Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Steven Furtick, (2016-03-01) from his book, ( UN)Qualified: How God Uses Broken People to Do Big Things (p. 109). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Now I’m sure that may not make sense to you.   Unproductive and most important don’t seem to go together, do they? Here is the context in which Steven says it. He says, “When you read the biographies of world-changing men and women— whether it’s Nelson Mandela or Steve Jobs— you find there’s almost always an ‘exile’ season. In other words, they experienced an apparent failure that ultimately enabled them to fulfill their purpose. The periods that seem the most unproductive often become most important. What’s happening in us prepares us for what can and will happen to us and through us.” He then says, “I’ve been told that when you’re learning golf, they tell you that if you want to hit the ball farther when you are teeing off, you h

A thought by Steven Furtick, (2016-03-01) from his book, (UN)Qualified: How God Uses Broken People to Do Big Things (p. 102). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Would you like someone to say that about you? Steven tells the story behind those words. He said, “Recently I tried to learn tennis as a hobby. I was pretty nervous when I went for my first lesson, and the first thing the instructor said didn’t help. ‘All right, let’s see what I’ve got to work with. What do you know?’ I told him I had no idea what I was doing. He said that was just the way he liked it, which confused me. He explained how people come all the time knowing just enough tennis to make them impossible to coach. They don’t want to trust a new way because they are used to their way. And they try to show the coach how much they know instead of learning what he has to teach them. ‘You’re my favorite kind of person to work with,’ he

A thought by Steven Furtick, (2016-03-01) from his book, (UN)Qualified: How God Uses Broken People to Do Big Things (p. 78). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Do you find that true?   It really is easy to give up on ourselves. Steven’s whole thought is, “When you come face to face with your failure, it’s far too easy to give up on yourself. To accept the labels and limits and lids that your past might seem to require. I am sinful. I am unfaithful. I am addicted. I am disgraceful. I am unworthy. ”   And those third words after the I am can control us.   Steven earlier says, “Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying mistakes don’t matter. Sin is terrible. Loss and failure and tragedy hurt like crazy. So I’m not glossing over pain or excusing sin. But look at how Jesus loved people, and apply that to your circumstances and your reality. Let God’s love, which is personified in Jesus, fill in your thir