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Let me ask you another question, before you answer the first one.

Are you a fulltime Christian?

If the answer to the second question is a resounding ‘yes’ then the answer to the first question should be the same.

And yet many people equate only those who work within church walls as being in fulltime ministry. This could not be further from the truth.

The senior pastor at my church has been preaching a series on ‘church without walls’ for a few months now. He has been teaching the congregation how important it is to take with us, as we leave the church building, what we’ve been learning and experiencing and sharing that wherever we go. We have been likened to a great big salt shaker, where God has sprinkled the shaker and each drop of salt has fallen in different places to add flavour to those we mix and mingle with.

Interesting picture that creates. It means that wherever we go on a daily basis, we are responsible for adding flavour to the lives of those around us. Can you truly say you add ‘good flavour’ or are you someone who leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those you have just parted company with?

Mothers Day is just weeks away, did you know that?

Last year I published a book based on the Proverbs 31:10 verse “She is Worth More Than Rubies” and it spoke of the value of a wife and mother in the home.

With the demands we have in life, jobs, interests, needs, etc it is sometimes very hard to focus on our near and dear, those who really have need of us.

Nearly 15 years ago I went through a real struggle, coping with a corporate job and managing a household which consisted of a husband and 5 young daughters. I thought I was going to go crazy and I probably did, because a decision I made back then probably would not have come to fruition if it weren’t for some things that took place in my life to encourage me.  I probably would have continued on oblivious to the changes I could make in my life.

Have you noticed that when you are desperate and leaning towards a particular thought, that other things around you seem to congregate together to reinforce and confirm that thing?

This has been known as a number of things – I like to think of it as the RAS or the reticular activation system – what you think about you are drawn towards. Today many talk of The Secret or the Law of Attraction – it’s the same thing. But this is also a biblical principal as I mentioned in my earlier post at “The Law of Attraction – a Christian View”.

For me, it was simple. I desperately wanted to be at home for my family. I needed to earn an income. I had good skills and needed to find a way I could use them and earn money at home.

I won a coveted prize in my city – Secretary of the Year in 1993 for the state of Victoria (Australia) and this was sponsored by Microsoft. Amongst my prize package was the full MS Office suite of that time.

We didn’t have a PC at home at that stage but I said to my husband if we did, I could work at home.  So we set about shopping for a PC for home – funny but not many people had computers at home in those days. I already had an Atari I used for music and simple databases and typing of stories but now I was moving into the ‘big stuff’.  From that moment on a seed was sown in my head and within 6 months I’d left my safe, secure, government job and was setting up business at home.

I have not looked back – I love being home, I love that I have been here for our daughters as they grew up.  They’re all now in their 20s but have very little recollection of a mum who worked in a job – my ‘job’ was at home where I belonged.

Going back to Mothers Day. The book I mentioned would make a wonderful gift for anyone you know who has the same hankering, the same passion, desire, call it what you will. I do believe that “Worth More Than Rubies” will not only confirm for the reader of their true worth but will also set them on the path to discovering what they can do to return home to work. Now, wouldn’t that make a wonderful Mothers Day gift?

I got tagged by Dan at Management by God as a recipient of the Thinking Bloggers Award and was totally surprised when told about it. It was last month but I’ve held off as I wanted to update the look of this blog and have been spending time going through tons of templates. Anyway, now I can concentrate on this and other posts.

I felt honoured to be given this award. This blog began in May 2006 because of the direction that God was leading me in. I’ve since become part of a business ministry team at my church and am seeing things happening amongst our local business community.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’.

So that meant Dan had set me on this journey to find 5 blogs that make me think – actually there are heaps of them. But here are 5 I’m tagging and passing the award to:

1. Talk to Bev
2. Connect Simply
3. Rodney Olsen
4. Morsels From God
5. PopArt Diva

I would also like to offer my prayers over these bloggers and ask God to bless their continued work and outreach through what they do on a daily basis. Amen.

Our Pastor had a great message last night at church. He always has great messages, it’s just that some things set me thinking (and writing) and often sets something in motion.

One of the things he said last night was “God will often show you a glimpse of your influence at the point where you feel like giving up!” Ain’t that the truth?

Ps Rob gave an example which immediately took me back to several instances of when I wanted to give up but pushed through because someone contacted me at that crucial moment to say how much something I’d done or said had an effect on their lives.

Wow! How did they know to contact me right at that very moment? Because I’d prayed to God asking Him what should I do? Should I continue or should I give up? Sometimes I would be crying out loud (thank goodness I work in an office alone otherwise others would wonder what was going on) and other times simply praying silently with tears rolling down my cheeks.

I’ve found as I’ve pushed forward with what I know God has charged me with, I encounter even more opposition, and often those things are personal attacks on me, what I do, my life, my character and so on. This was particularly the case last year as I was writing my book “Worth More Than Rubies“, and especially as it got close to the point of publication and distribution. Fortunately the teachings I’d received over the years in church and elsewhere had told me that when we’re doing God’s work, there will be continued attacks to try and knock us off our path.

When I got back home from church I read the message on my calendar for the day and had to smile – a reinforcement from God.

“Only be strong and courageous!” Joshua 1:18 NIV.
God had battles for you to fight and win in his strength, but you must do your part.

“I sat alone because Your hand was on me.“ Jeremiah 15:17 NIV

I get a daily devotional called The Word For Today which has great messages. Today’s centred around the above verse and reminded the readers of the number of times that Jesus withdrew to be alone, or when Daniel, Elijah and Moses all had times of withdrawal and being alone.

When I read this message I was reminded why I love being alone. I run a business at home and of the 14 years I’ve been in business I have been in my home alone for the most part. Sometimes a family member or two are around but most times I am alone so I can get on with my work and just think and read uninterrupted.

I love that I can sit in the office early morning, read my bible, have breakfast and a cuppa and catch up on all the messages that have arrived overnight. I have many friends overseas who all have similar outlooks on life and it’s always good to catch up with them.  But most of all I just like to be able to sit, contemplate, think, write and pray and not have to answer anyone’s questions of ‘what are you doing?’ or feel that the constant noise around me is disturbing. In fact, other than my fingers on my keyboard, the only other ‘noise’ nearby is the radio that is on all day long.  It is tuned to a Christian station and so the songs, and chatter are uplifting, encouraging and often have some humour in it.

As mentioned in today’s Word For Today, I do not feel lonely – and I enjoy being alone.  Perhaps this too is evidence of the confidence I have that I am where God wants me to be, doing the work He intended for me.