God has sent 4 new clients our way this past week. Thank you for praying! That means 4 more hearts are being touched and healed by our Wonderful Counselor and Jehovah Raphe:-)
Welcome to New Life Design
Our Faith Jouney Pt. 2
Hello everyone! Part 1 of Our Faith Journey is under “Grace Insights” incase you missed it. We decided to add another category for our lessons on Faith.
In part one we talked about getting in touch with God’s character, God’s purposes in our generation and God’s ways. In order for us to not miss God and learn to hear from Him and follow Him in faith we must get a handle on His Character, His Purposes, and His ways. The only way we can do this is by looking through God centered glasses. Often we interpret our world through the natural lenses of our own self-made expectations and as we noted in part 1 and many times this is when we find ourselves angry and disappointed with God.
God centered glasses interpret our world from God’s perspective, purposes, desires and activity. Many times God’s will is like an iceberg. With an iceberg you can only see the top 10% and the other 90% can’t be seen. The key to getting to the other 90% underneath is responding to what He has already shown you – the top 10%. The time to respond to His will is the moment He reveals His will. God desires immediate obedience. If God has revealed the plan and has given you the green light He means for you and I to get busy! Delayed obedience is disobedience! Our delay may cause us to miss out on what God has planned for us to be apart of in that moment – the joy and excitment!! If God has been clear – Trust Him – regardless of appearances!
This orientation to God puts us in a position to walk with Him – hearing Him speak to us. It also puts us in the place to experience joy unspeakable in our personal relationship with Him. One morning this week in my Quiet Time I realized that one of the most amazing things about God is that He not only loves me – He ENJOYS me and even likes me! He wants to talk and fellowship with us. If you are not hearing from God it is not due to His lack of communication. I am sure that the problem is on our end somewhere. He has so much to say to each of us. Let’s get busy listening.
Stay turned for Part 3 coming on Perseverance!
Dana Dodd
Somebody Loves Me
Do you ever feel lonely? Wonder if anyone cares? If anyone really loves you? Long for someone to understand you? Wish someone were there? I believe everyone experiences this at sometime or another. The good news is that right now:
Somebody is thinking of you Somebody is caring for you Somebody is caring about you Somebody longs for you Somebody wants to talk to you Somebody wants to be with you Somebody wants to listen to you Somebody watns to hold your hand Somebody is protecting you Somebody is working for your good Somebody is celebrating your successes Somebody wants to give you a gift Somebody thinks you are a gift Somebody wants to hold you in His arms Somebody is on your side and is pulling for you today Somebody loves you Somebody wants to laugh with you Somebody wants to cry with you Somebody wants to tell you how much He cares Somebody wants to share His life with you Somebody wants to be your friend Somebody died to make that friendship possible Somebody loves you for who you are Somebody wants you to know that He is there for you Somebody is always thinking about you Somebody believes in you Somebody wants you to trust Him…todayWhat a great description of our Heavenly Father! I read this last night in Neil T. Anderson & Rich Miller’s book, Freedom from Fear. I hope it encourages you as much as it encouraged me!
Rebecca:-)
Another Big Miracle
I just wanted to take a quick moment to share with you a huge answer to prayer. We have been awaiting the “offical” approval of our 501 (c) 3 tax exemption status. Our letter arrived in the mail yesterday and we were approved! So, we are delighted to announce that we are “offically” a non-profit organization meaning all of your gifts and donations to New Life Design are tax exempt! All gifts given prior to August 24 are also tax exempt due to the approval being retroactive. It was a long process of paper work but it is offically done and we are relieved. If you are wondering what is the big deal about it and why we so excited…talk to one who has tried to apply before and they will be happy to explain what is involved.
Thank you to those out there who have been praying with us about this!
Enjoying The New Design
Dana & Rebecca
Our Faith Jouney
I want to offically say, “Welcome to New Life Design”! We are glad that you are checking out our site. It was four years ago that God began speaking to me about the vision of a grace-based discipleship coaching and teaching ministry in our area. As we have followed Christ and His timing with this, He has brought all of this together so perfectly.
I want to use part of my time on the blog to share with you insights that Father has shown me with regards to us having the faith to follow Him wherever He leads, seeing His plan and purposes unfold and knowing our place in all of it.
If you would have told me years ago that I would be doing what I am doing today and that I would sense an inner faith deep within me allowing me to walk in confidence, I would not have believed you. I am constantly amazed at how the Holy Spirit working within us will bring us to places that we never thought possible. It is surely the work of God and not anything of ourselves.
Through a maintained relationship with God I have found that He reveals Himself in three specific ways: He reveals His Character to us, He reveals His Purposes to us, and then He reveals His ways to us. Through seeing His Character we learn who He is and our level of trust in Him begins to grow. As our trust begins to take shape He begins to show us His purposes. It is here that we realize that often His purposes are quite different from ours. It is only by growing in our understanding of His character and purposes that we can begin to understand His ways.
Often when one experiences anger towards God it is because they have never been discipled and taught the character and purposes of God. I am sure most of us have been there at some time in our lives. Although, even when we have been learning a proper concept of God our circumstances can still send us reeling emotionally and experiencing many unanswered questions. However, it will be that sure foundation of knowing more of who God is that will stabilize us over time and as the fog begins to clear we will see more clearly. One word of caution here – I am in no means saying that we will always understand God. He is way to big for that! What I am saying is that as we come to know Him deeper through His character we come to love and trust Him more. So, when our world is rocking with shock and heartache, we have a firm grasp in Christ and can depend on Him and trust Him during the storm. When it all clears, there we see our faithful Father continuing to care for us and provide. Yes, this is easier said than done but as children of God we have this precious priviledge as apart of our spiritual inheritance that the apostle Paul speaks of. So, in our faith journey it is crucial that we begin to see a proper concept of who God is, His purposes and His ways.
An example of this is found in the gospel accounts of the Disciples and their journey with Christ. They were completely confused and distraught over His arrest, mock trials and subsequent crucifixion. Their world was rocking and they hid in fear desending deep in their grief. They still had not grasped the deeper understanding of who Jesus was, what His purposes were and the way in which they were to be carried out. As you can see for yourself in the book of Acts when they did catch a radical understanding of what Jesus was all about and why He came, it completely altered their actions and requests. Again, it was the Holy Spirit within them (given at Pentecost) that revealed truth and presented the clear picture of who Messiah was, what His purpose was and how that was to be accomplished. This truth led to them fulfilling God purposes for their individual lives which invovled the advancement of the Kingdom of God and our understanding of salvation today.
My prayer is that each of us would grasp a better understanding of the character of God, His purposes in our generation and the ways in which He is calling us to partner with Him in accomplishing the advancement of His Kingdom. It really is all about Him.
Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”
Stay tuned for more on Faith and Hebrews 10 and 11!!
Enjoying The New Design,
Dana
Rebecca’s First Ever Blog
Welcome to the New Life Design Blog! This is my first time to post to a blog. I know, I’m a bit behind, but I’m sure that working with Tony Dodd is going to catch me up very quickly:-) I’m excited about the potential for spiritual encouragement here as we read and share about what God is doing in the lives of all who are connected to New Life Design.
Rebecca:-)
Amazing Video – Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyFxArMeRDI]
Great music video – Amazing Grace
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-WZ4WoZvPc]
Pinecone
Pick up a sunflower and count the florets running into its centre, or count the spiral scales of a pine cone or a pineapple, running from its bottom up its sides to the top, and you will find an extraordinary truth: recurring numbers, ratios, and proportions.
Charles Jencks
Seashell
A beach is not only a sweep of sand, but shells of sea creatures, the sea glass, the seaweed, the incongruous objects washed up by the ocean.
Henry Grunwald