I Am Not Old!

Greetings from The Front Porch!

I might be middle aged but I am not old.  Despite what the commercials might say or the ads might read, in God’s economy, I am young, I am youthful, and I have only just begun.  Age is more of an attitude then a number, the older I get the more I find this to be true.

The look on her face was that of shock and pleasure as she sized me up, from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.  “Mom, you look great, you look so young, what are you doing different?”

This sentence brought a smile to my face as my fifteen-year-old daughter continued to giggle at the fact that her middle-aged mom could look so hip.  OK, the look so hip part is what I read into as she giggled at me.  As my family would say, “she has positive distorted hearing,” hey, it works for me.

With pure joy, I was able to share with her that I had not been doing anything different except clamming God’s truth over my life and then walking in it and I believed that is what she was seeing.

Just last week I read in Psalms how God renews my youth and that I am always young in his presence.  With that knowledge, I decided that when I would look in the mirror I would remind myself how young and youthful I am to my heavenly Father.

There is power in the spoken word and I believe that as I walk in those truths and allow them to penetrate my heart, soul and my mind I actually take on the physical results of believing HIS word never fails.

So today, this middle aged women celebrates that fact that I am young, I am youthful and I am beautifully made in my fathers image, regardless of how I feel, look or what the world would like me to believe.  

He forgives your sins—every one.

He heals your diseases—every one.

He redeems you from hell—saves your life!

He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.

He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.

He renews your youth—you're always young in his presence.

Psalm 103:3-5 (MSG)

Cris

Family Values

Greetings from The Front Porch!

Thank you Tony for taking the time to hear the still quiet voice

of God speak to your heart!

This is not what we will become; it is what we have become!

 NOLE Family Values

Never ever, give up!
Offer hospitality always!

Love God and others!
Experience life!



Never ever, give up!

2 Corinthians 4:16 (TLB) 

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day.



Offer hospitality always!

Hebrews 13:2 (NLT) 

Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!



Love God and others!

Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV) 

Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 

This is the first and greatest commandment. 

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'


Experience life!

Ecclesiastes 8:15 (NLT) 

So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.

Written By:

Tony Nole

Sweet Spot!

Greetings From The Front Porch!

As I continue to fine tune my own dreams and passions I have come to the realization that my sweet spot is not in creating community but rather helping people put dimensions on their dreams and helping them marry their passions with their purpose.

The reason I am so passionate myself about community is that I am aware of the fact that it takes community to birth a dream, the process of going through the pregnancy of a dream is best done in true, authentic community where others are cheering you on as you begin to become all that you were created to be.

I love watching people connect, create and build community together. I believe it is here right in the middle of doing life together that purpose and passion is produced and a vision for something beyond ones self starts to take hold and dreams start to become reality and our abilities stop holding us back and starts gearing us up.


Below is a revised article by Lisa Wilder you can find the complete article at  thewildzone.com  please leave her a comment if you found her tools helpful.

“We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision.” ~ Anonymous
Eleven little words that pack a powerful punch. We are capable of much more than we tend to think we are. We have been socially conditioned to be rational, logical, and “realistic.” Dreaming is frowned upon.

“Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.” ~ Will Smith

“Being realistic” is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity because it keeps us small. It limits our thinking to whatever happens to already be within what we believe to be the realm of possibility, based on our previous life experience.

It leaves no room for us to step up to be more, do more, and achieve more. It leaves no room for dreaming, imagining and playing with new possibilities.

You will not get a clear vision of the dream you are dreaming by thinking about it. Your head does not hold the answers…your heart does.

Follow your passion, your bliss, your calling….

This is where your sweet spot is. It is your passion for the work you do, for the way you are serving others, that will provide the inspiration and the drive to make it happen and for your dreams to come true.

A clear vision for your dream based on your passion will pull you forward, it will propel you, light you up, excite you…as nothing else can.

Clear vision will keep you moving forward and pressing on, through whatever challenges arise.

When you follow your dream around your passion and your unique genius, it can feel effortless and fun, but there are no shortcuts, no magic bullets, and no one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter blueprints that will magically build your dream for you overnight.

Are you ready for an exercise to point you in the direction of your passion and your dream?

OK, it is time to turn off the inner critic for a few moments, no censoring allowed. For this exercise, you will have to let go of “trying” and “thinking” and let your imagination run wild.

Just roll with it…let it flow. There is nothing to “figure” out. Just let yourself have fun and go with whatever answers bubble up for you, let yourself dream BIG.

It does not matter how outrageous, hokey, or “unrealistic” your answers sound. All too often we talk ourselves out of our dreams, out of our passions, out of what we know on a deep level is what we are meant to do.


• When you dare to dream, what do you dream of being, doing, creating?


• What do you love about your dream and want more of?


• What have you (perhaps only secretly) been longing to do or achieve “someday?”


• In your wildest imaginings, what would your dream business look like?



• If you knew you could NOT fail, what would you LOVE to do?



• Do you want your dream to be local or global?



• What are you so good at that it comes almost as easy breathing? What do others repeatedly compliment you on? What do you LOVE doing so much that you never get tired of it? What are you so passionate about that you could talk about it for days on end?




• What does an ideal day in the life of your dream look like? How do you start your day? What environment are you in? Are you working solo or with a team? What kind of team? Do you have a personal or administrative assistant?



When you’ve played with and answered all these questions…you should have a vision that excites you and at the same time leaves you with that exhilarating, almost breathless sense of Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh….do I dare?


That’s your sweet spot! That’s the wonderful place where your unique gifts and genius come together with your passion and vision to create a wildly successful dream that is irresistible…to you and those you’re meant to serve.

Please feel free to leave a comment below and share with me and others what your sweet spot is.

Cris

I will love you in my silence!

Greetings from The Front Porch!

The conversation over the phone ended with me simply saying, “I will love you in my silence.” My heart broke for my sweet precious friend on the other end of the line, for her pain and her struggle were not new to her or to me.

 

A conversation many years ago came floating to my mind as I hung up the phone with one friend I remembered what this older friend had said to me.

 

I was all of twenty at the time with no filtering system for my mouth. I listened but did not learn, to young and ignorant to understand the warning. She said “salt your words carefully; you just might have to eat them one day.”

 

Of course, that one day has come many times over in the last several decades and I have come to love and appreciate the words of wisdom that had been imparted on me so many years ago.

 

This morning I found myself chewing on my own words once again, as I heard the conversation in my head from the day before. I had encouraged my sweet friend to take care of herself first so she could be there for others.  Everything in me in that moment wanted to put my life on hold to rescue her and save her from her struggle.  Salty words, such a reminder of taking my own advice.

 

Her fear of others feeling like she was going to reject them kept her in a place of spiritual dehydration and her soul was becoming malnourished. She was giving into manipulation and deception.

 

I recognize these signs because I lived most of my life caring more for others then myself. I believed that true spirituality came from giving to others without any regards to my own personal needs.

 

This false belief system kept me from experiencing true healing and wholeness that the cross of Christ offers to us when we fully surrender to HIS plan and purpose for our lives.

 

How can I surrender my life over to HIM if I am to busy and too concerned about others and their needs? How will I learn to hear his still quiet voice if I do not take the time to be still?

 

The truth was I cared more about what others thought about me then of what I thought about myself. I cared more about feeling needed and looking useful in the eyes of others rather then in the eyes of HE who created me.

 

I found value in being there for others when they could not be there for themselves. I would come in and become their personal saviors doing for them what they should have been doing for themselves. I would rob them of the very thing God created them to be and that was to live fully in their pain and victories.

 

As someone who has a background of addiction, deception and rejection it is hard for me to step away from unhealthy behavior of someone else. I feel like I am making a judgment call against them and their struggle rather then acting in the best interest of my own spiritual well being.

 

When in fact, putting all feelings aside, the reason I must step away from certain unhealthy patterns in others is that the spirit of pride has away of creeping in and rearing its ugly head.

 

The spirit of pride prowls around and stocks me, watching every move I make wondering if this might be the moment, I think I have all the answers, will this be the moment that “she slips back into old behavior of rescuing and saving?”

 

It is a very dangerous place for me to be thinking that I could be someone else’s savior. Oh, I would never say that to their face but I would think in my heart and act it out in my conversations and directions. I would dress up my words to make them sound spiritual and not even realize I had done it until it was too late.

 

I learned years ago that if I could see my own spirituality it was not really spirituality at all but rather pride just dressed to impress and that I needed to make changes. That I needed to step away from the behavior and back into the truth.

 

Below are just a few quotes I found to help be remember what I believe to be true about the spirit of pride and the danger of allowing it to live actively in my life. I read, repeat, listen, and learn to others who have gone before me.

 

• Pride and grace never dwell in one place.
• Pride blossoms, but bears no fruit.  
• Pride brings loss, humility brings increase.
• Pride feels no pain.
• Pride goes before a fall.

Prayer and silence seem so passives yet they are the greatest gift we can give to one another when it comes to spiritual warfare. Today I choose to love through my silence and use prayer as my protection.

Because I love you, I will not do for you what I know you can do for yourself. I will point you back to the

only one who can free you from the insanity of our sinful nature. I hope you will do the same for me.
 

 

Cris

The Challenge with Change!

Greetings from The Front Porch!

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.



Anatole France


As I walk away from one season and enter into another, my heart is heavy for what I do leave behind but my mind is racing a hundred miles an hour at the thought of what is to come.


Change use to scare me like a dark room and an open closet door does to a small child. The fear of the unknown often left me frozen in my tracks and I would find myself never moving forward or letting go of my past.


Years ago, my life depended on change and it was in that change that I realized that for me to live fully alive I would have to embrace my greatest fear and jump into it feet first.


I had to put my feelings aside, not denying how I felt but inside honoring my emotions while moving forward in the change. What a surprise to find out the very thing I feared was the very thing I needed to grow. The very thing I feared was the very thing that brought me to fully live.


Through embracing change, I have learned to laugh and cry, to be still and to move, to listen and ask all at the same time. I realized in the season of change comes a beautiful confidence that is birthed out of the fact that my FAITH is grater then my fear.


My FAITH tells me that there is a hope for my future and for me to walk in that hope I must be willing to move forward in the change.


So, as I say goodbye to what was and hello to what will be, I thank God for this very moment that I am able to embrace the unknown as I trust in HIM fully with what use to be my greatest fear.


1. Do you fear change?


2. Do you fear the unknown?


3. What would it take you to embrace the change you need to be fully alive and fully aware of what God wants to do in and through you?



God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19


Cris