Ricsha Kinard

No Regrets

I shared with the ladies this morning at "Ladies First" this powerful Scripture - 

2 Corinthians 7:10 - "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and 

                                     leaves no regret..."

and then I posed this question: 

"How do you know when true repentance has taken place in your life?"

I won't get into all the details, but I'll share this tidbit with you - You look for a mind change, a heart change and a lifestyle change. If you see all of these happening when it comes to dealing with sin, you are operating in God's definition of repentance. The Hebrew word for repent is "shuwb" (pronounced "shoob") and means "return to the starting point." When it comes to true repentance, God calls us to turn away from our sin, and to return to THE starting point - Him as our first love. 

The last portion of 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, "...but worldly sorrow leads to death."

If we allow wordly sorrow to overtake us when it comes to our faults and failures, we will stay depressed, miserable and in failure-mode. Only Godly sorrow over our sin leads to TRUE repentance - which leads to salvation - and gives us a life of NO REGRETS! 

Stick With It

Allie Grace (my 6 year old) started her first class of "dramastics" tonight - otherwise known as "gymnastics" to the rest of us. She has been talking about this day for weeks and is so excited, it's crazy! Tonight she learned how to do a back-bend, so needless to say, every time I look at her she's bent all up on the floor perfecting it a little more with each bend. The instructor at her class encouraged us to let her try  a class in dance and a class in cheerleading so she could figure out what she likes best. When David asked her if she'd like to do that, she answered, "Nah. I just wanna stick with 'dramastics,' Dad." I think my daughter is wise beyond her years. How many times do we, as adults, dabble "a little in this" and "a little in that" and never really stick with one thing that we can really become good at? Our lives become so overcrowded and so busy that we often miss our opportunities to excel. I read a great book a while back called Soar With Your Strengths and it encourages people to find what you're good at and work to be the best at it. So here's the "million dollar question" : What are you good at? Are you working to become the best at it or are you dabbling around with one class of cheerleading; one class of dance; one class of this; one class of that?  

As for Allie Grace, I see a bright future ahead of her when it comes to "dramastics"...mostly because she's already decided to stick with it.

Leadership Lesson

I don't think I've anticipated something so much in a loooong time! After hearing from Cal about how stoked he is following his time away, I can't wait for Access and next Sunday! I love when God speaks clearly and gives us something to wrap our hearts around. After the last Pastors' retreat, I told Cal I appreciate so much a vision given with no apologies and no back-doors. As I told him on the day we returned, "Lead me like that, and I'll follow all day long." Thinking about that makes me take a long, hard look at my own leadership - Am I that kind of leader? Do I cast vision with no apologies, no back-doors, and inspire people to follow? One thing is for sure - Jesus was this kind of leader. He had a singular mission (as Sean talked about today) and didn't offer excuses, and sometimes didn't even offer explanations! He was the greatest inspirational leader of all time causing men and women alike to leave everything familiar and follow Him. My prayer for myself right now is that I would be that kind of leader - one that shakes people to the core and moves them to leave behind the familiar. We're all leaders in our own right, so knowing that, what is your greatest prayer concerning your leadership right now? 

Happy Hour

Don't you LOVE "Happy Hour" at Sonic? All drinks are half-price from 2 til 5 and I am getting ready to head there for a HUGE Diet Coke!! It's funny...every time I drink a Sonic Diet Coke, it makes my head stop hurting and I have a whopper of a headache right now. Maybe it's the crushed ice...or the caffeine..or the fact that it only costs like 50 cents!!! Whatever it is - I can't wait to get there!

Finally...

Wow! I haven't done this in a while, so forgive me if I'm rusty! I've had to take a break so that I could give some important areas of my life some much-needed attention. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! So now I'm composing this on a Wednesday morning, and most of "my ladies" are still here at "Ladies First" praying together, crying, sharing and encouraging one another to be humble - totally dependant on God for EVERYTHING! I'm stuck in Ephesians right now - especially chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 4, verse 2 tells us to "be humble and gentle." What I realized is that when we totally depend on God for everything (humility), gentleness is a byproduct! I'm learning this the hard way, but I'm so thankful that God's Word is so clear about His expectations and His desires - There's no guessing! He simply says, "Be humble and gentle." I love simplicity, don't you?

So for the next few weeks, we're going to dissect Ephesians 4:2, 3. It's going to be quite an adventure! Next week, I'm going to share my testimony, so if you can make it, come and bring a friend! It'll be me on a stool, cup of coffee in hand, telling you about the second part of verse 2 - "Make allowances for one another's faults out of your love."  Hope to see you there!!!

Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Dragon

Last night we had "Movie Night at the Kinard's" and the kids got to choose....They picked "Pete's Dragon" and I didn't complain one minute! I LOVE that movie! My favorite scene is the one where Pete is telling Elliott (the dragon) that he had to make himself invisible so he wouldn't scare people. So Elliott thinks for a minute and then has an idea - He begins to make pieces of himself disappear, but not all. He starts with his wings and Pete says, "Nope." Then he makes his head disappear; Pete shakes his head. Then his tail is gone - same response. He even goes as far as making his head, arms, legs and tail disappear and all you see is his torso. Pete laughs out loud and then says, "I'm sorry, Elliott, but the whole thing has to go." Elliott makes a sound, and then disappears. As Pete walks down the road, you see him jump and know that Elliott has been behind him and gave him a swift kick in the pants! I love it!

I think I'm like Elliott. God starts dealing with me about some issues in my life and I get bright ideas to make some of it disappear, but not all of it. This is what I have come to learn in my life: Incomplete obedience is disobedience. When God gives us instruction in our life, we need to obey quickly and completely...and without an attitude! Even when we feel like kicking somebody in the butt because we don't get our way, we have to obey and do it with a happy heart! If we can get a hold of this truth, that's all we need to know!

UnRest

Do you ever get the feeling that something pretty signifcant is around the corner? That's the way I've been feeling for the past 48 hours. I only slept one hour on Sunday night and last night, I saw every "45" - 12:45, 1:45, 2:45....etc. I'm feeling a bit of "unrest" (no pun intended). I really feel like God is getting ready to shake some things up with me. As a matter of fact, I'm sure of it. He reminded me of His Word this morning that when the shaking starts, I can be confident that "out of His glorious, unlimited resources, He will give you the mighty inner strengthening of His Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 3:16). I think sometimes what I'm sensing God doing in my spirit gets manifested in the natural - hence, my literal unrest. I'm not satisfied with the status quo. I want to see my family go above and beyond the norm; I want my husband's dreams and visions to become realities; I want this ministry to go to new heights and depths and surpass any of our wildest dreams; I want (according to Ephesians 3:17) Christ to become more and more at home in my heart. If a little "agitation" is what it takes to accomplish His plan, I'm ready for it; If discontentment is what's needed to move me to the next level, I'm game. All I know is that it's TIME; I am purposing in my heart to go where God is going...no matter what!

My Excuse!

For all of you "blog nazis" out there, I want to go ahead and warn you...I'm going on vacation!! David and I leave this evening with the kids to go camping for 5 days! I'm looking forward to sitting down in a chair by the creek, no make-up on and my hair in a hat(!) and watching my kids play! We'll be back before Sunday, but this will be my last blog for probably a week! Hey...At least I warned you!

So I'll leave you with this deep thought before I depart...It's from the movie "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" which I highly recommend...

"Life is an occasion; rise to it!"

New Kid in Town!

Hey - If you get a chance, check out this website: www.wayfm.com. There's a new radio station coming to town on 100.9FM! They are going to play artists like TobyMac (yea!), P.O.D. (double-yea!) and Switchfoot (triple yea!). They're scheduled to launch on July 7th but you can hear a preview now if you tune in. Can't wait!

Gotta Share This...

I have to share this passage of Scripture with you - It's from The Living Bible and is bringing my heart and mind such peace today:

"...we Christians actually do have within us a portion 

of the very thoughts and mind of Christ."

I Corinthians 2:16c

I LOVE this translation! See - I am being faced with some pretty major decisions and having to come up with solutions and ideas on a minute-by-minute basis....It's what I do! But sometimes I find myself questioning decisions and thoughts and concepts. God has been reminding me over the past few days that I can trust the decisions I'm making as long as I'm staying connected to Him. If I'm connected, then I have within me "a portion of [His] very thoughts and mind"! There's a difference between trusting myself and relying on my own answers and being confident that my thoughts are coming from Christ because HIs mind is in me! 

If you're struggling today and questioning yourself on decisions, check your heart. If it's connected to God and you're seeking Him for answers, I pray that there would be a measure of peace that reigns in you to bring confidence. It's reigning in me today!