Failure Is A Pain!

      My son was pitching in his first baseball game and I was a wreck! There was so much pressure on one little boy. Everybody was watching his every move. When he threw a strike they cheered. When he didn't do as well the crowd wasn't as friendly. I grabbed my husband's arm and cried, "This is too much. What a horrible game!"  As he peeled my fingers off he said, "Kimberley, baseball is a game of failure. A perfect game for a pitcher is rare. A good batting average is less than 50%." Well, I am a teacher and 50% to me is an "F" which means failure. Failing is bad. Why play a game when you fail more than you win?
       Life is kind of like baseball, when you are winning everybody is on your side cheering you on. They applaud your success, shake your hand, and offer to be a part of the "A" team. On the other hand, when things aren't going so great the tide can turn fast. People tend not to stand behind you. The ones that were just cheering you on avert their eyes and walk the other way. Disgruntled mumblings stir up, "I knew this wouldn't work. You should have done this or you should never have even tried such a crazy thing!" The applause turns to suspicion. Many don't want to be part of a team that is stumbling even if it once was the "A" one.
      Bryan and I have failed MANY times at many different things. A lot of people who said they would always be there for us..jumped ship at the first sign of trouble. But God has used each one of these failures to make OUR FAITH STRONGER, DEFINED OUR CHARACTER, AND TESTED OUR PERSEVERANCE. Are we going to listen to the doubters or are we going to listen to our creator?
      Failure is part of the process. It's painful but where are you going to learn how to handle mistakes? Failure keeps things into perspective. You make adjustments and try again. Look at Bill Gates, Kurt Warner, Albert Einstein, or Abe Lincoln. Between these four they had a lot of failures. Two were thought to be mentally challenged before they came up with the Law of Relativity and created Microsoft. One lost quite a few elections before he became president of the United States. And the other worked in a grocery store before he won the Superbowl. Victory is that much sweeter when you have tasted defeat. Don't run from failure learn from it. Failure keeps you humble. If you succeed at everything you might begin to rely on yourself more than the provision of God. Everything is for His Glory.

 ^"I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace." Acts 20: 23-25

Life At 40!

Today as I turned 40 I wanted to look back over my life and try to figure out what I learned if anything.....

High school seemed so epic but really nothing that was important there is important in the real world. The most popular people didn't end up better off and their opinion doesn't matter.

Whoever said "sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me"-LIED. Words are powerful and can be very painful. I have seen them destroy others.

Life is not fair. A guy who shoots a ball in a net gets paid millions while a teacher who shapes the minds of the future makes just above poverty level. Husbands leave, children get sick, loved ones die, but we must go on, picking up the pieces after we have been torn apart.

Most people don't want to be held accountable for their words or actions. The person in the mirror can be painful to deal with.

Character Counts. Really. Doing what is right is still right even if no one else is doing it.

Choices matter. Doing what is wrong it still wrong even if everybody else is doing it.

Most people have superficial relationships because it is easier. To go deeper requires a lot of hard work and investment.

Money doesn't make you happy but it sure can be a lot of fun to have and it does hide the pain for a while.

We are so bored with our own lives we sit in front of the TV and watch reality shows about crazy people.

Real friends are hard to find. The ones who not only hold your hand but hold you up when the storms of life try to take you down.

The potential of evil resides in all of us. So much depends on whom we let form our character.

People are constantly trying to fill the emptiness inside, the void, with anything and everything.

The world is full of suffering and we Americans often turn a blind eye and just change the channel.

I have learned that FAITH can move mountains, LOVE can heal deep wounds, KINDNESS goes a long way, LAUGHTER warms the heart, one person can make a difference, and true FRIENDSHIP is a treasure to hold on to. I have learned to count my BLESSINGS every day and be THANKFUL for all the good in my life. 

But most importantly I have learned that no matter what GOD created me to be one of His masterpieces and His love will never fail. He keeps His promises and surrounds me with His mercy and grace. He numbered the hairs on my head and no tear that I have shed has gone unnoticed.

"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." 

1 John 4:4

Finding Your Purpose

Finding Your Purpose

"Meaningless is like a black hole at the center of human existence that sucks up whatever we throw at it, empty as it was before.” John Fischer

It makes a big difference where you go for the answers to the meaning of the purpose of life. Our culture will assault you with the world’s point of view of purpose: to be pretty, wealthy, happy, to have the best job, house, car, family, vacations…it is all about you!

Finding your purpose in God, his call on your life, is a different journey, one that won’t leave you feeling empty, unfulfilled, lost.

1)    Ask yourself what am I passionate about? God delights in giving us the desires of heart.

2)    Pursue your passions with all your heart. Don’t accept mediocrity.

3)    Keep your perspective that God has a plan for your life. (Jeremiah 29:11)

4)    Do not be afraid to fail. Failure is not a bad thing- not even trying kills the soul.

5)    Always remember and truly believe that you are a masterpiece, created in God’s image, to fulfill a unique purpose, which nobody else can accomplish but YOU! (Ephesians 2:10)

 “I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I don’t know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, “How many good 

things have you done in your life? Rather he will ask, How much love did you  put into what you did?” Mother Theresa

I pray that you search after God and his call on your life with all your heart, that you not be discouraged but be filled with joyful anticipation of the destiny God has planned for you.

What Have We Done?

The last time we bought a TV was in 1998. Bryan dropped that one a few years ago and my sister gave us one of her extras. That one just broke so it was time to get a new one. I dislike dishing out hundreds of dollars for something I have a love/hate relationship with. We don't watch much, we don't have cable but I do love Netflix and playing the Wii together. Our journey through TV land ended at Best Buy. We came out with a new flat screen and CABLE! Cable? Yep, that's right. There was this big guy that looked like The Rock (Duane Johnson) who started talking to Bryan and all of a sudden we have cable. It was fast and almost painless. What a great deal we got, no contract, cancel at any time, we are just going to have it for the summer to watch the Olympics. The reasons for not having cable for the past 13 years went right out the door. 

Of course the kids are ecstatic as Bryan hooks up all the wires. But all I could feel was anxiety. I love me some HGTV and the TLC channel but what if this consumes us? I know some of you are thinking, "Kimberley, get a grip its cable not surgery." I have an uneasy feeling that now this box will become more of a focal point in our home. As we were scrolling through all the channels I was horrified at the garbage that was offered. Even the commercials are more intense. Am I going to have to become the TV police? Basically cable is set up for us to never leave our home or stick us to the couch eyes glued forward. AAAHHHH what have we done????? Bryan said let's try it for a few months but what if we don't have the will power to actually shut it off?

This might not seem like a huge deal to many of you but to me this decision has enormous consequences! I don't want to lose some of the principals we have instilled in our kids just because it's convenient or everybody else is doing it. I don't want TV to rule our life because of the show schedule. And I don't want my children to become zombies!

Same Dumb Stuff

When I leave a load of laundry in the machine and forget about it so now they smell sour, I get so frustrated! I don't really like doing laundry to begin with much less doing the same load twice because of a dumb mistake. I mean how many times have I washed clothes? Thousands right? Its basic.. put clothes in, take clothes out before they smell worse than when they went in. You would think that I would have this down by now.

Then I started thinking about what other things in my life I keep messing up on that I should have down by now? There seem to be themes in my life that I keep repeating the same "dumb" mistakes over and over. Things that should be easy since I have been a Christian for 16 years now. For instance, how to act at my son's baseball game. I do not like the parents who are loud and obnoxious yelling at everybody on the field. I don't like people who yell at the umpires thinking they are going to get them to change their mind. But what did I do a few weeks ago? Ran my mouth. Was so irritated and the whole game I took Lakin early to hers. Same "dumb" mistake. Or how about when I start in on my husband the first thing he walks through the door. I know that this is not a good time to approach him with all my issues. He needs a little time to decompress from work otherwise he usually is defensive and our conversations don't go well. But, again what do I do?

I sometimes wonder if God looks at me and says, "Kimberley, come on. This is 101 stuff. You should have this down by now. Get yourself together." But then I pause and I know He says something more like this, "Kimberley, I don't expect you to be perfect. I don't expect you to have it all figured it out. I know you are going to stumble and mess up. I love you anyway. Don't tear yourself down just keep searching after my son."

"I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord." 

Romans 7: 21-25 NLT