This has been a tough week!  I have not felt very good physically and for me that is a very rare thing.  I am a fairly healthy person and if I get sick, I can usually fight it off quickly.  This week was different!  Something started in on me and then decided to play “peek-a-boo” over the next several days.  I felt “bad” and then “normal” on a repeated basis.  Just when I would begin to think that I was getting on top of it – BAM!  It would hit again.

In some ways I am tough and ready to take it on and in some ways I am a wimp and just want to face what I’ve got to face and move on!  I consider myself a productive person.  My days are filled with activity that at the end of the day almost always produce tangible results.  Feeling the way that I have been feeling, makes hard charging the way I do, almost impossible.

Yesterday, I started out with my usual morning charge, only to discover by about 9:45 AM that I was out of steam!  I wanted to make myself charge on through it, with the hopes that I would feel better on the other side, but I had tried that for three days with little success.  I decided yesterday, that I would step outside of my schedule and give the Great Physician some time to do His thing.

He has started!  I am not completely there yet, but I am on my way.  I am thankful for the physical healing and a little bit surprised by the spiritual, emotional and mental healing that I was not expecting and did not realize that I was in need of!

Let me remind you of the obvious!  God loves you!  He loves you, not because of what you do or who you are!  He loves you, because that’s what God does and that is Who God is!  Step outside of the business, allow yourself be loved today and enjoy it – you’ll be glad you did!

There is a lot of talk these days about health and being healthy.  I have noticed that most of us will go to extremes in one area of our life to be healthy, while allowing the other areas to coast and just get by the best that they can.

For example, we might be healthy physically by exercising regularly, eating right and getting good rest, but we may neglect our spiritual health by just taking for granted because we feel so good physically.  Or we may grow our spiritual health by giving it the attention that it deserves through a devotional time, prayer and service and neglect our physical health by not giving it the time that it needs.

To be truly healthy, we have to be healthy in all the different areas of our lives.  Physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, financial, social and so on.  Look for the following five signs in the different areas of your life and if you find that you are missing something in one of the areas, then you know what you will know what you need to work on.

1.)  Healthy People Demonstrate Vitality! There is just a life in all the different areas of their life.  You don’t have to ask them how they are doing, because you can tell – they are doing great, because they have decided to do great in every area of their life!

2.)  Healthy People Find Motivation In Vision! Healthy people see the potential in all the different areas of their life and they chase after that potential with everything that they’ve got and then some!

3.)  Healthy People Commit Themselves To Ongoing Learning! Healthy people know that there is always something else to learn that will help them to become even more healthy in the different areas of their living and they are always looking for a new and better way!

4.)  Healthy People Know The Power Of Connection Through Relationships! Healthy people would never dream of trying to do life by themselves, because then they would cease to be as healthy as they could be.

5.)  Healthy People Are Empowered And Empowering! They know their source and utilize their strength and help others to do the same!

Are you healthy in all the different areas of your life or do you have some work to do?  Be honest, get to work and enjoy your health!

Another great Sunday of worship and ministry at Northwood!  I am so thankful that God allows me the opportunity to be a part of such a special family.  God is so good and is up to some amazing things in and through our lives.  Can’t wait to see how He brings it all together for His glory!  Here’s some of the highlights from my day:

-Sweet prayer time with some of my brothers to start the morning off right!

-Love my “Doing Life Together” Small Group – I learn something from our interaction each and every week!

-Worship at both services was sweet and communicated the truth of God’s grace and love from beginning to end!

-God had a great message and reminded us all that sacrifice is not enough, our sacrifice must be followed with obedience to really have impact!

-We were also reminded that we are going to one day stand before Him and give an account and now is the time to get ready for that day!

-Love watching all the preparation that goes into making all that happens at NW happen.  The sweet spirit and willing attitudes of so many people of all ages make the impossible – possible for God’s glory!

-Life Classes were great tonight!  The marriage class was extra special, sorry that some had to miss it.  We learned a lot about forgiveness and the power that God brings into our lives and relationships because of forgiveness.  Remember to follow God’s example and you can’t go wrong!

-Fellowship and food is always special and we seem to always get an extra dose on Sundays.  Thankful for friends that enjoy being family and spending time together.

-The Extra special blessing of today came from one of our new guests to Grace Place.  My new friend Monk promised me Friday night that I would see him at worship today.  When I got to the second service, he was walking in the rain to keep his promise.  He had arranged a ride, but they did not show up and he decided to walk in the cold rain to do what he said he would do.

I wonder how many people stayed home today, because they were too lazy and selfish to get out of a warm bed.  This guy who experienced love and grace on Friday night at Grace Place, felt compelled to keep His promise and come and join his new grace family in worship today!  It made my week!

I really just have one thing left to say:  G3!