Sally Hanan's Blog, page 8

When in a crowd, don’t sink to the lowest common denominator of old, blah music. Be a new song.

The post Be a New Song appeared first on Pick Your Life.

I’ve been around the Christian scene for quite a few years now, and then some. When it comes to messages about future dreams, they all amount to much the same thing: When you’re great—

You’ll be on stage.
You’ll have a ministry.
You’ll be an international speaker.
You’ll be a celebrated author.
You’ll be recognized.There. I’ve said it. You’ll be recognized.

But what if that’s not, and never was the plan? What if the accomplishment of God’s dreams for our lives is for us to be great all the time? What if we lived in the moments today and enjoyed them?

What if we did great things all the time?

We trust speakers and authors because someone else has said their material is good. We trust people with large ministries because we’ve been told, by word of mouth or otherwise, that they are the ones to go to for a miracle, more anointing, a prophetic word. Ya know, some people do seem to carry more power than others, more words, more . . . confidence that people will take an evening and spend it listening to them. I’ve used up many an evening enjoying their personalities and unique gift sets.

There’s a friend of mine who has been consistently great for many years. Day by day he is his magnificent self. Is it all part of his plan to one day be able to write a book to tell others how to love? Is it step 2 of his long-term goal of opening a home for troubled teenagers? No! I wouldn’t be surprised if he did either or both of those things in the years to come, I truly wouldn’t, but those would be an expansion of who he is today.

And that’s just it.

Everyone who is well known today is an expanded version of himself ten, twenty years ago.

But what if we spent every minute being great? What if we quit waiting for the “ministry” and we let the ministry find us? What if we were our great selves every day, and we let heaven expand us as time went on? What if our dreams and goals were to be great today, period?

What if?

The post What’s in Your Future? appeared first on Pick Your Life.

God asks us to pray without ceasing. So what does that mean to you?

To me it means being IN him.

It’s like being at home. When I’m here, I’m talking to my husband and boy-man; I’m listening,

I think this is what prayer without ceasing means.

It’s being so one with him that it’s an ongoing conversation whenever we each have a thought to share.

The post Pray Without Ceasing appeared first on Pick Your Life.

When people ask you about the story of your life,

are the markers in your story those of the super crappy times in your life

or

the highlights that propelled you forward?

Because whichever markers you use

will define you as a victim or a warrior.

#chooseyourname 

The post The Story of Your Life appeared first on Pick Your Life.

What do you do when your heart is heavy?

You go to the one whose burden is light.
When you are grieving?

To the one whose presence is complete.
When you are angry?

To the one whose peace goes beyond what the world can give.

John 14:27

He really is enough. and it’s from that place that you can then spring forward, even fly, with new strength and do what you were born to do.

Is. 40:31

The post When Your Heart Is Heavy appeared first on Pick Your Life.

I was watching a worship leader recently, and I thought back to the days when I would criticize people in that position frequently (but I’m perfect now, y’all hear?). They couldn’t sing perfectly, they didn’t choose the “right’ songs, their relationship with God didn’t go deep enough, they weren’t up to date on the newest worship, yada yada yada.

But as I watched this time, I saw a circle of invitation around this person, the same one that is around every other Christian in existence.

His circle of offering, his invitation, was open.

He was inviting every one of us to step in, to join him, his talent and skill, and his relationship with God, in the NOW. He wasn’t putting on a show, he was putting on a party.

When I chose to worship together with him, I chose to accept his offering, to receive it. I worshiped as one with him. That can happen every week. And when the whole church joins in, we are all worshiping as one, with that flow of giving and receiving maxed out and sending shock waves of glory through the atmosphere and straight to the heart of God.

Let’s stop being climate-controlled, singular storage units and start participating in the parties instead of judging them. That’s how unity happens and love becomes powerful.

The post Join the Party appeared first on Pick Your Life.

When we lose the feeling of hope and of the ability to have purpose, is it time to end the book?

1. Just because you can’t feel hope now doesn’t mean you never will.

2. Just because you don’t think you have a purpose now doesn’t mean you will never discover it.

3. Just because it feels easier and makes more logical sense now, while your brain is dead to hope, doesn’t mean it’s time to end your life.

Hope is when you can visualize better times in your mind, and those visuals give you the motivation to walk into them.

Purpose is inherent in every human being because no two of us are exactly alike in every way. There are many things you will do, many people you will help, many words you will say that can never have the same effect anyone else doing or saying those things can have.

The darkness in your mind is lying to you; that’s what darkness does.

Focus on trying to open your brain up to light and truth and see your beautiful thoughts come alive again. That’s when you get to start life on a new page and begin the next chapter.

The post When We Lose the Feeling of Hope appeared first on Pick Your Life.

When well-meaning people try to comfort you with the words,

“You’re right where God wants you,”

perhaps it’s not that God wants you in the middle of the mind-altering heap of crud that you can see for miles in every direction;

perhaps it’s that you’re in his heart, in his presence, in his understanding.

The post Right Where God Wants You appeared first on Pick Your Life.

If we were to reduce ourselves to a square root, we’d probably all have one personality trait that supersedes the others and is the foundation of everything else that is unique about us.

But with God, there is no one thing that you can boil him down to.

Even Paul had difficulty, finally saying that it was love, but love is such an ambiguous word.

I think it’s safe to say that

God is just too much for the brain.

The post God Is Too Much appeared first on Pick Your Life.

You can ask God for anything you want; you can dream; you can hope; you can believe he has your best life in mind, but the bottom line is that his plans are better and his dreams go higher than yours.

So when you next talk to God and you totally trust the depths of his love for you, add his will to your list of hopes and dreams, because when you ask for anything based on that and you’re ready to fully surrender and obey, you’ll come out richer.

Don’t get all religious and poverty-stricken over it though.

This is where so many have missed God’s best in the past–they’ve assumed that God’s best means possibility living in near poverty or becoming celibate. That’s how the nuns thought that Fridays should be for self-flagellation–they wanted to beat themselves to a pulp to prove their love and devotion. I think a lot of people who made these assumptions didn’t know God’s heart all that well.

Yes, you might end up on the 11th floor in a dicey apartment in Thailand and your job is to get rid of the corruption in the church there so they can serve their people in love, so you’re never the flavor of the month. But you also might end up as a policy maker whereby you get to be the one who makes sure all people get the healthcare they need at a reasonable price. Or you become the next coworker who people come to for encouragement and advice because they feel safe in your presence. Or you become part of the reason why homelessness becomes wiped out in your town.

So don’t limit God, but don’t assume, either, he’s going to drop you into the lions’ den.

He’s going to set you in place where you can do your thing well and where his love can be seen and felt in the most effective way through you…. IF you make sure you know his voice and you’re fully in tune with his will.

Surrender and obedience are not dirty words. They are the path to living your best life right now and forever, but start that path by learning how to know his heart of love.

Because love is the foundation God’s builds everything on.

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