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Chasing Bulls is Not Nonsense!

Chasing Bulls is Not Nonsense!

“You are never not chasing something!”

Karen Lindwall-Bourg 

  • What are you chasing? 
  • And is it really necessary?
  • Do you sometimes think, “This is nonsense!”? 
  • How do you decide what really takes priority in this fast-paced life we live?
  • What could you chase that makes more ‘sense’?

Here’s the Chasing, Not Nonsense Scenario:

It’s Monday, the conference we are responsible for begins on Thursday.  For my part, I have eight appointments today to bring this all together and make things happen! In the middle of all of that, I need to get our son Jeff to a physical therapy appointment and back as he has a cerebral palsy like neuromuscular disorder and cannot drive.

As we were driving off of the farm to get him to his appointment, we noticed that three of our cows and our bull are on someone else’s property close to the front road only 1/10 of a mile from the major highway! How do they do that?! All the while I’m thinking, “This is nonsense!” 

(I actually wrote this in April 2017, and today April 2022 I repeated the experience all over again, so figured I should finish this blog and post it! – a moral of the story: Save what you’ve written and not posted, and write and publish at the prompting of the Holy Spirit!)

Not Nonsense Background Story:

I’m a city girl born and raised, transplanted to the country and farm life about 26 years ago when Fred and I, having been recently widowed, remarried and began blending our family of eight. Not that many years ago, I was still throwing 50 pound hay bales over my shoulder and helping cows and goats give birth in the middle of a field on a snowy evening. I’m not so good at that anymore!

When we first moved onto the property, as you can imagine, we were so ‘green’! We did a lot of nonsensical things. We bought donkeys – what a waste of breath; and we finally learned that the best protectors of our farm are hands down, our Gentle Giants, our Great Pyrenees! We tried to build a fence around our pond so the coyotes wouldn’t kill our ducks and then realized turtles were the true predators. We had fenced them in for the kill! We futilely chased farm animals around for hours when in reality the best practice was to drop feed where we wanted them to go and let them do the chasing! So much easier!

As luck would have it, Fred is at the airport trying to get on a plane to head to California and I’m out in the fields with a bucket of feed trying to entice the cows back home. They obviously don’t like me as much as they like him because they’re heading in the opposite direction! “This is nonsense!” 

My Not Nonsense Point:

“You are never not chasing something!”

    • What are you chasing? 
    • And is it really necessary?
    • Do you sometimes think, “This is nonsense!”? 
    • How do you decide what really takes priority in this fast-paced life we live?
  • Are you chasing after God? That’s Not Nonsense!

“You are never not chasing something! 

SO, chase after God; chase after His Presence in your life!”

Karen Lindwall-Bourg

The Lord Wants You to Sensibly Chase:

  • HIM – His Presence
  • Others – He wants you to be with others who want to chase God with you!
  • His Confidence, Blessings, Peace, Love, Rest

Chase Him

You are known in Heaven as a seeker of God. You chase after God and His Presence because He wants to be found by you. He loves it when you pursue Him because by chasing after His Presence in your life, you are also chasing abundance. C. S. Lewis called this being a “hound of heaven.“ 

  • If you are called to counsel wisely, study God‘s Word, study biblical counseling precepts, receive wise counsel for yourself, prayerfully offer wise counsel to others.
    (Join us at RHEMA 3E Services https://rhema3eservices.com and (20+) Rhema Counseling Associates | Facebook
  • If you are called to write, start writing, go to Writing Retreats, meet other writers, worship, fellowship, get advice.
    (Join our Writing Retreats at https://karenbourg.com/reterattowrite )
  • If you are called to Christian Woman Entrepreneurship, ask God for your unique blueprint – for His Blueprint for your endeavor, research and read about entrepreneurship, join an online group for community and education and networking and missional focus, jump forward as God leads you.
    [Join the National Association of Christina Women Entrepreneurs, (NACWE) est 2010] https://facebook.com/groups/NACWEFreedom )

God has a unique calling for each of our lives. Chase that calling!

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”  Jeremiah 29:11 NASB

Pursue Him; chase Him.

“12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your [i]fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’” Jeremiah 29:12-14 NASB

Call on Him, pray to Him, seek and search for Him with your whole heart. He will be found by you. He will be found by you. He will answer. Be assured, 

He answers with Himself!

Karen Lindwall-Bourg

Troy Brewer says, “Today is a good day to pursue your destiny like a hound dog chasing a fox. Seek your Father in Heaven and when you do, He will reveal Himself to you.“ (from his book: Living Life.)

Chase after others who chase after Him:

He commands us to love others as He has loved us, and as they love others, they love us!

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 NASB

The act of loving others is one of the most exhilarating gifts from the Lord. We feel excitement stirring in our spirit when we do something to make someone else feel loved and cared for. And Joyce Meyers calls this, “loving out loud.”

Think of three people you know who could really use a gesture of God’s love. Then think of creative ways you can express His love to these people—and do it! I guarantee you will feel a wonderful sense of fulfillment and joy afterward. It’s what makes our “world go ‘round” in our awesome online Groups!

Chase after His confidence, His blessings, His peace, His love, His rest:

Consider these verses.

  • Be Confident:For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.” Proverbs 3:26 ESV This is our key theme for 2020 in NACWE!
  • Be Blessed:Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” Psalm 2:12 ESV
  • Have Peace:Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in every way.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16 ESV
  • Be Loved: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:26 ESV
  • Rest in Him: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

Challenge: Find other verses that encourage you to be confident, blessed, peaceful, loved, restful.

Now…

Join me to Chase after Him! The pursuit is not nonsense. It makes godly sense!

(20+) RHEMA 3E Services – Dr. Karen Lindwall-Bourg | Facebook

(20+) RHEMA 3E Services Group – Dr. Karen Lindwall-Bourg | Facebook

Blessings,

 

Blessings,

Dr. Karen Lindwall-Bourg

Karen started out in helping professions (Medical Technology, then Counseling) and quickly fell in love with the ins and outs of Entrepreneurship as she built her private practice and endeavors to 6-figures. She knows it can be lonely out here “on the entrepreneurial limb”! She knows what it takes to build community and to learn and network in an ever-changing field. She desires to pay-it-forward in a missional, working God’s way manner so others are blessed along the way!

 

 

She, along with husband Fred, is the Founder of RHEMA 3E Services @ https://rhema3eservices.com . Their greatest desire is to Encourage, Empower & Equip you to be who God has called you to be and do what He has called you to do in the fields of

  • Biblical Counseling
  • Kingdom Coaching
  • Christian Writing & Publishing, and (Karen)
  • Food Process Systems Consulting (Fred)

Karen is the President of the National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs (NACWE @ https://facebook.com/groups/NACWEFreedom ) and her greatest desire is to help you build confidence in the Lord to be who He has called you to be and do what He has called you to do! Let’s Cultivate #NACWEConfidence and #Godfidence in 2022!

Wellness: The Awareness of the Whole Individual

Wellness: The Awareness of the Whole Individual

Wellness: The Awareness of the Whole Individual

Wellness

Wellness, wholeness, and completeness are necessary to satisfying relationships and entrepreneurial success!

“Thank you RHEMA Counseling for addressing the entire person and how God created us for wholeness!  This book is a potent and life-changing tool that can be used over and over again in all areas of my life, business, relationships, and faith.  Powerful transformation!  Praise God for Karen and the RHEMA team!”

– Diane Cunningham, Founder of the National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs

 

Wellness: The Awareness of the Whole Individual –

now available on Amazon!

 

Are you tired of that incomplete and unbalanced feeling? Are you seeking a full and comprehensive life for yourself and those that you serve? Wellness may seem like the buzzword of this century, but wholeness and completeness are necessary to satisfying relationships and entrepreneurial success!

 

The Word of God tells us that we are complex creatures with a body, soul, and spirit; and it emphasizes that Christ came that we might have life, and have it abundantly. To care for ourselves and minister to others without attending to all dimensions of wellness can be neglectful and even dangerous.

 

Karen Lindwall-Bourg, Grace Edoho-ukwa, and the Associates of RHEMA Counseling bring you Wellness: The Awareness of the Whole Individual, providing you effective tools and assessments useful for your own growth and that of your clients, and encouraging living in abundant wellness within the following BELIEFS dimensions:

  • Body
  • Emotions
  • Livelihood
  • Intellect
  • Environment
  • Family/Friends
  • Spiritual

 

Wellness: The Awareness of the Whole Individual 

helps you bridge that gap holistically and Biblically.

Consider the danger in helping a depressed friend or client by discussing their emotions and spiritual conditions without evaluating their medical, environmental, and relationship needs as well! Explore these 7 dimensions of wellness and encourage those around you to gain insight as well. 

 

 

Order Your Copy Here Today!

Blessings, 

Karen Lindwall-Bourg

“Achieve Levels of Success Worth Celebrating”

*Founder, Karen Bourg Companies  http://karenbourg.com

*Owner, President {Inter}National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs/International Christian Mompreneur Network http://nacwe.org

*Founder, RHEMA Publishing House http://rhemapublishinghouse.com

*Founder, RHEMA Lakeside Retreat Center https://www.facebook.com/rhemaretreat/

*Founder, RHEMA Counseling Associates http://rhemacounseling.com

 

About Karen Lindwall-Bourg  

Karen Lindwall-Bourg is the President of the {Inter} National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs [est. May 2010] and the new President of the International Christian Mompreneur Network [est. July 2010], both at http://nacwe.org . She and the NACWE Operations and Leadership Teams work diligently to provide

·       Community

·       Networking

·       Education

·       Missions

opportunities to Christian Women Entrepreneurs, Mompreneurs and Nanapreneurs alike all over the world!

Our Core Values are

·       Community – we value Connection, Collaboration and Contribution

·       Networking – we value Nurture, New relationships and New and innovative offers

·       Education – we value Encouragement, Excellence and Expressiveness, and

·       Missions – we value Ministry and  Making a difference

Karen is wife to Fred, Mommy to 6 kids and 5 in-loves, Nana to “going-on” 12 grandchildren, and treat provider deluxe for a herd of Great Pyrenees who protect their north TX ranch! She is an entrepreneur coach, author, publisher, retreat hostess and more! Learn more about Mastermind groups and “Celebration” coaching with Karen at http://karenbourg.com

 

What do you do with the WHYS in Counseling?

What do you do with the WHYS in Counseling?

What Do You Do with the WHYS in Counseling?

Does the question “why” cause you to be stuck as you counsel people Biblically or does the question “why” encourage you toward a diligent search for God’s answers?

Dave Powlison in X-ray Questions: Drawing Out the Whys and Wherefores of Human Behavior (The Journal of Biblical Counseling • Volume 18 • Number 1 • Fall 1999says, “explanations are signposts to solutions…” The Bible has a lot to say about our questions of why and our human motivations and the answers all point to the Redeemer. God’s Word searches out the “thoughts and intentions of the heart” and God evaluates what he sees in us (Hebrews 4:12). Good questions can help discern the patterns of a person’s motivation and identify the idols of our hearts.

Ed Welch in Why Ask, “Why?” Four Types of Causes in Counseling (The Journal of Pastoral Practice, Vol. X, No. 3, 1991) encourages us to consider, not to discount, “why” questions in counseling. He uses Aristotle’s different types of causes” (from his Physics treatise) to illustrate and encourage the use of the question “why” in Biblical Counseling sessions.

 

Encourage the WHY questions!

Consider the question, “Why are you so angry?”

a. The material cause includes the tangible, physical components of an object or event.

Answer: I am anxious and on medication, it runs in my family, or my hormones are imbalanced.

A Biblical response: each of us is created as three part beings – body, soul, and spirit. Be aware that there are sometimes physical causes and a physician may need to be consulted. However, physical maladies do not make us sin and cannot be held as the exclusive cause of our actions.

b. The efficient cause consists of the events that come before the anger.

Answer: I’m angry because of the way I was treated as a child, my spouse offended me, or my children misbehave.

A Biblical response: Other people and past events do affect us and our personal history does make a difference. We are sinned against and we do sin against others.  Yet, people and past events do not make us sin and cannot be held as the exclusive cause of our actions.

c. The formal cause is the blueprint or structure of the anger.

Answer: I’m only human, my sin nature, or my personality type.

A Biblical response: we all have a certain design that establishes the parameters of our behavior and limitations. Nevertheless, our design does not make us sin and cannot be held as the exclusive cause of our actions.

d. The incidental cause is the unknown, ambiguous, or mysterious.

Answer: I don’t know.

A Biblical response: The Bible talks of the mystery, the things we cannot know or understand.  Still, the frustration of not knowing does not make us sin and cannot be held as the exclusive cause of our actions.

Consider the passage where messengers from John the Baptist approach Jesus.

“When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.  Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” – Matthew 11:1-6  (For a greater understanding, read the Prisoner in the Third Cell – Gene Edwards)

Bible Whys:

Scripture contains almost 500 “why” questions, some voiced by God Himself, some by angels, some from men.  Some are followed immediately by His answers; other answers come in context. Evaluate the following passages to see how the question of “why” is addressed in the Bible:

  • “And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”  Matthew 8:26
  • [The Purpose of the Parables] Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”  This is why I speak to them in parables, “because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”  (Matthew 13:10, 13)
  • Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that “you are not of God.”  (John 8:47)
  • See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  (1 John 3:1)
  • We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
  • God sustains and directs persons for the purpose of bringing Him glory – God himself directs the hearts of his people “like a watercourse wherever he pleases.” (Proverbs 21:1) God himself is the true final cause.

e. The final why has to do with the purpose and motives of our hearts when angry.

Answer: I wanted something but I didn’t get it, or I wanted no one above myself telling me what to do (parents, teachers, or God himself.)

A biblical response: address moral responsibility and offer hope for change. James 4:1 says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”  The goal is to receive lasting change which comes only when the heart and its goals or intentions is called to repentance.  Ultimately our goal is either living to exalt self or living to the glory of God.  Real change comes through adopting a new purpose that consists of repentance, faith, and obedience.

 

The Bible has a lot to say about our questions of why and our human motivations and the answers all point to the Redeemer. Let the question “why” encourage you toward a diligent search for God’s answers! What do you do with the “whys” in counseling?

Blessings,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen Lindwall-Bourg

“Achieve Levels of Success Worth Celebrating”

*Founder, Karen Bourg Companies  http://karenbourg.com

*Owner, President {Inter}National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs/International Christian Mompreneur Network http://nacwe.org

*Founder, RHEMA Publishing House http://rhemapublishinghouse.com

*Founder, RHEMA Lakeside Retreat Center https://www.facebook.com/rhemaretreat/

*Founder, RHEMA Counseling Associates http://rhemacounseling.com

About Karen Lindwall-Bourg

Karen Lindwall-Bourg is the President of the {Inter} National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs [est. May 2010] and the new President of the International Christian Mompreneur Network [est. July 2010], both at http://nacwe.org . She and the NACWE Operations and Leadership Teams work diligently to provide

·       Community

·       Networking

·       Education

·       Missions

opportunities to Christian Women Entrepreneurs, Mompreneurs and Nanapreneurs alike all over the world!

Our Core Values are

·       Community – we value Connection, Collaboration and Contribution

·       Networking – we value Nurture, New relationships and New and innovative offers

·       Education – we value Encouragement, Excellence and Expressiveness, and

·       Missions – we value Ministry and  Making a difference

Karen is wife to Fred, Mommy to 6 kids and 5 in-loves, Nana to “going-on” 12 grandchildren, and treat provider deluxe for a herd of Great Pyrenees who protect their north TX ranch! She is an entrepreneur coach, author, publisher, retreat hostess and more! Learn more about Mastermind groups and “Celebration” coaching with Karen at http://karenbourg.com .

Establishing Firm Foundations for 2017

Establishing Firm Foundations for 2017

I have been richly blessed with the privilege of seeing individuals, couples, and families change and grow in ways that please the Lord through Biblical Counseling, Christian Coaching, and Publishing!
I have honestly fought tooth and nail most of the time and then sometimes given in obediently, allowing God to change and grow me in the process of counseling and coaching!

I love taking my clients to Matthew 7:24-27, which says,

“Everyone then who hears these Words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the Rock. And everyone who hears these Words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Firm Foundation

Change is frightening and challenging and often times unwelcome even when we’ve asked for help to change!

I like to think of our lives and relationships like the foundation of this house built either on shifting sand or on a firm rock foundation.

All we really have to do, is to humbly seek to know the Lord and to obey Him, as we begin to replace one crumbling foundation stone on shifting sand with a new firmly placed foundation stone built on knowledge of our Lord and His Word!

One step at a time!

Let’s Build Firm Foundations!

Let’s take one step at a time together in 2017! It would be my privilege!

Firm foundation blessings,
Karen

karenbourg@gmail.com 

214-491-1991