This week in my Stepping Stones Intensive Coaching class, we talked about Chapter 6 in Katie Brazleton’s book, Pathway to Purpose for Women: “Repent of All Your Offenses.”

Repentance is remorse or sincere contrition for our sins. It is, Katie writes on page 99, “regret and sorrow that leads to a willingness to change. Did you catch the word change?”

Repentance is not fun or comfortable, but it’s an important stepping stone in this journey of life.

“When we repent and move away from sin, God is pleased. When we repent, we are better able to hear Him and to focus on the purposes for which we were born.” (p. 98)

Sin can hinder or stop us from our life purpose. God wants nothing standing in the way of your intimacy with Him or the great destiny He has planned for you. This can also include condemnation for your past sins.

The visual I shared today in class was when Ray and I took our trip to Israel several years ago. We purchased new luggage for the trip, and packed both of our clothes for the 10-day trip into one giant suitcase.

When we arrived in Israel, we discovered that cars over there are much smaller (to save gas costs) and our tour guide, Yossi, was barely able to fit this enormous piece of luggage into the tiny trunk of his car. Since we traveled all over Israel, staying in different hotels, this large suitcase hindered us everywhere we went. We should have packed much lighter for this trip!

Several years ago, I became a flight attendant in Orlando, Florida, for an airline company whose smaller planes serviced Delta. That job taught me how to pack light for my flights, so I would be able to get places fast. Sometimes I would have four or five flights scheduled in one day, and I couldn’t afford to lug around a giant suitcase through different airports across the U.S.!

When we have sin and/or condemnation  in our lives, it is like us carrying around an enormous suitcase everywhere we go, slowing us down or even stopping us from traveling ~ when a smaller rollerboard would work so much better and free us to get through “the airport of life” much quicker and to our destination of purpose.

What area of your life do you need to repent of and change today so that you can move faster into your great purpose? Or are you under condemnation for past sins? God will forgive you as you come to Him and repent. Ask God to show you.

Image Resource: Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Yesterday our daughter Leah and I were invited to the house of our friends, where they were having a potluck lunch, a small group Bible study on “Abundant Living,” and a Superbowl party. Call me sheltered, but I’ve never been to a Superbowl party before. I was excited about it.

Our hostess, Ruth, was recording the game, and since the men were in another room eating chips and dip, we were able to fast-forward through the game to the commercials and chat.  What fun! We did watch the last exciting 5 minutes of the game, though.

For the potluck, we had taco soup (which had guacamole in it – YUM!), and in our small group Bible study, we discussed the spiritual gifts, as well as personality. Our small group leader, Dave, gave us a personality profile test by Dr. Gary Smalley, using animals to represent the four types of personality: Otter, Lion, Beaver, Golden Retriever (other personality profile tests label these Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholy, and Phlegmatic). Our gifts, our personality, our intelligence, our talents, our skills, our likes and dislikes, all make up part of who we are, the unique person God created us to be for a unique calling and purpose.

While there, I was looking at Dave’s and Ruth’s bookcases, and my heart quickened as I saw a book on one of the shelves: Master Potter by Jill Austin. I’d never read it or even heard of it, but I was so excited because my friend Shelley Valasek and I just had a webinar called The Master’s Hands, on the topic of the Potter and the clay!

Ruth said I could borrow the book, and last night I lay in bed, reading it voraciously. The book is an allegory of God the Potter and us the clay. I was especially struck by what Jill wrote on page 92:

“How will I ever become what I saw in that vision? You’d have to practically start all over and completely remake me.” (Beloved the clay, representing you and me, is speaking to the Potter, who is Christ)

“Master Potter’s eyes look deeply into hers, and large tears well up. Slowly, sadly, He tells her, “You’re right, I do have to start over. To fulfill the marvelous destiny I have for your life, I must crush you into fine dust, but I promise not to lose even one particle of you. Each particle, like the hairs on your head, is numbered by Me. I will take you to My wheel, and from your dust, make you into that lovely pitcher.”

“Please, Lord, No! I don’t want to be crushed! I don’t want to hurt any more.”

“This process is a necessary part of making you into that beautiful vessel, Beloved. But you will have to trust me. The only crushing you’ve ever known has been abusive and painful; it was intended by the enemy to destroy you. My crushing is deeply rooted in My redemptive love to heal you. It will hurt for a moment, but the freedom and joy it brings will last through eternity.”

I must crush you into fine dust.

Have you ever been crushed by God? It’s painful. You just want the hurt to stop. But it’s to heal you, humble you, and set you free.

“Beloved closes her eyes, clenches her fists, inhales deeply and blurts out, “Yes, Lord, I’m willing.” (p. 93)

Are you?

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I am rescheduling my portion of The Master’s Hands webinar soon, as we went into “overtime” during the webinar. If you want to be first to hear about when this webinar will be scheduled and upcoming webinars with  other anointed speakers, be sure to sign up on my mailing list with your name and email address. You’ll also receive my free special report when you sign up.

Our daughter Heather asked me to pick up their daughters Annabelle and Violet at her work at 5 p.m. today, because she didn’t get off until 5:30 p.m. and Annabelle had to be at a basketball game at her school by 5:45 p.m.

Heather also loaned me her house keys, so I could stop by their house and get Annabelle and Violet a snack before they went to the game, so they wouldn’t be hungry during the game.

But somewhere between Heather giving me the keys and me helping the girls get their seatbelts on in the car, I lost the keys. I looked in the parking lot, my coat pockets, my purse; the girls helped me to diligently search the car’s backseat. They were nowhere to be found and now Annabelle was going to be late to the game.

I called Heather to tell her the news and asked her to see if someone had found them inside the school and had dropped them off at the front desk with the receptionist. Soon Heather came out in her blue teacher’s smock, nearly running on the sidewalk, and got into her car.

Her own special parking place: Heather was employee of the month!

I pulled out of the parking place and up close to her “Employee of the Month” parking place (go, Heather!), calling her on my cell to see if they’d found the keys. Heather didn’t know that was me behind her car, and was saying, “Come ON!” into her phone, looking into the rear-view mirror. I then said, “Hello?” and she realized it was me, waiting for her to pull out and go.

“Did someone turn in the keys? Do you have them?” I asked. “YES!” she said, and raced off in her red Kia car. Heather ALWAYS races off. Since she got her license at 16, she’s had a lead foot. It is a miracle she has never had a speeding ticket. She also races when she walks anywhere. I have to practically run whenever I go shopping with her.

As Heather left tracks, Violet’s sweet voice then piped up from the backseat: “Wait, Nana! My seatbelt isn’t on!” In the excitement of the girls doing a treasure hunt for the keys in my car, Violet had not buckled her seatbelt again after we couldn’t find the keys. So I had to make sure she was strapped in first, and then tried to catch up with Heather.

The excitement was just beginning…

The next thing I thought I lost was my cell phone when we went to A & W restaurant after the game.  I seem to lose things a lot, especially just when I need them: my keys, my phone, my debit card. Invariably I find whatever it is a few minutes later, usually in my purse, pocket or somewhere that it’s supposed to be. My family is used to the fact that every few weeks I start nearly panicking, thinking that I have lost something again and they have to help me look for it. It’s not forgetfulness; it’s disorganization.

Violet and Belle at A & W

Nobody can find ANYTHING in my purse, no matter how big of a purse I buy: there’s my wallet, coupons, receipts, Sharpie pens, keys, shiny lip gloss, black or brown eyeliner (eyeliner is one of my STAPLES!), lotion, loose change that spilled out of my unzipped zebra-striped change purse, extra contacts in the event of an earthquake or tornado, compact green mirror (gift from my friend Shelley Valasek), address book, Free Massage gift certificate from my sister Maria which I need to book with my masseuse, etc.

I am organized to a fault when it comes to my to-do lists, organizing cabinets and drawers, obsessively lining up my shoes in a row, but my purse and our car are a different story. Maybe my purse and our car are my one area of rebellion against organization. My one “messy” space where chaos is free to reign at will. Usually whatever I have lost is buried under the contents of it.

Often as I’m madly searching for the lost item, especially when I’m short on time, I hear the Holy Spirit’s gentle, calm whisper, “It’s in your purse,” because God knows I’m on the verge of what Rhett Butler called Scarlett O’Hara’s “crying jag.”

My crying jags are NOT a pretty sight. And my debit card or phone or whatever I’ve lost is right there, just as God said.

I finally found my phone at the A & W; it was in my purse.

Does God really do these things – help people find lost items?

You betcha. God is so good at finding the lost.

If you feel lost, uncertain, confused, or hurt, God will find you. He’s looking for you – to show you how much He loves you.

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.” (Luke 15: 4-24, NLT)

Someone I love very much is going through something extremely painful right now. It’s so hard to watch, and my heart is breaking for this loved one. Sometimes we don’t understand what on earth God is doing in our lives or in the lives of our family and our friends. We want to know “Why?”

It’s okay to ask God why and other questions. It’s okay to vent our emotions to God. He can handle it. He wants you to be real and transparent with Him. He wants you to come to Him with your troubles and your cares. God wants to help you.

King David was said to be a man after God’s own heart. David was a man of war and he was King. He had many enemies who wanted to kill him. Because of the anointing and the measure of the great calling on his life, the enemy wanted to take him out and if he couldn’t do that, then he wanted to discourage him and hinder him from his purpose. But David understood that God’s power was greater than man’s or Satan’s. David understood God’s unconditional love and forgiveness. He knew he could be real with his feelings of fear, depression, and discouragement with God. David knew that God was the only place he could go with his problems.

If you or a loved one are going through a hard time right now, you’ll find your answers – and your comfort and encouragement – in God.

“The Lord will also be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You. For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” Psalm 9:9-10