CHANGE IS GOOD

"My abilities + experience + personality + appearance + lucky breaks + the cooperation of others = my destiny."
No you've left God out! Here's the right equation: My weakness x God's almightiness + my (true) gifts and desires = more blessing, more territory, and more impact for Him."

Every miracle begins with a bold request. When you don't take a step of faith, you don't need God. But when you cry, "Enlarge my territory," He provides everything you need to fulfill His purposes, and He gives you a front-row seat in the life of miracles. Today, why don't you pray, "Oh that You would enlarge my territory

For the past year my son has struggled at his school with the idea that "There Must Be Something More".

This week he has been brought to the edge of his comfort zone.
I know God moves and relocates individuals to prepare us for Bigger and Better things!
It always involves risks which requires FAITH.
Jesus has certainly called Bens talents and gifts to a new place, new territory.

Lets take a personal look at a person in the bible that can help us relate to Change in order to experience more!

JABEZ is his name

He stood out in scripture and was popular because he was...

HONORABLE, INTENSE, ZEALOUS, SINCERE and VERY DETERMINED.

Jabez directed a prayer that many know in 1 Chronicles 4:10...

"Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, and that I may not cause pain!"

So God granted him what he requested.

Jabez trusted in the dependence of everything that he needed from the one true GOD. He understood the verse "Be anxious for nothing, but in prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

Jabez requested a personal blessing.
He desired some divine favor and asked God to... ENLARGE HIS TERRITORY!

Let me encourage your dreams today friends. If you honor God with your life, the right doors will open. God has someone to promote you and bring you into the Bigger that God has for you.

ONE TOUCH OF GODS FAVOR CAN THRUST YOU RIGHT INTO YOUR PREFERRED DESTINY. GOD WILL PROVIDE, ENLARGE, GUIDE, PRESERVE and DELIVER!


Therefore, we can trust Him to answer our prayers for the Bigger and Better. He will provide what He knows best and it will be in harmony with His will, just as He did with Jabez.

ONLY...if you are doing business Gods way! Please, repeat the last sentence.

Its not only ok to ask God for more but He is waiting for you to ask.

For what purpose do you want God to enlarge your territory?

What is your intent?

If your intent is to be used by God in bigger and more influential way?

Lets take a survey right now on our territory!

I had my son Benjamin examine his territory in the last few months because I knew deep inside he was sruggling with the feeling of having something more. He is currently a freshmen in highschool and enjoying the basic, robotic program of everyday living. But recently he said that he felt that his artistic side and desires felt trapped and that he wanted to do more. God put so many people in our pathway to help us examine other territories or programs to challenge and motivate his passions.
Going to school, playing sports, making friends is all good but Ben felt a huge VOID in the area of his music and artistic side.
Yesterday God opened doors that Ben walked through and explored. Ben loved what he seen and felt behind these new doors. This now means he will transfer high schools. This takes alot of faith to transfer your sophmore year and start over especially for a teenager in high school.

I am proud that he is following his number one passion and desire. God will grow this gift inside him in his future NEW environment!

Below is a great way to examine the territory you may be currently in and then determine if this territory is the BEST for all you can and should be!

1. Discover exactly what your territory looks like
now?

Territory=a region marked off for other purposes.
an area of knowledge or interest.

2. What is the territory of your work, school or
homelife? Can you define it?

3. In that territory what makes up for your passions
for life? what areas of your giftedness are being
used?

4. What really captures your imagination in that
territory?

5. What is the "territory" of your passions in
life that you'd ask God to grow?

6. KEEP awareness of your specific territory at all
times, Don't settle for Voids and please don't
ignore your primary gifts or talents.

7 Be open to see things in a New way, be guarding
knowing Gods will and purpose for your life.

LIVE LARGE FOR GOD FRIEND

If again you can say its your driving ambition to find something more then by all means ask God he could relocate you and drive you toward your purpose and passions!

Be prepared for Him to bring new challenges, new adventures and new opened doors as He delightfully ENLARGES YOUR TERRITORY!

ITS NEVER TO LATE!

May you grow in exciting ways and allow the CHALLENGING work God has in mind for you to enter in!

HE IS GETTING READY TO EXPAND

BELIEVE and RECEIVE

I LOVE see my son Benjamin stand on the edge with much courage believing and asking God to touch my his life and bless him in the seasons to come.

I encourage you all to stop and make the prayer of Jabez your own today!

Blessings,

RAISING TWEENS WITH FIRM BOUNDARIES

Raising tweens can be a frusterating expereince this is the age that the child begins to grow up and develop more mature interests...like boyfriends!

Well let me share whats been turning in my heart the past year.

“What is perfect character?
It is the ability, in a separate entity with free moral agency, to come to the knowledge of the right from the wrong—the true from the false—and to choose the right, and possess the will to enforce self-discipline to do the right and resist the wrong.”

It is your responsibility—your DUTY—to teach your children the absolutely vital, all-important, lifelong pursuit of character development.

 Character forms the greatest defense that a human being can have against every conceivable pitfall, threat, roadblock and hurdle that life can throw at him

With this in mind I feel the area of Teen Dating is corrupting good character.

I'm shocked at the number of parents that let their children date as early  as 11. I know that children have crushes and all that at that age but let's face it, they are still babies at 11 or 12. To each his own, I guess. 

I know its not easy to work on good character when everything and everyone is doing something else. Now I am not stating that girls dating at 11 or 12 have bad character.
 I am focusing only on my child in today's post.

Character development is huge at this time for a young girl and part of her development is to learn healthy boundaries. I feel many girls are beginning to date way to early. Just my opinion.

I know many moms will say "the girls will do it anyway if you do not let them."

Well that is the lesson we're learning at the Baxter house.
The Baxter Boundaries

This hard boundary is teaching my daughter about TRUST and HEALTHY CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

She may break the rules and step over the boundaries we have for dating (at this time) several times but each time I begin to see her heart break over the trust she broke between her and dad.

Today before school  she cried when something was revealed again... but she said this, " I do not want my dad to never trust me again, I am sorry."

That was the point God wanted us to see as a family.
We may hang here for several months in our family as we
Learn to trust, love, obey, respect and mature all while failing to obey a boundary.

While doing my morning reading in LUKE 22:31 it reminded me of Simon Peters failure...Let me share the verse,
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. ³² But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Cross references:

1. Luke 22:31 : Job 1:6-12
2. Luke 22:31 : Am 9:9
3. Luke 22:32 : Jn 17:9, 15; S Ro 8:34
4. Luke 22:32 : Jn 21:15-17

I thought of it like this.... "BRITTNI, BRITTNI, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, But I your mom have prayed for you that your FAITH will not FAIL and when you have turned back, strengthen your friends and family."

The facts are:
1. We all Fail
2. We all need boundaries
3. We all test and break the boundaries
4. We all need someone to pray for us
5  We all need a foundation of faith to pull us back

I think Peter can best be described as a volcanic, explosive and impulsive individual.
He was ruled by his heart and not his head.
He was quick, impetuous; a man who must express his feelings, experienced difficulty keeping his mouth shut, acted according to the way he perceived things even when his perception was incorrect. He acted first and thought later.

Why does this sound like me?

The point I feel God really gave me this morning as a mother to a tween-age girl is  that I must still keep the boundaries.

Not fall into the rut of letting her do it because she will do it anyway syndrome.

The boundaries she will FAIL just as Peter did but look below how Jesus loved and taught Peter.

Jesus, with supernatural vision, looks at Simon Peter's imminent failure and his recovery before the failure had even taken place.

 Jesus looked beyond temporary brokenness toward a permanent wholeness.

 He told Simon about the downward way up.

He articulated a strange route to spiritual power.


Regardless of how the world tries to convince us otherwise, our best learning comes the hard way.

BOUNDARIES TEACH WISDOM

 Wisdom is often born out of weakness. Insight comes through pain, strength is gained through suffering.

 We rise to spiritual power by way of peculiar paths.

WHAT PECULIAR PATHS ARE YOU FACING TODAY WITH A CHILD?

WHAT NEW OR OLD BOUNDARIES HAVE YOU ENFORCED?

BROKEN BOUNDARIES LEAD TO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND WHOLENESS

Pray this verse today parents for your child,
I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.
LUKE 22:31

PRAY FOR YOUR CHILD TODAY IN WHATEVER SEASON THEY MAY BE IN. I ALSO ENCOURAGE YOU TO HAVE BOUNDARIES.THIS WORLD IS TO DANGEROUS AND TRICKY TO JUST LET THEM TASTE IT ALL AT ONCE.

THEY WILL NEVER LEARN ABOUT BOUNDARIES IF THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN GIVEN ONE.

Thanks again Jesus for helping me in the tween age dilemma!