truly seeing His reality, before they entered into all God had for His people:
“Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the whole community of Israel. Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. They said to all the people of Israel, ‘The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!”
That’s what’s so amazing about dreaming as God desires us to dream. We can’t always see what He places in our hearts and dreams. They don’t always make sense. Many times, they don’t, because they involve His intervention, rather than man’s, in order for them to come to fruition. But God tells us in Ephesians 3:20, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” That’s exciting! If we can think it, He is able to do even greater!!! That’s what He wants for us.
Even though that piece of Scripture was written many years after Joshua, Joshua knew the heart of God. This is probably why in Joshua 10, we see five kings send their united armies to fight against Joshua and the Israelites, out of fear for what they had seen God deliver them from, in prior battles. This would causes most people to run the other way. Yet, God had given Joshua big dreams, dreams of who He is and what He wanted for His people.
In Joshua 10:9-14 we read:
“Joshua traveled all night from Gilgal and took the Amorite armies by surprise. The Lord threw them into a panic, and the Israelites slaughtered great numbers of them at Gibeon. Then the Israelites chased the enemy along the road to Beth-horon, killing them all along the way to Azekah and Makkedah. As the Amorites retreated down the road from Beth-horon, the Lord destroyed them with a terrible hailstorm from heaven that continued until they reached Azekah. The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword.
On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, ‘Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.’
So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies.
Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day.There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day!”
Wow! How many of us would ask God to stop time, the revolution of the Earth around the sun, even stop time, very unnatural things, because His people needed more time, and Joshua knew that if he could think it, God could do greater, and God did! He allowed His people to get physically involved in the battle, and as if the sun standing still wasn’t enough to show them who was really at work here, God destroyed those who tried to escape, with a hailstorm. That’s the God we serve, a God who wants us to expect great things from Him.
Looking back at those who dared to dream God sized dreams in the Word, in the lives of others I have known or met, and in my own life, I couldn’t say this better than Paul did in Ephesians 1:3, when he stated, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.”
Did you catch that? He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms! It isn’t future tense. He has already done it. All we have to do is enlarge our vision and dream as God wants us to, because He has already ensured us that He is able and has already made a way.
This is why the Dream Centers, which began in LA, came into being and spread world-wide. This is why the “National Community Church” in Washington, DC stands today and its pastoral staff and congregation continue to be testament to dreaming God’s way. This is why the Assemblies of God exists today. This is why Wayne Tesch, an ordinary man (like all of God’s big dreamers) began Royal Family Kids Camp, a camp for abused foster kids, which is now over 150 camps strong world-wide!
Are you getting it? God wants us to dream big enough for Him to do even bigger things! Jesus Himself told us in Matthew 13:23, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” He wants to go WAY beyond whatever we dream.
So start dreaming, but keep God in the equation. Ask Him to enlarge your vision. Dream in accordance to who God is and who He says we are in Him, because we serve a BIG God. Dream, remembering that what is impossible in our eyes is VERY possible in His, and feel free to share with me and my readers about God’s big dreams and what He’s done since you dared to dream! Not only does it encourage all of us, but each testimony gives glory to God, the giver of great dreams.
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People enjoy messages of love from others. For some, they prefer these messages verbally. Others enjoy receiving it in a written or a typed format. Still others enjoy messages of love through gifts, acts of service, and the like. We all want to be loved and know for sure that we are loved.
Whether or not we enjoy eating them, many of us even like those heart shaped candy hearts that come around Valentine’s Day. Why? Because with each heart, they tell us that someone cares for us, wants us in their life, possibly even loves us.
No matter how many messages of love we receive from anyone, in our lives, there is a love message that was written to us long before we even drew a breath. It is a message of love that has withstood the test of time. It is a message said in many ways, so that we would all understand that it is for real, and it is for us.
God has a message of love for us that surpasses any that anybody could give to us. It’s found in His Word. Continuously, He tells us that He loves us, from cover to cover. These are just some:
“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” – Genesis 1:27
“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me,O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!” – Psalm 139:13-18
“Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.” – Psalm 36:5-7
“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.” – Isaiah 49:15-16
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11
“For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears.He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” – Zephaniah 3:17
“What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.” – Luke 12:6-7
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, ‘For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.’) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” – Romans 8:35-38
The wonderful thing is that we don’t have to wait till February, our birthday or any special occasion, to receive these messages of love. He looks at us, and He says, “Be mine,” constantly. Can you imagine being that adored? That loved?
Circumstances will fail us. People will fail us. We will fail ourselves. But, God’s love never fails us. That is sweeter than any candy I could ever eat.
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What does it feel like when God is stretching you? It is not always pleasant. It can even be scary. It means placing control fully in God’s hands, not knowing the outcome. The question I periodically find myself asking is, “Am I willing to be stretched, if it means I’ll become more like the person God sees, when He looks at me?” It has been one of the greatest and also hardest questions, for me to ask, let alone answer, within my walk with God.
A close friend of mine once told me, in the midst of being stretched by God, “God has really been dealing with my past, changing my past hurts to good! I was praying last night that God would show me who I am because I don’t know myself most of the time anymore. His reply was ‘you are my child’. Simple, yet profound!” Profound, indeed.
To reach that place where we allow ourselves to be stretched by God can definitely be difficult, but oh so good, when we get to the point of realizing the purpose of it all. This makes me think of Ruth, in the Old Testament (Ruth, chapter 1). There was a point in her life where she had to make a choice. Either she was going to stay where she was, a place she knew, or follow her mother-in-law Naomi, to an unknown place, with unknown people, to follow her and an unknown God. God stretched her, and the result? She was given more than she could have ever dreamed possible, even becoming the great grandmother of King David.
How about Esther, also of the Old Testament? Talk about being stretched. She was orphaned, left to be raised by an uncle. Then, she gets chosen to become part of a group for the king to consider as a potential wife. So much of her life seemed out of her control. Yet, she allowed God to use her, to stretch her, and stretch her, He did! This time of stretching put Esther in a place where she got to save her entire people from annihilation. How? She stretched beyond herself, and into the God’s purpose for her life. What a hero she is to me!
I have had those stretching moments in my life, and like my friend, I became in many ways someone who I wouldn’t have recognized at the start of the stretching experience. I look back and can see a person who was shy, introverted, suffered from panic attacks and had low self-esteem. Yet, God stretched me, slowly molding me into who He always knew I could be. Though it wasn’t always easy, it has been so worth it.
Now, I look at myself and see a person who can confidently speak to others, who can walk with a confidence that can only come from God, into whatever He places before me. I know I have many, many more times of stretching ahead of me. I know that some may be more pleasant than others, but if God can do all He’s done in me, in less than four decades, bring it on! Lord, do what you will.
In the end, I simply want to look into the eyes of my Lord, and hear Him say to me, “You are my child, the one I’ve always known, the one who allowed me to stretch you, who trusted your heart and life to me. Well done, my faithful servant!”
I dare you to say, “Lord, stretch me into who you want me to be.” Be ready for an amazing ride! I can assure you that the destination will be breathtaking.
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Funny how we often want to have people in our lives we can trust, can count on, but then someone tells us, “Trust me,” and inside we hear, “Wait a minute? Trust you? Why should I trust you?” Then your mind runs through every moment of mistrust ever done to you, by that person or any number of other people in your life.
We so desperately want to trust. We even want to be worthy of trust ourselves. But, then we have those moments. You know the ones. Those moments when we fail ourselves and let someone down. Those moments when even those who you should be able to trust with your very life let you down, and you wonder if trust is even obtainable.
It is. John 12:46 says, “I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their TRUST in me will no longer remain in the dark.” That’s a powerful truth. But maybe you’re still sitting there, doubting.
That’s a powerful image. Picture yourself in complete darkness. No light from anywhere, and you’re alone, without any clear indication of which way to get out, which way to go, to reach light. That’s a frightening thought, but we’ve all had those moments, those panic stricken moments.
So you begin doing everything you can think of to find your way. You may try walking with your arms outstretched, possibly stumbling over things or smacking straight into a wall, feeling more and more pain with each attempt to get out. You may even begin to get down and crawl, something you haven’t done since you were quite young, but you simply don’t know what else to do. Even though you can feel your body being scraped and cut, as you try to make your way, you continue. You’ll resort to anything. You need to find a way, and there’s no one there to tell you what to do. No one you can trust, to help you out of this dark place with no chance of escape.
Suddenly you remember. Wait a minute, there is someone to get you out of this dark place where you have nowhere to turn. Inside yourself, you mentally ask God, “Are you there? Do you see me? Can you really get me out of this?”
Then, as more time passes, and you keep trying on your own, with no results, you find yourself crying out, “Jesus! Help me. You tell us in Your Word that we can put our trust in You! Lord, get me out of this darkness. I don’t know which way to go!”
Suddenly, the answer is clear. You know exactly which way to go. Jesus answered, and made the way out known to you.
God is always worthy of your trust. Man may fail you. Friends and family will fail you, from time to time. But, your Heavenly Father, your very Creator, will never fail you.
When you’ve tried everything else, try God. Maybe next time, you will remember to trust Him first, and save yourself all of the bumps, cuts and bruises from stumbling around in the dark. He will never let you down.
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We’ve all been there. We’re in the midst of a situation, frustrated, trying to figure out what to do next. We begin to question ourselves. It can be a dark place.
I can still remember the night, after my first day of teaching. I had gone through my years at college, earned my degree and certifications. I had been prepared by others and life, with more than I could have ever hoped for. My first day, as an official teacher even went well.
So why did I drop to the floor of my bedroom, feeling completely overwhelmed? I found myself doing the only thing I knew to do. I cried, hiccuping, gasping cries, to the only One who I knew understood me better than myself, my God. I wasn’t upset that I didn’t feel equipped with knowledge on the subject I was teaching. I wasn’t uncomfortable working with my students. Yet, I felt inadequate.
Who was I to think I had something to teach the future of our country, young men and women, who would be molded partly by what I imparted to them?
So, what else could I do? I felt inadequate, because I am. All of a sudden, for at least 9-10 months, the lives of others were being entrusted to me. Many would come to me, expecting answers, and the responsibility suddenly felt too great.
But, as I cried out to my Heavenly Father, all was made right. He gently reminded me that I may not always know all the answers, but I know Someone who does. When those impressionable lives asked me for direction, I may not always know what to say, but I know Someone who does.
By the time I stood up, not much had changed around me, but something had definitely changed inside of me. I felt confident that no matter what lied before me, I could walk forward, knowing that my God would guide me.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” I was confident, knowing that not only did I not have all the answers, but I didn’t have to have all the answers.
Isn’t that where true wisdom comes from, acknowledging the One who is greater than ourselves? Why do we sometimes lack wisdom, in a situation? Sometimes it is just a matter of crying out to the One who can see the beginning and the end, and asking for His wisdom, which far surpasses our own.
Life isn’t always easy, but no matter what happens, know that God has a plan for you and your circumstances.
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Rachel's Reflections 