I have a deep passion and commitment to the ongoing development of spiritually strong and emotionally healthy individuals, marriages, families, leaders and cultures, helping you achieve your God-designed and appointed destiny.
All in Choices
What happened to “agreeing to disagree,” allowing each other the freedom to express a contrary opinion, without someone else hurling hurtful and downright abusive comments? Why are we seeing friendships literally destroyed right before our eyes, as insults are slung in contrast to previous professions of love? Or better yet, what happened to keeping our opinions to ourselves? Do we really have to react by voicing EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT that comes into our minds?
I don’t want to start out on the negative, but if I asked you to recall a time when you knowingly did wrong, resulting in extreme guilt and shame, you’d be able to identify the offense(s) right away, wouldn’t you? Trust me, when I asked myself this question, I remembered my top five in about ten seconds flat, resulting in my shoulders and hands actually tensing, as I recalled not only the pain inflicted upon myself, but others. Memories of extreme guilt and shame were close behind, causing me to ask the question...what am I going to do with this?
We LOVE the promises of God’s Word, don’t we? We love to hear about how good He is, how much He loves us, and the blessings He has in store for us. The thing is, we often miss out on all that stuff because we neglect to take into account our part of the deal in obtaining all of the good stuff. Then we wonder why we aren't being blessed. As I discovered 20 years ago, we have a say in whether or not we’re going to do what He says in order to obtain the Good Life.
I would like to talk to talk specifically to all of the Ladies today, however, Men, please read on, as I really want to hear your thoughts on this matter. What I have to say will very possibly either cause you to go “Yes!” or “Cammie, you’re crazy!” Whatever the outcome, as I used to tell my kids when they were younger, “I love you enough to make you mad at me.”
All too often, the greatest "Naysayer" isn’t someone from without, but rather someone from within – ourselves. We can be our own worst enemy, self-sabotaging any "God-ideas" that appear in our hearts and/or heads by disqualifying ourselves before we've even allowed God Himself to qualify us. This scenario has played itself out in my life way too often. I cannot even tell you how many times I've been guilty - disqualifying myself, or the dream I've been given, within mere minutes of receiving such a vision. I don’t even allow the dream to take flight before I’ve grounded it to utter failure.
During one particular gathering, approximately one year ago, our Senior Pastor spoke of the concept of our personal view of our Heavenly Father being molded and shaped by what we have experienced with our earthly father. Probably, like you, I’ve both heard and read this viewpoint many times.
"Being a Pastor's Wife is like watching your husband get the crap beat out of him in a boxing ring. You're outside of the ring watching the entire thing happen, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it." Chuck, our spiritual father and counselor had seriously nailed it. That was 1999. Stan and I were in the middle of the most difficult season that we had ever or would ever experience in ministry.
As parents, whether it's intended or not, we pass along certain values to our children. My parents did it to me, I did it to my children, and I'm sure Adam and Zach will do it to theirs. I love it when I get it right, and of course, regret when I see I've done it wrong.
The most favorite part of my job is calling-out the gift of music that God has placed in kids and adults," my oldest son, Adam, declared. Wow! Who raised this kid and where did he come from?! You see, Adam, is a musician. He's actually an employed musician, believe it or not, which is a rare and beautiful thing in today's world.
