Hi ~
Shelley and I have been greatly blessed by all the incredible postings and emails we have received about how Character Makeover has changed your life. Thank you, Jesus, and thank you for letting us and others be encouraged by your blogging! As a quick way for others to get a taste of the book, we'd like to have you share here: "Quick, Funny Stories of How God Decided to Shape Your Character"!
For example, today I had a half dozen major projects to finish, but at 8am, my little neighbor-girl rang my doorbell and asked if I could help her register for junior high, because her mom doesn't speak English. I saw God's hand in the request, so off we went for several hours with her mom and newborn baby sister to get her registered. It was an extreme test of patience for me as a Type A personality, but I believe with all my heart that it was God shaping me today -- and it will always be one of my favorite memories! [Tonight, we go buy school supplies!]
What about you? When/how has our Creator worked on you?
Blessings,
Katieb
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7 comments:
I've finished day 5 in Humility, but there's much more for me to do. To rightly see others as God sees them, I need a clearer view of Who God is. I've printed out the study list for "I Will Study God" I am prayerful that this will help me. I have a friend that is studying with me too. We can be each other's accountability partners. I feel excited and confident that walking each day through Character Makeover is going to help me reach my goal of learning how to die to self daily and grow in the character and likeness of Christ. Since I am truly God's daughter, He needs to be reflected through me as well as He was through His Son.
Thanks for writing the book. I've been praying for a mentor, maybe this is God's answer to my prayer.
Blessings,
Gloria
In the area of Perseverance I have been trying to persevere with JOY. I care for my mother who is 93 and is in an assisted living facility. She is legally blind and very hard of hearing. I try to meet her wants with joy realizing that her quality of life is very compromised. My heart goes out to her and I want to respond with love joy and patience to help both of us persevere through this difficult season of life. I know that it is onlyGod who gives me the strength to to persevere with joy.
Arlene
Humility really impacted me. I taught the book in a class for our ladies Bible study. During the week we studied humility, I spent the week asking myself, "am I humble?" and pondered this question all week. In so doing, I missed the point! Humility as I learned, doing my homework, is about God and more Godliness, the more I focus on God the less I focus on me and that brings humility. By asking the question "Am I humble?" the focus was on me, not God therefore the wrong focus. It was quite an epiphany for me and certainly a piece of "humble pie" as I admitted this to the class of ladies that week.
So now when I think of humility I realize it is about who He, my savior is, not about me. I no longer need to ask the question "am I humble", now I focus on God and who He is.
The Lord shapped my character through making Sandwiches for my husband! We both work full time and both out of our home. I am making dinners every night and was struggling with a big attitude when it came to making him lunch. I rationalized it away...but during a quiet time - studying how Christ has called us to "Love one another as I have loved you" God nailed me. "Really? You haven't been loved enough to make a sandwich for your husband...really?" All of this happened as I have been praying for a real release in my life in the area of love. Well, I just broke and fell down to my knees asking God to forgive me for my selfishness.
Without saying anything, I went to the store and my husbands sandwiches looked fancier than the Subway Deli! After about a month of making him extravagent lunches, things began to really change in our marriage. Both of us were finding ways to lavishly love on each other.
I didn't have to say a thing, and He didn't change...I DID. But in the end, we both win.
I just love how God can use the simple everyday things to build out character...one piece of Sandwich ingredient at a time!
I COME FROM HONG KONG & BOUGHT YOUR BOOK TODAY! THIS MY 1ST DAY READING~ SO HAPPY~
God definitely works on me WHEN I have my plan and it does not fit in His plan. Generosity in regards to time is where God has my focus. I never would have thought that generosity and time had anything to do with one another but boy do they. When I get so focused on what I am doing and I get interrupted I realize that my body language and voice clearly signals that I am being stingy with my time. God has really convicted me of this lack of gerosity in my life and I am far richer for it!
Christi Ratcliff
One of the areas God is working on with me is patience. I have grown in this area. I have had confirmation of that with some testing, which causes me to give praise back to God for His amazing work. However, I still have plenty of road ahead of me. One of the latest things God has been working on is not acting, but waiting ... listening .... praying ...and then doing it all again. The book captured it well when it stated: "Usually, though, when God delays, we're better off to adopt an upside-down approach: "Don't just do something; stand there!" Delays and roadblocks are often there for a reason. Use the delay to pray. Don't steamroller over the roadblock. Invite God to stand there with you and learn not to make a move until he releases you do to so."
I have seen, especially with my grown children, that praying and waiting on God's timing is much quicker. If I step in I tend to slow things down. I want my kids to be successful, but more importantly I want them to be spiritual .... that comes from a mom being on her knees and waiting for the Holy Spirit to do the work.
Lynette Schenk
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