Just a step or two ahead.

We all just need someone a step or two ahead of us to teach us, to coach us, to mentor us, to guide us.

Sometimes I forget this and aspire to learn from the biggest church out there, the most prominent leader in culture, the most accomplished female, the highly successful author, etc.

But what I really need is that person who is just a step or two ahead of me.  The person who has recently been in my shoes.  The person who remembers my season of life and can speak from experience and freshness.

Just one step…

And I too need to remember that I am just one step ahead of someone else.  I need to be aware of who I am  just one step ahead of.  Who can I encourage, support and inspire?

Who are you just one step ahead of?  Who can you encourage, support and inspire today?

I must admit I’ve asked myself this question a lot and it’s been asked of me by a lot of people that aren’t familiar with blogging.

The answer to this questions is really found within my personal mission statement that I wrote nearly four years ago.

To lead, motivate and mentor others who are pursuing their passion and purpose in life.

To encourage, equip and train other women of influence to lead a balanced life in active pursuit of their purpose.

Guiding Principles:

I represent a balanced lifestyle

I value the relationships with my family and friends and diligently seek to grow these relationships

I pursue excellence in all aspects of life: professional, personal, spiritual and physical

I am forever a student

I listen well and effectively articulate my thoughts

I embrace the gifts God has given me and use them with confidence

I demonstrate compassion and patience

I am not easily offended

I acknowledge my failures, inconsistencies and weaknesses and seek to improve them

I will relentlessly seek to be like Jesus

“In righteousness, I will seek Your face; I will not be satisfied until I awake in Your likeness.”  Psalm 17:15

I blog because I believe this is another way to live out this mission statement.  It’s a way for me to connect with other leaders and pursue the calling that God has given me.

** This post is my submission to the Blog Mission Tour at Becoming Me.  Share your stories with us too!

Some people are paid to think

others are paid to make decisions

some are paid to build stuff

others are paid to fix stuff

some are paid to learn

others are paid to teach

many are paid to serve

What are you paid to do?

Is it what you do best?

In an effort to choose joy like we discussed on Sunday, I’m reminding myself of the blessings in my life.

One of the great points that George made was that in order to choose joy we need to focus on the things in life that can’t be replaced. So here’s the beginning of my list:

• A wonderful husband
• My relationships with family and friends
• Good health
• My Border Collie Mick who makes me smile and sing

It’s funny… as I made this list it was difficult to think of things that CAN’T BE REPLACED. As I would think of things to add to the list I put them through the filter “can that be replaced” and most of them like my job, my house, my stuff could be replaced.

So the things to focus on, the things that bring joy in our life are few and precious.

What do you need to do today to live more joyfully?

I made a list of irreplaceable things to help me focus on choosing joy.

What are you going to do to choose joy today?

I’m adding this to Positive Post Tuesday as well.

Yesterday I read about The 40 Day Fast over at Brody’s blog and it got me thinking…

What cause or need makes my heart leap, burn, hurt, bleed? What need keeps me awake at night? What problem do I feel compelled to solve? If I were to pour my heart and soul relentlessly into something, what would it be?

I don’t know.

And then again maybe I do know, but I don’t like the answer?

You see the topics of clean water, starving children, the homeless, the abused, sex trafficking, etc., etc., concern me but they don’t keep me up at night.

Maybe they should. After all “whatever you do to the least of these”, right?

Heartless? I hope not.

My burning passion is to support and equip women to lead well, to lead strong, and to shine in the gifts God has given them.

But sometimes I feel like that isn’t enough. Maybe that’s too petty when there are starving children to feed, deadly diseases to eradicate and the broken and abused to rescue.

What do you think? What’s your burning passion?

Let’s add this to the Watercooler discussion today as well.

I’m one of those people who has trouble disconnecting from work when it comes time for vacation. This is especially troublesome on short trips like my current one to NYC. I’m only here for 4 days and it usually takes me at least 5 to quit worrying about work and checking my phone every 5 minutes.

So I’ve tried to be pretty intentional about not stressing about work during this time away and here are some other things I’ve decided to not stress about:

• working out every day
• eating dessert EVERY day, sometimes twice a day
• keeping a schedule
• checking my blog stats
• trying to do everything that I would like to do or think that I should do
• going to bed late or getting up early – no alarm clocks on this trip!

Well, the fact that I’m writing all of these down means that I’m stressing about them enough to tell myself not to stress…

…but really, this is progress for me

baby steps.

What baby steps do you celebrate?