-->

Many times in life we face challenging circumstances that seem as if they will “take us out.” When facing these types of challenges we can respond one of two ways. We can give up out of fear, or we can hold to God’s promises (Romans 8:37, Psalm 23:4, Romans 8:28) and trust that God will work all things for His good. Through the incredible challenges that we may face in life, it is the attitude of a servant that will allow us to not only be overcomers, but to lead others into an overcoming life.
(This article is from GIANT Impact http://www.giantimpact.com/iphone/article_read/be_the_one_serve/ and it helps us understand the importance of having an attitude of service as we lead through challenging times.)
In life, it’s not what happens to you, but what happens in you and through you that counts. When adversity visits your life, you have two choices: to be a victim or to be a victor. Victims allow life circumstances to get them down, and they spend their lives asking others to redress the grievances life has dealt them. Victims are needy and demand to be served. Victors, on the other hand, rise above the challenges they encounter. They rebound from life’s hardships with newfound strength, and they use their strength in service of those around them.
Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon was born in 1860 to a wealthy family in Savannah, Georgia. Far from the typical Southern belle, Juliette was willful and tomboyish, always in search of adventure. She was the type of person never to be caught sitting still; she enjoyed trying new things and traveling new places.
In her mid-twenties, the first of a series of misfortunes struck Juliette. Suffering from chronic earaches, she sought medical care, but doctors mistreated her. As a consequence, Juliette lost the majority of her hearing in one ear. The following year, Juliette was married, but as she and the groom exited the ceremony a grain of rice, tossed by a well-wisher, lodged in her good ear. While attempting to remove the grain, a doctor punctured her eardrum, and Juliette lost hearing in her second ear.
For someone who enjoyed an active lifestyle, deafness could have been devastating, but Juliette persevered. She moved to her husband’s estate in England where she became a favorite in social circles. Her humor and vivacity made her a sought-after guest and celebrated hostess.
However, Juliette soon crossed paths with tragedy again. Her husband’s alcohol abuse and infidelity contributed to the gradual decline of their relationship, and in the middle of divorce proceedings, Juliette’s husband died from a stroke. To make matters worse, he bequeathed his substantial estate to his mistress rather than giving it to Juliette.
Choosing to Get Up Rather Than Give Up
Having lost her hearing, her husband, and her home, you would have expected Juliette to feel bitter and victimized. However, at this very point in her life, she chose to serve. Somehow, she moved past her own tragic circumstances to see the good she could do for others.
Having befriended Sir Robin Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts, Juliette became intrigued by the Girl Guides, Britain’s sister organization to the Boy Scouts. The Girl Guides program awakened passion in Juliette, reminding her of youthful adventures from days gone by. With the help of Sir Baden-Powell, Juliette returned to the United States with a notion to launch the Girl Scouts.
Over the next 15 years, Juliette devoted her life to pioneering the Girl Scouts of the USA. She founded its inaugural troop, authored its bylaws and handbooks, and solicited its startup funds. Thanks to her tireless recruiting and relentless campaigning, the Girl Scouts program blossomed. The organization was such a source of joy for Juliette that, when diagnosed with cancer, she hid the illness as long as possible in order to continue advancing the scouting movement. While she never had children of her own, by the time of her death Juliette had an “adopted family” of more than 160,000 girl scouts. Her legacy lives on today in the 3.4 million young ladies who belong to local Girl Scout troops in America.
Questions for Reflection
Where do you focus the majority of your time, on self or on service? When the hardships of life show up at your door, do you back down or rise to the challenge? On your journey through life, will you allow yourself to be victimized, or will you be the one who claims victory over adversity and serves others out of your strength?

Danny Mequet

Have you ever had one of those moments when you realized that your kids have turned the tables and taught you a huge life lesson? One Sunday afternoon, my three year old son Caleb taught me an incredible leadership lesson during what was supposed to be his nap time.

As a father, I understand the incredible value of a Sunday afternoon nap. However, as a three-year-old boy, Caleb did not see eye to eye with me on the importance of taking a nap. I allowed this slight difference in opinion to quickly escalate into what appeared to be World War III. After nearly two hours of screaming and crying (me and Caleb!) my wife intervened with a very timely question. She asked, “Why don’t you go see what’s wrong with Caleb instead of simply trying to make him do what you want him to do?”

After pondering this incredibly convicting question from my wife, I walked into Caleb’s room, climbed into his bed with him, wrapped my arms around him, told him I loved him and asked him what was wrong. In between sniffles brought on by the two hours of crying he said, “Daddy, I want you.” After hearing that simple but profound statement, I laid my head next to his and within three minutes he was peacefully asleep.

I learned a powerful leadership principle that afternoon about the hearts of those that I have the privilege to lead. I learned it’s more important to lead people’s hearts than to focus on correcting their behavior.

If you find yourself frustrated because you aren’t seeing life-change take place within the people you are leading, you may want to inventory your own heart and ask yourself, “Am I leading their hearts or simply attempting to correct their behavior?” In order to begin to lead someone’s heart, it’s important to understand that our behaviors are a result of our hearts (Proverbs 4:23, James 1:13-15, Mark, 7:21-23, Luke 6:45). If we simply try to correct behaviors, then we are only treating the symptoms instead of treating the core issue.

I know when I have a fever and I go to the doctor, I don’t expect the doctor to treat my fever. Instead, I expect him to treat the infection which is causing the fever! In the same way, as we lead others’ hearts, we must learn to deal with the core issue instead of simply treating the symptoms.

Through prayer and dependence on the Holy Spirit you will be able to lead people’s hearts, which will lead to godly behavior qualities (Galatians 5:22-23). This will take more time and energy, but will result in long-lasting results. Always remember to focus on leading hearts instead of correcting behavior.

Danny Mequet

Have you ever experienced something that has caused you to look back and learn some valuable lessons? I recently returned from leading a mission trip and as I’ve taken time to reflect on the trip there are three things that God has helped clarify concerning leadership in my life, and I’d like to share them with you.

As a leader I must be:

1) Flexible
I’ve found that taking international flights provides a great opportunity to develop flexibility. After taking 48 hours to complete a trip that should have taken 18 hours I sat exhausted in a small village nestled in the middle of the rain forest in Guyana. I knew I had 11 team members who were looking to me to help set the tone for our whole trip so I had to make sure I responded correctly.

As the leader, I knew that our game plan had been thrown off significantly, but our purpose of reaching people and building lives had remained the same. Therefore, I had to be flexible with our plans, but true to our purpose. As leaders, flexibility to the plan while remaining true to the purpose is vital.

2) Spirit-led
Despite the challenges we faced in Guyana, we had a great trip and I believe there was a great impact on the people we ministered to. I attribute our success to the personal and team times of prayer that we had daily. I understand that going into battle without preparation is foolish and will lead to an unfulfilled purpose, so we made sure to prepare spiritually. Just like we expected, God answered our prayers in more ways than we could have imagined.

Just as we relied on our times of prayer to prepare us for our ministry in Guyana, we must also rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us as we lead in our daily opportunities that God gives us.

3) A Servant
One day we went throughout the village asking people how we could serve them. On that day we had the opportunity to help clear the land and place the foundational posts for a single mom who was waiting to have a house built. We also came across some farmers who had just started clearing the land for their farm. Our team was able to help clear a significant amount of land that will help these men prepare their farm. The following day, the young ladies on our team put a “Spa Day” on for the ladies of the village. It was awesome to see over 60 ladies in the middle of the rainforest being treated like queens by young ladies who were intent on sharing God’s love.

As a leader, we must never forget that we are called to serve. One of my favorite quotes is from Pastor Stoval Weems of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, FL (www.celebration.org). He said, “If I’m a leader who serves, I only serve in areas I’m passionate about. If I’m a servant who has opportunities to lead then I serve in areas of need with a great heart.”

I was impacted greatly by my time in Guyana and I hope that the lessons God taught me while in another country helps you as you grow in your ability to lead others for Christ.

Leaders Make It Happen In Faith
by Gary J. Borgstede

Recently, I learned from reading Dr. Myles Munroe’s book, The Principle And Power Of Vision, that there are basically three types of people in the world: 1) those who never seem to be aware that things are happening around them, 2) those who ask, ‘What just happened?’, and 3) those who make things happen. Of the three types of people mentioned in Dr. Munroe’s book, what type of person would you most rather be as a leader in your home, business, church, and community?

For me the answer is clear. I want to be a person that can make things happen with a spirit of wisdom and excellence serving people and solving problems that make a difference in life. And if I had to guess, I’d say that most people would rather be someone who can make things happen too. Well, the good news is that God gives us the free gift of the Holy Spirit so that believers in Christ can make things happen in the power and might of His strength regardless of the challenges we might face in the process. In fact, the Lord declares through the prophet Zechariah that “’It’s not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

Furthermore, in the book of Numbers, the Bible shares the story of Joshua and Caleb, two of my favorite Make It Happen people in the Bible. When Moses sent out 12 spies to spy the Promised Land, 10 spies came back with a bad report and a “can’t do” spirit of fear; whereas, Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report and a “can do” spirit of faith. I personally like the way the Message Bible records their good report and “can do” spirit of faith in Numbers 13:33 stating, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.” Despite the potential challenges and significant adversities they would have to face in the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb possessed a “can do” spirit of faith believing that all things were possible with God; but unfortunately, they weren’t able to possess the Promised Land until 40 years later because of the “can’t do” spirit of fear among the leaders on their team.

Therefore, to make it happen with a “can do” spirit of faith, leaders must work diligently in the Lord to create a team culture of empowerment that reaches people and unleashes their extraordinary God-given potential to make a difference in life. I have personally found that leaders can effectively do this by building teams upon the following nine faith-based Make It Happen team values:

1. Make It Happen people possess a positive Make It Happen attitude
2. Make It Happen people are led by servant leaders
3. Make It Happen people are service enthusiasts
4. Make It Happen people take calculated risks in the pursuit of excellence
5. Make It Happen people work extremely hard and have lots of fun
6. Make It Happen people invest and participate in training and development
7. Make It Happen people celebrate individual and team accomplishments with abundance mentality
8. Make It Happen people foster a safe environment of teamwork and mutual respect
9. Make It Happen people are professionals

Building teams on a foundation of Make It Happen team values will help create an environment where people can flourish and make it happen in life, being all that God created them to be, and doing their part to fulfill the vision and mission of their team. Thanks and have a blessed day!