Tag Archives: fresh hope

Before the Resolution!

What keeps us from Keeping our New Year’s Resolutions? 

  1. We make resolutions or goals that are NOT true to ourselves.

Often goals are task oriented- which is great for the task oriented person who loves to check off a list of things done, who does a task for the sake of the task needing to be done.

But that doesn’t work for the person who is relational at the core- like me.  I don’t do things just because they need to be done.  I do them because it affects a relationship I care about.

Simple example, a task oriented person does the dishes because they need to be done.

A relational person does them because their spouse or their family benefit from having them done.

 So lets use ‘health’  as one of our resolutions for 2015, because chances are it is on everyone’s list to some degree.   The task oriented person will likely choose that goal because they see that this needs to be done to do life well.  The relational person will choose this goal because they want to be in the lives of the people in their world.

 Now I know that is over simplifying  because many of us have a bit of task and relationship in our personality.  But understanding this about yourself can be very freeing.   You begin to realize you are not right- or wrong- just different.

 A question you can ask is  Continue reading Before the Resolution!

Living Open Handed: Dear Grief

I was challenged by my story partner friend to take Kate Motaung’s challenge to write a letter to grief. Since it ties in with my recent series on Living Open Handed, I choose to share this here also.

 

Dear Grief,

I don’t think I want to talk to you!

I’ve spent so many years struggling to survive your choke hold on my life!

I’ve crawled through your tunnel

Filled with muck- dark and slimy

So deep that with each step I sunk farther

O

Until it began to paralyze my legs

Then my torso and my arms

Finally my face

Silencing my voice

Blind folding my sight

Dulling my ability to hear as you filled my ears with your lies.

I could barely find my next breath

OH

let alone move.

Continue reading Living Open Handed: Dear Grief

Living Open Handed: Pivot to See God

Open handedThis is the 4th and final post in the series Living Open Handed in a White Knuckle World. If you have missed the previous posts, it would be helpful to go back and read them in order to understand how we got to this post.  Links are provided below.

1. Living Open Handed in a White Knuckle World
2
. Living Open Handed: I have a need!
3
. Living Open Handed: Express Honestly

Through these posts,

  • we have identified our fears that cause us to create fist
  • then opened the little finger to admit or acknowledge we have a need.
  • Next we lifted the ring finger and wrote a psalm including those fears and needs.

Now we are ready to open the middle finger which stands for P: PIVOT. Continue reading Living Open Handed: Pivot to See God

Let’s Do This! Sarah’s Story!

Today I made two visits that I knew I would make one year ago. One with Sarah’s mom and the other to Sarah’s husband.

I met Sarah when I was ‘the youth pastor’s wife’ and Sarah was one of the youth. She was quiet, but when she smiled, you felt like smiling with her.

SeveralSarah years later she became the ‘youth pastor’s wife’ and my husband was the lead. Her personality remained reserved, but her smile was now matched by an incredible passion for the Lord that oozed out of her and sweetly touched the lives of the young people of our church.

And me! Continue reading Let’s Do This! Sarah’s Story!

30 Day- How’d you do?

Well, my friends, I don’t think it is too fair of me to ask you that question and not be transparent with you about how I did.

So…here’s how my last 30 days went.

  • writing what I noticeMy original goal was to write 500 words every day.  I did accomplish 500 words for the first 20 days.  Then we left for Texas to see family and I scribbled things when I had a few minutes, but we were there to enjoy family.I actually thought that I would blog about each days noticing- but honestly, some of the things I noticed were more personal than I was ready to blog yet.  I know several of you have said that I often write quite personally.  That is true.  But I generally don’t share it with you till I’ve done some processing myself.  So…these things might show up in future posts.   I’m continuing my 500 Words a day goal in December.
  • If you have been following my blog, you will notice that I started writing about BROKENNESS. That is actually some of what I have been NOTICING in these 30 days. The Series is not complete- but in process.   My goal for December  is to complete this series.
  • My third goal was just a habit that was beginning to change 30 days ago. In many ways I felt like I have been becoming WHOLE!  Read through the past blogs to hear some of the story.   But a recent visit to have blood work done tells me my ‘autoimmune issues’ are affecting me again and my glucose is in the danger zone.  That was most disheartening because I had been working to control my diet, especially the sugars.For a few days, I felt like I was BROKEN again.  Then I realized this for the gift that it was.  I had asked God to heal me.  He was revealing to me what needed to be done.   So…the goal for the next 30 holi-days for my health has been made very clear.

So…How about you?  How’d you do in your 30 day challenge? 

30 Days wordsDid you accomplish you 30 day goals?
If so, pat yourself on the back!!!!  Congratulations!

If not, what were the obstacles that kept you from it?

What is your next step?

Listen gang!  We have just over 30 days left in 2015.  I know the temptation is to call it ‘HOLIDAYS” and chuck the lists for a while.

But what if INSTEAD we take a few minutes to identify what needs to be done yet in 2014?  What can we do that will not only give us a jump start on 2015, but will set up up for possibilities we only dreamed of in 2014?

I hope you will join us for the FINISH WELL CHALLENGE beginning Finish Welltoday.  By December 31st, what you want to have accomplished. Get more details here. 

If nothing else, let’s take a look back at 2014 and answer some of these questions.

  1. What are your celebrations for 2014?  Where did you ‘nail it’  or persevere till you completed the task?  What relationship was improved?  We spend little time acknowledging where we did it right!  I can hear you say, “well, it really was not that big of a deal”!  I encourage you to recognize if you set the goal for yourself and completed it, IT IS A BIG DEAL!
  2. What were your disappointments for 2014?   Where did you not succeed?  Where did a relationship fail?  Where did you give up but wish now you had kept going? I sometimes hear people say “you can’t cry over spilled milk?”  It’s true!  You can’t change the past.  But if we don’t take the time to say it for what it really is, and identify behaviors that may have caused it, we will not learn from our past.  We are destined to repeat them again and again.
  3. One of my favorites from Michael Hyatt is “What was missing?” That was a question I was missing.  Never thought to ask myself that. What is something that you want to be true of you that you did nothing in 2014 to make happen?  For instance, you want to have a relationship with your grandparents, but you didn’t make extra effort to see them on a regular basis.  Or you want to write a book, but you didn’t set schedule time to write. What’s missing?
  4. What lessons did you learn in 2014?  These could be in any area of life: spiritual, relational, professional, physical, etc.   Write down the reoccurring themes you noticed this year?  Write down in one word or brief sentence the messages you learned .  This step is so valuable as you look ahead to the new year.

I’ve set my goals for the next 30 days!  I hope you will join me in the journey.  If you need someone to help you determine what you really want to accomplish and hold you accountable to your dreams, that’s what I do!  I’m a coach! Email me at kathy@greenhopecoaching.

Here’s to finishing well!

Broken… to Whole

Just the day before I said to my client, “well, I’m broken, and I can’t be brokenfixed.  Somehow God will just have to use me broken.”

But  this day a woman I barely knew sat across the table in my leaders huddle. She spoke, hesitant of sharing such an intimate story with a group of strangers.  Her parents had both died in an accident when she was young.  Life had been hard.  But now, so many years later she heard God saying to her,  “I want to make you whole again.”

In my heart I whispered, “I’ll never be whole.  I’ll always live broken.”  Leisha’s death left me broken- heart is too ripped, too many pieces have been lost. Some Doctors say I can’t be healed.  I can’t be fixed.

But the rest of the day those words rumbled around in my brain. Continue reading Broken… to Whole

Healing of a Broken Place

My NOTICING for this day!

The NAKED TRUTH event took place early this month- and that had been an answer to a prayer that was 20 years old.  I felt a FREEDOM that I have not felt for a long time.  I wasn’t afraid of what others would say because I sensed so strongly that God had not only called us to host this conference but had grabbed me by the wrist and led to the next person, or thing to do since the day I first heard his voice on this.   I was focused on women I love and care for.  and I was certain of God’s presence and pleasure as we built the platform for Linda and Juli to come to Lima.

Real healing came in the way women were responsive to the truths at the NAKED TRUTH event,  I continue to hear from women – married or single, young or old- that God met them and is taking them to a new place

  • in their understanding of themselves,
  • in their relationship with their mate, or understanding of a relationship in the past or of the future.
  • in their relationship with God.

 But healing came for me

Continue reading Healing of a Broken Place

30 Day of……………….!

Thirty days isn’t a long time!  But it’s long enough!

I just went through a quick study of the last 30 days of my life.  I encourage you to consider your life over the last 30 days.

You could ask questions like:

  • Are you where you thought you’d be?  Did you set goals for yourself and did you work your plan for those goals?  or did they go by the wayside like lot’s of New Year’s Resolutions?
  • Did you tell anyone about the goals you had for yourself?  Were you willing to be accountable to what you hoped to accomplish?
  • What were the obstacles that got in your way?  Did you anticipate them or did they surprise you?

I know that style of evaluating life is popular with many.  You may be one of those.  Especially if you are task oriented and working hard toward a goal.  I’m not saying I don’t do that at times in my life- it’s important to ask these questions.

But this time I only asked ONE Question:  What did you notice?  Continue reading 30 Day of……………….!

Her Story Bloomed into Mine!

Have you ever read Any Andrews “Butterfly Effect”? The story of how one person’s decision made years earlier continues to have a ripple effect into the lives of others. Well! I experienced that this past week. Here’s my blog about how one woman choosing to let the ‘tree of life grow out of the root of her grief’ bloomed over into my story! Who is influencing you?  Who are you influencing?

The first post written here is from Feb of 2011.
The second one is from today, Oct 27, 2014.  Isn’t God amazing!

It happened again today.  A sudden welling up of emotion surprising me. I don’t know why since I have always been a complex emotional maze.  But this time was different.  That tear-filled mountain that picked the moment I was on the phone with the doctor’s office to erupt.

Sucking down hard, I urge myself:

 “Pull it together—where is THIS coming from?!”

The words didn’t just embolden and stand out on the page; they reached for me with their long arms, hands grabbing at my collar and pulling me in close  while shouting,

“SEE!  YOU ARENT THE ONLY ONE FEELING THIS WAY KATHY!  LISTEN TO THIS GIRL!” Continue reading Her Story Bloomed into Mine!

Fresh Hope!

Did you know HOPE can become stale?  I didn’t!  In fact it never crossed my mind to think about it.  I understood that sometimes we lose hope- or it wanes in comparison to what it once was even.  But stale?

This weekend, at a prayer service I attended, a pastor in attendance prayed over me.  Part of his powerful prayer for my life-mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually- spoke into my need for “fresh hope”.  I sense your hope has become stale.

I was STRUCK!  Yes!  I knew immediately what God was saying through him! Continue reading Fresh Hope!