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Chasing Bulls is Not Nonsense!

Chasing Bulls is Not Nonsense!

by | May 2, 2022 | Biblical Counseling, Blog, Kingdom Coaching

“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!

How to Have Confidence in God (Even When He’s Silent)

How to Have Confidence in God (Even When He’s Silent)

by | Aug 5, 2021 | Blog, Celebrate Life!

Have you ever lost confidence in the promises of God? How do you fill the silence in those desperate, broken times when it seems all is lost, including the sweet soft sound of God’s reassuring voice? 

How to Have Confidence in God Even When He's Silent

If you’ve lived long enough, it’s likely you’ve doubted that God was still in charge. If you ponder a moment or two, I bet you’ll remember thinking God had revoked His promises to never leave you, that He’d put you back up for adoption for one of those golden-calf gods to deal with. 

When God is silent, do you still trust in what He’s already told you? Or do you fill the void of a long, lonely night with your own doubt-drawn conclusions? 

Psalm 77: Who Was Asaph

In Psalm 77, King David’s chief worship leader invites us into his grief one dark night when he lost confidence in God. Come with me to see how he found comfort.

Asaph was Kind David’s chief musician. He was a key figure in two of the most significant events of his lifetime. He walked alongside the ark of the covenant as it was brought from the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite, to the tabernacle David built. And he saw the ark move to the temple Solomon built. 

When God is Silent, do you still trust in what He's already told you?

As lead musician, praising God was Asaph’s livelihood. He led a team of musicians appointed to praise God at the tabernacle around the clock. Sounds like a wonderful life, doesn’t it? Isn’t that how heaven is described, people constantly signing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord” (Rev 4:8)?

Asaph Suffered & Lost All Confidence in God

But Asaph wasn’t praising God from heaven. He was on earth, and he lived an early life full of tribulations, just like the rest of us. Asaph recorded his grief and sorrow in some of the most beautiful Psalms of the Bible, Psalm 77.

In great distress, Asaph cried to God and heard no response. He laid awake all night, remembering the good old days when his life was filled with joyful songs, but now he was overwhelmed with sorrow. He’d raised his hands towards heaven and pleaded with God to just hear him! The only reply was from his own tears hitting the dirt floor. 

The searing silence, in contrast to a lifetime of music both in his voice and in his soul, convinced Asaph that God wasn’t listening. Asaph’s fatigue and grief replaced the silence with broken promises: God had abandoned him, left for him good. 
Then the man who spent his lifetime praising God lost all confidence in Him.

“I said, ‘This is my fate; the Most Hight has turned his hand against me.'” 

Psalm 77:9 NLT

The doubt-triggered pity party seems hypocritical, doesn’t it? How can the royal worship team leader accuse God of breaking His own covenant? And yet, how many of us have been there? 

How Asaph Restored His Confidence in God

Yes, Asaph was just as human as the rest of us. And his honesty in shaking his head at God also tells us it’s okay to be honest with God, no matter how ugly it is. Because only honesty can reveal God’s truth. Asaph remembered who God is when he looked beyond his rose-colored memories of the good old days to remember that God never changes. 

“But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
They are constantly in my thoughts.
I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

O God, your ways are holy.
Is there any god as mighty as you?
You are the God of great wonders!
You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.“

Psalm 77:12-14 NLT

He continues to recall God’s display of power and providence in freeing the Israelites from the Egyptians. And then suddenly he stops in the middle of his own visions. Just like that, the psalm is over. I suspect the psalm ended as abruptly as Asaph’s pity party. Lifting God’s name raises your spirits. Asaph joined God in silence and poured out his heart on paper just long enough to let God write back. God restored Asaph’s confidence in Him by reminding Asaph that He never left the throne. 

God gently gave Asaph the attitude adjustment he needed so he could regain confident once more in the God that never leaves. He is still in control, even when He’s not sharing His plans with you. 

God is still in control, even when He's not sharing His plans with you. Click To Tweet

How to Have Confidence in God, Even When He’s Silent

Friends, even the most faithful of us have a short memory. When we doubt God’s presence, we can lose confidence in His promises to never leave us. Instead of filling the silence with shortsighted what-have-You-done-for-me-lately conclusions, we must take a moment to dwell not on our past but on God’s history of faithfulness. 

When you wonder if He’s left the throne, take a moment to hear your heartbeat and feel the breath fill your lungs. Because even when you can’t hear His voice, God is still on the throne and in your heart.

I invite you today to find a few scriptures about having confidence in God, so you’re armed with truth when the enemy tempts you with doubt. Here are a few suggestions:

Jeremiah 17:7
Proverbs 3:26
Psalm 20:7
Hebrews 10:35
Hebrews 4:16

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Valerie Riese

Valerie is a wife, mother, blogger, and breast cancer survivor. After suffering years of debilitating anxiety, she learned that victory over anxiety comes only through surrender to Jesus. Now she points women to Jesus, as co-director of Candidly Christian, and as a freelance devotional writer, proofreader, and copyeditor at ValerieRiese.com. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and teenage daughter.

He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it  (1 Thessalonians 5:24).