{"id":259,"date":"2010-08-08T04:56:55","date_gmt":"2010-08-08T09:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/?p=259"},"modified":"2017-08-12T20:42:44","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T01:42:44","slug":"let-your-life-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/08\/let-your-life-speak\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Your Life Speak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bridget Haymond is founder and principal of Truth For Life Coaching and Communications in Charlotte, NC.\u00a0 She is a Certified Leadership Coach through the AACC. \u00a0By combining her biblical and theological training with her life coach training, she motivates, collaborates and inspires her clients toward intentional, purposeful living. Described as insightful, practical, positive and witty by those whom she influences, Bridget helps those who desire to maximize their unique gifts, talents and abilities, both personally and professionally. You can find Bridget on twitter<\/a> or read more by clicking on this link for her life coaching blog.<\/p>\n

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Let Your Life Speak<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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When I think about the power of our everyday lives, I think about the book of Esther.\u00a0 The book of Esther is unique in that the name of God is not mentioned.\u00a0 And yet it is undeniable that God was at work through the lives of the beautiful orphan Esther and her uncle Mordecai.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake about it, Esther was not merely chosen for her physical beauty.\u00a0 There was an inner beauty that reflected God\u2019s character and presence in her life.\u00a0 It radiated through Esther, and king Ahasuerus was captivated by her.<\/p>\n

What is so amazing is that Esther and Mordecai were people who simply lived out their faith as part of their everyday lives in very practical ways.\u00a0 They honored their beliefs and values while living in a foreign land that had very different beliefs.\u00a0 Mordecai was praised for his wisdom and ultimately placed second in command to king Ahasuerus.\u00a0 The way Esther and Mordecai lived their lives reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:<\/p>\n

<\/a>“Preach the Gospel at all times and<\/strong> when necessary use words.”\u2014 Francis Of Assisi<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve probably all seen Christians who in their desire to preach the gospel of the kingdom have been a little over zealous and inadvertently turned people off to the Christian life.\u00a0 And the truth is that people don\u2019t want to be just another jewel in your evangelizing crown.\u00a0 Any insincerity in Esther\u2019s motives would have shown right through.\u00a0 So how can we preach without using words, but letting our lives speak instead?\u00a0 Here are some ideas:<\/p>\n

Be kind<\/strong> \u2013 never underestimate the power of a smile and a sincere interest in someone else.<\/p>\n

Be loving<\/strong> \u2013 always remember that it is impossible to represent Jesus without being loving.<\/p>\n

Be curious<\/strong> \u2013 Jesus was always interested in what other people thought.\u00a0 He regularly asked questions of others.<\/p>\n

Be authentic<\/strong> \u2013 unlike the pretentious Pharisees, Jesus was always real, and that is why others were drawn to him.<\/p>\n

Be understanding<\/strong> \u2013 as you learn the story of their life, your understanding will generate more compassion for them.<\/p>\n

Letting your life speak is about dispelling the lie of perfect Christians.\u00a0 We all walk with a limp and our willingness to be real about it makes us more approachable.\u00a0 Admit your mistakes and let others see your growth and change.\u00a0 Your humility, sincerity and kindness will be a real magnet for others and give them hope that God really will accept them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I think about the power of our everyday lives, I think about the book of Esther. The book of Esther is unique in that the name of God is not mentioned. And yet it is undeniable that God was at work through the lives of the beautiful orphan Esther and her uncle Mordecai. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2379],"tags":[5937,2258,5938,2266,2264,2242,2265,2259,1762,2263,2267,2256,2257,2255,1754,2260,2261,1750,197,1755],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archived","category-guest","tag-aacc","tag-book-of-esther","tag-bridget","tag-charlotte-nc","tag-everyday-lives","tag-favorite-quotes","tag-francis-of-assisi","tag-gospel-of-the-kingdom","tag-haymond","tag-inner-beauty","tag-jewel","tag-king-ahasuerus","tag-leadership-coach","tag-life-coach-training","tag-life-coaching","tag-name-of-god","tag-physical-beauty","tag-truth-for-life","tag-twitter","tag-unique-gifts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}