Kristin Saatzer

Purposeful Encouragement

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20 for 20!

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Can we talk about 2020?

Because it thrills me to have a blank slate with endless possibilities before me, I jotted down 20 ideas for 2020. Take as many as you’d like and leave the rest.

20 for 2020

  1.  read 20 books of the Bible
  2.  plan 20 fun adventures
  3.  pick 20 people to pray for – bonus points if they have hurt you or get on your nerves
  4.  try 20 new foods or recipes
  5.  save $20 a month towards your dream trip – gotta start     somewhere
  6.  pick 20 books to read and set aside 20 extra minutes a day to read them
  7.  exercise 20 days in a row for 20 minutes – start a workout    streak
  8.  watch 20 sunsets
  9.  take 20 minutes to think about what you know about yourself and God that you didn’t know a year ago
  10.  give $20 more a month than you already do
  11.  get together with or call an old friend that you’ve known for 20 years or more
  12.  spend 20 minutes each morning in 2020 in a quiet space with God and His word
  13.  take a 20 day fast from social media (gulp!)
  14.  send notes to 20 people who have positively impacted your life and thank them for doing so
  15. donate 20 clothing or household items ( in good shape) to charity
  16. print out 20 of your most joy-filled photos from the past decade and put them in an album
  17. set a timer for 20 minutes and deep-clean a dreaded messy area in your home or office
  18.  spend 20 minutes a day in 2020 in the fresh, screen-less air
  19.  say NO to sugar and white flour for 20 days
  20.  write down (at least) 20 things you are grateful for

#LIVEONPURPOSE!

Fight for It!

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What was her name?

This woman who fought for it?

For her to touch anyone was prohibited. She was considered unclean in her culture because of her sickness. She had used all her money visiting healers who offered no cure for the condition that consumed her for twelve years. Even still, she possessed a tenacious faith.

For she said within herself, if I may but touch His garment, I shall be whole.

Matthew 9:21 Webster’s Bible Translation

The garment she wanted to touch belonged to Jesus Christ. Jewish men of His day wore cloaks with a required blue-tassel hem to remind them of the Torah (the law of God) and that they were God’s people. As an animated throng swarmed around the Savior, this woman pushed past her fears and cultural laws and grasped the hem of the healer.

And healed she was.

I see echoes of myself in this woman (how I wish we knew her name). My journey, strewn with one painful, draining condition to the next. And not all physical. There is a slew of emotional afflictions painted on my life’s canvas.
This painting of pain began early. Dark shadows trail in my mind of cruelties delivered to a little-girl-me by one I loved dearly. I recall abuses from my kindergarten teacher, like the day she wrenched my arm and dragged me out of a bathroom stall as she uttered nasty words. As I retrace these moments and many more, my heart feels the feels all over again. Oh, how grateful I am that the paintbrush rendered many cheerful colors along the way, but the blacks and grays are consistent in the mix. At times, I felt downright wrecked, as if my soul was broken.

Wreckage is a repercussion of pain. The damage is incalculable, the fallout overwhelming. It can hit us like a truck and leave us bleeding on the pavement with no oomph to seek help, and without the desire to get well. The wreckage in my life showed in different forms: depression, low self-worth, loneliness, emptiness, fear, nightmares, bad decisions, and the list goes on.

But God

My God has shown me beauty in my broken.

You see when we flip the fall-out and allow ourselves to view our brokenness with a changed lens, our perspective shifts as we discover the fingers of God holding the paintbrush. This requires a tenacious faith, as the woman in Matthew 9 displays. Such a daring move by this long-suffering believer. This fighter.

We too must fight to be whole.Continue Reading

That One Thing

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“But really, only one thing matters. Mary has chosen that one thing, and I won’t take it away from her.”

Luke 10:42 The Voice (VOICE)

Priorities. Goals. Resolutions. These words become almost cliché at the beginning of the year. Now that the end of January is here, how are you sticking to your resolutions? We are late in the month but early in the year, and I’d like to tackle the subject of “one thing”.

I am a goal/list/to-do list nerd. I have often spoken on this topic at women’s groups and walked with others in their journey. I am passionate about this area and love planning. Sometimes to my detriment. As the years pass though, I am finding a balance between gettin’ it done and sittin’ and enjoying. That’s why the story of Mary and Martha clicks with me. I empathize  with both of these women.

If you  don’t know this story, please go to Luke 10:38-42. For some of us who’ve been in church a long time, the story of these two sisters has become almost too familiar. Yet, there is a point made by Luke in this tale that I want to zero in on and unwrap today as we face this still New Year.

Martha was the worker bee, buzzing around and gettin’ it done. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and enjoyed Him, and He praised her for it by stating that Mary chose correctly. She chose that one thing that matters. Wow. What Martha did was not wrong, especially for a woman of that time period. Yet, I surmise that these women had a choice that day (“Mary has chosen”).

I love this from Beth Moore in her book Jesus The One And Only:

“Right priorities will never choose us. They are a choice in the midst of many other good ones.” 

Continue Reading

“Only One Life…”

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 Only one life. How will we spend it for Christ?

Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,
living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way,
Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Give me Father, a purpose deep,
In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife,
Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Oh let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone,
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say ’twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. ”

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,
If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee

Charles Studd 

                                                                                           English Missionary and poet (1860-1931)

May the Lord bless and keep you this New Year. 

 

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