The Shack

I just finished an amazing book called The Shack. If you are looking for a life changing book I would highly recommend this one! I just read it in 2 days, I couldn't put it down (it helped that I am very sick and could not get out of bed :-) I know "life changing" sounds very drama, but it is actually a really good description.

I am not sure how to write about this book, it gives you an amazing picture of Gods love and his desire for a relationship with each of us. It also shows you the freedom we are meant to have through our relationship with Jesus, and how that relationship can free us from so much of the baggage we are carrying that we were never meant to hold on to. Honestly there is so much to say about this book! I am going to start a second pass through it tonight more slowly this time, the first time I just could not put it down. There are so many ideas that just blew me away and gave me much to think about. I am sure I will be blogging on this book again in the weeks to come, because I did not do it justice this time! But I wanted to spread the word! There is a website about it and if you want to order it, it is available at amazon.com and everywhere I think. Here is a link to the website enjoy!

Michele

http://theshackbook.com/index.html

Survey

Women’s Career Life Group is thinking of ways to re-design or re-format our life group to better meet the needs of women who work outside the home. We need your suggestions so we have a better idea of what you need and what would help you become more involved. We would like to see the women’s career life group expand but to do so we need your help. We appreciate your help in helping us figure this out J

Do you currently participate in the OLF Women's Career Life Group?
If yes, what activities do you enjoy?

If you do not participate, why not?


If you do not participate in the Women's Career Life Group, are there factors that would cause or encourage you to participate?


What format would you like to see the Life Group take e.g. weekly/bi-weekly/monthly personal meetings; Bible study; continue as online book club; weekly or biweekly activities which would include spiritual discussions e.g. cooking classes, decorating classes, dinner out, scrap booking & card making, etc.?


What would you like to get out of your participation in this Life Group?


Do you believe this Life Group should focus on specific areas e.g. work-life balance, marriage, parenting, career growth & success, general spiritual growth, etc.


What suggestions do you have for improvement of the Women's Career Life Group?

Tell us about yourself –
Single; single with children; married no children; married with children; divorced; divorced with children; single but in relationship; other, that we did not think of


If you have questions, or would like to make other suggestions, feel free to contact:

Michelle Huff, at m@huffcc.com, or 913-764-2567
Kori Carew, at carew@bscr-law.com, or 913-254-9793
Michelle Thomsen, at mthomsen396@yahoo.com, or 913-721-3135
Debi Winchel, at debo_win@yahoo.com, or 913-397-6298

Thanks guys for your help :)

God Loves Everyone!

We went to Topeka Kansas 2 Saturdays ago to rally against the evil that prevails there. Fred Phelps and his cult like family are spreading an evil message and I am very proud to be part of a church with the courage to stand up against it.

I must say that this day was one of the best days of my life! The feelings coming from the thousands of people who drove by us that day were absolutely amazing! It was heart changing, I know that sounds extreme but that is honestly the truth. People stopped and got out of their cars in the freezing cold to hug us and even bring us hot chocolate! There was so much love in that place.

I am so proud to be a part of Olathe Life Fellowship! I just know that our church is going to make a difference in this world!

Prayer

This is how I feel lately when I pray, like a child. I am reading an awesome book on prayer by Phillip Yancy called Prayer and I must admit my prayer life has just been getting better and better as I keep my time with God more in the "to do" column than I had been for awhile. Not that I didn't pray, it is just that honestly I didn't do it on purpose, if that makes sense. Like spending time with my husband or my boys.

But even more than the changes that my consistency have had on how I feel during my prayer time, the decision we have been trying to reach about adopting a baby from Ethiopia has had huge impact. Which is why I feel like a child, it is at these times in life when making such important decisions or going through hard times that I always drawn closer to God, it has always been that way in my life and I think some of that is normal, but this time I am seeing it clearer and it makes me sad that when I want guidance I am more faithful in my prayer time and when I feel like I am doing just fine on my own I still pray but it is more like something I am supposed to do it and it should be like why I spend time with my husband and boys because I love them.

Chapter 10 Surrendering Your Daily Life To God

1. Does Surrendering to God frighten or excite you?

2. How do you feel about this general concept? God owns all creation, including you and me. Our lives are simply on loan to us. We are stewards of what is on loan to us.

3. Describe some modern day idols that seem alluring to you. (Idols include anything that takes a higher priority than God in your life - anything you hold tightly in your fist.)
What are some ways to overcome such idolatry?

4. Read the story of the angel Gabriel's visit with Mary in Luke 1:26-38 (see page 179) Discuss any insights and applications about surrender that you gain from this scripture passage.

5. Why do you think it is important to surrender what you dream of doing for God?

6. How does the spiritual practice of surrender prepare you for your future assignments from God?

7. In what way is waving a white flag of surrender to God a victory?

8. When did you first realize that surrender was a distinct, tangible, assigned purpose for today? What impact does that realization have on you?

9. Talk about a time when you or someone you know surrendered something to God and then had the Magnificent Counselor guide his or her next steps.

10. Would you still love God and follow him if he actually took everything that you surrendered to him?

11. Which of the following action steps would you like to take this week (pages 175-177)? Why?

• Seek the truth
• Do your footwork and homework
• Count the cost
• Think with the mind of Christ
• Publicly give up control of your will
• Prayerfully begin
• Take a "one-day surrender challenge"

Chapter 9 Expect The Desires of Your Heart

We are going to try something different for the last few chapters. I am going to post the questions from the group discussion guide for everyone to ponder and comment on. We are hopeful this will make it easier for everyone to comment and feel a part of the conversation. It seems like is always easier to answer a question atleast for me :-)

1. What is your understanding of the meaning of Psalm 37:4? Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Read the context of David's' words in Psalm 37: 1-6.

2. In what way do you struggle with any of these feelings?

• I don't deserve to receive the extravagant reward of living passionately.
• Passions are one of Satan's traps to coach me into wanting secular rewards.

3. What is your overarching view of God: Intimidating ruler of the universe? Righteous judge?Powerful king? Abba/Pappa? Other? How does your view of God help of hinder your ability to live with healthy passions?

4. What response would you give to someone who asked you these questions:

• Why would God allow me, a serious sinner, to do what I love doing?
• What if God doesn't approve of my deepest, healthy desires?

5. How do healthy passions help protect you against addictions?

6. What do you believe is the connection between a woman's healthy passions and God's purposes in her life? Discuss on of your passions and any connections you see to God's purposes for you.

7. Which of the following action steps would you like to take this week (pages 158-160)? Why?

• Use some basic hints from chapter nine to get started
• Guard against jealousy of others
• Daydream
• Go for it - experiment

Go the Extra Mile! (chapters 7 &8)

Chapter 7: "Wash One Another's Feet"

I have to admit, I'm already having a difficult time trying to compose my thoughts on this chapter. When I read the title I thought, "Lord, Puh-LEEZE help me get through this! You know I don't even like feet!" Now, I knew it wasn't going to be a literal take on the chapter's title, so the fact that I already thought in the negative caused me to pause. What's the big deal? Why did I automatically assume this was going to be something I didn't need - no, WANT - to do?!

When the author says, "Sometimes God asks us to serve in an assignment that is way outside our comfort zone or area of giftedness. He may do this to stretch our faith or to teach us a valuable lesson." This spoke to me. This year I've been serving in Kids' Life. As Michelle T. will tell you, this "service" has been pretty difficult for me. I like kids, I have a kid - how friggin' hard can this be? Hard, let me tell you. And each time my Sunday came 'round, I felt like calling in sick. I believe the Lord asked me to serve in Kids' Life to teach me the lesson of selflessness. See, in every other church I've belonged to I've always been involved in the music ministry. Always. That's what I do; I'm a singer. It's easy for me to get up in front of people, open my pipes, and blow. This time, however, it was different. God made joining the Music Ministry more challenging and, instead, called me to do something completely NOT easy or comfortable for me. So, on the Sundays I serve the wonderful children of OLF (and I believe my service is to the children more than their parents), my prayer each time is that I see the face of Christ in every child, and that they see the Christ in me. My prayer is to be as loving, gentle, and generous of spirit as He is. In listening to God's will and accepting this service, I've grown and have come to see outside myself and what makes me feel good, to being accutely aware of the needs, wants, and desires of all the beautiful children in my class. By listening to God, I've been immensely blessed to hold some amazing little babies.


Chapter 8: "Walk With Integrity"

Last night when I was talking to Kori, we both remarked that this book really has nothing new to offer. "Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, Worship, Evangelism" - all are components of Christianity that new Christians learn, and "seasoned" Christians take for granted.... and herein lies the rub. We "seasoned" Christians take for granted the elements involved in streghthening our relationship with Christ and forget that we need to practice them as much as anyone else. This chapter revealed this to me by smackin' me upside the head!

I know all about integrity - doing the right thing, at the right time, the right way. Let's go back to the previous chapter's blog when I talked about always being in some kind of music ministry. This current chapter forced me to ask "why?" Why did I always do the music ministry instead of outreach or youth ministry or administrative services? It's then that I realized it was because that's what I wanted to do. I never asked the Lord where I should serve; I just did what I wanted to do. I like to sing - not for the attention, mind you - but just because I simply love to sing. In all these years of music ministry, my reason for praise got lost in my need to just hear myself - does anyone know what I'm talkin' about out there?! I did what I wanted to do and called it "God's will"! Talk about a 'God Complex'!! My integrity was compromised as soon as I assumed God's will was the same as mine, instead praying "Thy will be done."

So now, I'm grateful for the reality check of this chapter. Thankful for the smack upside the head that's caused me to look at my behaviors and motives, and has convicted me to be full of integrity instead of just full of it.

Part 3 - Follow in Jesus' Footsteps

Wow! Like Monique I have had a hectic/hard week....so to speak. I am so late in posting this - please forgive me.

Chapter 5 - Pursue Peace
Reading this chapter came at a difficult time for me. Work has been extremely challenging the last few months and a situation I was not expecting turned ugly right when I was reading this chapter. I had been mulling the challenge of "loving others as Jesus loves me" from the previous chapters. So now on to peace. When you begin reading the chapter, Katie sounds elementary. Okay, pursue peace....why wouldn't you? I mean, hello? But as you dig deeper into the chapter, the peace she describes is a bit different than what first came to mind. Because of the struggle I was going through at work with a junior associate, my mind immediately went to "absence of conflict." Do you feel like Katie's friend Danielle who was caught up in the busyness of life which was always demanding "More! Faster! Bigger! Better!"? Or have you been struggling to find your unique purpose by figuring out what great gift God has given you like Katie's friend Becky?

Perhaps the most important thing to get from this chapter, having started at a place of wanting to know oh so badly our purpose, is to peacefully appreciate the tasks we do here and now, and not feel so driven to figure out the long range plan. Praying throughout the day has become more and more a part of my life over the years. And it has made a whole lot of difference. When you are sitting in your office talking to God while you work and as you mull decisions you must make, you have a sense of peace and calmness. Katie talks about wanting to learn to listen to God throughout the entire day. I want that as well. I seek it. I am far from where I need to be. I sometimes get in a rush and forget Him. I sometimes shoot off the hip before I have talked to Him about it. And I know this is a practice I need to continue working on. Being able to bring God into the craziness and busyness of your life is so important. My life of busyness comes with other challenges (I'm sure yours do too) and I love it when I remember to listen for Him. The talking to Him is not so hard............it is the listening sometimes that is a challenge.

As I read through the various guides of pursuing peace, I realized how much of my life crowds out these opportunities. For example, practicing silence. For me, I practice silence by waking up and sitting in my bathroom. Doing nothing. I just sit there in the quiet. My husband does not understand it at all. I also like to come downstairs, open the windows in the breakfast room and just sit there looking out of the window into the backyard. There is something about my spirit that just craves those quiet times with no noise, chatter, or TV. But as much as I crave these times, lately it seems like I have no time to practice silence. The pace of my life is stealing away so much from me.

Now stopping the endless mind chatter - that is hard for me. My mind is always racing. Which of the guides do you know you need to work more on? I know shutting up my mind chatter, purposely changing my pace, and avoiding peace killers are three that I need to make a concerted effort to incorporate into my pursuit for peace. Katie ends the chapter talking about Mary and Martha. We all know the story. I grew up in church and have heard the story and teachings and read the story myself multiple times. I understand the principles. But I have always empathized with Martha!!!!!!!!! Someone has to do the cooking, the cleaning, the mending......someone has to work. After all, Jesus was a guest and they had to provide him a meal. So if Martha was out there with Mary, would the meal have miraculously prepared itself? I have always thought Martha has gotten a bad rep out of this deal - she was trying to take care of Jesus' needs in her own way. And oif course Mary was just going to sit there at Jesus' feet, drinking in all the wisdom she could and not help.....but I am sure she would have enjoyed the meal Martha was working hard to prepare. Of course this probably tells you a lot about me - I am a worker. I do. I do, and do, and do, and do. But the truth is, Martha could have invited Jesus into the kitchen while she worked. And cerytainly, she should not have chastised her sister for desiring to be with Jesus. And that should be an attitude I should focus more on as I struggle with my busyness and daily tasks.

Chapter 6 - Repent and Turn away from all your offenses
One of the things I ask from God is that He show my the things that are hidden in my heart. Somtimes I have to chew on what He shows me.....sometimes I try to justify it, I try to explain it away......There are things we know we need to deal with in our lives as stumbling blocks, and then there are others we don't know about and assume are not there. The ones I don't know about are the ones that scare me. I do trust God with my frailties and do frequently reflect on my thoughts and actions. My desire is not to have a block between my relationship with God. My character is important to Him. I am an ambassador and I should reflect His love and grace and kindness. I frequently fail in that regard. Each day starts with a challenge to do better. The key here is not just recognizing where we fail, but making a commitment to change from a place of true sorrow. So ladies, it is the change that marks our true repentance.

This chapter is such a personal chapter that I can only encourage each and every one of us to spend some time in here mullling our stumbling blocks and resolving to deal with them. Pride? Conceit and arrogance? Impatience? Cursing? Lying? GOSSIPING? Manipulating? And the very familiar corporate theft? What forms do these common sins come into your life? How can they be avoided? Thankfully, whatever it is, God can lead us and "handle" our sin. And remember, we won't be perfect. But we keep on trying and working on it. And focus on the flip side of the sin.

As you went through the questions, did you find that there was a particular weakness God was nudging you on? (See Katies No. 5 on personal pathway questions).