Thank you for joining me in my series 31 Days of Finding God. Each day I am going to use a prompt from Kate and incorporate that into how I am finding God in my everyday!

Today’s Prompt is Leave!

I will be honest, I can’t believe that I am here. When I felt the leading to participate in this challenge to write for 31 days straight, I was pretty sure that I would quit half way through. I like to start things and then fizzle out before I get it completed. I figured this wouldn’t be any different.

But somehow God gave me the words.

There were days that I thought I wouldn’t have a post, and then late in the day something would happen that inspired me and I would have something to write. I rarely blogged ahead, except for the 4 posts I wrote right after Allume! 🙂

Before starting this 31 day challenge, I had started the 40 Day Prayer Circle Devotional. I am now on day 51! It made such an impact on me that I started over once I finished the full 40 days IN 40 days!!

I want to leave my kids a legacy of being someone who finishes. (<====Click to Tweet) Even when it is tough. Even when the words don’t come or I am tired or feel uninspired.

God calls us to be a light.

I want our home to be a place of comfort, welcome. I want to teach my kids how to open their hearts to others and to not be afraid of doing the hard work.

There is such a benefit in the finishing isn’t there?

I know there will be times that I don’t finish well, when I am flat on my face asking God for the strength to continue. I hope in those times I can show that it isn’t by my ability or strength that I persevere…but God’s.

I believe that God gave me the words. He made this challenge possible and I am so blessed to be leaving this 31 days with more of Him.

I have found more of God. In the big and the small, and I am grateful.

I leave this month changed. Blessed even, and I thank each of you that encouraged me along the way. Those that stuck with my daily posts and left comments for me, You made this journey all the more worthwhile.

In Him, Kristin

Thank you for joining me in my series 31 Days of Finding God. Each day I am going to use a prompt from Kate and incorporate that into how I am finding God in my everyday! 

Today’s prompt is First!

Do you lead with love first?

This was a question that Jeremy from the Preemptive Love Coalition asked us at Allume.

He captured my attention because he spent time talking about his life in Iraq, what it has been like for their family, whey they felt called there and how they are responding with true hospitality now.

It isn’t always easy to lead with love first.

We get defensive, maybe feel like we are right…we have to change the world and bring people to Christ so we must do that with all the Bible knowledge we have because that is the only way we will win the argument.

Jeremy talked about he would go and spend all day in this coffee shop in Turkey with his Bible and the Quran and a dictionary. Partly he wanted to learn the language and engage with others, but when he was approached he said he went into the conversation with his fists up.

The kind of attitude that says “I know my Bible and I am going to prove you and yours wrong.” {Bam}

But when we approach people fists up, we aren’t showing them an attitude of Christ’s love! (<====Click to Tweet)

If we want to draw people in, we must do it through relationship. Just like Jesus, he entered this world with arms open. Ready to serve, to dine with strangers, to share water with prostitutes, to heal the sick and wounded.

If we have a heart to teach others about the love of Christ so that they desire to seek Him themselves, we have to lead with love first.

There just was so much of this goodness this weekend. I don’t want to forget. I can get so caught up in life and get frustrated and selfish and I forget how much easier it would all be if I would lead with love first.

It is a journey isn’t it?! These revealings can be tough to walk through but hopefully they bring us closer to who God has called us to be!

I hope to share more about  Preemptive Love Coalition in the future but for now wanted to share one special project we were allowed the opportunity to participate in. As an organization they are partnering with doctors and hospitals to give life saving operations to children with heart defects.

For a small $25 donation you can partner with them to make a much bigger impact than we could do here with $25 alone. Would you consider helping?  Find the link here Pure Charity – Patch a Child’s Heart Fund.

In Him, Kristin

Thank you for joining me in my series 31 Days of Finding God. Each day I am going to use a prompt from Kate and incorporate that into how I am finding God in my everyday!

Today’s prompt is Unite!

As women we can be quick to judge.

We judge others, we judge ourselves. We set the measuring stick so high that there is no way we could measure up. We fight against our differences and don’t embrace them in unity.

I see you and all of the ways that you are doing things better than I am, and I want to give up. And if I am honest some days I want to push to be better. So that I get the praise…sigh.

This past weekend I was reminded that as women we need to be each others cheerleaders. We need to fight the good fight for one another. We need to be brave and encourage, we need to unite together as a body of Christian women and be a light for this world.

We have a voice. We all do!

My voice is different than yours, yes. But united we are louder, stronger…and we can make an impact!

It was a reminder to me that when I read a post that is amazing, I need to push back any feelings of inadequacy at not thinking/writing it first and share it.

Friends let’s champion for one another. (<====Click to Tweet)

In those moments when we are feeling less than, let’s stamp out the lies and stand firm on the truth. We are each unique and necessary to God’s master plan for the world.

My audience is different than yours and if we cheer one another on in this battle who knows where our reach will extend to?!

On our God-sized Dreams website we have women that have written in with prayer requests from England and Mexico!

Can you believe that? That little thing that was started as a place to encourage has reached outside of American borders and offered hope to women we may never meet in person in this lifetime.

That is deeply humbling isn’t it?!

It wouldn’t be possible though if we didn’t work together. Let us continue to link arms together, support and challenge one another to be better because of His grace.

God has given us a great responsibility to reach out to our families, our communities and the lost and be a light. But for me to be effective – I need you.

I need to read your stories, they give me hope. Keep writing friends, keeping being Jesus with skin on in your communities and let’s overwhelm the darkness with a force of light the world has not ever seen before.

Standing firm, united with you all! It is an honor, a true honor to walk this journey with you!!

In Him, Kristin

Thank you for joining me in my series 31 Days of Finding God. Each day I am going to use a prompt from Kate and incorporate that into how I am finding God in my everyday!

Today’s prompt is Wake!

I hadn’t ever flown on Southwest Airlines before this past weekend. So for those of you who are also new to this, the idea is that you are assigned a boarding section A, B or C…and depending on that number you are allowed to get in line and pick your seat. They do not assign seats, so you want to be in the first boarding section if an aisle or window seat appeals most to you.

I decided to pay the extra $25 roundtrip and did early bird check in so I was able to get in the A section both times. I love the window, being able to see what is happening so far below, and not being in the middle row for 4 flights was worth the $$!!

As people continued to board after me there was a woman who came to the seat in the aisle in front of me. Apparently a gentleman, who had already boarded, had left his jacket on the seat and was back using the restroom. His brother was seated across the aisle.

The woman saw the jacket and demanded to know who’s it was. The man across the aisle said “that is my brother’s jacket, he is back in the bathroom”….so the woman starts asking people in the back (in a very loud and sarcastic voice) to check to see if there really is a man in the bathroom.

Now from my perspective initially, I wondered what this guy would need to lie about? But the woman wasn’t convinced. She picked up the jacket and moved it to the aisle seat in my row. Loudly stating something about her brother who was also on the plane and must be in the bathroom as well.

I was stunned.

Do people actually act like this in public? The man, frustrated and openly irritated, grabbed the jacket and headed further back in the plane.

Now maybe the brother was in a different boarding section and he really was saving a seat for him…but I am the type that likes to believe the best about people…I wanted to believe he was in the bathroom.

We have the ability to create waves don’t we?

Sometimes the wake from our waves is small, maybe we are short with our kids and the wake is felt, but doesn’t pull us or others down.

And then other times our actions and behaviors cause bigger wakes. Ones that roll and swirl and threaten to sweep us off our feet. Negativity can sure infect a space can’t it?!

Maybe when we are all fighting for the “best seat” we will do anything we can to get it? I don’t know…

That morning I felt like we needed to have some Allume on the plane. I spent the weekend talking and learning about hospitality. Discovering what it means to open our hearts and lives to others. Offering grace and being kind.

It is a message that we all need. Even the lady in 17A. I don’t want to judge her because I have acted the same in my own situations. Maybe not on a plane, but it happens when I get angry and yell at my kids, or fight with my husband over something silly.

So I am taking that experience as a lesson to me. To be more gracious, to give up my seat if necessary. To believe the best in others and love well even when others aren’t able to be kind and loving themselves.

Is this hard for you as well?

It is easy to judge, to believe a lie, be disrespectful and unkind. I think it can be hard work to be intentional about loving well. But I want it to be the posture of my heart, every day.

Now that I have written it out I guarantee that God will allow me many opportunities to practice this kind of love and grace. My prayer is that I will be a good and faithful servant, and that the wake that I create by my actions will be one of beauty and peace, so that I can continue to be a light in this dark world!

In Him, Kristin

Photo Credit: Vince Alongi

Thank you for joining me in my series 31 Days of Finding God. Each day I am going to use a prompt from Kate and incorporate that into how I am finding God in my everyday!

Today’s prompt is Visit!

As many of you know I have spent the last several days in South Carolina at the Allume conference. The entire theme this year surrounded the idea of hospitality.

I would like to think that I have the gift of hospitality…but I have been thinking about it this weekend and while I do think I have that gift, it is conditional.

If my house is clean enough or I can present you with the perfect meal then you are more than welcome to come and visit me.

But what would I do if someone just showed up? Even more would I ever be willing to invite a stranger in?

I don’t know why I have to associate good hospitality with having it all together?!

A few months ago we were approached by a friend from church asking if we would be willing to host a small group each week in our home. This is the first time since we moved here that this was a opportunity for us and I was excited. We have been blessed with the perfect home for entertaining, with plenty of places for people to sit/gather. Dominic and I both agree that God gave us such a gift with our home and we should share it with others.

But the Sunday afternoon before the first meeting I was running around like a crazy person. Vacuuming (which is truly a MUST with 4 children and a dog), dusting, cleaning toilets in the bathrooms that people may use, washing all the mirrors and appliances down.

Oh and then about 2 hours before everyone showed up I thought that spot cleaning the rug in the family room was something that HAD to be done, so I cleaned about 6-7 bad spots….and realized about 20 minuted before everyone came that the spots had not dried. So when everyone walked in the room there was the risk that they would step in the spot and wonder if they had stepped in dog pee.

Ah yes, the life of a crazy women with the gift of hospitality.

I had lost focus on the real reason that I wanted people to come into our home. The heart connections that were possible when they all came to visit. We sat around the table, a mix of ages and backgrounds and talked over tough issues and laughed over good treats.

The spots on my carpet didn’t matter. I don’t believe they matter to them…why did they have to matter so much to me?

I want my home to be a welcoming place for people to come and visit. I want to always be open to swing wide the door and offering an invitation to life with someone else.

If other people can look past the dust and the stains, the handprints on the wall, why can’t I?

If we want to build community, be hospitable, we have to be willing to let people see the imperfect parts as well as the clean. This is easy to write and more difficult to implement for me but I am willing to try.

So you are all invited, I don’t need advance warning. I may have dishes in the sink and dog hair on my floor….but if you come and visit, I promise that I will spend my time cherishing the guest and not stressing about the mess.

In Him, Kristin

Photo Credit: WaywardShinobi

Thank you for joining me in my series 31 Days of Finding God. Each day I am going to use a prompt from Kate and incorporate that into how I am finding God in my everyday!

Today’s prompt is LOOK!

Today my view is different than normal.

I started my journey early in the car headed 3 hours towards the Minneapolis airport. My destination? Greenville, South Carolina and the Allume conference.

I am so blessed to be able to travel to Allume again this year, but this time I attend with a different focus. Last year I went so that I could learn more about blogging, and to potentially grow in my understanding about how to make money from this writing gig. But the reality last year is that God grabbed ahold of my heart in a big way and showed me that all of this was so much less about me and so much more about what I can do for others.

It was and continues to be a gift.

So today as I start the trip again I am filled with anticipation about what God will do. This time around I am excited about the community. I am anxious for long talks with the women who were strangers last year and now have become close friends. Excited to pray over and encourage dreamers that come to our God-sized Dream meet-up.

As I drove I couldn’t help but take in God’s beauty all around me.

The clouds were pink-tipped as the sun started to rise. The outline of the tree banks glistened and it was all I could do to not stop and just take picture after picture.

My journey went quickly and I rested for a few moments in MSP before we boarded the flight. Even the view from an airport waiting room chair can be beautiful if we are able to take in the blessings all around.

Can you see them…whatever your view today, can you count the blessings?

In the air I thanked God once again for the opportunity to travel, for my family that supports me and handle all the things while I am gone. For a safe flight, with a beautiful view.

If I look, I always find the blessings.

I can be a negative Nelly. I really struggle against it. But if I look, if I am just open to seeing with God’s eyes, the gifts abound.

I don’t know what God has in store for the next few days. I am praying once again that my agenda will be left at the door and His will come through loud and clear.

Help me to see Your will Lord. May I always be open to looking for You in each moment.

In Him, Kristin