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Posts tagged ‘Bob Goff’

Embrace the Extraordinary


LIFE’S TOO SHORT TO JUST GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS

“You know it, deep down- you’re not made for ordinary. Your life is meant to be an adventure, fueled by grace and inspired by big dreams to make the world a better place. But, stuff gets in the way. Whether it’s people who tell you to be practical, a version of a faith that keeps you small, or a few bruises that take you out along the way– we all have a longing to break out of the status quo and get after the life we’re meant to live.” – Bob Goff

That quote came from one of my favorite people in the world, Bob Goff, author of “Love Does.” He has a new website:

https://www.bobgoff.com/?cid=21c33def-d0e2-408b-9d77-fcda6e15e879

Today’s black eye

I may look like those bruises took me out along the way with that eyelid swollen and the bruise running down my cheek, but I am far from “taken out!” Instead I am thinking this is an “extraordinary” bruise from an “extraordinary bang” and I am blessed not to have suffered a concussion! My knock on the head is not stopping me from planning some extraordinary days ahead!

Likewise, the fires in CA and the flooding on the east coast and the hurricanes in Haiti and the war-torn people in Afghanistan may have stopped some people from feeling like they are living the “life we’re meant to live,” but such catastrophes cause us to also to thank God for our survival. They cause us to evaluate what’s ordinary and what’s extraordinary – what’s essential and what’s fluff.

Don’t look down and say, “Poor me!” Instead, look up, and thank God for the blessings that are still yours! That’s what I am trying to do today as I put a hot compress on that goose egg that still sits on my forehead – and plan for an extraordinary trip to England to meet our blogging friends, Derrick & Jackie in person, and to travel on to Switzerland to see our daughter and her family there. We haven’t been able to do that since COVID raised its ugly head. Waaay too long between visits with our DollyWolly!

As Bob Goff said, “Life is too short to just go through the motions.” Embrace the extraordinary! Be extraordinarily positive! Look at the bruises and the challenges – and remember, “whether its the people who tell you to be practical, a version of a faith that keeps you small, or a few bruises that … along the way,” they don’t have to pull you down. They don’t have to keep your dreams small. As Bob Goff says on his website and in his books, “Dream Big!”

Smile the bruises away.
Ignore those who put you in a box.
Embrace the faith that makes you extraordinary!

What are you planning for your future that will keep you living those “Dream Big” ideas?
Whatever it is, keep leaning on the One who answers your prayers!

The Fire Update in CA

Our son and his wife in CA still are safe from the Caldron Fire. They still are housing a family of 8 children and their mom who were evacuated from their home. They are living an extraordinary life right now, buoyed by all our prayers.

Our granddaughter in S. Lake Tahoe and her husband, Faith and Kyle, who were evacuated from their home, still are safely relocated for now in southern CA with their other grandparents. Today they received the gift of passes to visit Disneyland. It’s Kyle’s first visit there to the “Happiest Place on Earth.” The fire took a right turn just a mile from their house. Only God can control the wind! Answered prayers have saved their neighborhood. What an extraordinary God we have!

Continue to pray for extraordinary bravery and safety for our fire fighters.

Faith & Kyle

Please continue to pray for Faith and Kyle and their neighborhood…
and for Ty & Monika and their big hearts
which are open to such Christ-like help for their friends.

Monika and Ty –
an extraordinary couple

Thanks for visiting JanBeek today.

See ya tomorrow (God willing)

Stay tuned!
And continue to be the extraordinary person God created you to be!

Category:

blessings, children, Faith, Family, Giving, God, Gratitude, kindness, Life's Challenges, Living in Christ's Family, Living in Harmony, Love, optimism, prayer, Serving One Another

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Embrace World Peace


Tomorrow is Independence Day in the USA. July 4th… a day to celebrate America’s beginning. Dwight Roth posts about it quite poignantly. Check it out:

https://rothpoetry.wordpress.com/2021/07/03/independence-day-all-men-are-created-equal/

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could really embrace and LIVE that sense of equality our constitution espouses?

Where do you find places where world-wide peace is the major goal? How is it expressed?

In addition to poets like Dwight Roth, I love folks like Bob Goff, author of “Love Does.” He wrote:

“Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It’s not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He’s made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, “Let’s go do that together.”
― Bob Goff

Bob Goff’s books, “Love Does,” and “Everybody, Always” spell out in clear terms how the “love with actions and in truth” can make such a impact on your own peace – and can matter to the world at large. Check them out, if you have not read them already.

“Jesus talked to His friends a lot about how we should identify ourselves. He said it wouldn’t be what we said we believed or all the good we hoped to do someday. Nope, He said we would identify ourselves simply by how we loved people. It’s tempting to think there is more to it, but there’s not. Love isn’t something we fall into; love is someone we become.”
― Bob Goff, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People

That’s the only way we can work toward world peace…
One person, one act, one decision at a time.

It’s not really pride that is my motivator…
It is gratitude and love and a faith that
runs deep in my soul.
Thank You, God, for Your many blessings.
Thank you for Your love.
I pray that everyone in the world can feel it.

Thank you for the joy and peace that are mine.
May they radiate through me.
May I generously shine them on all I meet.

Feel the love.
Feel the peace.

Have a very Happy 4th of July!

See ya tomorrow (God willing)

Peace be with you!

Category:

Bible Lessons, God, Gratitude, Living in Harmony, Love, peace, relationships, writing

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I CAN Embrace


I can embrace the future.
I can be ready for a fresh start.
I can take time to review
This past year and take heart.

Take heart that new beginnings
Offer us blessings to uncover.
Take heart that compassion’s awakened;
We’ve new opportunities to discover.

I can embrace the promises
That change and growth bestow.
I can be energized by
Welcoming strangers I’ve yet to know.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

I can embrace the reality
Of dreams yet to fulfill,
Knowing God is ever faithful
When I’m living in His will.

As Bob Goff says, “Dream Big!”

I can embrace the coming year
With prayers for those in need –
And reach out to serve the hurting
With generosity – release the greed!

I embrace the coming decade
And hope to live rightly through it.
I embrace the coming vaccine –
It’ll be effective – we always knew it.

We knew that this pandemic
Could not stay with us forever.
There are too many blessed people
Out there who are creative and so clever.

But I am not waiting for the shot
To stop the misery and relieve the pain.
I embrace the fact that LOVE
Is what will make us whole again!

So, PEACE, my dear WP friends,
I send you the best medicine of all
For the end of this misery-filled year:
A smile, a virtual hug, a word of grace, an answer to your call.

Just like Bob Goff, Love Does,
He puts his cell phone number on his book covers.
Call on me … and I will answer every time:
(406) 599-9678

Happy New Year!
Big Embraces to you,
With Love, JanBeek

Category:

contentment, Faith, friendship, God, Gratitude, happiness, health, holidays, life, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, music, peace, Poetry, relationships

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Difficult People


Thank you, Bob Goff,
for this meme:

Bob Goff posted this on FaceBook

We are told we should
Just love difficult people –
No judging allowed.

That’s really hard, friends!
It’s easier to love you.
You’re not one of them.

Or are you?

But only sometimes,
I imagine that I am…
Right?? What do you think?

The Devil’s in there!

Thanks for your faithful visits
to JanBeek
See ya tomorrow 🙂

Category:

friendship, Haiku, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, Poetry, relationships, truth

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Love Does


Love Does

“Ambitions don’t flow from the quantity of our ideas or our uninterrupted drive; they gush out from our kindness and willingness to take a genuine interest in others.” Bob Goff

Taking a “genuine interest in others” is what Love Does!

Sometimes we wonder what we can do to make the world a better place. We want to help, but we don’t know how. Let me share an idea that works for me:

Bob Goff’s “Love Does” is an organization devoted to making the world a better place through education of people in places where schools did not exist before they came. Bob Goff wrote a “runaway New York Time’s best seller” book titled, Love Does. In it he spelled out his philosophy of DOING LOVE. Since its publication in 2012, I don’t know how many thousands of copies have been sold … but it is a whole lot!! And Bob’s LOVE DOES organization has raised millions to help thousands of children and adults in Uganda, India, Iraq, Iran, and Somalia have a better life.

In his quote this week on his FaceBook page, Bob talks about the courage to step out in faith:

Love Does

May 7 at 9:35 AM · 

"‪Sometimes God asks us to step out (or through). 
We don’t know what we’ll see 
until we go through the deluge. 
It’s scary to step into the unknown, 
but it’s also where we find Jesus; 
and wherever we find Jesus, 
we find life. 
Fear calls out our doubts; 
God calls out our names." ‬

Bob Goff

Helping to educate people from birth on … helping parents learn better parenting skills… helping to provide nourishment for the soul, the body, the spirit… that’s what Love Does! They built “Restore Leadership Academy” and sponsor the education of future leaders in Uganda.

Love Does

May 10, 2018 · On average in the states, it costs about $20,000 a year for college tuition. In Uganda through Restore Leadership Academy, it costs $700. Our college-aged interns here at Love Does have created a campaign to help fund our Launch students!! Visit lovedoes.org/launch to sponsor a student! Sponsor a student today or make a one-time donation and receive a bag of wildflower seeds and a cool sticker in the mail to help “Plant the Seeds of Education!” #LaunchUganda#LoveDoes#HappyG… See More— in Uganda.

Through Love Does, help moms be better moms – and help children not only survive, but thrive.

There are many ways in your own neighborhood as well as around the world to show your love and compassion and to make the world a better place. We don’t need to sit at home and feel helpless in this COVID-19 world. We can reach out and let our love “gush out from our kindness and willingness to take a genuine interest in others.”

I donate a small amount monthly to this organization. It comes directly out of my retirement check. Not enough that I even notice it! But, if each person who heard about Love Does did the same thing, together our offerings can change lives! Lives of all ages… lives in many parts of the world. Here are a couple of darling children in Somalia who are being helped through Love Does donations.

How adorable are these two little friends in the baby home? We love watching these kiddos grow up here! To learn more about what we’re doing in Somalia, visit lovedoes.org/Somalia
👶🏽🍼❤️

I pray you and I will visibly
gush with kindness and willingness
to take a genuine interest in others.

BOTTOM LINE: LOVE DOES!
Try it!

See ya tomorrow.
Have a Beautiful Sunday.
{{{Hugs}}} from JanBeek

Category:

children, Giving, Love, prayer, relationships, Serving One Another, Sharing

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Pray & Persevere


Be sure to Pray Daily

Thank you that “before a word is on my tongue You, Lord, know it completely” (Psalm 139:4).  Thank You that there are no surprises with You. Help me find deep comfort in the fact that You are unshockable and nothing is too great, too terrible, too large, or too heavy for You. Help me see the problems that I face today in light of how big You are.  Amen.

Reprinted with permission from Max Lucado

So, the praying part is easy, right? There are folks like Max Lucado out there who can help us find the right words. Live in the faith that God hears – and He is with us – and it’s true: nothing is too great for Him.

But What About Perseverance?

How do we keep on keeping on? The Autobahn Assoc. shared this suggestion today:

“… talk about the power of birds, … this year they take on an even more powerful meaning. They enliven our days, brighten the trees, serenade in our backyards and city parks, and bestow us with so much joy and hope, all bundled together in feathers and lively personalities.”

Breathe in the calm of our feathered friends.
Listen to their songs!
Watch their deliberate and graceful movements!

A Cosmopolitan bird, the coal tit
Photo by Gerald Theurialliat

We can find such comfort by watching the activities of our fine feathered friends. See how they continue to sing their songs.

Check Out Other Resources

Besides taking lessons from the birds, there are countless on-line resources to help us keep a positive attitude and persevere. One such resource is Bob Goff at http://www.dreambigframework.com I love Bob Goff’s positivity and enjoy tuning in to his podcasts. You just gotta hear his laugh. It’ll make you laugh, too! Listen in as Bob and Scott talk about our response to the Great Shutdown this week on the Dream Big Podcast with Bob Goff & Friends. 

In his podcast today Bob Goff asked us to “Hit the pause button. Step back and think about your life.” He asked his listeners to ask ourselves:

  • What opportunity has this Coronavirus-induced-shutdown given to you?
  • What can you do that in the normal routine of everyday you don’t have time to do?
  • How do you deal with uncertainty and ambiguity?
  • Where are you now and how are you feeling? Are you dwelling in fear?
  • What are your most important values and how are you exhibiting those during this time of world-wide crisis?
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Bob Goff continued to make suggestions:
1) Be sober about what’s going on.
2) Be picky about what you focus on.
3) Turn the volume down on the hype.
4) Limit screen time.
5) Follow the recommendations of the experts – wash hands, avoid crowds, stay home if you’re sick, etc.
6) Live authentically, remaining true to who you were created to be.

Photo by Retha Ferguson on Pexels.com

Who Were You Created to Be and Do?

Bob Goff quipped, “Introverts have been preparing for this for years!”

But some of us are not introverts. We’re having trouble hunkering down inside and having our jobs, our volunteer activities, our restaurants, schools and churches all closed to us. What can we do to remain true to ourselves and feel like we’re not just sitting around wringing our hands helplessly?

How would you answer the question, “Who were you created to be?”

I thought about it and decided:

  • I was created to “Walk the Talk and Live with Integrity.”
  • I was created to “Reach out to others with love and compassion.”
  • I was created to “Use the talents God gave me to make the world a better place.”

What is YOUR Purpose?

How can you persevere in the face of this latest shutdown – and the gloomy predictions that this could last a year and a half or more?

What talents has God given you that you can use to make your life seem worthwhile in the midst of these world-wide changes? Using those talents is a way to remain true to your purpose.

I intend to:
1) Continue to post a blog here daily with ideas that uplift and bring hope.
2) Write cards/letters/e-mails/texts/messages and make phone calls to friends and family.
3) Exhibit love, compassion, tolerance, empathy, and joy – spreading those as far and wide as I can. (See photo below)
4) Do something I’ve always wanted to do but for some reason have put off.
5) Keep in touch with friends on-line by playing games like “Words with Friends” (Scrabble) and commenting on their FaceBook posts while I post positive things there, too.
6) Pray and meditate and daily read God’s Word and devotionals, such as Guideposts and In Touch magazine.

Do you have a half a dozen or so things you can list as your intentions?

Maybe deliver flowers or food to a friend who is shut in?
Just call ahead and then drop it at his/her doorstep.
I did that today.

Tell me what you plan to do
to make the world a better place.

Bee Well!!
See ya tomorrow.

Category:

Animals, Bible Lessons, blessings, contentment, Faith, Family, flowers, food, friendship, Giving, Gratitude, Life's Challenges, Love, mental health, nature, prayer, relationships, Serving One Another, Sharing, writing

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I Love You!


Happy Valentine’s Day!

I love you!

It’s a day for love. Love is so easy to SAY… but while saying it is important (when it is sincere), it’s not the word that counts. It’s the heart and the action behind that word. You know that! So, what did you DO this week, what did you do yesterday, what did you do today to SHOW your love?

Bob Goff is one of my favorite authors. About 8 years ago my granddaughter gave me his book, Love Does, as a Christmas gift. Have you read it? Do you know this zany, whimsical, amazing man? Check him out at this link… Google it – and listen to him. He will inspire you to DO LOVE!!

LOVE DOES by Bob Goff

176,359 views • May 11, 2012

Kittie Eneboe

Yesterday our Madison Valley Woman’s Club had a Valentine party. My friend, Kittie, came dressed for the occasion. I love her spirit! Don’t you?

We decorated chocolate covered strawberries to take home to our loved ones, and we created/decorated Valentine’s cards to give to someone special in our lives. (Oh, and we got to eat some of those strawberries, too. Yum!)

It was a fun activity… but the real fun was delivering our gifts to our “Special Valentine” today.

Of course, you know who mine went to… but I also decorated an extra couple of the strawberries and made a card for our pastor, Steve, and his wife, Elaine, and delivered them to their house yesterday afternoon. Love does! Love shows. Love cares.

Love does show on our faces. Bob got my strawberry and card for his breakfast today.
And love shows on the faces of our friends, Steve & Elaine, too.
Love DOES show in their lives all the time.

Last Sunday Steve & Elaine hosted a fellowship at their house after church.
Our mutual friend, Christine, created these skewers to add to the goodies we all enjoyed. Someone else lovingly made the bean dip.

Our friend, Jim Forsberg, brought his guitar.

Jim led us all in singing some of our old favorites. “Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play.” Ah yes, music is an automatic transmitter of love, don’t you agree?

I inherited a book from my mom. It is tattered from loving years of use. It is titled, The Modern Hymn Book. It was printed in 1924. There is a bookmark on the page where my mom’s favorite hymn is, “Blessed Assurance.”

“Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.”

Ah yes, on this Valentine’s Day, this song is a great reminder. There is no greater love than the love of our Savior who demonstrated LOVE DOES with His whole life. How blessed I am to have had a mother who marked the page, loved the song, and knew that story well. The song was copyrighted in 1873… and its words are as pertinent today as they were then. The tune is known around the world. Let’s sing it!

Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com

And let’s remember the Truth of real AGAPE love on this day of LOVE.
John 3:16 – my favorite verse: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Yes, God is the ULTIMATE example of Love Does.

“I love You Lord,
and I lift my voice
to worship you,
O my soul rejoice.
Take joy , My King
in what You hear;
May it be a sweet, sweet sound
in Your ear.”

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Pexels.com

Go out today – and DO LOVE!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!
See ya tomorrow.

Category:

Belief, Bible Lessons, blessings, Faith, food, friendship, God, Gratitude, Living in Christ's Family, Love, music, Serving One Another, Sharing

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Beautiful People


You are beautiful
You’re loving and you’re sincere
You care and you share

Love is palpable
With smiles on both their faces
Inner beauty shines


Beautiful people
Reach out to others in love
In all walks of life

People like Bob Goff
Reach out and help folks “Dream Big”
He knows that “Love Does”

Beautiful people
Look for those who are hurting
And they lift them up

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Pexels.com

You can lift them up
You don’t have to be a priest
To be used by God

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Just being yourself,
Your beautiful loving self,
Is more than enough

You are beautiful
Your unconditional love
Enlarges your heart

Hearts are expanding
With each act of sincere love
You exude pure joy

Beautiful person,
– Sami, Elko, Nevada –
Shares love at her work

Make the world better
Be the beautiful person
God made you to be

Do you know you are a Beautiful Person?
I do!

SEE YA LATER

Category:

Belief, friendship, Giving, God, Haiku, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, Poetry, self-acceptance, Serving One Another, Sharing

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Receptivity is Key


In my introduction to this
A-Z series,
I wrote the following:

I want a greater understanding of:

  • who I am,
  • how to decode the world around me,
  • what my purpose is here on earth,
  • and how I can live more intentionally to fulfill that purpose.

You are here because, hopefully, you have embraced the journey, the exploration of ways to add more meaning to life. Thank you for joining me!!

Today’s letter is “R”
I have chosen the word “Receptivity”

The picture below is Logan Crowley, my darling neighbor,
with me. She received a scholarship
award of $1000 to assist her venture into college at
Montana State University next school year.
EAA stands for Ennis Arts Association,
of which I am an active member.

Seeking, applying, striving for what we need,
and being receptive when gifts come our way
are important qualities for
adding more meaning
and finding greater purpose
in life.

IMG_6893.JPG

Everyday Receptivity

It is easy to be receptive every day when someone is giving you a thousand bucks, right?

But what about other areas of everyday receptivity? How do we remain open to all that’s out there for us?

Tune in to Inspiration

Today I listened to a podcast on Bob Goff’s “Love Does” website:
https://dreambigframework.com/podcast-1/amygrant

Bob is a wonderful, whimsical lawyer/author/inspirational speaker who has written three best-selling books, Love Does, and Love Does For Kids, as well as Everybody Always. His Facebook website, https://www.facebook.com/bobgoffis/ , will introduce you to his “Dream Big” workshops and lead you to the podcasts that are so heart-warming.

In a recent podcast, Bob was interviewing very talented and lovely Amy Grant. Amy is a Grammy Award-winning Gospel singer who was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and has written a book, Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far.

10509754_10152865694728794_5824598955588519013_n

The podcast, “What If We…?” was so full of wisdom that I listened to it several times and wrote to Bob Goff asking permission to quote some of the most poignant statements. I received an affirmative response. I posted on Amy’s Facebook page telling her of this blog and hoping it’s okay with her, too, that I quote some of her delightful comments.

One of the messages that rang clear was:

Be Open to Vulnerability Every Day!

19055817_1519515418123726_3932865765569928553_o

Everyday receptivity involves the concept
Bob referred to in this podcast
when he said,
“Be where your feet are!”

Bob Goff and Amy Grant were talking about the subjects of vulnerability and community.

You need to be wiling to be receptive,” Amy suggested. “It takes the hard things in life to pull you into the community that then gives you connections to pursue something beautiful.”

Bob affirmed,
“Vulnerability to say ‘I have a need’ leads you into community…
Some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten has been a hug!”

Be Receptive to Dreams

backlit blur close up dawn

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

“If you have a dream or an ambition,” Bob Goff said,
“let everyone know about it …
Imagine everyone in heaven leaning over the railing,
watching and wondering what’s next!”

I love that image! I have several dreams for my future and the future of my children,  grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I want to capture them in my dream catcher, and then imagine that heaven’s angels are leaning over the railings cheering us on!

Goals/dreams are an important part of living a full and meaningful life. They provide the seeds for our journey toward meeting our life’s purpose.

Amy Grant said, “Make room for the seeds that matter most to [you] to be watered and grown.”

 

beautiful blur close up colors

Photo by Anthony on Pexels.com

Add Clarity to your Receptivity

“As soon as you have clarity
on why you’re doing what you’re doing,”
Bob Goff said,
“you’ll find the opportunity to actually go for it!”

Go for it! But what is IT?

“It” is the activity that gives you joy!

“It” is the thing you do that moves you in the direction of your ultimate goal.

“It” is finding out what that goal is!!

Bob suggested if we wish to find fulfillment in receptivity to opportunities, we must first:

  • Find the right kind of mischief (he’s all about having fun while we search for meaning and purpose)
  • Find what brings you joy
  • Be receptive to whimsy (Read his book, Love Does, and learn all about whimsy!)
  • Look for opportunities (You’ll find what you’re looking for)
  • Be purposeful, and
  • Celebrate!

Celebrate!

In their conversation, Bob shared that he gave Amy a bell some time ago. She told him that she has it on a post in her back yard (at least I think that’s where she said she posted it).

Amy said, “I think of you each time I see that bell. I ring it every time I move in the direction of a goal.”

Bob asked her about her ultimate goal, and she responded, “I want to die being a fire hose of generosity.”

I love that … not just a garden hose, but a fire hose, spraying out to others the gifts we’ve been given. Celebrate your gifts by giving them generously and freely to others. Yes!

Be Receptive to God’s Guidance and the Wisdom of His Followers

Amy noted that her first mother-in-law was a woman of great wisdom who lived her faith. Once, when Amy was feeling overwhelmed with trying to balance life as a mother of young children with the life of a recording artist who was traveling the world, her mother-in-law told her, “You only need one prayer a day.”

“One prayer?” Amy asked. “What would it be?”

“God, lead me today to those I need –
and to those who need me –
and let something I do today
have eternal significance.”

Bob reacted saying,
“Yes, it’s not just ‘What do I want?’
It’s ‘Who needs something I’ve got?’ “

Ask God to guide you to those who need you.
Ask God to guide you to those you need.
And ask God to help you find meaningful tasks
that might have eternal significance.
Listen to the wisdom of others, and
Be receptive to God’s guidance!

Receptivity and Understanding are the Keys

antique crumpled crumpled paper dirty

Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

Be receptive to the voice of reason within you.

“You need to understand what you want,”
Bob Goff said in this podcast,
“and not just be limited by what you want,
but look at what other people want.
Look for the opportunity to do something
about it in your life and in their lives –
in a hundred creative ways –
then stand back and let God do His thing!”

Stand back, my friends,
be receptive,
and watch God do His thing!

See you tomorrow!

 

 

Category:

blessings, Giving, Gratitude, happiness, Love

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Keepers of the Aquarium


Are you a Fisher of Men
or
A Keeper of the Aquarium?

person in blue long sleeve shirt and black pants using fishing rod

Photo by Kong Ruksiam on Pexels.com

“Too many churches have stopped being fishers of men, and have become keepers of the aquarium,” said Pastor Ray at Bayside Church in Sacramento, CA in his Refuel devotional today.  http://baysideonline/devotionals/refuel-2018

(Go to today’s refuel: 3/28/19)

Check it out.

Pastor Ray suggested that as “Keepers of the Aquarium” we miss the chance to reach out beyond our own to help others. He suggested ways we might be effective “Fishers of Men.”

Our Aquariums

The imagery of us church-goers just swimmin’ in our own little tanks and feeding off of one another and keeping to ourselves tickled and troubled me. Tickled, when I realized we, like these jellyfish, all look about the same – very little diversity – and we’re swimming around in our own little circles, taking care of each other. Troubled, when I see that even in our own little space, our feelers are not quite touching most of the time!

jellyfish inside an aquarium

Photo by Nguyen Tran on Pexels.com

 

Be Inspired

The devotional (I hope you clicked on the link and heard the message) inspired me to look again at my servant/service role.

Oh sure, Bob & I are teaching a Sunday School – – – three darling little 3 to 6 year olds – – –  they feed our souls! But, how are we being Fishers of People? How are we reaching outside our aquarium to spread the Good News to others in the world?

Blog

One way is by the messages we post on our blogs. JanBeek is all about “Loving One Another.” Not just those in our aquarium, but in the lakes and rivers and big blue sea, too. I love my growing list of followers. I love that you represent countries outside the USA and states outside Montana! I hope you find inspiration here. I aspire to inspire and increase your belief in the grace of God, your faith in our fellow human beings, and the desire to reach out in love.

How Do We Show Our Love?

Yesterday I heard on FaceBook a fantastic message by the founder of https://www.charitywater.org/  I joined (with a small monthly pledge) the “Spring” to help provide clean water to more people in the world. Hopefully, the message of the Deliverer of Living Water will accompany the new wells provided by the teams who go to care for and share with these needy folks. Look at their website and see the teams of young people who are traveling to impoverished areas and bringing new hope. It’ll warm your heart!

So far, the statistics for CharityWater reports these successes:

35,281

Water projects
funded

 

9,562,163

People will get
clean water

 

37

Local partners

 

27

Countries

All donations (100%) go to the clean water projects. Salaries and administrative expenses are paid by companies, partners, philanthropists who contribute for that purpose. My little amount each month goes directly to the intended purpose: to fund clean water projects and delivery to those in need. Yay! That’s one way to swim outside your aquarium!

 

Find a Need Beyond Your Aquarium

Maybe you’ll look at ways you can improve your service to others, too. Reach out to your neighbors, your local Food Bank, Medical Center, Senior Living facility, Library, etc. There countless “fish” out there in your local sea of troubled waters who need what you have to give.

Reach Beyond Your Borders

Look for world-wide worthwhile projects that touch your heart. I am a follower and advocate of Bob Goff’s Love Does project. Another of my small monthly pledges helps this international project that touches my heart.

Bob Goff says, “We have been fighting for human rights and providing education to children in conflict zones for over 15 years.”

You’ll see him on his website – smiling his goofy smile and inviting you to get involved.

 

Bob Goff

Bob is a New York Times best selling author (Get his book titled, Love Does, if you have not already read it). He was a recognized lawyer for over 25 years. In 2001 he saw a need in India and founded what is now known as Love Does.

 

100%

Bob promises, “We understand it can be daunting to know where to give your time and financial resources. We promise that 100% of every dollar you give will go directly to fund our international programs.”

 

DSC02037HalleProjectPhoto.jpg

Transparent

I promote LoveDoes.org because I have confidence in the work it is doing to improve the lives of countless people in need. Especially his work providing educational opportunities for children is near and dear to my heart. I receive regular updates.

Bob Goff says, ” At Love Does we strive to be transparent.  We have years of a proven track record and we want to invite you in to be curious. Ask questions! We want you to feel comfortable with where you are investing.”

Search Your Heart

Find the places, the people, the needs that touch your heart. Act today to reach out. Don’t get stuck in your aquarium!

starfish on brown stone

Photo by Guillaume Meurice on Pexels.com

 

Be a Fisher of People – not just the Keeper of Your Aquarium!

Category:

blessings, blogging, children, Faith, Fishing, friendship, Giving, God, Gratitude, Life's Challenges, Living in Christ's Family, Love, prayer, Serving One Another, work

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