Today, I am thankful that God wants you and me to be WOMEN OF PURPOSE. He gives us inborn unique personalities, strengths/weaknesses, environmental circumstances, and spiritual gifts and then allows us to use what He's given us to in turn bring glory and honor to Him!
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As I've thought about this topic this week, I've thought of women I know who have made it their purpose, their number one priority to KNOW JESUS. There's nothing that satan would like more than for us to not really KNOW the GOD that we serve. If He can keep our focus off of building a relationship with God, that is all satan really wants.
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Maybe it's since I'm an educator that I think so much about it... maybe it's because I'm a mommy... whatever the reason, I often look at strong christian adults and wonder what their journey was to get to that place. I'd like to know their story? How did they come to KNOW, really KNOW their LORD and Savior?!??!
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Jesus said that the two main commandments were to "love the LORD with all my heart..." and "to love my neighbor as myself". Years ago someone shared with me "a four word summary" of my life's purpose:
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KNOW! GROW! GLOW! GO!
Our purpose is to persevere in doing that! Going leads to KNOWING some more and then the cycle starts all over again... know, grow, glow, go, know, grow, glow, go, know, grow, glow, go, know...
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In the last 24 hours, two stories have come to my attention that led me to ask the question, "Was the mother of this man "a woman of purpose"? Oh, don't get me wrong! There are many strong christian men and women who have been cycle breakers and have become people of PURPOSE as adults. Then, there are those who deep down in their root system soaked up the KNOWLEDGE and LOVE of CHRIST at an early age.
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This man's picture has been on the internet and Facebook this week. He grew up just outside the same little town in southwest Oklahoma as my husband, Steve, and Carl Brecheen did. Although fame took him and his brothers many places, his mother (A WOMAN OF PURPOSE) had grounded her sons for the long journey of life.
At a very young age, Lindy McDaniel had become an avid reader of the Bible. Lindy was baptized at age 20. He was bringing Bible lessons before the church by age 21. When he signed his first Major League contract with the Cardinals, it was with the understanding that he would be allowed to worship on the first day of every week. Both Lindy and all of the teams he played for kept this verbal agreement. In 1963 Lindy started editing and writing a monthly publication called “Pitching For The Master.” This man knew his purpose in life... it had been passed down to him. .... Steve tells me that when he was young, Lindy and his brothers would return to their town and they would come to Westview Boys' Home where Steve's dad was superintendent and minister to the boys there. You can link to a newspaper article and Lindy's blog below:
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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
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LINDY MCDANIEL'S BLOG:
The other man (and his wife) who I've wondered about in the last 24 hours is pictured below.
Dr. Robert Whittaker and his wife, Annette, stand with members of a Nigerian community they serve through Nigerian Christian Hospital. Robert Whittaker, a physician at the hospital for nearly 25 years, was shot in the arm and abducted from his Nigerian home Aug. 2. How does a husband and wife maintain his/her spiritual focus of purpose for 25 years? Or, during such difficult circumstances?
.YESTERDAY'S CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE ARTICLE ABOUT THE ABDUCTION:
.AN OCTOBER 2004 ARTICLE ABOUT DR. WHITTAKER:
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My friend Mandy is an R.N. who did an internship while in college at Dr. Whittaker's Nigerian Hospital. Yesterday Mandy said, "Dr. Whittaker is one of the most humble individuals I have ever met."
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It is evident to me that these two stories have people in them who know their purpose in life. Do you know yours? Do you desire Christ more than anything or anyone else? Do you KNOW Him better than anyone else? Are you GROWING in Christ? Is His Holy Spirit GROWING within you? Are you the light of the world? When people look at you, do you GLOW? Do you share your KNOWLEDGE and LOVE for Him when you GO?
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As we come to KNOW Jesus Christ, we come to KNOW ourselves and we have a desire to GROW in that knowledge. There are many ways to better KNOW about ourselves. We can each learn about our own inborn unique personalities, strengths/weaknesses, environmental circumstances, and spiritual gifts.
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This last week Steve and I and several of our children took the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory. I am thankful that so many of these things are now available online. You can take the inventory for free online here:
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Use tools like these to get to know yourself a little better. It also helps to understand all the differences that there are within people. Most importantly, keep yourself immersed in prayer and the WORD. A woman who KNOWS her LORD and KNOWS herself can grasp her eternal purpose. I am so grateful for the power of PURPOSE IN CHRIST! I have a LIFESONG!
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KNOW! GROW! GLOW! GO!
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