Over 10 years ago I wrote a devotional for the church I was attending.  I don’t remember the content of the devotion, but I remember the title, Let Go and Let God.  Lately I’ve really been struggling with control.  I want to know the answers to all my prayers immediately or at least know if God is ever going to answer them.  I want to reap the harvest from what I’ve sowed and I want it now!  Because of our fast pace technology we expect God to work the same way Google works, type in a prayer request in the search engine and instant gratification within seconds.  Right?  Wrong!

I’m reading the most amazing book by Pastor Mark Batterson, The Circle Maker and he says, “Instead of thinking in terms of time, we must think in terms of eternity.”  Therefore we must make a shift in our thinking when it comes to our spiritual life.  Don’t you think it is interesting how the scriptures use agricultural analogies to explain the kingdom of God and the way we are to live?  The majority of the time when we pray is like planting a seed and eventually after it has been watered and nurtured we will see an abundant harvest from it.  But what is even more important than praying in hopes that God will answer us, is to pray so God can change us, our hearts.  Prayer gives us a new perspective on life.  Pastor Batterson says, “It enables us to see beyond our circumstances, beyond ourselves, beyond time.”  And honestly, when I strip all my selfish desires away, all that really matters is having the ability to look beyond myself.  When I let go of my desires, it let’s God show up in the most profound ways and prove He has everything under control. What areas of your life are you going to Let Go and Let God do His thing today?  I would love to hear from you!

*Congratulations to Renee from BlessednBalanced on last weeks Target giveaway! 

If you would like your name to go in the drawing for a Target Gift Card, all you have to do is leave a comment on my blog today.  Tell me what area in your life you need motivation and accountability and why.  Your name will go into a drawing to win a Target Gift Card!  Drawing will be held next week.

However, everyone is a winner for the month of October!  All Coaching packages are 60% off for new clients and all existing clients will receive 30% off for the month! This is a huge savings!  Contact me today at linda@lindakuhar.com to redeem.

I’m currently leading an incredible bible study on Pastor Steven Furtick’s new book Greater.  Last week we were challenged to burn our plows, meaning to sacrifice something that is holding you back from the Greater life God is calling you to.  For some of the women in the group it was automatic, they knew exactly what the needed to give up and then for others, like myself, it wasn’t that easy.  It was a process to figure out exactly what God wanted me to give up.  To my surprise, God laid something on my heart that made me sick to my stomach!  I can barely even write the words on the page.  He said I need to get rid of p….p…..p…..pride!  Ouch!  At first I was like, really God?  I’m Not prideful! …LOL When any human being can speak the words, “I’m not prideful”; there is a problem.  Pride is the root of the fall for every one of us.  When Eve took it upon herself to disobey God’s specific instructions not to eat from the tree of knowledge or surely you will die, that was pride.  No way around it, every single one of us has pride.

After seeking God’s understanding on how this pride thing is playing out in my everyday life, one of the first things He spoke to me about was adjusting my attitude.  I thought how exactly do I need to adjust my attitude, and God every so gentle referred me to becoming more like Jesus in Matthew 20:28.  The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.  In order to let go of pride I must have a continual servants attitude and mindset.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?  Does that sound easy?  No way!  But I do believe after studying scripture, that when we become smaller it allows God to become Greater in and through us.  And when I really am honest with myself and think about what I want my life to be and represent, I long to be a reflection of Jesus’ love to others.  Jesus is all goodness, righteousness and truth.  No matter how hard I try I will never be all that Jesus is, but I can however let go of trying and just allow Jesus to live in and through me.

I would like to challenge you today by asking you a few coaching questions.  What plow do you need to burn in your life?  How will you surrender to God today?  What will your life look like after you sacrifice the one thing that is holding you back?

Have you ever had a time in your life when you are so overjoyed that you burst out in tears?  I’ve had so many moments of joyous tears streaming down my face lately.  I don’t know if it’s the season in my life of healing and affirmation or if I’m just hormonal?  I’m going to go with the first option….healing and affirmation.

Yesterday I had the privilege of doing a video shoot with New Life 91.9, our local Christian radio station in Charlotte.  When they arrived at my home, I showed them around where I thought we would do the recording.  To my surprise, they picked a spot that hasn’t been cleaned in months, my front porch.  I was a little embarrassed about my dirty porch, but what was I going to do?  As I sat on the chair while they sat up their equipment I couldn’t help but think about sitting in that exact spot 3 years ago while going through chemo, loosing my hair and sleepless nights when I would gaze at the stars and wonder if I was going to die.

Yesterday was a moment in time where gratitude of joy overflowed from my heart.  I could never thank God enough for the miraculous healing in my body.  I could never thank God enough for allowing me more time to become the wife and mother He so desires for me to be.  I could never thank God enough for the countless beautiful relationships I have.  So I woke up this morning and prayed, “God what can I do to thank you for all the blessings in my life?”  He spoke to my spirit and said, “Receive”.  He doesn’t need me to do anything right now, but to soak up his amazing grace and unconditional love.  That’s it!  Today I am going to focus on receiving God’s favor in my life.  What favor has God shown you in your life?  How will you thank God today for those blessings?

As I am writing this post, tears pour down my face.  The Lord is taking me through an emotional healing process from my cancer journey from 3 years ago.   The other day I took my dogs on a beautiful trail near my house.  As we were running, a flashback from 3 years ago came rushing back to my mind.  I remembered how I felt walking that trail 3 years earlier while I was going through chemotherapy.  I’ll never forget thinking, “this cancer is never going to end” and asking God why I had been dealt the cancer card?  Little did I know what was getting ready to happen to me physically, mentally and spiritually within the days ahead!  On September 29, 2009 I was hospitalized and put into a coma.  I have to say, my life has never been the same since that day.

Something I noticed while I was on the trail a few days ago was how the light from the sun would shine so bright that I could barely see anything in front of me.  I knew if I would continue moving forward and take a few more steps I would be able to see clearly again.  I couldn’t help but think how that related so well to my entire cancer journey, as well as the call God has placed on my life.  The Lord has spoken clearly to my heart and said that I am to share His story in my life to women all over the world, but that means I have to continue taking steps forward in the blinding bright light of His love, even when I cannot see the end result.  To be honest with you, that scares me to death!  I believe God can use all things for His glory, but that means I have to be willing to let go of ALL things in order for God to show off in my life.

What I’m writing about today goes hand and hand with Pastor Steven Furtick’s new book and sermon series Greater.  I highly recommend listing to his sermon from this week, Burning the Plow.  On page 45 of his book Greater, Pastor Steven says, “If you’re going to walk by faith and trust in your Father and if you’re going to see your life set free from the tyranny of the ordinary, you’re going to have to learn how to obey God who doesn’t do details.”  This means that I might not ever know God’s exact plan, but I must obey His call for my life.

I believe my life will always be God’s story because He is the author, not Me.  However, I am willing to let God continue to write his story on my heart and then share that message with others.  There is something to be said about surrender….a sense of True Freedom that God can only provide.  Tell me, are you willing to obey God’s call even if you do not know all the details?  I would love to hear from you!

I love Frogs!  When I was going through cancer, I would say over and over I must Fully Rely On God – FROG.  To be real with you, my back was up against a wall and I had no choice but to Fully Rely On God.  One thing I’ve noticed in my life is that when things are going well, no major crisis or life change, it’s very easy for me to fully rely on ME.  This is a scary place to be when you don’t think you need God and you have everything under control.  When you get to that place, you become complacent, self-absorbed and even negative.

What I have learned in my walk with Christ; is when I completely surrender and depend on Him; my entire perspective on life will change.  It’s like someone has removed dark sunglasses from my eyes.  When I wake up in the mornings, I’m excited to see and experience God’s miracles that day.  It can be something as simple as my daughter laughing or watching our dog’s play.  I promise you, my mind and perspective on life shifts when I continually depend on God.

As a Women’s Life Coach, my “job” is to ask questions that lead clients to a shift in their thinking, and that is why I end many of my blog post with questions.  So I would like to ask you a few questions to think about today.

1)     What makes you Fully Rely On God (FROG)?

2)     How do you Fully Rely On God?

3)     What does it take to change your perspective on life?

O.K., I read a verse this morning and it struck a nerve.  You see I have a certain “image” of myself in my mind.  My purpose in life is to Love others.  Honestly, that is the deepest desire of my heart.  I consider myself a kind, caring, compassionate and very empathetic person.  Those are some of my top values.  So here’s the verse I read.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Luke 12:34

I really started pondering the word Treasure.  I treasure loving others more than life itself but….here’s the problem, when I examine my life it does not reflect that.  When I get real honest with myself, I treasure making sure I’m comfortable, satisfied and fulfilled.  My treasure is making sure I am Happy and making sure my family is Happy.  So what I realized is that my treasure is ME and my heart is not able to share the abundant LOVE it has for others because my treasure is in the way!  I’ve decided today to really take some quiet time with God and listen to where and how I can make some changes in my life so that my treasure and my heart are in alignment.

Where is your treasure?  Where is your heart?  Are they in alignment with each other?  I would love to hear from you!

At different times in my life I struggled with depression on and off.  In growing deeper in my relationship with Christ I discovered the secret to pressing on and pushing through those challenging times.  It all comes down to my mindset.  Now I am the first person to tell you, I cannot just snap my fingers and say, “ok, just think positive thoughts” and I immediately have a brand new attitude.  Nope, it doesn’t work that way for me.  If it works that way for you, then praise God!  Really Praise God!!  What I’ve discovered over the years is that it’s a day-to-day process for me.  I realized that whatever goes in must come out.  For example, when I listen to certain types of music consistently, I start developing an attitude or mindset of what I’m hearing.  When I listen to Christian music I’m more positive and uplifting or when I listen to Pink the pop-rock star, my husband better watch out because I’m in charge and don’t mess with me.  LOL!!

But in all sincerity my perspective on life is completely different depending on what I’m focusing on and that is why it is so very important to stay in the word and meditate and pray on scripture.  The verse I’ve been reading this morning is Romans 8:6 “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace”.  I don’t know about you, but for me I want Life and Peace, not death or in other words negativity, hostile, depressed or a hopeless mind.

So I would like to challenge you today to take a look at what you’re putting in your mind in all different areas…reading, listening, and speaking.  Could you use a positive mindset and peace in your life today?  If so, what are you going to do to make sure your mind is controlled by the spirit?

Today is the first day of school for my daughter and I have to say Praise God that my child was actually excited to go!  This is a huge blessing for our family because her early years in public school were a disaster.  It turned out that she just needed a different environment and structure to learn.  By the grace of God, my husband found the perfect school for her a few months before I was diagnosed with cancer.  Long story short, she has been thriving ever since.

The reason I titled this post “A Fresh Start” is because I’ve been through a challenging season in my life the past 6 months, and honestly I’ve been in desperate need of a Fresh Start.  After my much needed R&R at the beach last week, I feel like a new person!  I had no idea how much I needed a break from “life”.  I really didn’t do anything unique on my vacation except hang out with my family on the beach and cruise around the campground on a golf cart.  Before I left for vacation, I kept planning all these different ways to spend my time to get clarity on my coaching business and ways to seek God’s director for my life goals.  Well, all that planning was a big waste of time because once I put my toes in the sand, all I cared about was relaxing and being with my family.  What’s so funny is, once I walked back in the door from vacation, it was like a switch went off in me and I started cleaning my house, unpacking and I was ready for a fresh start at life!

After talking with my life coach I realized how important it is to schedule a time to rest and relax more frequently.  I typically go away one week each year where I feel truly refreshed.  After processing the importance of self-care, I’ve decided that I’m going to schedule a mini-vacation every 3 months.  I don’t have to spend money to go away, but I can plan to take a few days to forget about my responsibilities, let go and do something different.  I would love to know your thoughts, ideas or suggestions on different ways to experience a mini-vacation while not leaving your home and is this something you could benefit from as well?

Lately I’ve been in a period of soul searching and questioning God on his call for my life.  To be real honest with you I’ve been struggling with fear and anxiety lately.  This summer has been difficult on our family emotionally due to my mom’s unexpected triple bypass surgery; that really was an absolute MIRACLE from God.  She was literally a heartbeat away from a massive heart attack!  What was so unfortunate was that she still ended up having a minor heart attack after she came home from the hospital due to the collapse of one of the bypasses.  So to say the least, this summer has been a whirlwind for us.  The good news is, mom is in rehab now and improving every day, thank God!!

After being faced with a life or death situation once again, it has forced me to revaluate my life.  I’ve started coaching myself unintentionally by asking myself some tuff questions.  For example:

1)     If this was the last week of my life and I had time to reflect over my life, would I be pleased with what I accomplished for God?

2)     Do I live each day with passion?

3)    What am I doing that makes a significant impact on others?

4)    Am I consistently living in the present moment or do I spend more time in the past or future?

5)     What’s stopping me from living a life Fully Relying On God to achieve the deepest desires of my heart?

I strongly encourage you to spend some time journaling and answering these questions too.  It has been an eye opening experience for me.  Honestly, I’m not too thrilled with some of my answers, so as my husband always says to me, “there’s nothing to it but to do it!”  With that being said, I’m going to take his advice and start living life with no regrets and embrace the Miracle of the moment I have been blessed with and keep moving forward in God’s call for my life.  I hope and pray this post has encouraged you to take some time and do a little soul searching as well!