Under New Management

I'm driving home from North Carolina, and I see an old restaurant with a dangling sign, half-lit.  It says, "Come In!  We're Under New Management!" 

Something about that sign grips me and won't let me go.  It's hope.  I know it like I know my own hands typing on this keyboard.  The broken-down restaurant gets a fresh start--a new dream--under new management. 

The old has gone, the new has come.  2012 will be our best year yet.  We're under the new management of a Great God.  We're surrendered, strong, and steady.  Under new management means whatever was left broken down, hurting, and hopeless gets a makeover.  Renovated, restored, renewed.  

Living with flair means I'm under new management.  Sorry Self.  Sorry Satan.  I'm under new management. 

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What in you needs to get under new management in 2012? 

One Simple Thing We Need

Last night I consider what a wise mentor once told me:  "Sometimes your most spiritual activity might just be taking a nap."

I'm so tired I feel sick.  I'm so tired my head hurts and everything in the world seems wrong and terrible and nothing will ever feel right again.  I hate everything, and my whole entire life is falling apart.

My husband reminds me that after a good night's sleep, I'll feel refreshed again.

The funny thing about getting a good night's sleep is that it works.  When life feels overwhelming and impossible, maybe we just need a good night's sleep.  I think about what happens to my children when they don't get enough sleep.  The simplest tasks (putting on shoes, brushing teeth, buckling a seatbelt) dissolves them both into puddles of tears.  

Go to bed, my sweet child. You'll feel right in the morning. 

Living with flair means we sleep.  Call it sleeping with flair.  It's a simple challenge to take care of a simple need before we try to conquer the day.
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What's keeping you from a good night's sleep?

Go Find the Brokenhearted

This morning, I'm speaking to a group of 1,000 people about how I encounter God.  As I pray about what to report, one phrase resonates over and over again.  In my sleep, in my waking thoughts, and in my attempts at writing, the same phrase erupts:

Go find the brokenhearted.  Bring them to the throne of God for healing.  


That's it.  If I want to encounter God, I go where He is.  Scripture says in Psalm 34 that "God is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

If God is near to the brokenhearted, I want to be with Him.  I want to draw near to whatever pain, whatever sorrow, and whatever deep despair imprisons the people God puts in my path.  I want to journey with them to the throne of God to meet the Healer.

I want them to know the Healer who healed me.

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Do you know a brokenhearted person who needs to go to God's throne?