He Perfects

So, we are into the first week after the launch of my website & blog, and to be honest, I am just trying to figure out what this looks like!! Lately, my writing has been confined to the limited characters on Instagram, or free-form journaling in my many journals, or "LONG-winded" texts to friends, endless thoughts & devotional excerpts on my iphone "notes"-- so now I have a space and platform to write, but I'm sort of feeling at a loss. I have so many things on my heart, but where do I start? How many times a week should I post or write on this blog? Leading up to launch, I was writing at least once, if not multiple times a day! So part of this post is to ask.... how often would you like to hear from me? What are the things most weighing on your heart that you'd like to be encouraged about? Truly, I want to know!!! I'm here to serve you and help build a safe space of community and encouragement. Please, please let me know what you think! Reply to this post, send me a message, send me a text, leave a comment! 

When I quickly decided to launch this blog, I was doing out of obedience to where the Lord was leading me. I shared that when excellence is taken to far it can lead to perfection. In order to prevent, & simplify we must ask the question of "when is 'good enough' good enough?" This convicted and prompted me to move forward with the launch (with little planning) knowing that it was "good enough" and letting the Lord move! 

Tonight my husband and I read from "Grace for the Moment" our devotion that we have started doing in the evenings, "dinner & devotion." It was literally titled "Perfected".... just what I needed! The devotion had scriptures from Hebrews 10 and talked about the way that JESUS PERFECTS, it is not of our doing. 

"For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”" Hebrews 10:14-17

"Underline the word perfect. Note that the word is not better. Not improving. Not on the upswing. God doesn't improve; he perfects. He doesn't enhance; he completes..... Now I realize that there's a sense in which we're imperfect. We still err. We still stumble. We still do exactly what we don't want to do. And that part of us is, according to the verse, "being made holy." But when it comes to our position before God, we're perfect. When he sees each of us, he sees one who has been made perfect through the ONE who is perfect-- Jesus Christ." - Excerpt from 'Grace for the Moment' by Max Lucado

So tonight, I'm really letting that truth sink in. Jesus alone perfects us, we are perfected by Him. There is nothing we can do to add or takeaway. When it comes to anything else and striving for perfection, (our writing, work, relationships, homes, families, etc etc etc) it doesn't matter or even compare to the way the Jesus perfects us and completes us. We are made perfect through the ONE who is perfect. Also notice Hebrews 10:16, which is actually cross referenced from Jeremiah 31:33! The Lord puts the law, HIS WORD, in our hearts, and writes them on our minds. You see, this is also part of the heart refining process, letting God's truth be written on our hearts as we are being made holy, more into His image. Yes, Jesus does the perfecting in our hearts and minds.

So let me ask you this question, where have you taken excellence to far to perfection? And where do you need to let "good enough" be good enough? I am truly stepping into this whole blog thing by Letting Go and LETTING GOD, trusting Him to do the work, let HIM give me the words, this too is a refining process of my own heart!

Ask . Seek . Knock

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Matthew‬ ‭7:7-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When we seek, ask, knock in prayer, we can trust that He hears us and answers prayer. When we ASK, it is given & we receive, when we SEEK, we find, when we KNOCK, doors are opened. Now our prayers may not always be answered in the way we want or in the way we thought things would work out, but He certainly hears our prayers and knows what we need before we even ask. Yet, so often we have not because we ask not.  God is all knowing and His knowledge & understanding surpasses our human timelines and knowledge. He truly does answer our prayers in the most beautiful ways, even if His answer is a "no" or "not yet," even still He might have something better in mind. We must diligently seek the Lord, daily, opening our hearts before Him.

“But before we can receive the blessing, we must rely on God’s infinite help. We must be willing to let go, surrendering completely to Him, and cease from our own wisdom, strength, and righteousness. We must be “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20) and yet alive in Him. God knows how to lead us to the point of crisis, and He knows how to lead us through it. Is God leading you in this way? Is this the meaning of your mysterious trial, your difficult circumstances, your impossible situation, or that trying place you cannot seem to move past without Him? But do you have enough of Him to win the victory? Then turn to God! Throw yourself helplessly at His feet. Die in His loving arms to your own strength and wisdom, and rise like Jacob into His strength and sufficiency.” -Excerpt from 'Streams in the Desert' by LBE Cowman

I just keep realizing over and over how it's His grace that makes us right, makes us whole, redeems us, and in time of need, equips us and gives us strength. In all circumstances, even when we are weak, we can come to him in prayer, surrendering at his feet, asking, seeking, knocking -- and like Jacob rise into the LORD's strength and sufficiency. He hears our prayers and knows the desires of our hearts. His power alone strengthens us. His grace is sufficient. 

"but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough--always available--regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your]weakness.” Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me. -2 Corinthians 12:9 AMP

Rest in this truth tonight, my friends!

Launch Day, Sharing My Heart

As you can see, my new website & blog launched today! I can hardly believe it!! This has been a vision for over 3 years and today is the first BIG step into that reality!!! The Lord has directed my steps every step of the way and I'm so grateful! I'm in awe with how he's moved this week leading my vision and bringing the final touches to the website! I'm SO GRATEFUL for all of your excitement, love, prayers & encouragement this week! I pray that the Lord will continue to speak through me and that He might bless you in the process! 

“I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].” -PHILIPPIANS‬ ‭1:6‬ ‭

Refined Heart Living means to live in such a way to continually be refined in heart and refine others, in order to live better and more boldly for the Lord, our families, friends & customers- those we live with, work with and those we get to love & serve daily.

I want the Refined Heart Blog to be a place where you can sit down and have a cup of coffee. To read the blog and be encouraged either in spirit, in heart or in truth, in life, business or in faith. I want to share my heart, my stories and create a safe space of community while encouraging women and refining hearts to live well - right where they are - for not just the kingdom of God, but for those we get to serve and interact with on a daily basis. It's about offering grace to ourselves & each other, but most importantly, it's about HIS grace poured out, refining us more into His image daily.

I read this quote tonight and couldn't help to praise God for the truth and beauty in this. "There are no good or bad days with God – just grace days. Days where he gives you grace to endure and days where he gives you grace to enjoy." Indeed. "He gives more grace" (James 4:6), "grace upon grace" (John 1:16) in the seemingly 'good or bad,' but really it's His grace that cares for us and carries us through all things.

Also, huge thank you to my new sweet friend @prettysimpleprint who beautifully & elegantly designed my new logo!!! She did it all this week, like within 1 day, and she was incredible to work with, such a sweetheart!!! Check out her page! I've been soaking in all of His goodness & grace today, giving Him all the glory!

Meditation of My Heart

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” -Psalm‬ ‭19:14‬ ‭

This has been my anthem last few days. I work for the Lord and He has been first place in my mind and my heart. All of this work on my website & Blog is Kingdom work, in my mind, all to please Him and bring Him Glory! I have had clear tangible goals and I have been motivated by the Lord to bring Him glory, walking in obedience to His call. Daily I keep asking the Lord, give me the words! It has all been challenging and refining! But honestly things just keep coming to me, my vision has become more clear because I have been walking in step with Him, all praise to Jesus! 

I truly was a little scared stepping into this whole idea of launching this Friday (aka TODAY, or in the morning at least) but I've been reminded that His perfect love drives out fear. I've continued to press into Him and somehow everything is ready to go, and I'm drawing the line at "good enough," because I truly feel it is & I'm praying it will be a blessing!

Refined Heart of Gold

“But He knows the way that I take [and He pays attention to it]. When He has tried me, I will come forth as [refined] gold [pure and luminous].” -JOB‬ ‭23:10‬ ‭AMP‬‬

We often hear the phrase "refine by fire." Gold goes through a refining process by fire that removes impurities. So when someone says, "you have a heart of gold" I can't help but think of the refining process that someone's heart has been through. The Lord knows the way we take, He sees every step, He pays attention and loves is so much. There are things in our lives- circumstances, challenges, relationships that "try" us, and even still God uses it all for good. We will come forth as refined gold! This is another verse that has brought me inspiration to the name Refined Heart Living. 

Refined Heart Living: Behind the Name

Refined Heart Living: Where did the name come from and what does it mean?

I started using the hashtag #RefinedHeart back in 2014 when I was living in Portland,OR. I had traveled to some tulip fields in April by myself and spent time wandering, praying, & reflecting. It was a week after Easter and Luke 24:32 kept running through my mind "They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” I thought about Jesus coming to these men after the resurrection and the way their hearts were burning, He had opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and had left them with a fervency for the word. I can recall reading a passage from @Shereadstruth saying "Do we continue down the road as a different person because we walk with Jesus?" I kept thinking about how God uses challenges to help us grow- through our weakness we are made strong through Christ's power and grace (2 Corinthians 12:9) We can come boldly to Jesus with our challenges and prayers knowing that He walks with us and knows our prayers before we even ask. So this was the start of documenting the refining of my own heart through the word, my circumstances and the way that God continued to move over the last several years. 

 I have always had such a passion for writing and journaling, but slowly I began to see that the Lord had something bigger in mind and that I needed to start writing and sharing more of my heart. Around the same time (April 2014) I had started a blog LightLoveLauren. Then, early this year I started contemplating a new name for my blog and now business (even though I didn't know it then). I have continued to use the phrase and have documented my own refining through #refinedheart. I started thinking through a new name for the blog and my website and the Lord just put on my heart "Refined Heart Living"-- living in such a way that is a reflection of that refining.

Now before I lose you completely, while my writing is often spiritual and my original intent in "Refined Heart" was spiritual, I do feel that Refined Heart Living is also secular. To be refined means to remove impurities or unwanted elements from a substance or process- this is often seen in gold, oil, or can even be in our own hearts by God's word, or simply by the encouragement of friends, feedback from a boss, or even from challenging experiences we go through. We often hear the phrase "refine by fire" because that is how impurities are removed from Gold. So when someone says, "you have a heart of gold" I can't help but think of the refining process that someone's heart has been through. 

“But He knows the way that I take [and He pays attention to it]. When He has tried me, I will come forth as [refined] gold [pure and luminous].” -JOB‬ ‭23:10‬ ‭AMP‬‬ The Lord knows the way we take, He sees every step, He pays attention and loves is so much. There are things in our lives- circumstances, challenges, relationships that "try" us, and even still God uses it all for good. We will come forth as refined gold!

From a business standpoint refine means to develop or improve so as to be precise or subtle "building up a more refined profile of the customer's needs." Refined can also mean to improve something by making small changes in particular to make an idea, theory, perfect, polish up, hone, fine tune. It also means to be elegant and cultured in appearance, manner, taste.  Some synonyms include cultivated, cultured, polished, styled, elegant, sophisticated, well mannered, gracious, polite, discerning, fine.

To me, Refined Heart Living means to live in such a way to continually refine and be refined in heart to live better and more boldly for the Lord, our families, friends, customers- those we live with, work with and those we get to love and serve on a daily basis.

Why I Decided to Launch My Website & Blog This Week

You might be wondering why all of a sudden I decided that I'm going to launch the Refined Heart Living website & blog this week on FRIDAY? I attended the Global Leadership Summit last week which left me feeling so fired up & encouraged. The summit encouraged us to take time to reflect on our notes and create an action plan, to lead a life worthy of our calling for we have been called by God (Ephesians 4:1). As I was reflecting, one of the things I felt so convicted on was that I need to launch my website & blog this week and felt in my heart that maybe even this Friday!

One session of my notes from Juliet Funt was on creating strategic pauses in our days "white space" to allow room for innovation, strategy, reflection, creativity- the oxygen that helps fan that spark into a flame (Refined Heart!) She mentioned 4 thieves of productivity, all things innate in our character but when taken too far can steal from productivity. One of the thieves that resonated with me was excellence. When excellence is taken to far it can lead to perfection. In order to prevent, create white space, and simplify we must ask the question of "when is 'good enough' good enough?" This convicted and prompted me to move forward with the launch (with little planning) 

I've been working on my website & blog for a few months, the vision keeps unfolding but I know it will be continually evolving as the Lord continues to reveal things and refine my heart in the process. Perhaps what convicted me the most though was the question, "Who am I missing out on blessing by not pressing go and waiting till it's perfect and EXACTLY how I want vs just saying "good enough" and letting the Lord move!" So I'm like okay let's do this, Lord. I'm hoping to continue to make a few changes this week, build some momentum on social media including sharing my heart & vision and then on Friday PRESS GO, and accept that it's "good enough." To fully Let Go and LET GOD, trusting Him to do the work. Practicing grace not perfection here! 

 

Refined Heart Blog Vision

I want Refined Heart Living to be a place where you can sit down and have a cup of coffee. To read the blog and be encouraged either in spirit, in heart or in truth, in life, business or in faith. I want to share my heart, my stories and create a safe space of community to encourage women, refining hearts to live well for not just the kingdom of God but for those we get to serve and interact with on a daily basis. 

Beautiful engagement photo by This Lovely Light. A big thanks to my now sweet husband (sitting right by my side) who has been my biggest supporter, encourager, believer, advisory board, prayer partner, steady and calm in my crazy & best friend.

Website & Blog Launch Announcment

Exciting News & Announcement! Official LAUNCH date for the all new Refined Heart Living website & blog will be THIS FRIDAY, August 18th! 

Refined Heart has been a vision of mine since I was living in Portland, Oregon 3 years ago. It has continued to grow and evolve, in ways I never expected to Refined Heart Living earlier this year. I'm so excited and expectant to see what God will do. I'll be sharing more of my heart and vision this week leading up to the launch! Thanks for being here and for your support and joining me on this journey! God writes the best stories!

Global Leadership Summit- Key Takeaways

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians‬ ‭3:23-24‬ ‭

I had the opportunity to attend the Global Leadership Summit last week on Thurs & Fri hosted at Lima Community Church. It was truly an incredible experience and so very timely on the Lord's part for me. There was so much truth, encouragement, practical skills & wisdom, leaving me with so much conviction. And I might have filled every page in this GLS notebook!  I'm fired up and left with so much I want to take and move forward with. It was a perfect reminder of who I am and WHOSE I am- not defined by our past but can walk forward confidently with hearts Refined in the image of God to step forward boldly & courageously into all that he's called us to. So it's Monday and how does all of this help me to move forward differently? 

A Few Takeaways:
Be expectant. Lead with humility. Respect everyone always. Plant leadership seeds & gratitude for those who planted them in you. Find joy & give gratitude. Show up. Be direct & truthful in communication. Have vulnerability, transparency and trust. We are closer to God when we are creative. We can be hopeful. Be a student and not a critic, have open mind & open eyes. Give your work meaning.

The last session from the Summit was on fear, as leaders we should not be afraid and let fear hold us back from actually DOING what we've learned. So this week name your fears, switch from defense to offense and surround yourself with a community that helps fill you with courage (from Gary Haugen) because it's love that drives our dreams and HIS PERFECT LOVE drives out fear. We work for the Lord and not man so we should be filled with joy and take heart & courage just as Jesus commanded. What are the fears that hold you back? What can you step into this week boldly to reach for your dreams?

Remember you are far better than you think you are, have more than you think you have, and can do more than you think you can. Be brave, embrace & fulfill what God has for you as a leader From Sam Adeyemi