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Last Wednesday, our “R&R” assignment was to read chapters 4 through 8 of Kingdom Woman. These chapters deal with the importance of our commitment to God and the important place we give the faith we have in Him. When we trust that there is real power in depending on Him and giving our best to pursue His way, we will discover that the possibilities for what He can do in us and through us are endless! Taking those steps of faith are not easy, but they are sooooo worth it.
How do we know which steps are the steps God has in mind specifically for us? We read His Word, which tells us about His will, and we pray, so that we can know the nuances of His will for our individual situations. Prayer is such a simple solution to many of our areas of uncertainty, lack of clarity, or need for reassurance, yet if you are like me, you may struggle with taking advantage of this wonderful privilege on a regular basis.
The good news is, it’s never too late to take God up on the wonderful opportunity He has made available to us!
While I will give you a few Monday missions to choose from, don’t feel pressure! Pick one or two if you are ambitious. But only select a mission if it blesses you… not if it stresses you!
What exactly is Monday’s Mission?
Every Monday during our #KingdomWoman “One Month Journey”, I will give you an assignment. It’s great to read a book but what’s even better? Seeing change in your life because a book’s message taking root in your life. Your Monday’s Mission will be an opportunity for any woman who is reading Kingdom Woman to get ideas for applying Kingdom Woman. I don’t know about you but I want to activate change in my life!
~ Your “Mission” for Today ~
Choose from any of the following missions as a way to put “feet” to your faith!
Then be sure to post in the comments to tell me about YOUR mission!
For my fellow do-it-all-a-holics…
Write it down. – In Chapter 4, it’s all about being committed – committed enough to take the next step of faith into what appears to be an abyss of uncertainty. Or maybe it’s being committed enough to keep doing what God told you to do last! Many times we are lost because we don’t remember what are last point of action was or we have lost focus. If you have not been moving forward in faith because you need to focus or remember, take time to write down an action that you can tie to your faith and keep it in a place that you can see. Maybe an index card in your wallet, or write with lipstick on a mirror, or type up a reminder then print and post on your wall or in your cube at work.
Lean on someone else. – There is power when we choose to walk in faith. But sometimes we really need to lean on the strong faith of someone else until we can stand on our own two feet. If you are struggling to continue in your walk of faith, call someone and ask them to pray with you. Call your church if they have prayer line. Email your request to someone else and ask them to keep you lifted up today. It’s OK to admit that you are not able to stand on your own two feet. Don’t be found laid on the ground simply because you refused to lean on someone else. Do you struggle to lean on your mom or mother-in-law because you don’t want them to know you are struggling? The problem with hiding our weakness is that we don’t give ourselves the freedom to benefit from the strength of our sister in Christ, neighbors, relatives, or friends.
Start a prayer journal. – In Chapter 8 we discuss the importance of a Kingdom Woman’s prayer life. While writing down your areas of focus is a good thing, writing down your prayer requests is even better. Now before you get overwhelmed at the idea of one more thing to do, here me out. Keep a journal of your prayers for ONE WEEK. That’s it. From this Monday to next Monday, record your prayers and any responses that you hear from God during your time together. Even if this one week is all you do, it could be a beautiful experience.
Take a Step! – Sometimes the hardest thing to do when we do know the direction in which God is calling us is to take the first step. We might be overwhelmed with accomplishing the overall goal or end result, and so we are paralyzed and do nothing. Has God told you to go back to school? Call a few schools this week and have them send information to you. Has God told you to get out of debt? Set aside 15 minutes a day to work on your budget and find a little money here or there to put towards lowering your debt. Every little bit counts. Are you believing God to provide a mate for you? What is one thing that you can do today to prepare to be the wife that you want to be for your future husband? Need ideas? Marriage requires service. Find someone to serve for no reason. Guess what? Men need to eat. Can you cook? Find one failsafe dish from someone you trust and work on it! Need ideas? Try some from a post I put on the blog this weekend.
Hopefully you have found at least one mission that you can commit yourself to this week! Which one did you pick? Be sure and share that with me in the comments!
What’s Coming Up This Week!
Tomorrow is our Blog Hop! You won’t be able to link up until tomorrow but here is what you can be thinking about!
Recipes!
That’s right Kindreds! Tomorrow’s Blog Hop is all about F-O-O-D! I want you to post a few recipes that you would like to share! We are all looking for ideas all the time and sharing with each other will make it easier for us to keep fresh ideas on the table!
So be thinking about what you want to share, or start googling recipes that look appetizing online, or start bumming recipes off your mom, aunt, grandmother, or sister! See you tomorrow!
Kingdom Woman Wednesday – Dad and I will be at the blog waiting for you with a video to both answer your questions and introduce the topics for the next “R & R”. Be sure and submit your question ASAP! You will also receive this week’s “R & R”.
Facebook Party – Wednesday @ Noon (CST) – You can go to THIS LINK to RSVP!
Twitter Chat – Thursday @ 8 pm – We’ll have fun chatting it up for one hour using the hashtag #KWChat!
A few housekeeping items for those just joining the journey…
Q & A – Submit questions on biblical womanhood for myself or my dad, Tony Evans, to answer! Just click on the “Ask Chrystal” button on the menu bar (under “Chrystal”). Each week on Wednesday via video blog, one (or both) of us will answer some of the questions we receive!
The Blog – The main source of information for the journey is on the blog. Be sure and subscribe so that posts from the blog will go straight to your email box and you won’t miss anything. While, Wednesdays are our BIG #KingdomWoman days and will be the main place for your assignments for “R&R” (reading and reflection) I’ll post here and there on the blog to keep us on track for the journey! While you can find me blabbing away on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, those are optional places to find me or other info, graphics, or FUN on the Kingdom Woman One Month Journey.
The Comments – Your responses in the comments are your way to make sure that I see your thoughts. Please pour your heart out there. I read every single one. Remember, feel free to reply to any comment that you see in the thread. Let’s encourage each other! If you haven’t already, make sure I can “see” you! Go to Gravatar.com so I can see your face in the comments!
Social Media – Make it easy for me to find you! As you share quotes from the book on Facebook or Twitter or maybe even take, make, and share graphic images on Pinterest or Instagram, be sure and use the hashtag #KingdomWoman. This way, we can find each other as we share!
The Book – We are reading and reflecting on Kingdom Woman. It’s not too late to download an Ebook or pick one up at your local bookstore and join the journey!
Good Morning Everyone. I am sorry that I missed the powerful prayer weekend. I have been super busy and sick this weekend but I prayed for you ladies last night before I went to sleep. For my Monday’s mission, I will be starting that Prayer Journal along with Take a Step and Lean on someone else. I believe that they are all good so I am going to try 3 of the 4. Have a great lady ladies. Love you all!!!
Good to “see” you Kimberly. Welcome back. You were missed in the prayer meeting. It’s good to know that you were there in spirit (smiles).
Thanks Ms. Katherine.
You’re welcome 🙂
Good Morning Kingdom Kindreds! It is a marvelous Monday indeed (smiles). Jam packed with responsibilities & the reward of being here with you. Firstly I want to thank all who have prayed for me to do structure my studies for the glory of God. He is answering. I am coming up with ideas and new ways of structuring my time and organizing the information. To God be the glory. He is doing great things indeed. Thank you my sisters!! Monday’s Mission for me will be to post in plain view my goal of going to a social event outside of my comfort zone & within God’s will one time this month. (Chrystal said baby steps, right?…Lol).
Good afternoon fellow Kingdom Women! I pray everyone had an amazing, blessed weekend! My mission this week (and further) is to Take A Step; God has been speaking clearly to me to write FOR A LONG TIME. Since childhood, I enjoyed reading and writing. There are books inside me. I finished one last year; it’s a children’s book. It is written out but I don’t think I typed it, yet. I started a book in 2011 that I have yet to finish. I’ll start to write poems and stop before I finish them. Or I’ll think of a poem title or topic but not begin to write it. In the past, I contacted Christian publishing companies, but didn’t/don’t have the finances yet that are necessary to utilize their services. I have been overwhelmed in the past thinking about what it may take to publish or self-publish (not sure where God will lead concerning publishing). I say “may” because I’ve yet to publish anything; I honestly don’t know what it will take, only what I “think” it’ll take. I trust that this is one thing He wants me to do with my life, but I struggle with making time to write and being quiet to hear from Him WHAT to write. I’ve wasted time not writing but I trust He will redeem it for me. I set an alarm in my phone last week for 12:15 PM each day but Sunday to write. I will start writing today, though I missed the 12:15 PM alarm. Please pray that I keep the pace God has for me. I’m tired of being disobedient concerning writing; I want to get the books in me out so He can get glory and others can read what He instructs me to write and be blessed. Thanks sisters. Love and blessings!!
Hi Elza, Congratulations on your children’s book (smiles). There are two self-publishing sites that look promising for those who want to self-publish. fastpencil.com and blurb.com. They may be good options. Keep writing. The best advice I get from accomplished writers is keep writing, even if it is just for you.
Hi Katheryne, thank you so much for the encouragement and self-publishing info! Blessings to you Sis!
You’re welcome Elza. So glad to be able to help (smiles).
Hi Elza, I attended a Christian writers workshop a while back. One thing that stuck with me is, determine a time that you can set aside each day for writing for 30-60 minutes. Even if you have nothing to write at that time, that’s your designated writing time. Keep it and eventually you’ll get started. Also, if you’re not already doing so, try journaling or blogging each day. Createspace.com and lulu.com are great self-publishing sites to use. There’s a lot of information to help you on those sites and NO UPFRONT MONEY! As far as typing, you can go to guru.com to find freelancers who will bid on your project. You can setup a free ’employer’ profile and set a price you can afford to pay. Hope this helps!
Hello Kingdom Women!
It’s been a productive Monday and I am starting a prayer journal with my new Kingdom Woman journal that I won. Thanks Chrystal! And it’s blue, just like I hoped for http://instagram.com/p/eniqxEq1Mo/
Right now I write prayer requests down all over the place. Some on notes in my iPhone, some in my Bible Study notebook but I don’t have a specific place where I am dating and tracking my requests (and praises) so I am going to try to keep them in this one central place for at least one week.
Hope everyone has a great Monday. Looking forward to discovering some new recipes on the blog hop tomorrow!
Hi Raquel…see you tomorrow (smiles).
Hi sisters! It’s been a longggggggg day! Today was my first day of work! I’m thrilled for this blessing; however, I’m sad that I don’t have unlimited free time for God, bible study, and reading the bible. I tried so hard to get up early to read and journal, but failed miserably! My working sisters, please give me tips on how to keep my seat with God! I need His word to get my day started, but I’m so not a morning person. 🙁
Hi Courtney, what has helped me during busy times is a Note Recorder. From time to time, I’ll record myself reading the Psalms and can play it back with headphones while I’m busy doing something else. There are probably other and better ways for you to record yourself reading Scripture. This just happens to be one. With those recordings, I have been able to spend time with the Lord and meditate on His Word even while in the middle of busy tasks. Hearing your own voice reading the Scriptures is just like sitting down and actually reading. Lengthier recordings allow for more listening without interruption. If you cannot listen in the car or at work, you can listen while cooking, cleaning, ironing, waiting in line at the supermarket. It’s a big help for me sometimes. The recorder I use is the Olympus Note Corder DP-10 and got it at Best Buy. Congratulations on the new job too!
Thanks for the suggestions! I will be trying them. And satan is something else! I got up early to sit an hour with Jesus…. How about my husband woke up late and needed my help! I refuse not to read! I’m packing up my stuff to read at lunch.
Hi Courtney, try the Bible app for your phone. You can choose a reading plan or devotional and set a reminder for yourself. Also the One Place app is great for finding recordings from different ministries to listen to as you prepare for work.
Thanks! I forget I have all these gadgets and don’t use them! I’ve downloaded the app on my iPhone and iPad!
You’re very welcome! They sure do come in handy!
After spending the day of letting God just have full range in my life a lot was revealed. I am a type of person that needs breaks. However, in the current situation I have been in, there have been so many intense times that a lot of times when I say I am going to take a break verbally or mentally something would happen. God would interrupt my break and call me back to the situation. I realized today that now the time is still intense but not as intense as it was prior, but I still have that same mentality that I cannot take a break because it is not time. In return, I am wearing down. Going through this, along with some other things, has led to me to lose focus. Today, I just cried for God to come and clean me out. Clean me of fear, hurt, sadness, bitterness, and whatever else that was causing me to lose focus on Him. When He did peace started coming back and I was able to focus again. Able to hear God talking to me and showing me things I had not seen. In the midst of it all unfolding the most important thing is He showed me was what I cried out for and wanted to see Him do in the current situation I am in. I realized that with what I requested it is not time to take breaks. That little breakthrough has settled so much in me. When a situation is intense so many people hurt for you and want to help you so much. They say so many things that it makes you forget what is really going on with you. As I write this, I realize that is an area of growth I need right now. After being in school for the last four years, dedicating the rest of my time to being a mom, and having a very small social life I have to relearn how to be me in social settings and to not let others think for me when my social network is opening up. That being said today I made a plan on how to manage everything. (To be honest I don’t want to put that out there because it just seems when I do something changes.) I decided morning time is all God’s, unless He calls me to do something else. Lunch time is a refresher with God and a check in on the social network. Then after I get off work it is focusing on getting dinner ready, doing homework, getting the kids ready for tomorrow, and if there is anytime afterwards then I can use that for whatever God has in store. Most importantly make Sunday rest day! I know that if I get my priorities right that God will open up time for me, He proved that tonight. In the process some will think I am wimping out, trying to quit, letting fear have its way, or whatever. I guess that is understandable considering what has happened in the past. I have to hold on to the fact that God will fight for me even when people are wrong about me. Therefore, I have wrote my two closet prayers down and posting them up because in all reality to some they might be small, but to me they are big because these are things God told me to do and ask for in the situation I am in and I am still waiting on them to come through. It is part of growing my relationship with Christ. Plus when I remember what I asked for it brings everything back into perspective.
I choose to take steps towards my purpose for my Monday Mission. Asking God to:
1. Remove any fear when opportunities present themselves;
2. Replace discouragement with encouragement when I face roadblocks or what appear to be setbacks;
3. Allow me to accept those things I cannot change and work wholeheartedly on the things I can change;
4. Help me to set aside the quiet time necessary to read and hear from Him clearly for every aspect of my life;
5. Help me remember that perfection is not necessary to do what He’s called me to do;
6. Provide me with the right people and/or resources He deems necessary to carry out the plans He has for me in this season; and
7. Remove distractions!
God has been really dealing with me about forgiveness, I have allowed non-forgiveness to rob me of so much joy. The worst part though is that I was robbing others of peace and joy through my lack of obedience. It’s a sad, shameful, and devastating thing to realize. I recently was so burdened by God that I had no peace until I made things right with some family members. Thankfully they were very receptive and things were worked out in one day. I pray never to hurt or feel that way again. I have written Matthew 6:14-15 on an index card and will carry it with we always as a reminder to forgive and forgive quickly.