Live. Love. Lead.

     My school year is almost done...more importantly my rookie year as a leader is at its close.  I cannot believe how much I have learned, how much leadership was/is more than I expected, and how much inner work truly goes into this role.  The list could truly go on and on.        During a particularly trying part of this new chapter of leadership I was reading a passage in I Kings 12 that so resonated with my everyday that it truly revived my prayer life and stimulated me to act with such courage and confidence.  It was when King Solomon had just died and his son Rehoboam has stepped into his place.  The people of the successful nation that Solomon had built came to Rehoboam and essentially asked him, "How are you going to lead?"  He asks for some time and then consults with the elders that served his father.  Those elders told him to listen to the people, speak kind words to them, and become their servant.  Then ...

     Today was a day where the Lord's kindness was so evident.  It truly resembled the verse that states, "Let me hear Your kindness in the morning for in You I have placed my trust..." (Psalm 143:8).  In some very critical situations today the Lord graciously and so kindly gave me courage in some challenging situations.  And I had to ponder the question? Why do we lack the courage that we need to speak with intention and purpose, to lead with clarity and vision, and to initiate with courage?  Sometimes we are weighted with fear of rejection or perhaps even more so the gravity of imperfection.  Often the keen awareness of our own shortcomings will force us into silence and it is then that we must dig into our Heavenly Father's grace that indeed makes all things new! He has conquered all that enslaved us like: sin, fear, guilt, shame, and much more.  He freed us so we can run this race with endurance with our eyes ever toward Him. He is our li...

     This whole year of newness has been exactly that...NEW. It feels like it takes me 30 minutes at least to make a decision and even when I do; oh do I waver back and forth and consider other options; as I constantly question, "did I do the right thing?"      Today, our students were testing and many did not go to the right rooms. Instead of trying to see where the confusion happened, the devil began to throw the flaming darts of accusations like not being as prepared as I should be, not communicating as best as I should have, and not being proactive enough. This is not the first time, nor probably the last, where defeat comes clawing at my confidence. When defeat begins to pound at the door of one area; it's soon that other areas reverberate with its cadence too. My heart was heavy with shame and guilt for something that I had somehow taken on myself.  To me I was and am always "on call" so when something does not go smoothly I tend to ache about i...