Dear Lord,

Thank you for opening my eyes, showing me the way,

and saving my life.

Note to self....

Someone's post worth reading.

There are some people out there who may not express happiness for your successes. They may not say how proud they are of you or won't bring themselves to show joy for your accomplishements. Don't seek their approval or validation if they are not willing to give to you freely. Search for blessings inside yourself and be confident that you have done greatness. You dont need anyone's praise to make you feel valuable. Believe in yourself that you are worthy and that no one's opinion or lack of approval makes it or breaks it. It's what you think that matters. Believe in You!


Things to think about:
1) Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
2) Drive carefully... It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.
3) If you can't be kind, don't say anything at all.
4) It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
5) Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
6) Nobody cares if you can't dance well. All they care about is that you're having fun. Just get up and dance.
7) Never complain you're getting old. Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
8) You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to
one person.
9) A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
10) Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.
       I know I did, Have a great day!

A team is as good as its leader. That goes for the family house hold as well..

What makes a good team leader?
The way a team is led will have a major impact upon the success or otherwise of the team. When asked what they want from a team leader, team members will often identify several values they would want a leader to hold : commitment to people as well as task is the first key element. desire to support and serve the team as well as lead from the front. enthusiasm, energy, inspiration and sufficient expertise. willingness to shoulder responsibility rather than pass the buck ability to make the team come together to achieve more than a group of individuals.
Commitment to people Most team members are primarily concerned about relationship and about being valued as a team member, before they are concerned about the task that the team is to undertake. Feeling secure in a group environment is an important pre-requisite before individual contribution. The good team leader is able to spend time building the team, not only when the team starts off, but when a newcomer joins an existing team. Desire to Support and Serve Whilst team members want to see the ability to lead from the front, they are also strongly motivated by the ability to lead from the back! Servant leadership from the team leader is vital if team members are in turn, to want to serve each other. This is a particularly key topic for Christian leaders. There is a balance to be struck between a willingness to take on any chores that need to be done by the team, and taking an inappropriate balance of roles so that the leadership is diminished. Enthusiasm, Energy, Inspiration and Expertise Unsurprisingly team members want to be inspired and motivated by team leadership which has the energy and enthusiasm to fire them up. However, they also want to feel secure that the team leader has themselves, or has access to, the necessary expertise to lead the team in the right direction. The leader doesn't have to be the most knowledgeable of the subject at hand, but if they are not, they must encourage the input of others. Willingness to shoulder responsibility. Team leaders are tested under pressure. When challenges arise, as they inevitably will, the leader will need to take responsibility to ensure that they are fixed as far as possible and that the team is strengthened as a result. This does not mean that the leader should admit that issues beyond their control are in any way their fault, (although they should be honest in admitting their mistakes), but rather adopt a proactive stance to ensure the team is not deflected from its course. Ability to achieve more as a team. Teams only become a team once there is some synergy within the group ie the team process adds value to that which a disparate group of individuals would achieve undirected. This is likely to require the team leader to explore leadership models that share the leadership role within the team, to have an understanding of different individuals team roles, strengths and gifts, establish a mutual accountability within the team, and to create a team environment which is open, fun and allows healthy and productive discussion.



(This is an awesome article I found that totally spoke to me.)

Even a GREAT Husband Makes A Poor God

   

I got in my car and started down our winding driveway. Tears fell in a steady flow. My chest was tight, my eyes puffy, and every muscle tight with stress. Why does it have to be so difficult? Why can’t he just love me the way I am? Why does everything have to be such an issue? What am I doing wrong?
Can you relate? If you’ve been married any time at all, I’m sure you can. At times I’ve gotten consumed trying to figure out how to make my husband love me and how to make everything all right between us that he in some strange way became my God. If we were doing well, I was doing well. If we weren’t doing so well, I wasn’t doing so well either.
Now, understandably, because my husband and I have come together as one, we are close enough that when he hurts, I hurt. But, my spirit should not vacillate between joy and sorrow based on how Art and I are getting along. Instead, my soul should always rest in the safety of Jesus’ unconditional love and acceptance.
Jesus laid this principle out clearly in John 15:5-6, which says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers.”
Jesus is our life-giving vine; our husbands are not. If we remain in Christ and let Christ be the only one who holds our souls and determines our identity, then we can bear much fruit. We know from Galatians 5 that the fruit of God’s Spirit in us is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Can you see why it is so important to get your every deep, spiritual need met by God alone? My husband can’t give this type of consistent love, joy, peace, etc. And I can’t give him love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control apart from Christ. Apart from Christ I can do no good thing, because apart from Christ I wither as I try to make my husband fill me. When I do this I drain my husband and my marriage.
John 15:9 continues, “As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” Now, my sweet friend, I know what it is like to walk the rocky paths of a difficult marriage. I understand the loneliness, the desperation, the frustrations. But I also know what it’s like to have a wonderful, fulfilling, romantic, awesome marriage.
My husband is basically the same man today as he was when things were not so good. God has worked on his heart and made some changes in him but nothing I’ve ever done had the power to change him.
The main thing that has transformed my marriage is my letting God be my God. Instead of focusing on all the things my husband didn’t do right or letting his approval or disapproval consume me, I learned to go to God and say, “Lord, I know You love me and You love my husband. So please either change him or change my heart toward him or this issue we are facing.” Sometimes He’ll soften my husband but more times than not God will change me.
I often share at conferences and retreats that God has taught me what it means to live for an audience of one. Instead of trying to be a good wife and win my husband’s approval, trying to be a good mom to win my kids’ approval, and trying to be a good friend to win my friends’ approval, I now simply try to please God. I seek only His favor and follow His precepts. In doing this I am a good wife, a good mom and a good friend.
Faithfully spending time with God every day and asking Him to fill me and give me my identity and security has transformed my marriage. It has freed me to take the focus off of my needs, my wants, and my desires. It is only through God’s strength working in me that I can give to my husband in this way and feel more fulfilled in giving than receiving.
Survey after survey that I received from men had a common thread: husbands said their wives were missing something in their life that the husbands had no idea how to fulfill. “I wish my wife knew that I love her,” or “I want to give her what she needs but I’m not sure even she knows what that is,” or “I wish so much my wife could see my inner feelings —how much I do love her —I just don’t know how to make her see and believe that,” and “I’m doing everything I know how to do to make her feel loved and it doesn’t seem to be enough.”
These husbands want their wives’ hearts to be secure enough to freely receive the love they were already offering. The only way this can happen is when a wife’s heart rests safely in the Lord’s hands and she’s at peace with who her God is. Then and only then can a woman of tender strength emerge with the capacity to be the wife she was created to be.