Take Position

1/6/16-Take Position

(As I sat on the sofa sipping tea this morning this is what The Lord spoke to my spirit.)

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I will stand against the armies of my foe. I will not bend or break no matter what is thrown.

Victory lies within the heart of the strong...triumph lies within the courageous one.

No longer will I watch while innocence is denied...no longer will I choose to sit on the sidelines.

My flesh resists while my heart knows what to do...Lord help me to push through.

The boiling of a nation has caused the impurities to rise. Lord help me be one that helps the world recognize.

It will take thousands of armies of ONE to UNITE. Are you willing to FIGHT?

Time to Armor Up & familiarize yourself again with the only weapon that will win this war...WORDS offered as an incense in prayer to God...that is where defeat will meet victory and be crushed.

Calling all the armies of one to take position on your knees and release the incense of unity in our words to the heavenlies.

As we become a unified brigade on our knees that is when we will hear the sweet whisper of the Lord say..."Now watch and see what I AM going to do because of you."

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"Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Matthew 10:16

Perspective

1/5/16-Perspective

This morning as I was still in my pajamas and my daughter was headed off to the orthodontist I get a text that says…”PICK UP YOUR PHONE”. Apparently my phone was on vibrate and I did not hear it the first 5 TIMES SHE CALLED.

I get on the phone and I hear…”Mom, my car died in the middle of the road.”

No parent likes to hear that…so I throw some yoga pants on (like that is any better than pajamas..lol) and head her way.

A wonderful man named Ryan stopped to help us. He had a portable battery charger and it was just what we needed to get the car into a parking lot. He was definitely God sent!

Claudia made it to her orthodontist appointment a little late and then made it to school during second hour.

You may be asking yourself; what does this story have to do with PERSPECTIVE?

Let me share…

It would have been easy to get all bent out of shape over the car dying. After all, it’s frustrating, inconvenient and as far as cars go…usually a bit pricy to fix.

However, in that moment I said to myself…it’s just a car and Claudia wasn’t hurt or trapped or lost. You see, the last couple months of 2015 I saw a family lose their 19 year old amazing son to suicide. I saw a marriage of 34 years experience the …”til death do us part” come to pass. I saw children lose a parent, and a community rally around families who lost their 17 and 18 year old son’s in a car accident; and then tonight I learn of a 15 year old that chose to end his life a few days ago.

That my friends offers PERSPECTIVE…Things Don’t Matter, People Do!

So, in 2016 when life throws unexpected curve balls my hopes are we will know that if those curve balls are about money, cars, houses, jobs, and any other THING…we will choose to be thankful because in the end…Things Don’t Matter, People Do!

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
 

Action Speaks

1/4/16-Action Speaks

Several years ago I was at a graduation party where I had 2 separate individuals ask me the same question..."how do you get your kids to volunteer so much." I was a bit puzzled, because I thought the answer was obvious..."because we do." Both parties sighed and in that moment I believed they realized our actions speak louder than our words...and their actions were a big piece in why volunteering wasn't a part of their kids lives.

What are your actions speaking to the world around you?

Do your actions speak humility or arrogance? Appreciation or entitlement? Thankfulness or dissatisfaction?

I realize my actions don't always speak what I would like them too; however, if I rise each morning doing my best I would expect more often than not my actions would speak volumes of good things!

Begin with action and leave good intentions behind...after all good intentions never changed anybody's world.

"Entitlement will disappear and be replaced with compassion when we choose to serve the world around us." DMM

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. " 1 Peter 3:8

Opinions

1/3/16-Opinions

My opinion is just that...an opinion. When I give my opinion my words are truly meant to benefit the one I'm speaking to...but my opinion may in fact not benefit the recipient.

I heard this phrase many years ago and LOVE it...'your opinion and the truth are not necessarily the same thing.' Now that is TRUTH!

Another life lesson I have learned over the years is this...I have an opinion, it's mine, and in most cases others really aren't interested in hearing it. Of course, I wish I would have learned that decades ago!

I have now come to say this phrase quite often. "I have an opinion on this (situation/topic/issue), if you want to hear it let me know."

When I say that phrase to my kids...RARELY do they want to know my opinion...friends and family...sometimes:)

We need to remember that an opinion is usually based on feelings and our perception of facts...so there is ABSOLUTELY no guarantee that my opinion will add value...because my perception could be skewed and feelings LIE!

So, I will continue my best to keep my opinions to myself in conversations; however, as far as this blog is concerned...it is free game for my OPINIONS!

You have been warned:)

"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." Matthew 15:11

Measuring Up

1/2/2016-Measuring Up

What measuring stick do you use to validate your worth? Is it the measuring stick your spouse holds?? Or is it the one that your children wave about? Do you strive to measure up based on the measuring stick your friend's are holding or perhaps the one that those you admire carry with them?

I find the more we try to ‘measure up’ the more we end up being torn down. The more value we put in what others think causes us to shrink.

Is that what our society has become? A bunch of fragmented people trying to measure up on others yard sticks? Why do we so desperately want to be valued by what others deem valuable? We’ve become a world striving to become what we aren’t and as a result never becoming who we were created to be.

If you are so busy trying to measure up to your neighbor’s view of value will you ever find joy in the value you offer?

My desire for 2016 is that people would stop looking at the outside world to find their place and would begin to search within themselves. God has given each person unique gifts and talents and we need to start focusing on those.

There is a phrase I have heard that I think will help us understand…”If a fish spent its whole life striving to walk it would die believing it was a failure.” Stop striving to be something you’re not…start striving to be everything you are. You are valuable because God put breath into your lungs…you are significant because there is truly NONE like you.

Throw away the measuring sticks of the past and start this new year out by valuing who you are…God created you with purpose and passion…begin living that out!

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well”.   Psalm 139: 13-14

Excellence > Perfection

1/1/2016 – Excellence>Perfection

Today you will find many blogs kicking off the New Year with a well polished article that for some has been a labor of love for months. Heads up…that is not me!

I don’t want to be a person of perfection; I want to be a Person of Excellence. Perfection cripples while Excellence empowers!

I have come to the conclusion in my 48 years of life on this earth that the human race is not polished and when we try to present ourselves as polished and perfect we rob ourselves of the authentic us and we mislead people and cause them to want to ‘measure up’ to our façade of perfection.

I say NO MORE to that!

Hi! My name is Dawn Mahoney…I am flawed, imperfect and unpolished and I want the world to know it’s okay to be that way. Embrace your imperfections, embrace your flaws – chances are the things you think are flawed are the very things that inspire others.

Be the Best you!

“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14

2016: The Year of LOVE

12/30/15

Do you ever find that sometimes the hardest commitments to keep are to yourself? For me I seem to follow through on all the commitments I make to others, but then fall short on the commitments I make to myself…honestly, that’s just sad. Or worse yet…I seem to fall short on the commitments I make to God. I am very thankful for His mercy and grace that covers my shortcomings!

God had impressed upon me this Fall that 2016 is The Year of Love. You may ask what that looks like…it’s rather simple; show love to everyone you come in contact with. In many cases love could be merely eye contact and a smile. It may be picking up something that a person dropped or helping someone put their groceries in the car when it’s raining outside. It may be sitting with a friend in the emergency room when their family is out of town or shoveling the neighbor’s driveway. It may be playing a game with your kids or paying for someone’s coffee. Love can be shown in so many ways…and I believe we all do it multiple times a day…however, I believe God wants us to be more aware of it in 2016 and do our best to show it to strangers as much as we show it to loved ones.

One way I show love is by spreading encouragement & hope through the You Are Campaign. It’s simple, it’s easy to do and it lets people know they are SIGNIFICANT. If you’d like to join the You Are Campaign you can order cards on this site. If you would like to experience the Power of the You Are Campaign you can text your name and mailing address to 952-237-8289 and I will send you a card.

Let us all choose to show more love and compassion in 2016 and watch how God uses that to touch people around the world.

You are SIGNIFICANT and you have a PURPOSE. I believe in the BEAUTY that is within your heart and I TRUST God is going to let that BEAUTY shine in profound ways in 2016!

“The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

A Life of Purpose

What does your voice say about you? How loud are you when you're silent? I believe my voice can only do two things...it can either lift up or tear down...& its done plenty of both over my life. I am hopeful that the last decade or two my voice has done more healing than harming.

What is our legacy to the world? What really matters?  What is the purpose planted in our heart? Why does it seem most search a lifetime for purpose and many never truly find it?

What is my purpose for being? What is the value I add? I imagine those are questions many have asked...I think I can help direct you to where you need to be.

What energizes you? What can you do over and over and over and not get bored or burdened with? What do you love? Answering those 3 questions is a great start to understanding your purpose.

Know that living out your purpose isn't your job or occupation...your purpose involves your impact upon the world around you...that's right! Your purpose involves people...your purpose does not involve things. You may doubt that statement thinking well, Alexander Graham Bell developed the phone and that's a 'thing'. I would argue that the telephone wasn't his purpose, his purpose was to connect PEOPLE like they've never been connected before. The phone was DEFINITELY part of the plan, but far from his PURPOSE.

We need to get our eyes off of things to understand our ultimate purpose is people...what gifts and talents has God given us to touch people? To benefit people? To inspire people?

So my belief is that EVERYONE'S purpose is to impact people...how we each do that is dramatically different; however, that is our purpose.

Question: What's my purpose
Answer: Impact people

Isn't it FABULOUS that you now know your purpose!? Next step...figuring out what that looks like for you:)

A WORK IN PROGRESS

Work In PROGRESS!!

For most of my life I have been a person who would want things completed before I started them. You may be thinking…That’s not even possible…oh, but it is…let me explain.

I would get everything done before I would show the world what I was doing. It was easy for me to make everything look good ‘behind the scenes’…and then voila…perfection in the presentation. I would have to say this quality has been more of a hindrance in my life than a strength. Many times I would choose not to ever let my ‘projects’ be seen because to me they weren’t complete yet…that may be the reason I have struggled with starting things and never truly finishing them.

Well…today for the first time in my life I am choosing to embrace that I am a “WORK IN PROGRESS”…that being said…a work in progress can let the world see imperfection along the journey, a work in progress understands there will be set backs and detours, but that forward motion still happens. As a work in progress I am becoming okay with letting the world see my struggles as I navigate the journey the Lord has called me to. I hope by being more vulnerable and authentic in my journey…it will give permission to others to do the same.

We are all WORKS IN PROGRESS…and that’s okay!

My biggest challenge currently is the web site for therevolutionpaper.com. I had everything set up on one site and was ‘comfortable’ with it…then a friend said I really needed a site where I could easily do commerce (aka sell things)…so, she was SO KIND to get things set up for me and spent many hours doing it…I am thankful:) However, I now have many ‘to do’ items to add to the site...and honestly, it is not my gifting – so I have been dragging my feet. I didn’t want people going to a site that wasn’t ‘complete’...and in all honesty is anything in life ever really complete…I think it is all a work in progress!!

So, I am humbly coming out to the world as a….WORK IN PROGRESS!!! I am not always shiny and polished and well spoken. I am not always put together and knowledgeable, and I am definitely NOT complete!!! I am a WORK IN PROGRESS, please join me on this journey …embrace where you have come from and embrace where the good Lord is leading you…along the journey of progress we all can experience life. It’s about being okay with the authentic you and being okay with the world seeing you in PROGRESS.

Stop back at therevolutionpaper.com weekly. I will be 'progressing' as time goes. I will be adding things and getting the 'buy' tab up and running. I will be writing randomly with some topics being short and some long, some a paragraph and others a series. I am being open to whatever thoughts pop into my head and I am trusting God to write those things through me where they can be understood…and even if they’re not understood that’s okay…after all, I am a work in progress!

Sometimes OBEDIENCE looks like this...

What does obedience look like to you??

One of my desires for several years has been to be obedient to the things the Lord asks me to do immediately vs delaying.

The Lord use to have to prepare me to be obedient…He would start dropping thoughts into my spirit a year or 2 ahead of when He actually needed me to act on them. How sad is that?!? (and truth be told, I didn't always act)Then my time frame started to get shorter…it would take me 6 months to act on things the Lord was instructing me to do. He knew I’d take this long so He worked with me…Thank You Jesus for that!!

Over the past year, by the grace of God, I have gotten SO much closer to immediate obedience in many areas…not all…but many.

…and now again I find myself in a place of obedient action! Most often I don’t realize the significance or impact of what I’m to do, but I know there is definitely significance to it…if there wasn’t, The Lord would not give me the action item!

My most recent instructions came this past Sunday (6/28/15) during worship at church. In a vision I saw, what appeared to be paper airplanes with words written on them flying from Minnesota to every state of the USA. After I saw that a thought dropped into my spirit…”Send a ‘You Are’ card to the governor of each state.”

(For those of you not familiar with the You Are Campaign…it is a campaign of encouragement through the written word. You can read more about it on the “You Are Campaign” Tab)

The cards are ready to go! They are addressed, stamped and have been prayed over! I am believing that God will bless each person that touches and reads these cards as they go on their journey to each governor.

One person by themselves has a challenging time making a difference; however, one person partnered with the Holy Spirit can be a BIG piece in changing the culture of our world!

Take time to partner with The Holy Spirit…it will change your life!

God has given use the ability to be light in darkness…what is your purpose and where do you let that light shine?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 (NIV)

If you feel led to lift up our nations Governors click the link below for the list of United States Governors...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_governors