by Edie Melson@EdieMelson in Leading Hearts Magazine
SOMETIMES, ONLINE INTERACTIONS CAN SEEM LIKE AN ENDEAVOR WITHOUT BOUNDARIES. And I’m a person who appreciates boundaries. With them, I’m not hampered by limitations; instead, I find they give my life definition. Choosing a word of the year helps me let God define my year before it even begins.
by Karen Porter in Leading Hearts Magazine
Leadership is not for wimps.
Nor for anyone who is trying to make a name for herself or make a fortune. Instead, being a leader involves serving and nudging others to do their best.
We work hard, and we try to incorporate the qualities of a good leader as we work with our employees, associates and the freelancers we hire.
Recently, he and I began attending a mastermind group composed of other small business owners. The meetings are stunning and mind-opening. After each meeting, we are encouraged and challenged to integrate better leadership into our day-to-day work.
by Amber Weigand-Buckley @barefacedgirl, editor of Leading Hearts Magazine
The funny thing about leadership is that it takes far less faith to TALK about your CALL than it does to WALK OUT your CALL. Why?
Because you have to put feet to your faith before you can allow God to SHOW UP and perform the MIRACULOUS.
Joshua and the Israelite priests leading their people into the Promise Land knew that if they followed God’s direction, they were going to hit the Jordan River (Joshua 1:1-9). It didn’t take a genius to realize that when they hit the water, they didn’t have the necessary provisions — no boats or life jackets.
All they had was the faith that when they got there, God would show up — and He did.
by Karen Whiting in Leading Hearts Magazine
Scriptures empower us in many ways. For me, Ephesians 3:16 is my life verse that always reminds me that God pours out treasures from His power.
We first encounter God’s power in Genesis 1.
The power to create and be creative is our first glimpse into God’s abilities and unlimited imagination. It is that power I pray for and that power I have received.
Scientists study creativity, trying to find it in the human mind when it really flows from God. So, how do we tap into creativity and use it?
by Linda Evans Shepherd @lindashepherd in Leading Hearts Magazine
Got a purpose?
Ask God to show you something you could do if fear stepped out of your way.
Queen Esther found herself facing such a challenge. She’d risen above her difficult childhood and won a kingdom-wide beauty pageant to accept the role of a lifetime, a royal marriage to King Xerxes himself. The marriage had been a happy one until her husband fell under the spell of Haman, a nobleman with evil intent.
Haman convinced Xerxes to make a degree that on a certain day, the people of King Xerxes’ kingdom could exterminate and enslave the Jews, Esther’s people.
Esther was heartbroken, but what could she do to stop the slaughter? If Esther tried to speak up, she’d have to waltz uninvited into the king’s court. That was a crime for which she could be executed. But why bother? The King’s decree was irreversible. (more…)
by Kathy Howard in Leading Hearts Magazine
Voices penetrated the heavy shroud of sleep. I checked my phone. Two o’clock in the morning. I could hear the anxiety in Mom and Dad’s conversation, but I couldn’t make out the words.
I threw back the covers and stumbled across the hall to their room. Dad lay on the floor beside the bed. I managed to get him sitting, but no matter how much I tried, I could not get him off the floor and back in the bed.
My husband Wayne was stirring in the other room, so I called for help. Together we got Dad up and settled back in bed. Thankfully, Dad only suffered a few bumps and bruises. But his fall dramatically reminded me I can’t care for my parents without help.
by Dr. Saundra Dalton Smith @DrDaltonSmith in Leading Hearts magazine
Over the past month, I’ve witnessed devastation come into the lives of many around me. Tornados stormed through the south leaving a wake of pain and loss. Fire completely consumed the possession of a local family, leaving them clinging to the memories of the past and uncertain about the future. Flood waters swept through, carrying away hope in its path.
What these situations have in common is a feeling of having portions of your life consumed by circumstances beyond your control. They leave you looking back at all those years invested in building and planning with a longing to get back what has been taken from you. I empathize with those walking through this pain because I have experienced it. The circumstances may not be the same, but the feeling of emptiness, grief, and hopelessness are understood.
I have stared at areas of my life languishing from the attack of the “creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust” (Joel 2:25, NASB) and wondered how God could ever restore these years. How can He give back what appears to be forever lost?
by Emily Walton in Leading Hearts Magazine
MEREDITH KENDALL HAS GONE THROUGH COUNTLESS STRUGGLES IN HER LIFE, from an alcoholic and abusive stepfather to having an affair. Today, Meredith uses her testimony to bring hope and healing to others.
Meredith never really knew God. Growing up in an abusive home, her family rarely went to church. In 1985, she became a teenage mother, married the baby’s father and moved to the Bible belt.
Her husband came from an extremely religious family, but neither of them had a relationship with God.
“We went to church, but it was really just something that you did on a Sunday,” says Meredith.
A few years into their marriage she had an affair. They were advised to talk about it and then never bring it up again.
By Edie Melson ediemelson.com in Leading Hearts magazine
I WAS EXCITED TO BE ASKED TO WRITE THIS ARTICLE. In my life as an author and ministry leader, I come across hundreds of resources that I love to share. Fortunately, before I let my enthusiasm run away with me, I took time to pray and ask God to weigh in on the best ones to mention. I expected Him to give me some insight into how to narrow the list down to five, but His answer left me reeling:
By Jennifer Taylor in Leading Hearts Magazine
GOSPEL ARTIST AND WORSHIP LEADER KYMBERLI JOYE WOWED AMERICA when she belted “Break Every Chain” and other hits on the national stage during season 15 of NBC’s “The Voice.”
With her amazing powerhouse vocals and joyful spirit, her testimony of overcoming depression and anxiety surprised and inspired audiences. “The Voice” semi-finalist grew up in the church, a pastor’s kid in Windsor, Connecticut. She remembered that her mama says that she started singing when she started talking, but she didn’t share that blessing with the congregation until she was 12.