Saturday, January 25, 2014

Book Review: "Sit, Walk, Stand"

Sit, Walk, Stand: The Process of Christian MaturitySit, Walk, Stand: The Process of Christian Maturity by Watchman Nee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this was a great little book based on Ephesians.

At first I thought the title was a little backwards... shouldn't it be stand-walk-sit, but after reading it, it does make perfect sense.

First, we have to SIT with Jesus. Or have faith that we will be seated at his right hand. After all, faith is not anything that we DO, but what has already been done for us.

Once we have mastered sitting, we get to WALK - that is "the practical outworking of that heavenly position here on earth" (loc 248).

And finally, the STAND - the STAND is against spiritual warfare. I thought this quote summed it up nicely:

"For no Christian can hope to enter the warfare of the ages without learning first to rest in Christ and in what He has done, and then, through the strength of the Holy Spirit within, to follow Him in a practical, holy life here on earth. If he is deficient in either of these, he will find that all the talk about spiritual warfare remains only talk; he will never know its reality. Satan can afford to ignore him, for he does not count for anything." (loc 533)

And another quote that really inspired me:

"God never asks us to do anything we CAN do. He asks us to live a life which we can never live and do a work which we can never do. Yet, by His grace, we are living it and doing it."


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Monday, January 20, 2014

Good Morning Girls' New Study

I've been semi-following Good Morning Girls' blog for probably a couple years now, but never actually participated in one of their Bible studies until this past fall when they were doing one in Luke... and I loved it!  It has really changed how I spend my quiet time with God (quantity, quality, AND consistency), and how I study the Bible!

They use what is called the "SOAP Method."  I'll show you what mine looked like today:

SCRIPTURE: read Ephesians 5:1-14 then wrote out Ephesians 5:1.  This is really helpful to me to write out the verse, forces me to FOCUS.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

OBSERVATION: One thing that struck me today is that I want to imitate God so that Micah & Kenzie will imitate God.  They imitate Eli and I in so many ways, and I think as "beloved children" that is how God wants us to be too!  I also realized that you can not imitate someone that you are not intimate with.  How would you know how to act like someone if you weren't around them or familiar with how they act?  It would be impossible!

APPLICATION:  Spend more time every day teaching God's truths to Micah & McKenzie.

PRAYER:  And then you pray!  I like to write out my prayers too - keeps my mind from wondering.  I have a major problem with multi-tasking.  ;-)

Today was the first day of their new study "Intentionally Focused" and if you subscribe to their email updates via the blog you will be able to download the study guide + they have some cool children's resources to go
with it!  If you are interested in the study, but have trouble downloading, let me know, and I can email you the PDF.  Every week they also provide a memory verse and a challenge.

The challenge this week this week is to be intentional about where & when you spend time in God's word every day.  For me this is 7:15am at the kitchen table.  USUALLY kids aren't awake until around 8am, so this works out well.  But I am also challenging myself to be asleep by midnight every night, so that my mornings can be better!  ;-)

This week's memory verse is one of my favorites!  Hebrews 12:1!

There you have it!  I might share more nuggets as we go, but I would encourage you to subscribe to the Good Morning Girls' blog.  They have a video post every Monday and additional posts on Wednesdays & Fridays.  If you've got the YouVersion Bible app on your phone/tablet, the Good Morning Girls Intentionally Focused plan is on there too!  :-)

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Rick Warren + the Daniel Plan

Seems like I am starting off 2014 with a lot of Rick Warren. I'm reading his daily devotional on my Bible App reading plan, and loving it, and now Eli and I are starting to read The Daniel Plan.

 NOTE: This is NOT the Daniel Fast - which I have read, but not attempted in it's full glory - I know it is a "fast" but 21 days without meat or dairy products might have to wait until I'm not cooking for a 1 & 3 year old every day!  ;-)  Though I did do a strictly water-to-drink and no sweets mini version to start the year, and enjoyed reading the 21-Day Devotional part of the book during that time.

 I should also note that I am a big Rick Warren fan. You may know him from his famous book "The Purpose Driven Life."  He pastors a very large church in California (Saddleback) and is pretty influential in many ways.  When "The Purpose Driven Life" made it big, he paid the church back all his salary for 25 years!  WOW!  I think that is so cool!  (You can read more at Wikipedia)

 Anyway, Rick Warren's "The Daniel Plan" is named for Daniel, but not necessarily based on his all-vegetable diet of the Bible (he was refraining from meat that had been sacrificed to idols). Reportedly, he realized that he was not treating his body as "God's temple" and asked if anyone in his congregation was interested in losing weight with him.  Well, it took off and Saddleback got a lot healthier for it.

But this is not just a weight loss book, which I like... he focuses on five "Essentials" which I will outline and comment on below since we are supposed to access where we are before we get really started!  ;-)


  1. FAITH:  This is an area that I don't believe we should ever be satisfied in.  There is ALWAYS room for improvement if we are striving to follow Jesus.  
  2. FOOD:  Probably my WEAKEST area.  Eli & I do NOT eat healthy.  We have good intentions, but get busy, fail to plan, and succumb to macaroni-and-cheese more times than we should!  ;-)
  3. FITNESS:  Believe it or not, I actually like to exercise.  Love to find time to get on the treadmill.  Love to visit our gym.  Love fitness DVDs.  Love to take the double stroller and dogs out.  However, unfortunately it gets pushed out just for lack of time too often.  My Jawbone helps keep me motivated these days.  
  4. FOCUS:  I tend to have a pretty positive attitude and always remember to SMILE.  :-)
  5. FRIENDS:  So thankful for an awesome Grow Group and church family, we are not doing this as a small group though... so biggest props to Eli for being my best friend AND spouse AND motivator.

Monday, January 6, 2014

New Year, New Goals

I am a very goal-oriented person.  I love checking things off a to-do list and results that I can measure.

However, in reviewing my 2013 goals, I'd probably only give myself a C or so.

I met most of my reading goals and my real estate volume goal...
... but Eli and I went out for probably 8 out of 12 date nights for our (once-a-month goal)
... bought a new car, but didn't get both credit cards completely paid off (although we've made HUGE progress
... made some fitness strides (joined a gym, etc.) but not back to where I was pre-kids (will I ever be? lol!)
... grew a nice garden, but didn't get a new deck
... ETC, ETC!

As a result, many of my 2013 goals, I am carrying over for 2014, let's try this again.  Feel free to hold me accountable to these when you run into me.

SPIRITUAL
  • SEEK HIM
  • Time with God every day (preferably first thing every morning as long as kids cooperate)
  • Reading Sarah Young's Jesus Calling devotional this year
  • Will probably try to do all or most of the Good Morning Girls studies
  • Read at least 6 spiritual growth books
  • More accountability & growth in and with our small group
  • Doing 2 reading plans in the YouVersion Bible app (with Eli)
    • OWNit365 One Story
    • Rick Warren's Daily Devotional

FAMILY
  • At least once-a-month date nights with Eli!
  • Read at least 4 marriage books & 4 parenting books
  • Regular devotional time with kids
  • More active & outdoor family time

CAREER/FINANCIAL

  • Read at least 5 business books
  • Finish my KS broker license & start MO broker license
  • Put on a new deck, paint exterior of house, partially finish basement
  • Pay off credit cards!


HEALTH
  • Eat more veggies!
  • Exercise more!  (I got a Jawbone UP for Christmas, and I can't tell you how motivating it is to get to my daily goal of 10,000 steps.  If you have one or are thinking about getting one, do it and add me to your team.  It helps to have encouragers!)
    • Make it to our fancy gym (thank you to Eli's employer for making that possible!) at least 1x week
    • Walk outside or on treadmill at least 4x week

And my good friend +Tim Morgan decided to have a "theme song" for the year (his is HAPPY! which I love, but cannot steal), so mine is Steve Curtis Chapman's "Love Take Me Over."





Favorite Reads of 2013

Every year, I pick out my 5 (or so!) favorite books of the year for their own special shelf on GoodReads (if you are on there, add me as your friend!) and this year, I had 8!  A couple are kids' books so I figured that would be OK to include!

Here they are for the curious... a little something for everyone I think...




Katie's 2013favs book montage

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
Divergent
My Sister's Keeper
Odd and the Frost Giants
The Skinny Rules: The Simple, Nonnegotiable Principles for Getting to Thin
You Are My Sunshine
Less Blah Blah, More Ah Ha: How Social Savvy Real Estate Agents Become Trusted, Preferred, Referred - and Rewarded
My Big Book of 5-minute Devotions


Katie Casey's favorite books »