Mental Post-Its

Thoughts, Notes, and General Mental Mayhem


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Be The Blueprint

As expected, Sunday was a really good church service at Blueprint. I knew I would go in and get pumped up by the New Year energy of the crowd, and be encouraged to start January off right. I needed the fuel to get a jump start on my theme for 2013, be renewed after the weird year that was 2012, and grab an early anchor point to dig in and move forward in new possibilities. I was not disappointed with the new “Be The Blueprint” series.

In fact, I decided to outline some of my notes from Sunday here in case you could use a good dose of perspective and inspiration as well.

  • Too many times we reflect not on our blessings, but what we feel God is withholding from us. We take a victim or woe is me attitude.
  • We aren’t here to simply exist. There is a reason you and I exist. What do you exist for? (Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” KJV)
  • Too often we don’t spend our time living, but trying not to make God mad.
  • Blueprint’s DNA: The gospel changes people, and people change the world.
  • Blueprint’s mission: To unleash healthy people to do ministry where life exists.
  • Blueprint’s strategy: Growing in the gospel in the context of family while living on mission.
  • We are less proactive in church, but usually more reactive and defensive. We need to be on the attack. (Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” ESV)

5 Reasons We Need to be Burdened By Mission

  1. Mission grows our affections for Christ, taking us from conceptual to effectual.
  2. Mission aligns our hearts with His, causing us to move from passive to compassionate.
  3. Mission reestablishes our identity, remind us we are God’s chosen vessel.
  4. Mission reminds us of our deficiencies, driving us to pray.
  5. Mission reminds us of His sufficiency, strengthening our faith. (Did you ever think that maybe the feeding of the 5,000 and 4,000 weren’t for those fed, but for the disciples?)

I’m praying you find your mission, or continue it, in 2013. It’s not easy, but totally worth it. Living differently is definitely living better. I think I’ve had a few different missions during my life, depending on my life stage and circumstance. The one I’m currently on has been building over the past few years, and it’s still really exciting to me. I’m excited and curious to see where it leads me this year.

It was a breezy 50 degrees when I walked out of the church service on Sunday, but I didn’t care. I was on fire.

 

If you want a little more, here’s a great blog post on the Blueprint site from Pastor John on the New Year.


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A Look Back at 2012

Now that I have put up my Christmas decorations, I feel I can adequately reflect on 2012.

My word for 2012 was PRIORITIZE. I posted it prominently on my bathroom mirror so that I saw it a couple of times each day. I think I got off to a fairly good start, too. I thought about it frequently, and tried to live by it.

And then, mono happened.

And it kept happening. In fact, it happened for six months. During that time, I definitely fell way behind on my prioritizing. A couple of things I managed to pull along with me slowly, but overall, I just couldn’t keep up. Existing was all I could do on some days—my biggest accomplishment was getting out of bed and moving to the couch. Other days were better. Slowly but surely I was able to put more time in at work and have dinner with people again and generally leave the house for a few hours at time. Then, about five months into the mono, I had to go to the ER with what I thought was just a really bad kidney infection. Yes, it was, but it was also an inflamed gall bladder full of gallstones. What followed were three days of hospital stay and the removal of this funny little organ I knew almost nothing about. Then it was more days of rest and recovery. I feel like I lived mostly on my couch this year. I joked that I should’ve designed my own line of lounge wear because that’s about all I wore in 2012.

But prioritizing never left my thoughts. I tried to catch back up on it in pieces, but mostly 2012 was about prioritizing my health. I was sick and/or recovering for about eight months during 2012. I’m not fully over everything yet. Didn’t see that one coming, as I’ve typically been someone without a lot of health issues. Maybe it was a curse to open that FSA account last January? My lasik surgery went out the window—fingers crossed for this year, though.

Fortunately, I was also able to prioritize working with the local chapter of Not For Sale. That was about the only other thing I was able to squeeze in, but it was a great experience and I’m so thankful to have done some real work as an abolitionist. I look forward to seeing where that takes me in the future. It’s a wonderful organization that’s done amazing things, and it’s nice to be a part of it.

While the health issues were definitely the focal point for this year, I continue to wonder if perhaps that was God’s way of slowing me down. I’ve never been great at that. I’m usually go, go, go. And I’m sure I’ll continue to learn lessons from that experience as I reflect more and begin to enjoy my health again. (I hope, for both aspects.)

Luckily, I was still able to fit in trips to NYC, North Georgia and California while having mono and the latter two post surgery. I would’ve been really sad if I didn’t travel, so those were definite highlights. The relapses afterward were well worth it!

I continue to discover that life is a little like a game of Mexican Train, one of my family’s favorites. You can plan and strategize and get all your ducks in a row, but things will always go awry. Life happens. People around you make unpredictable moves. You have a bad draw. Realistically, I have no control. I just have to do my best with what I have. Did I do that in 2012? I think I did ok, given the circumstances. I can always do better. Unfortunately, most everything was ruled and determined by how tired I was or how I felt. I hated that, especially when I was full conscious of it, but I couldn’t do much else. I just couldn’t think outside of it. As I’m getting more healthy and turning my immune system around, though, I am slowly making changes.

I began preparing for 2013 probably about a month ago, maybe more. I am really trying to look at what I can do with what I have. Right now, what I have is someone who is still on the road to recovery—but that’s something I can work with. There are definitely things I can do now to be better in numerous ways, and I will. I am making flexible plans. Toward the end of 2012, I started prioritizing 2013. It’s here, and I feel I am ready. After all, it begins mostly in the mind. I haven’t lost that yet. 😉

So what will my word for 2013 be? Stay tuned!


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The Mental Illness Role in Tragedy

For sure, we are all still in shock and greiving from the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. I watch a lot of cop and law shows, and there is plenty of death, but I always simply think of it as fiction. When something truly tragic happens in the world like last Friday, I find myself completely stunned. It’s honestly hard for me to believe that people exist who can commit such haneous crimes. I’m just not sure how to absorb it. However, the last few times, I keep coming back to some of the same conclusions.

Yes, I agree with those who pipe up for tougher gun laws. Yes, I absolutely believe that these people needed Jesus in their lives. But where I feel we truly fall short is the mental health issue. Weapons of some sort will always be available to those searching for them. But it is vital to reach these people in their hearts and in their minds before they decide to reach for a gun.

I’ve heard the mental health issue brought up in conjunction with several of these massacres, but it’s more in the fact of the gunman struggled with a mental health issue. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone talk specifically about diagnosis or treatment of mental health issues, and I feel that’s a shame. It seems that still today, this issue is still too taboo. Its time we wake up. The statistics are against us. They are too large to ignore. As long as these people are suffering with no one to help them, the pain will rise to the surface somehow, someway.

We need to be able to understand and become more compassionate to these people who are hurting so desperately. We need to know how to recognize the signs, and get them the help they need. It begins with those closest to them—friends and family. While yes, some of these behaviors come out of left fiield, I believe there are some which probably do not. We’ve all been in situations before where we could look back and see red flags. These behaviors could very well be the manifestation of thoughts and feelings that have been boiling underneath for years. True, some may also not want help. And in those cases, it may be more prudent to warn an authority figure as a precaution. And several of these gunman have been bullied. I wonder if people were there to help them recover or stand up for them. I wonder if anyone could’ve at least reported them to the police before it was too late. I wonder why getting them help is too shameful or too intrusive. I wonder how much we really care.

I have an awesome group of friends. I’m beyond thankful for them on a daily basis. There are many reasons why, but one of those is that many of us have been through counseling, pyschologists and psychiatrists, and we are not ashamed to talk to each other about it. We somehow found the strength to ask for help when we needed it most. And we are all better for it. It is not taboo for us. It is part of who we are. In fact, several of my friends have even gone on to get degrees in counseling in order to help others. I have no doubt that if one of us tried to go off the deep end in some way, the rest of us would interceed. Thats what friendship and love does.

I hope that more people will begin to see the need and benefits to exploring mental health. On my local news last Friday, the anchor woman said there had been 125 mass shootings since Columbine. I couldn’t believe that number. It was so much higher than I expected. I remember, probably like many of you, exactly when and where I was when I heard about Columbine. It will forever be burned in my memory. I remember praying for nothing like that to ever happen again. I’m so very sad at how far we’ve come.

So, yes, let’s create tougher gun laws. If we are Christians, let’s tell those who are hurting about our Saviour Jesus. But let’s also learn to recognize and deal with mental illness as a society. If we don’t, we will only be treating major wounds with band-aids.


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Happy Holidays!

Here’s just a simple little holiday greeting from me to you. It recaps some of my year’s highlights. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Enjoy!

And here’s to hoping 2013 is even better!

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2012 Reading List

booksI’m sure I’ve mentioned more than once that I do not enjoy to read. However, I feel like it’s important and I do like to keep learning, so here we are. If only they’d make more movies about books! 😉

Here are the books I read and listened to over this past year. I mostly listen now since I have a long commute, and can get through books easier (faster) that way. It’s hard for me to sit and read at home; there are just too many good movies and TV shows, which I’d always prefer. But here you have it—my list for 2012. I was hoping it’d be a little longer, but I was home sick a lot this year and therefore didn’t listen to all the books I wanted to. So I’ll have some catching up to do next year.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of these books! I’m happy to tell you more about them.

And what should I put on my list for 2013?

 

(Note: Amazon links are affiliate links.)