One of the hardest things for a Christian to understand is what God is up to in his/her life. We go through spiritual highs and lows, have challenges and afflictions, suffer and sometimes succumb to temptation. All of this can seem confusing at times. Isn’t following God supposed to be joyous and froth with continual blessings? On the contrary, the Christian life is hardly a free hopper pass to Disney World. Christian or not, life is difficult, demanding and sometimes downright unfair. But if we can find the meaning in it all, it’s much easier to bear, and we’ll have peace knowing that God knows where He’s taking us and that the journey will all be worth it.

God works in definite patterns in the lives of His children. Understand God’s methods and how He navigates, and you begin to see what He is trying to teach you. You may think He’s crazy stopping off to see the largest ball of twine, until a piece of that twine comes in handy on a later adventure. Everything He does is for a reason, and that reason is to prepare you for something later down the road. Understanding human nature and also how God disciplines and instructs his children will help you quit questioning His navigation. You’ll begin to relax and let God work His wonder in your life.

Lord, Are You Sure? will help you:

• Understand why certain challenges or problems keep repeating in your life, and how to break the cycle.
• Unlock the mystery of why you encounter challenges and roadblocks on roads you felt inspired to travel.
• Learn that life is not random. Everything happens for a reason.
• Accomplish your righteous desires with God’s help.
• Increase your faith to a level that you never thought possible.
• Recognize the Lord’s hand in your life, how to find the line between what you control and what God controls, and how to know whether to forge ahead or be still and know that He is God.
• Learn how to tweak your thinking and unlock the abundant blessings that God has ready to shower upon you.
• Have true, day-to-day, lasting peace that passes all understanding – even in the midst of adversity.

To get your free PDF copy of this book, please fill out the form on the upper-right-hand side of this page.

Good Friday to those who celebrate the living Christ

Words by Kenneth Cope. Performed by Julie de Azevedo-Hanks

His hands
tools of creation
stronger than nations
power without end
and yet through them we find our truest friend

His hands
sermons of kindness
healing men’s blindness
halting years of pain
children waiting to be held again

His hands would serve His whole life through
showing man what hands might do
giving, ever giving, endlessly
each day was filled with selflessness
and i’ll not rest until I make of my hands what they could be
’til these hands become like those from Galilee.

His hands
lifting a leper
warming a beggar
calling back the dead
breaking bread, five thousand fed

His hands
hushing contention
pointing to heaven
ever free of sin
then bidding man to follow him

His hands would serve His whole life through
showing man what hands might do
giving, ever giving, endlessly
each day was filled with selflessness
and i’ll not rest until I make of my hands what they could be
’til these hands become like those from Galilee.

His hands
clasped in agony
as He lay pleading, bleeding in the garden
while just moments away
other hands betray him
out of greed, shameful greed
and then His hands
are trembling
straining to carry the beam that they’ve been nailed to
as he stumbles through the streets
heading for the hill on which He’d die

He would die
they take His hands, His mighty hands, those gentle hands
and then they pierce them, they pierce them
He lets them, because of love
from birth to death was selflessness
and clearly now I see him with His hands
calling to me
and though I’m not yet as I would be
He has shown me how I could be
I’ll make my hands like those from Galilee

I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. Great book for anyone looking to create a movement around their message. In it he talks about being passionate about your work. Passion is the cure for burn-out. In this video, I share some of my insights on the subject:

If you haven’t already, go take Lisa Rae Preston’s STEP Into Destiny assessment and find out what your core passion is so you can more proactively integrate it into your days.

There’s someone in my life I’ve struggled to forgive, wrestled with my own bouts of criticism, condemnation and frustration toward. It’s not a pretty thing to know you have unkind feelings toward someone. It’s not who I want to be. I want to be Christ-like, loving and forgiving. Gritting my teeth and forcing myself to be that way doesn’t quite seem like the same thing.

Jesus never seemed to be straining to forgive, never had to bite his lip and fight back a nasty comment. Those ugly dark things weren’t inside Him to begin with. It dawned on me that if I could see this other person through Christ’s eyes, perhaps I could have those natural feelings of unconditional love and compassion. Maybe the irritation would melt away and be replaced with God’s love.

This morning I woke early and decided to use the time in those peaceful quiet hours to ask the Lord for the ability to see this person through His eyes. In my mind, He took me to a beautiful beach and had me take a seat on a log facing the crashing waves. He knelt in front of me, His hand on my shoulder, looking me in the eye. His were filled with infinite compassion and understanding.

He let me express the deepest desires of my heart — who I long to be, the type of person I want to be, free of these negative emotions, free to escape this cage I feel like I’m living in. It’s as if there’s this passionate ball of love and light that’s crying to break free and express herself but she keeps bumping up against negative limitations.

“If this person wasn’t in my life,” I heard myself telling Him, “I could be a good person.”

I could see the twinkle in His eye and knew immediately how foolish that statement was. It isn’t this person “making me have bad thoughts.” The propensity to be critical, condemning and judgmental is already there.

This person is in my life to give me a chance to overcome these feelings. They are a gift to help me eliminate the black blobs that are stuck to my glowing ball of light.

“How do I get rid of this negativity? Please take these thoughts and feelings away from me,” I pleaded. “Can I just give them to you? I would give away all my sins to know your thoughts, to be as loving as You are.”

Again I asked to see this person through Christ’s eyes. If there were some way to do that, perhaps all the resentment and bitterness would melt away.

At that moment, a situation from my past when I’d done something particularly bad came to mind. All the feelings of guilt and shame returned. It was a sin I’d already repented of, but the memory returned. After that event I’d felt despair and depression for quite some time. It was a dark time for me that I had no desire to revisit.

“That,” Christ explained, “Is how {this person} feels — all the time.”

“Oh my, really?” I remembered how immobilized I felt in that period of my life. I remembered feeling worthless, despondent and as if there was no use trying to do anything. It was a horrible, debilitating feeling.

“You experienced this for a short season until you received My forgiveness. Imagine it stretching on for years. What might you have become?”

I then understood how and why this person acts the way they do, why they’d become contracted and limited in their abilities. Why they responded to me the way they did for so many years, and much more. All in an instant, everything became clear.

And then Christ said, “Do you want to see how I see this person?”

“Yes, I do.”

He showed me a beautiful young person, long before the mistakes had draped them in a dark heavy cloud of guilt and shame. This shining valiant individual with a future so bright and promising stood before me. And I began to weep. This was the beauty beneath all the rubble.

Instantly I felt Christ’s love for this person flowing through me, and I felt such an overwhelming need to apologize for being so blind for so long. I had belittled, condemned, judged and criticized a fallen warrior, lying helpless, bleeding on the side of the road. I had not reached forth a loving hand. I had not dressed this person’s wounds. I had not given them a hug of comfort or kindness.

All I had seen was how their actions affected me. All I saw was how my life wasn’t as ideal and beautiful as I wanted it to be — even craved and needed it to be. I was too concerned with my rights, my needs, what “I deserved.”

And then Christ’s question came, “Will you help this person?”

“I will.”

“You may not see results right away.” He cautioned. “You may never see them at all.”

“I understand.”

“It’s not about them changing. It’s about you becoming.”

“Yes, I understand, Lord. Where do I begin?”

“Why don’t you just start with a hug.”

In this video, I share my big vision for lighting the world and cover the three types of light bearers: thought leaders, advocates, and lantern bearers. Which one are you?

Please reply below or email me at marnie@marniepehrson.com and let me know what you think. If you have ideas for more proactively lighting the world, I’d love to hear them!

Hannah, Wilma and Dani

I used to own three goats. When I got them, Wilma was a couple years old and had had kids of her own. Hannah was about a year old, and Dani was perhaps six months old. These three goats had three distinct personalities, but one thing they had in common was their complete inability to share. They would knock each other out of the way, fight, and quite literally “horn in” to get what they want.

Especially Wilma was one of the most selfish beasts I’d ever seen. Not only did she want all the feed for herself, but she couldn’t stand for Hannah to have a speck of it. She’d share a trough with Dani (the little one), but never with Hannah. Not only did she not share a trough with Hannah, but also she didn’t want Hannah to have a trough of her own. She’d leave her own feed to ram her horns into Hannah’s side and drive her away from her food. She’d also frequently cast Hannah out of the big dog house they lived in and force her out into the rain — even though all three of them could fit in it.

Wilma made me think of people who aren’t satisfied to have their own success, but can’t tolerate anyone else having some too. This competitive, jealous, scarcity mentality is what gives goats a bad name, and I’m certain it’s why Jesus used goats to illustrate the nature of the selfish individuals who do not give their hearts to Him.

In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus related the parable of the sheep and the goats to describe his coming and the Day of Judgment:

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”

The dividing line — the sure indicator of our conversion to Jesus Christ is how we treat each other. This analogy of the sheep and the goats took on greater meaning for me after owning goats.

While goats do have fun personalities and are easier to maintain, sheep are completely dependant upon their shepherd for cleaning and sheering. Sheep are generally docile creatures who follow their shepherd in all things. Goats, with their individualistic me-first mentalities, mark a stark contrast to the easy-going, follow-the-leader temperament of sheep.

Perhaps the Lord is trying to tell us that He would rather have us lean on Him to cleanse our sins yet follow Him in all things than to require less maintenance but be self-centered and competitive. Just try getting a goat to go where you want it to! Bribery is about all that works.

Following Jesus Christ and attempting to live our lives as He lives leads us to reach out and serve others, to lift their burdens, make room for them in our lives, share what we have with them, and in essence live a more Christ-like life. As we follow Him, we become like the obedient sheep who follow their shepherd and will “inherit the kingdom prepared for [us] from the foundation of the world.”

I am grateful for the people in my life who have offered me and my family Christ-like service. I hope and pray that when the Lord comes, I’ll be found on his right-hand as one of those who followed Him by serving others.

Hugging my son Caleb on the evening of his return from Honduras

What has impressed me most about Caleb is his powerful testimony of our Savior’s love for us and the transforming power of His infinite atonement. There is no greater gift given to mankind than what Jesus Christ has done for us and the eternal life He offers. The following video is a beautiful depiction of His life and ministry. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Merry Christmas, my friends. May God bless you today and forever.

It truly is alarming how many Christians don’t experience the freedom that the Bible speaks of (2 Cor. 3:17). Instead, they feel trapped by things in their lives; feeling like there is no way to move forward because of where they are or where they have been. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t matter where you’re at in life, or what you’re struggling with, you can find lasting freedom in Christ.

That’s why Christian authors and speakers, CJ and Shelley Hitz, have written Forgiveness Formula: Finding Lasting Freedom in Christ.” You’ll recognize Shelley from this year’s SheLovesGod.com Virtual Women’s Conference. This easy to read book combines real life stories with practical application steps to help people live life to the fullest through the power of forgiveness. The book is launching December 6th, 2011 and on that day only when you purchase your copy you will receive 19 bonus gifts worth over $100, and be entered in your chance to win the grand prize drawing of a Kindle Fire, Nook, or iPod Touch, or one of several other prize packs. I just went and grabbed my Kindle copy.

Here is what’s being said about “Forgiveness Formula”:

“Unlike so many Christian authors, CJ and Shelley Hitz write like real people. To read their book is to meet two very thoughtful new friends, who are both willing and able to help.” – Bart Campolo, Founder Mission Year

“Tragedy to triumph? Grief to gratitude? Shelley and CJ’s touching transparency fleshed out to me, ‘It’s possible! There is hope!’” -Drake Mariani, Founder MemLok Bible Memory System

To get your copy and for complete bonus and prize pack details, visit: http://www.theforgivenessformula.com/gifts/

I had a dream last night that I was playing the piano out in my field. The song was “Be Still My Soul” and before long, I could hear people singing along from a distance up the hill. Then someone called out, “Play Amazing Grace.” The only sheet music I had for it was a piano solo that wasn’t optimal for singing along. So I started picking it out on the black notes like the old African spirituals. I pounded it out, missing some notes, but the people kept coming and singing along.

After I finished playing I walked up the hill and a group of people had gathered in my sister’s driveway. I counted about 30. Then I realized I should teach them something, so I went back for my scriptures which I assumed were in my backpack. When I returned there was a minister from another faith there. It seemed he knew some of the people.

I knew what I wanted to talk about … that verse that says that Christ will give us “abundantly above whatever we ask or seek.” I began thumbing through, trying to find the verse in a Bible I found lying on the table. But I couldn’t locate the verse. Then I decided to dig in my backpack for my more comprehensive set of scriptures with a topical guide. But my scripture cover was filled with a bunch of odds and ends.

I fumbled around, trying to find a Bible somewhere and knocked over a bottle of water. The more time it took, the more inept I felt. Did these people really want to hear anything I had to say? Why were they here?

By this time, the minister, independently was trying to look up the same verse in his Bible (I never said out loud what I was looking for). He was sort of scoffing at me for not being able to find a Bible verse. When I told him I was looking up the same verse, he didn’t believe me and insinuated I was copying him. I did feel rather foolish, but didn’t argue with him. When he tried to locate the verse, his Bible had a lock on that section of the Bible, and he couldn’t get to it either.

Something told me to just speak from the heart. So I stood before this little crowd of what had grown to about 40-50 people and paraphrased the scripture from memory:

Christ will give us “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” I then began to talk to them about how the Lord had exceeded anything I would ask or think in bringing them to me. If I had marketed and promoted, I wouldn’t have brought this many local people to come sing songs and listen to a verse or two. Yet here they were and I couldn’t recall even inviting them. Even they weren’t sure exactly why they came.

I woke from the dream and began pondering on it. I asked what the music represented.

Was it literal music? Should I play the piano and people will come?

No.

Was the music the music of my soul? Perhaps I should just be myself and people will come?

No.

Is the music my message?

Yes.

Is my message that you have a message?

Yes.

Is my message “Come unto Christ?”

No.

Really? No? That’s not my real message?

No. That is your mission!

My mission is to bring people to Christ. But my message is “you have a message.”  When I thought of my closest colleagues I realized that they each have a different message. They are all teaching or sharing a unique principle, concept or system. But every last one of them, when I get them alone, tell me that they feel their mission is to bring people to Christ.

Deliver your message and God will bring people to you to fulfill your mission.

I think, as Christians, we often get a little confused with this. We realize we want to show people the love of God. We want to bring people to Christ. We want to help people know God’s heart, and we think we should be able to generate a living from that. I had someone email me within the last few weeks asking this very question, “I want to help people know God’s love. How can I earn a living from that?”

Honestly, I don’t think you’re supposed to earn a living from that. I believe you have a talent, a gift, or a story God has given you to share with the world. You are welcome to take money in exchange for providing a product or service around it. But you don’t sell your mission.  God needs people to be reflections of His light and love in the world as they go about living their lives, pursuing careers and serving others.

Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Peter and his friends fished with nets. Your message is your net. It is what draws people to you. They may purchase your product or service. And if they are really resonating with you, they will want to know more about you and what makes you tick — just like the people in my dream sat patiently waiting for me to speak to them.

They didn’t care that I couldn’t find the exact verse. They didn’t care that I knocked over a water bottle. They wanted to hear the message of my heart. They wanted to know what was important to me. It only took a minute or two and by the time I was done, they were already asking me when they could come back again. Could they come every first Sunday of the month?

What about that other minister who had the exact same verse to share? He had the same mission — to bring people to Christ. But they weren’t there to listen to him. They were there to listen to me. Why? Because they were the ones who resonated with my message.  Other people will resonate with his.  Each of us may have the very same mission, but the “net” we use as fishers of men will be unique to each of us.

This morning, when I looked up the verse I was trying to find, I realized just how profoundly the passage speaks of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ and what I want people to know about them –

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:14-21).

What about you? What’s your message?

I’ve been pondering a lot lately about the principles of forgiveness and unconditional love. How does one unconditionally love someone you cannot trust? How does one forgive someone who very well may betray, deceive or hurt you again?

I had the privilege of previewing an excellent book before it went to print. Victoria Fielding’s “A Piece of Time” gave me a critical puzzle piece along my path to more fully understanding the principles of forgiveness and unconditional love.

At one point in the story, the main character summarizes,

“There were many dancers, many styles of dances, with innumerable dances being performed simultaneously on the stage of life. And who was to say that one dancer was any better than another? No longer did I think it was just my stage. It was everyone’s stage, and we were all just inexperienced dancers bumping up against each other, and—for the most part—trying to get our steps down, and trying to do our best. That was all. And that was enough.”

This morning as I was pondering on the subject further, it occurred to me that I’ve been taking things very personally. When someone makes a mistake, blows a fuse, or does something that makes my life difficult, I’ve been taking it personally. I’ve been acting as if I’m the main character on the stage, and it’s all about me and how other people treat me. I’ve been betrayed. I’ve been deceived. I’ve been used or treated like dirt.

How am I supposed to keep loving someone who may betray me again, may deceive me again, or may use me again? How am I supposed to unconditionally love those people?

But what if Victoria Fielding is right? What if we’re all dancers, performing simultaneously on the stage of life and all those things I perceive as “about me” aren’t personal at all! What if it’s other people bumping up against me as they try to play their roles in life? We’re all imperfect and human. Rarely is someone else’s mistake all about us.

I call a child for dinner and he yells at me rudely. I can take that personally. I could think, “How disrespectful! How rude! He doesn’t love me at all. How ungrateful!” Or I could realize this child was acting out of character and there must be more to the story. Sure enough, I later learn that he was mad about something else and my calling him three times for dinner was the last straw. It had nothing to do with me.

Someone once said, “No man knows my history.” We don’t know each other’s histories. We don’t know the string of incidents, choices, and beliefs that led someone to a particular act. Perhaps he was flailing his arms dancing on the stage of life and smacked you upside the head because you were the closest person around.

Have you ever noticed on crime dramas like “Criminal Minds” it’s rarely that the murderer simply despised the victim? There’s always this string of events, circumstances, choices and the perpetrator’s view of life that led to the crime. By the time the FBI team gets to the bottom of it, we see the perpetrator’s twisted view of reality caused by a myriad of factors that made the person snap.

Of all people who could take betrayal, deceit, and even murder personally, it would be Jesus Christ. But there’s one thing about Jesus — which I believe enables Him to love each of us unconditionally no matter what we do — and that is He doesn’t take our actions personally. Even though our actions caused Him pain, He still prayed on the cross, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” What if he wasn’t only talking about the soldiers driving the nails?

Jesus knew it wasn’t personal. And even if it felt very personal, He never took it personally. He knew that we all have a history, and we’re all imperfect dancers on a stage “for the most part—trying to get our steps down, and trying to do our best.”

That’s why if we’ll come to Him, and give Him not only our sins, but also all the times we’ve felt offended, betrayed, deceived, or injured, He can take those things and replace them with love — unconditional love that never ends. He will “bind up the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and open up the prison to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

Will you join me in shifting perspectives? Can we stop taking other people’s actions personally? Can we choose to believe that, “we are all just inexperienced dancers bumping up against each other, and—for the most part—trying to get our steps down, and trying to do our best?”

(A Piece of Time by Victoria Fielding will be available online and in some Cosco’s in September. For more details visit www.VictoriaFielding.com )