What you need to know about my husband.

   
I have grown up in church. And while I grew up going to Cherokee Baptist as a kid most of my life, I actually grew up at Watermarke Church over the past decade.

10 years ago, my husband got the call to be a youth pastor. Not "the call" that most people refer to. He got a "hey, so we had to fire the current youth pastor today, so can you run things starting tomorrow?" call. We were only kids really. Both of us at the ripe age of 24. We had a 2 year old and a baby on the way. We had just bought our first house. We were about to embark on the most intense and difficult season of our lives, and we had no idea. And as most kids our age would of answered, we replied "Sure, we are in." It's wonderful how God takes seemingly insignificant rash decisions, and creates the most monumental and significant life change.

Those of you who have known my husband for over 10 years can attest to this: He has grown up over the past 10 years too. Those of you who have only known my husband for a short time need to know this. I have learned so much from my husband. I've learned how to lead people well. I've never met someone who is more intentional and caring with those that work for him. I've learned that investing in people is always worth it. I've learned that if I truly want to be successful, I must lift up those around me. BUT, one of the most important lessons I have learned in watching him over the last 10 years is that it is ok to learn and grow as I go.

Andy had never been in ministry when he took over Watermarke's students ministry. The high school group had about 10-15 kids show up every week. He had no experience, no education in religion, nothing that "qualified" him to be in student ministry, except the desperate call of the pastor. But he worked hard, and he learned. He tried things and succeeded. He tried things and he failed. He did what he does best, be lifted those around him, and invested in other leaders. Slowly, and never giving up, God honored his hard work and willingness to keep at it. He defied all odds. No student pastor stays at their first job at church for more than two years. Andy is still going strong after 10. He has seen pastors come and go, the church has met in 3 different schools, and Watermarke has become a campus of Northpoint. So much has changed over the past decade. But Andy has remained constant. He has worked, gone to school, raised 2 special needs kids, loved me fiercely, and continued to pour into the people at Watermarke with all he has. Andy is my constant. What a gift. To be the one thing that people can depend on. The constant is always underestimated isn't it? I don't love math, but I know that without it, the equation can't be figured out. Fixed and non-varying. That is my Andy. Through autism, through change, through life, he is my fixed point. And I am so proud and honored to be a witness to his life story.

June 1st is Andy's 10 year anniversary working for Watermarke. When he started, we never could of known what God had in store for us personally, much less what he had in store for the church. What I want someone to take away from this, is this: Go for it, and don't be afraid to learn and grow as you go. And don't give up when things are hard. God doesn't call the qualified. He calls those that are willing to do the hard work and rely on Him for the rest. Andy is a testament to that. So thank you to Watermarke for being our home for the past 10 years. And on behalf of Watermarke: Andy, thank you for being our constant.

I love you.

"TO LIVE WITH CONFIDENCE"

I am working through a James Study right now, (thanks Andy :) trying to gain some inspiration and momentum in my quiet time. In todays study, was a statement that I latched onto to. It struck a huge cord with me. I feel this weight on my heart for women in our culture struggling with confidence.

A wise woman will not be swayed by the world's opinions; she realizes that the only opinion that matters is God's.

This is it. The whole problem. We look to the world for validation. We compare ourselves to the world around us. But here is the difficult truth: It is not only the world's opinion we must not be swayed by. It is our own. Our opinions of ourselves are just as harmful. I believe certains truths about myself that contradict how God feels about me. "I am undisciplined." God thinks and told me otherwise, and as soon as I started to believe it, I found He was right. I choose to believe God's opinion rather that my own. This was a huge breakthrough for me. And I think it could be for you too.

While meditating on this, God gave me a word. I think it is too important not to share. I know for sure that this applies in my life, I'm guessing it does in yours as well. Prayerfully consider what God may have for you today!

YOU ARE CAPABLE.

YOU ARE WORTHY.

IF I AM IN YOU, WORKING ALONGSIDE YOU, YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED.

YOU ARE LACKING NOTHING.

YOU CAN FULLFIL YOUR CALLING. 

WITH ME IN YOU, HOW CAN YOU NOT BE CONTENT AND CONFIDENT?

HOW CAN YOU NOT BE SUCCESSFUL?
IF I AM THE ONE TO MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS, AND YOU'VE ACCEPTED ME, YOU'VE ALREADY WON.

I AM INCAPABLE OF FAILURE.
SO IF I FLOW THROUGH YOU, YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF FAILURE.
FAILURE COMES WHEN YOU CUT ME OFF AND BLOCK ME FROM USING YOU.
YOUR STUBBORNNESS AND SELFISHNESS ARE YOUR WORST ENEMIES.
IF YOU RID YOURSELF OF THOSE 2 OBSTACLES, I CAN FLOW FREELY.
AND WE BOTH WIN WHEN YOU LET ME WORK IN YOU, WITH YOU, AND THROUGH YOU.
IF YOU DO THIS, YOU WILL ALWAYS SUCCEED.

AND YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR.

NOTHING HOLDING YOU BACK.

AND EVERY REASON TO LIVE WITH CONFIDENCE.

Conclusion of Proverbs and Psalm Study

Again, I want to thank you so much for participating in the study with me. It was such a honor to be a part of it. I just want to encourage you to continue on with your reading, prayer, and journaling. If you are not sure where to go from here, I'd encourage you to read through the gospels. You can take it as fast or slow as you'd like. Behind seeking wisdom in Proverbs, learning about our Master, Jesus, in the gospels is my favorite reading.

I also wanted to let you know that I'd encourage you to read through Proverbs and Psalms again on your own time. I've been studying them for 6 months now, and just yesterday I read in Proverbs 27 and God gave me a very new and fresh revelation. Just shows that you can learn something new every time!

I will be keeping these blogs on my site indefinitely, so please feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested. You can just refer them to my website and the entire study will be located in September of 2012.

Also, if you are interested in using this as a study for your small group please contact me as I have been working on small group questions to go along with the daily readings. (It would be a 4 week study.)

Thank you so much. Please let me know if you have any feed back regarding the study, this was a first for me and if there is anything I can do to improve it, please feel free to let me know. And thank you to all of you who have encouraged me and given me feedback already.

I love you all very much and am honored to have been a small part of your September 2012! :)

Much Love,
Steen

Day 31: The Last Day.

Congratulations! After today, you will have read all of Psalm and Proverbs in one month! This is a big accomplishment and I hope it fuels you to continue on.

On your final day together, I want to pray for you and then leave you to commune with your heavenly father. I want to thank you so much for participating in this study with me. I hope that it impacted you as much as it did me.

Today, on your last day, you will be reading Proverbs chapter 31 and Psalm chapters 146-150.

Abba,

I thank you for this month. I thank you for Psalm and Proverbs and everything you taught us through them. Thank you for fresh revelations, you always use your word to communicate to us what we need in your timing. I thank you for our future and the hope of the future. I pray that we stay diligent in seeking you. I pray that you give us undivided hearts, 100% focused on you and your will for our lives. I ask for clear minds, that we can retain and remember all we have learned and heard over the past month, and discernment to know when it's applicable. I pray for peaceful attitudes, that we look for ways to mend, not tear apart. I pray for compassionate eyes, that we are quick to embrace those around us, not judge. I ask for us all selfless mouths, quick to listen, slow to speak and only speaking your truth. I pray for us productive hands, that we complete the tasks you have for us and the jobs you've laid out for us. And finally, I ask for steady feet, that we remain on your path for our lives, never to stumble or wander.

Thank you for giving us all the tools we need, I pray we make the most of them all. That we understand the importance of communing with you everyday. That we experience all the joy and blessings you have in store for us. We love love love you.

Amen.

Day 30: Can't go back.

Continuing to give the Holy Spirit room, I'm only going to tell you your chapters and pray for you today.

-Read Proverbs chapter 30 and Psalm chapters 141-145-

Abba,

Everyday in writing this study, you have overwhelmed me. It overwhelms me that you don't hide from us or keep us in the dark. You reveal yourself to us, you let us in on your plans. You include us and use us even when you don't have to. Thank you for including me. Thank you for including those you have 'chosen' to do this study. Thank you for divine timing. If nothing else, I trust your timing. We are honored and privileged that you invite us into a relationship with you. And I'm very sorry that for 29 years, I neglected you. I took your offer of relationship for granted. Never again. Because once I saw what I was missing out on, once I saw what it could be like, living in true community with you, I could never go back. I may have accepted your gift of salvation as a child, but it was 24 years later that I accepted your gift of experiencing heaven on earth.

I pray for each person reading this, that you gently touch them on the shoulder. I pray that you impress upon their hearts the magnitude of your love for them. That you grow them in you, so intertwined that it is impossible to separate one from the other.  Impossible to separate them from you or you from them.

Thank you for loving us. We love you, and desire to honor you in all that we say and do today.

Amen

Day 29: Giving room.

In preparing for today's study, I felt a nudge from my friend, the Holy Spirit.

GIVE ME SOME ROOM.

I've said a lot during this month. But if my heart is truly to help facilitate the learning/execution of this discipline (reading the word and prayer time everyday), then it is definitely time I hand the reigns over to you and Him. So I am taking a back seat over the last few days. Because of course, when the Holy Spirit asks for room, you give it! :)

Here is all I suggest, that you continue with the format we've used over the last month. That before you read the scripture, pray and ask God to speak to you and continue to allow yourself to be open. After reading, write down what spoke to you and journal some prayers. As before, feel free to leave some comments if God moves you to do so. That will be where I'll leave any of my thoughts on the day's study.

But before you begin today, I'd like to pray for you.

Abba, I pray that today, you reveal yourself in an incredibly tangible way to your followers. I pray you open their ears and eyes to your voice and your truth. Honor their commitment to learn more about you and your heart by changing their lives the way you have changed mine. Fill in their gaps, give them what they need to complete the mission you have for them. Energize and revive them. Continue to pursue them and give them an insatiable desire to pursue you. We honor you in all we say and do. I LOVE you Abba.

Amen.

Today we are reading Proverbs chapter 29 and Psalm chapters 136-140. Now go ahead, and do your thing!

Day 28: Being chosen.

Today we are reading Proverbs chapter 28 and Psalm chapters 131-135. Ask God to join you and commune with you today.

-Read Scripture-

The Psalms refers to God's chosen people a lot. Israel, God's chosen people. God chose Jacob, etc. There is a ton of weight and pressure when you really think about that. Psalm chapters 131-135 is no different. It is filled with promises to God's chosen people, Israel, and more specifically, David.

In chapter 132 verse 11 the writer refers to the promise God made to David and how he would not go back on that promise. Psalm 135 refers to Israel as God's treasured possession. There are so many beautiful promises of protection, provision, and blessing. But there is also tremendous responsibility and weight, and you feel that in the Psalm as well.

An amazing thing happened after Christ came, you and I and all of his followers are now included with his chosen people. The new testament says: "But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you - from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted." 1 Peter 2:9-10 The Message.

Talk about weight and responsibility. You are chosen. You have a role to play. You have a job that God has called you to do.

No pressure. :)

But that also means you get to claim all the beautiful promises to the Israelites that you read in the Psalms. What encouragement. Here's my truth: God has made a night-and-day difference in my life. Those of you who have known me any length of time can attest to that. He has turned me from nothing special into something special. And this is me, attempting to fulfill my calling to priestly work and telling others of what God has done for me. I have been chosen. I have been called, and so have you.

Today, I want you to meditate on the fact that you are a chosen one, that your Abba has "embraced you as a prized possession." He has called you to do his work on this Earth. Who has he put in your life to share your story with? Where has he placed you to do his work? Because with this gift, we have a great responsibility. What does your priestly work look like? Ask him to show you, or to confirm what you may already know...