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Hitting a Brick Wall? Check Your Motivation

Vines creeping over stone walls are romantic. They bring to mind coveted gardens, secret whispers among friends, and blooms of bright colors to ward off a gloomy day. It is a place you want to sit–for hours! The kind of brick wall I am talking about though is only nice on the outside, and I was thinking about the kind of walls we get used to banging our head against.

Ministry work can become stale. Sitting by the brick wall and doing the same thing, the same method, over and over again, makes us feel useful, but are we really making progress?

John 2:25 says, “and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.” As I did some necessary work, my mind wandered to how Jesus knows our hearts better than we know our own. Intentions are good or not. Maybe we don’t even realize our intentions?

Instead of embracing a different way of doing things, we keep knocking against a brick wall. And as I folded paper, I thought, “A brick wall doesn’t yield anything. It doesn’t let you in.”

Not without trust, I thought. A community online or face-to-face has to trust you before you can speak into that community; before they will let you be their friend or open the gate built into the wall. What works overseas will work here, too. It’s not about breaking and entering, but creating a bond.

The kind of walls that are prettiest are the ones with gates. Behind that gate is a new friend. She has the coffee in the carafe with a plate of cookies, and nothing is so pressing that we can’t sit together for a little bit and talk about life.

Maybe over time, she and I can talk about Jesus and her relationship with Him. Until then, I am thankful she opens the gate and lets me in once in while.

Meanwhile, enjoy this article from Indigitious…

I browse Facebook everyday. Recently I noticed one of my friends, Annie, a non-Christian from another country, was posting frequently about her trips to other places. Looking through the pictures, I felt like she just wasn’t happy, so I messaged her and asked how she was doing. Annie said when she read my message, she burst into tears because she felt so cared for. She was amazed I could see her unhappiness, and confessed she was facing some challenges in her marriage. We agreed to talk via FaceTime. I was able to share a biblical view of marriage, give her some tips on how to communicate with her husband, and pray with her. READ MORE

Praise the Lord for Great Blessings!

Three Ways to Better Your Friendships

Most of the time, social media has been a blessing to me. Not all relationships can withstand social media though. Sometimes, it is better for friends not be “friends,” and in light of missionary work, today I took some steps to build some healthy boundaries and keep healthy friendships well. Here are my three ways to build better relationships:

My personal Facebook: This is for friends, family, co-workers, and those “grandfathered” in over the years (because, well, we’ve become great friends from a distance). Oftentimes, I will ignore Facebook friend requests unless I know them as a personal friend. If you are a ministry contact, please “like” my Facebook page or request via email to join our Technology and Missions Page. I do want to connect with you, but Facebook limits the amount of friends one can have on their personal profiles. This is why I created a page. I have 22 social networks. I am active on most of them; and all of them, when I am 100% supported.
Healthy Discussion by Example: One of the things I have done over the years was to create a comment policy so discussions and disagreements can be civil. This applies to all my Facebook accounts and some other social media where I can monitor the thread. I believe we can treat each other with love and not agree with everything the other person stands for. In doing so, I delete comments that are name calling, a put down to the person’s character, or come off as angry and sound confrontational. There are 52 Bible Verses talking about “self-control.” James 1:19-20 says, “Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry. This is because an angry person doesn’t produce God’s righteousness.” I believe we can be loving to others with any confrontations done in private message, text, email, phone call, or face-to-face; never in the public eye.
Refraining From Being Right: The church I work at is doing a sermon on the tongue, and James really hits it hard on the power of the tongue and its consequences. When perusing my social media, I may disagree with someone, but I only respond if it is a misrepresentation of the truth or if there is a chance they are open to discussion. Politics can be a stumbling block to some in seeking Jesus. It is such a hard balance to maintain. Share my politics and become that stumbling block or say nothing? I believe a happy middle ground exists. I think people can share their views if we all practice tolerance towards those we disagree with (and I’m not talking about the tolerance in the accepting way). Tolerance in being kind as we disagree. This goes back to point number two. Or if a conversation is going badly, refraining from further discourse to preserve the friendship. Make sure you are relying on the Holy Spirit’s guidance as you navigate social media and relationships.

What have you found in your relationships that work?

How do you monitor your social networks?

He’s Not a Terrorist

Periscope is an application that works on Android or iphones. You download the app to your phone and create your profile. At anytime during the day, you can turn it on and connect to any country in the world. Personally, I love it. My friend from the United Kingdom is Bob. I have also enjoyed a conversation online with a Kurd from Iraq.

The Kurd knew some English. He was a Muslim. Because he was in Iraq, every other question on the chat was, “Are you a terrorist?”

We’ve got to come up with a better way of connecting cross-culturally other than asking someone who happens to live in the Middle East and who happens to be a Muslim, “Are you a terrorist?”

Periscope offers us an unlimited opportunity to go online and converse with people from other countries. Not all of them know English. If you want to get your teenagers or kids involved, and they are taking a second language in school, consider visiting a country that speaks that language so your child can practice her skills with someone from that country.

The joy of technology is how you can cross cultural lines with a simple app and be anywhere in the world. With that in mind, consider taking a missions course online or in person. I promise you, it is applicable in your communities and through your online relationships.

Night Thoughts

When it’s dark and quiet as your head rests on the pillow, and gone are the nagging day-to-day to-do-isms that have kept your feet moving, your mind awakens.

Another ministry leader falls. Scandal shows up on your newsfeed from another person who claimed to be Christian. Our kingdoms on earth are built on foundations of sand instead of Stone. Or on normal nights, noting the comments online or thinking about the people who can’t see clearly how their words can build up or tear down; it’s their right to say and do as they please publicly regardless of the consequences. And how I pull back my fingers from the keyboard, choosing to walk this walk upright as best as possible.

Then, there’s the diaspora.

With so little time during the week, how do I reach them? How do I connect?

To connect, I need to learn about their culture which requires a whole lot of listening first and asking a lot of questions. To make connections online, you have to invest the time.

So as I think about walking the walk and my own deficiencies, I think of these verses always:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

– 1 Corinthians 13

FAQs: Why Do I Have So Many Websites?

In late 2011, I finished my first fiction fantasy novel and had plans to attend the Christian Writer’s Guild, “Writing For The Soul,” event in Denver, Colorado in 2012. I was excited and nervous to pitch my idea to an editor and agent. Like any new writer, I felt like this was it.

I worked so hard to build my online platform. I visited blogs. I built my own website using Homestead (my first company). I had a blog on WordPress where I had published interviews and book reviews. Writing is a small community, and God connected me with some great new friends. I had been online since 2006. My publishing list was a long one–a lifelong desire that started when I was a teenager. But reality hits every new writer.

Some truths I learned were…

Traditional publishing is hard.

Independent publishing (or self-publishing) is just as hard and more expensive.

While an agent asked for a partial manuscript in 2012 (the closest I had ever gotten to traditional publishing), it was later rejected because fantasy fiction in the Christian market was hard to sell. I continued writing more novels, and a strange restlessness began to seep into soul.

If I got a novel published, name on the cover, what then? So what? What was I going to do in between writing and publishing? What matters most to God? My name on the cover? Or the words and actions in between?

TRC Magazine began in 2012 (published in 2013). God had so many stories in the world that I wanted to give a place where people could share them. As a writer sending to big magazine conglomerates, it was discouraging to not get through the front door. Mainly, the people who got through the door were people with larger online platforms that could bring in new readers to these magazines. I wasn’t jealous. It takes a lot of work to get where they were, and I was happy for people who get that far in their life. They’ve earned it. God took my dream of writing and changed it. TRC Magazine became a place to be a megaphone for stories from anyone who wanted to tell it. If they couldn’t write, we help them. That wasn’t enough after a while. I was restless again.

We live in an economically hard area. I started a new business of Social Media Consulting as a ministry to help struggling writers and others get help with their marketing that would be within their budget and teach them to be independent. I was still sending in manuscripts and short stories, but I started to see the cutthroat side of Christian book reviewing. I didn’t like what I saw or how Christians online were mean to each other, or on their own agenda. Aesthetically, we weren’t cohesive, working towards the united goal of the Great Commission.

That’s where WorldVenture and Cataclysm Missions Intl LLC came in. I became a Social Media Missionary with WorldVenture and started Cataclysm Missions Intl LLC (CMI).

Why reinvent the wheel when other online cybermission organizations were doing a great job for the Great Commission? The problem was in how to bring them all together in one place so the pulpit becomes aware of online missions work. How do we also inspire people to join CMI or other cybermissions organizations if they couldn’t serve a traditional missionary organization? How do we educate and equip regular Christians who just want to go to church on Sunday to use their one social media well? How do we change Christian culture in how they react to things online?

The goal of Cataclysm Missions Intl LLC is to bring people from online into a fellowship of faith and the people in the pews to online in order to reach a hurting and lost world. How do we get Christians excited for what God is doing through technology?

I run so many websites so the current volunteers at TRC Magazine and CMI do not have to run a website. I take away the barrier of marketing, maintenance, and cost so God can use our volunteers through our different brands to reach this world. We are showing symbolically that, though we are different, we can work together with a single purpose. It’s been a struggle to bear the yearly costs of running three websites, but God is a generous God. He is the God of the impossible. On a church secretary’s salary, He has made all things possible. His example of generosity has led me to trust Him for all future things.

So pray for me as I continue to run these sites. Pray we can begin to engage, not just share things.

Embattled and Healing

“Good stewards need to adapt to changing circumstances, but that’s not all. They must also be on the alert for outside threats that could undermine their work. External challenges can come in the form of outright attack, as the Israelites feared in Nehemiah 4, or they can be spiritual in nature like demonic attack or despair.” Pg. 585, Exploring Stewardship, The NIV Stewardship Bible

Embattled, I woke this morning to the sound of rain pattering against the windows and a pain free morning. A week long battle with Diverticulitis is finally easing. With renewed focus, I began to get caught up on work after rescheduling my appointments for next week.

First order of business was time with God. This morning I read this devotion (quoted above). My assigned reading was Nehemiah 5:6-19. A lot of Nehemiah, read in light of today, is relevant. According to the commentary on page 586, many Jewish families had to mortgage their properties to pay for food, farming had slowed because of reconstruction of the wall, greedy Jewish creditors seized properties and enslaved children, and taxes were extremely high. With exception of enslaving children, do you see how we can call relate? Many people in my community struggle economically and we are no different as outlined by what happened on Tuesday.

I had to make a tough decision Tuesday. Do I go to the emergency room or weather through the excruciating pain? It’s a gamble. We couldn’t afford more medical bills with a colonoscopy bill that just came in the mail. I didn’t want to cause my husband more stress. By evening, I had no choice.

It was a good decision. I am gaining strength and getting better. My head is clear. So many people prayed for me. They sent me messages on Facebook. I was so encouraged. This week’s battle with illness and other things taught me about adapting to changing circumstances.

Building More Than Ministry

David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.

1 Chronicles 28:20

When I left the meeting on Friday, I felt incredibly blessed. I am raising financial partnerships as a missionary with WorldVenture, and God helped me see how I can invest back into people’s lives. People don’t leave without leaving something behind, and Friday I left learning something new. I’m not just building ministries and service, but relationships.

This whole weekend has been amazing.

God has been involving me in real world solutions. Every day I wake up and wonder what adventure God will bring me on next. Who will I meet? How can I help?

Pausing is an Illusion

Time whirred past while in Littleton, Colorado last week like a cat on catnip; a blur really. I’m learning as I grow older, time becomes a commodity, especially if you lived the life I lived, and realize how short time on planet earth really is when you reach the half way mark and you wished you had seen God’s calling earlier.

Time is a stewardship trait, too. It’s how we use it. Technology doesn’t give us a rewind button, just a resume playing button. Pauses are illusions. We pause in the middle of the day for rest, but time continues its journey without stopping.

I’m more aware of time these days.

Someone was telling me how many hours a week they work. They are tired. In that conversation, I reflected on the importance of how we spend the time we are given on earth. Bills and debt make us work hard. Some people till hard soil for a full harvest. We punch plastic keys and stare at a screen all day with the same hope for a different kind of harvest.

That’s how I want to spend my remaining time–sowing love and life into the lives I meet online and face-to-face.

He must become greater; I must become less,” says John 3:30. How many times have you read that scripture without it impacting you?

April is here and May is coming straight at us like a speeding train. I echo Robert Frost when he said:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

– From Here