Deanna Layman | Tag Archive

Faith: The Five Minute Challenge

April 27, 2012 — Leave a comment

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

At church now we are going through a series that is inspired by the book Soul Detox by our pastor Craig Groeschel. The sermon last week was about a restless soul. Now if your like me I wasn’t completely sure what that would mean and I definitely didn’t feel like it would be something that I would need to worry with. But, Sunday was just another one of those days where you are sitting listening to the sermon and you feel like God is speaking directly to you, and rather loudly in fact.

There are so many things that I worry and stress about. I pray and ask God to take control and I believe that I have done what I was supposed to do because I have “given it to Him.” But, then I realized that I might have prayed about it, but then it’s still on my mind through out the day. The point that really spoke to me was when my pastor said that we can’t truly focus because our mind is elsewhere, worrying, stressing or just thinking about that to-do list. Wow did that make everything clear to me. Just because I pray and ask God to take control doesn’t give me the freedom to still sit and stress and worry. I have to be able to pray about things and leave them with God and not try to carry them back with me.

He challenged us to sit for five minutes a day and think about nothing but God. Here’s a hint, if you don’t think you have a restless soul just try the five-minute challenge… you’ll be surprised at how many things you think about other than God… like doing the dishes, cleaning the house, cooking, finances or anything else that is stressing you or just on your plate. I have done this challenge everyday since last week and some days are harder than others, but I have noticed a major difference in my focus, my attitude and just my day. We have to be able to turn off our spinning wheels in our heads and focus it on the things that matter… the dishes will be there later, it’s all okay!

Photo Credit: Cristiano Betta

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Strength: Saying No to Dessert

January 24, 2012 — Leave a comment

“I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.” Daniel 10:3 (NIV)

The other day I finished a 21 day fast from sugar. Many people including staff from my church, LifeChurch.tv were doing a Daniel fast. Since I am already vegetarian that particular fast is relatively close to how I already eat besides the dairy, grains and sugar. So I decided to cut out the most challenging thing for me… sweets and that included sugar in drinks. I have always loved my desserts, especially ice cream (a major weakness for me!). This past month I had fresh fruit smoothies for breakfast or dessert if I was really craving something sweet and they were SO delicious and healthy too! The fast really helped me to see how much we truly do not need yet think that we do. I don’t need to eat sweets, especially every day but our minds can think otherwise and easily talk ourselves into having more than needed. And this is true in areas beyond just dessert, our minds can easily fool us into believing that we need more than we ever really do in so many areas… cars, types of houses, clothes, etc. My church starts every year in January with this fast (or a modified version) to start your year off fresh, cleansed and renewed physically and spiritually. It is such a great way to start each year off, the new things God teaches me or even just reminds me of are worth each day of the fast! If you haven’t ever done a fast consider starting with the Daniel fast, God truly does speak when we are depriving ourselves of things that are precious to us!

Photo Credit: Shimelle Laine

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Everyday Miracles

January 2, 2012 — Leave a comment

Yesterday at church we had a guest preacher, Dr. John Maxwell who spoke on miracles. He taught about Jesus feeding the five thousand. One of the points that he said that really stuck with me was the partnership we have to make with God for the miracle that we are needing. We tend to miss the miracles that God could do when we don’t partner with him and do our part, taking responsibility for whatever part He is asking of us so that He can perform that miracle. It’s like the boy from the story in Mark 6, he didn’t have to give up his lunch but when he did Jesus fed the five thousand. He did his part to partner with Jesus and then the miracle happened.

I also loved how in the message yesterday he said that anyone who had a problem is a candidate for a miracle. That is so awesome and something I think many of us need to hear. I think that many times we look at whatever problems we might have in our lives and we don’t count that as a need for a miracle because it’s not giant like feeding five thousand people. Any need, big or small makes for an opportunity to come to God and ask for a miracle. What we might consider small or even irrelevant is important to God. These problems that are placed before us, even the small ones, are a great way to remind us that we were never meant to do things on our own!

Photo Credit: Jessica Spengler

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Worship Song Friday: Go Tell It on the Mountain by Lifechurch.tv

December 23, 2011 — Leave a comment

Wow, Christmas is Sunday! This will be my last post before Christmas. What better way to end this week than with the last of the Christmas worship songs?!? Today I found a song done by the OKC campus of LifeChurch.tv last Christmas. It is a great version of the song, I hope you enjoy it! Merry Christmas everyone!

Go Tell It On The Mountain by LifeChurch.tv

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The Joy of Christmas Music

November 28, 2011 — Leave a comment

With the past week filled with holiday festivities I haven’t had much time to post anything. Sorry for the silence. I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed our holiday, it was filled with family, food and family game nights! We had family in for about a week and it was such a great visit! Once everyone went home Sunday we picked up the house and then… decorated for Christmas! I am sitting in my living room writing this post where I have a warm fire in the fireplace, stockings hung on the mantle and our Christmas tree to top off the scenery. I absolutely love this holiday season! I love winter and the fact that Christmas falls in winter makes it all the more better. While decorating our house I had Christmas music playing and of course I was singing along. I don’t know about you but those songs always brighten my day. I love finding new versions of old songs each season as well. Since I am in such a Christmas mood I decided that this music video from Lifechurch.tv would be a good fit and it has a link to more music too!

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Archives For Lifechurch.tv

Faith: The Five Minute Challenge

Strength: Saying No to Dessert

Everyday Miracles

Worship Song Friday: Go Tell It on the Mountain by Lifechurch.tv

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