Five purposes for your life and key concepts from the book...

This is from the Purpose Driven Life, a book written by Rick Warren and the book our church in Heidelberg has been going through for Lent. It was a challenging book and I loved it but there was so much to take in that I really needed to summarize it in some way so I could digest it better over the next forty days and beyond. Maybe you will find these notes from the book useful:

Purpose Driven Life
Key Concepts
 Focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose
 You were made by God and for God and until you understand that, life will never make sense
 It’s not about me
 Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God.
 I am not an accident
 Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purpose for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them.
 If you want your life to have impact, focus it!
 You weren’t put on earth to be remembered. You were put here to prepare for eternity.
 Living on purpose is the path to peace.
 This life is preparation for the next.
 When you live in light of eternity, your values change
 There is more to life than just here and now
 Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test
 The more God gives you, the more responsible he expects you to be
 Life is a test and a trust
 Your identity is in eternity, and your homeland is heaven
 Earth is not our final home; we were created for something much better
 Living for God’s glory is the greatest achievement we can accomplish with our lives
 When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God
 Jesus will give you everything you need to live for him
 It’s all for him
 Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship
 I was planned for God’s pleasure
 What God wants most from you is a relationship
 Trusting God completely means having faith that he knows what’s best for your life.
 God enjoys watching every detail of your life
 God smiles when I trust him
 Offering yourself to God is what worship is all about
 Surrender is best demonstrated in obedience and trust
 Surrender is not the best way to live; it is the only way to live. Nothing else works.
 The heart of worship is surrender
 Knowing and loving God is our greatest privilege, and being known and loved is God’s greatest pleasure
 Everything you do can be “spending time with God” if he is invited to be a part of it and you stay aware of his presence
 God wants to be my best friend
 God doesn’t expect you to be perfect, but he does insist on complete honesty
 Bitterness is the greatest barrier to friendship with God
 The more you become God’s friend, the more you will care about the things he cares about
 I’m as close to God as I choose to be
 God-pleasing worship is deeply emotional and deeply doctrinal. We use both our hearts and our heads.
 The best style of worship is the one that most authentically represents your love for God.
 Real worship is rooted in the Word.
 God wants all of me
 God admits that sometimes he hides his face from us
 The most common mistake Christians make in worship today is seeking an experience rather than seeking God
 When you feel abandoned by God yet continue to trust him, you worship him in the deepest way.
 God is real, no matter how I feel
 Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever.
 Being included in God’s family is the highest honor and the greatest privilege you will ever receive
 I was formed for Gods family
 Relationships are what life is all about
 The greatest gift you can give someone is your time
 Live is all about love
 We discover our role in life through our relationships with others
 The church will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it
 Jesus has not promised to build your ministry; he has promised to build his church.
 I am called to belong, not just believe.
 Real fellowship happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives
 Every time you understand and affirm someone’s feelings, you build fellowship
 I need others in my life
 When conflict is handled correctly, we grow closer to each other
 Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less
 The fellowship of the church is more important than any individual
 Community requires commitment
 God expects you to make the first move
 In resolving conflict, how you say it is as important as what you say
 Reconciliation focuses on the relationship while resolution focuses on the problem
 Relationships are always worth restoring
 Nothing on earth is more valuable to God than his church
 We must passionately love the church in spite of its imperfections
 We protect the fellowship when we honor those who serve us by leading
 It is my responsibility to protect the unity of my church
 Gods ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort; but character development
 Your character is essentially the sum of your habits
 God is far more interested in what you are than in what you do
 I was created to become like Christ
 We become whatever we are committed to
 The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act
 It is never too late to start growing
 The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make us like the Son of God
 Many who claim to believe the Bible “from cover to cover” have never read it from cover to cover”
 The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable!
 The truth transforms me
 Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days
 Everything that happens to you has spiritual significance
 What happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you.
 There is purpose behind every problem
 God develops the fruit of the Spirit by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you’re tempted to express the exact opposite quality!
 We think temptation lies around us, but God says it begins within us
 Temptation is a sign that Satan hates you, not a sign of weakness or worldliness
 Every temptation is an opportunity to do good
 The battle for sin is won or lost in your mind. Whatever gets your attention will get you
 The truth is, whatever you can’t talk about is already out of control in your life
 Don’t ever try to argue with the Devil. He’s better at arguing than you are, having had thousands of years to practice
 There is always a way out
 While we worry about how fast we grow, God is concerned about how strong we grow.
 There is no growth without chance, no change without fear or loss and no loss without pain
 God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time.
 There are no shortcuts to maturity
 If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, I should question whether Christ is really in my life
 Spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. We grow up in order to give out
 Service is the pathway to real significance
 Service is not optional
 God never wastes anything
 An unopened gift is worthless
 When you are doing what you love to do, no one has to motivate you
 I was shaped for serving God
 What I’m able to do, God wants me to do
 It feels good to do what God made you to do
 For God to use your painful experiences, you must be willing to share them.
 Nobody else can be me
 You will never know what you’re good at until you try
 God wants you to enjoy using the shape he has given you
 God deserves my best
 Your shape reveals your ministry, but your servant’s heart will reveal your maturity
 Great opportunities often disguise themselves in small tasks
 I serve God by serving others
 Real servants don’t try to use God for their purposes. They let God use them for his purposes.
 The close you get to Jesus, the less you need to promote yourself
 To be a servant I must think like a servant
 If God only used perfect people, nothing would ever get done
 Your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts
 God works best when I admit my weakness
 Jesus calls us not only to come to him but to go for him
 The Great Commission was given to every follower of Jesus
 It is easy to get distracted because Satan would rather have you do anything besides sharing your faith
 I was made for a mission
 Shared stories build a relational bridge that Jesus can walk across from your heart to others.
 While it is wise to learn from experience, it is wiser still to learn from the experience of others
 God wants to say something to the world through me.
 It has never been easier in history to fulfill your commission to go to the whole world
 People may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are defenseless against our prayers
 “You can’t take it with you” – but the Bible says you can send it on ahead by investing in people who are going there!
 The Great Commission is my commission
 A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will make you a great Christian
 You owe it to future generations to preserve the testimony of how God helped you fulfill his purposes on earth.
 Blessed are the balanced
 When God’s at the center of your life, you worship. When he’s not, you worry
 Before most unbelievers accept the Bible as credible they want to know that we are credible
 You can start living on purpose today
 Living on purpose is the only way to really live

The Five Purposes with key points that really spoke to me:

1. “Love God with all your heart”: You were planned for God’s pleasure, so your purpose is to love God through worship
 What God wants most from you is a relationship
 Trusting God completely means having faith that he knows what’s best for your life
 Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship
 Surrender is best demonstrated in obedience and trust
 The heart of worship is surrender
 The best style of worship is the one that most authentically represents your love for God
 When you feel abandoned by God yet continue to trust him, you worship him in the deepest way

2. “Love your neighbor as yourself”: You were shaped for serving, so your purpose is to show love for others through ministry
 If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, I should question whether Christ is really in my life
 An unopened gift is worthless
 When you are doing what you love to do, no one has to motivate you
 Your shape reveals your ministry, but your servant’s heart will reveal your maturity
 Great opportunities often disguise themselves in small tasks
 I serve God by serving others

3. “Go and make disciples”: You were made for a mission, so your purpose is to share God’s message through evangelism.
 The Great Commission was given to every follower of Jesus
 It is easy to get distracted because Satan would rather have you do anything besides sharing your faith
 God wants to say something to the world through me.
 It has never been easier in history to fulfill your commission to go to the whole world
 Your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts
 People may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are defenseless against our prayers

4. “baptize them into…”: You were formed for God’s family, so your purpose is to identify with his church through fellowship.
 Real fellowship happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives
 Every time you understand and affirm someone’s feelings, you build fellowship
 When conflict is handled correctly, we grow closer to each other
 Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less
 Reconciliation focuses on the relationship while resolution focuses on the problem

5. “teach them to do all things…”: You were created to become like Christ, so your purpose is to grow to maturity through discipleship.
 God is far more interested in what you are than in what you do
 Gods ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort; but character development
 Everything that happens to you has spiritual significance
 What happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you.
 God develops the fruit of the Spirit by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you’re tempted to express the exact opposite quality!
 Temptation is a sign that Satan hates you, not a sign of weakness or worldliness

6 weeks and counting...

Being pregnant for the first time at 40. Well, I can say it's been interesting. My first trimester I didn't have the nausea that most experience but I didn't feel "good" either. I remember being very tired almost all the time. I also had TERRIBLE pregnancy sinusitis. So bad so that I had to go to a specialist when I was home in Georgia for some relief. Unforunately he just took one look at me, and said "yeah you're pregnant so there's not much I can do." Ummmm thanks.

My second trimester was characterized by being up 3-4 times each night to go to the bathroom and to drink water. I have learned in my pregnancy at least that sleeping on my right side causes me to wake up much more frequently and it also causes me to become dehydrated while sleeping on my left side doesn't nearly as much. Why? I have absolutely no clue and I don't know if that's true for other mothers out there but it's what I've seen over the past 5 months or so.

The third trimester is just all about Chloe growing and kicking me constantly throughout the day, sitting on my diaphram (or at least it feels that way) so even breathing is sometimes difficult and just all over pains. That's not to mention the swollen feet and ankles which make me look like the elephant man! lol

Still, if I'm being honest I've been incredibly fortunate. My sister has experienced a LOT of sickness throughout her 3 pregnancies. She's due with her third two days before me but they've already scheduled a c-section for May 18th. Right now I am trying to do a natural birth but at my last checkup the doctor said Chloe was still breach (her head resting nicely on my ribs - ugh) and that if she didn't turn by 36 weeks there was little chance she would turn and so he would schedule a c-section for a week before her due date. That may mean that Chloe and Emma are born on the same day but we're still praying she'll turn so no plans as of yet.

Tonight Alan and I read up on breech babies and options for turning the baby. He had all along jokingly said that I could stand on my head for two hours each day and he knew Chloe would turn around and go figure if that's not one of things we found they suggest you do lol. 35 weeks pregnant weighing as much as I do standing on my head? Not going to happen lol. They also suggested Alan sing to Chloe below my belly button and that we put frozen vegetables up near her head as babies tend to hate cold and navigate to warmer places lol. We laughed as we read through all the homemade remedies. In the end we'll just trust God and if she turns then great and if she doesn't then we'll have the c-section.

We're almost there. It's only 6 weeks to go this upcoming Thursday and even less if the c-section is required. On Saturday I packed my suitcase and Chloe's bag for the hospital. I've got all the basic necessities that we need I think with a few small exceptions that I can pick up later. Chloe's room is pretty much ready besides needing to frame a few things my sister sent me and this is our last week of classes until after the birth.

Crazy, crazy, crazy. I still can't believe we're pregnant at 40 and 47 respectively. Only God could have come through for us as He has and we are so thankful to all of you that prayed for us that we would get pregnant. I can't wait to be a mom to a little girl and Alan is sooo looking forward to being a dad. The whole baby thing, breast feeding, first aid, what you do when your baby won't stop crying and you don't know what's wrong, etc. still freaks me out but I've been told by some very reliable sources (mom, best friend, sister) that it'll all come natural after Chloe is here. I sure hope so or you guys are in big trouble!