by Lucy | May 27, 2009 | biblical counseling |
BETH DEVELOPS Bible studies and shares what she has learned with hundreds of women. This is her heart’s passion.
Kim teaches Sunday school to preschoolers, showing them the love of God through simple Bible stories, songs and Jesus “tea parties.”
Deb has a decorative flair. She beautifies the worship center at Christmas and Easter, making it inviting to all who enter.
Tanya paints walls and ceilings as well as a professional. She helps her church in practical ways.
There are synonyms for “heart’s passion.” It has been called one’s burden and one’s calling. It is the thing that excites you and moves you to action.
When you know your heart’s passion, you will experience fulfillment because you’re joining God in the work he has for you.
Not sure of your calling? Reflect on these questions:
The one thing I’d change in the world would be:
_____________________
I’m drawn to help people who:
_____________________
Other Christians tell me I’m particularly good at:
_____________________
Now check the people groups or topics that tug at your heart:
____ homeless people
____ women who’ve had abortions
____ impoverished families
____ healthy marriages
____ rebellious youth
____ teen pregnancies
____ substance abusers
____ teaching others (what age? ___)
____ the elderly
____ young moms
____ the ill
____ women in emotional pain
____ praising God through song, drama or dance
____ praying for others
____ helping out wherever needed
____ writing to communicate God’s truth and love
____ using graphic arts to exalt God
____ making others feel welcome at church or in a home
____ prisoners
____ Other: _______________
If you still have questions about your calling, consider tough times in your life. Many people discover that God uses their past to help others. For instance, a woman whose parents had a difficult marriage or who divorced may have a heart’s passion to help children from broken families. Another woman whose father made the military his career may deeply desire to counsel wives of servicemen deal with loneliness.
Probably the best ways to discern your heart’s passion is trying a variety of ministry experiences and discover the ones in which you:
- Are the most fulfilled.
- Seem to be the most effective.
- Receive affirmation from other Christians.
You will discover your heart’s passion! And when you do: Watch out world!
Got a moment? Leave a comment and share your heart’s passion, so others who follow this blog may be encouraged! Thanks.
You Are Beautiful, Lucy
by Lucy | May 20, 2009 | biblical counseling
A not-so-funny thing happened in Blog-lala-land.
I had a nifty badge [note past tense] where you, my sweet sisters in Christ, could subscribe to this very blog for the Christian woman who want to change the world because Christ has changed them. How you changed the world isn’t the big deal, but that you proclaim the excellencies of Christ: through blogging, writing books, waiting on tables, cutting hair, heading a Fortune 500 corporation, whatever.
Well, guess what? In trying to inspire women to change their world because Christ has changed them, I discovered something nasty: My subscription service provider wasn’t letting you subscribe. Err.
So here’s one of my readers’ favorite posts [the readers came here via Twitter or Facebook] from March. If you sometimes read this blog, please subscribe. If you’re stumbling on it today, please subscribe. I need encouragement!!! Honest.
You’ll find the FeedBlitz subscribe box in two places.
I’m not taking any changes. Lesson learned.
Of course, if you are not a Christian or never plan to change your world, subscribe. Yeah, you heard me. Subscribe anyway. You just may someday. = )
I’ll zip my lips now. Here’s the original post:
A strange thing has happened in publishing. 
Authors are expected to sell their books. Writing itself scares my pants off – I love the process but am jittery to have “me” out there, if you know what I mean – but then I found out that I must help sell books by having a platform. Even scarier!
Platform? What’s that? And if I need one, how do I get one?
I first heard this term at a Christian writers’ conference in June. Every other person was buzzing about it. The writers, the editors, the agents – everyone.
Feeling stupid and bold, I asked a writer friend at the conference to put this word in context.
“It’s your built-in audience,” she chimed.
“Huh?” That was the best I could muster.
As I eavesdropped when editors chatted and read marketing materials once I returned home, I felt frustrated, confused and hopeful as I made the decision to build my platform.
What a change from the 1990s!
Back then, when my first three books were published, the publishing houses did the publicity and promotion for the books and we writers showed up to book signings and radio shows. Most important to selling books were one’s credentials and experience. So using this model – outdated but I didn’t know it – I enrolled in the pastoral care to women program at Western Seminary, Portland, Ore., and finished my online classes a year ago. Getting a seminary degree would certainly help me land another book deal, I had figured.
And it will. Credentials still matter. But a platform matters more.
I began to build it. First I worked with a webmaster to get a high-quality website. At the same time, I developed an online ezine called Cup of Joy. (I started with a couple dozen subscribers and now have more than 575 – in four months. . .it boggles my mind.) Then I got on Facebook and Twitter to make contacts with other writers and with potential book-buyers. Remember, this is marketing. I also discovered this wonderfully encouraging online place called Christian Women Take Root and met more people and made more connections.
Now I’m blogging. I have two blogs on my website: Real Hurts, Real Hope and The Sisterhood of Beautiful Warriors. I also have a blog called Counselors’ Coach that appears on the Christian Women Take Root website.
Together, all these contacts (and the ones on Facebook and Twitter as well as the women I meet at my speaking events) make up my platform, my built-in audience.
The reason why a platform matters to publishers is book-buying has changed. Years ago, most people bought books at bookstores; now a huge chunk (at least 50 percent) are sold online. When a writer has an online presence, she is more likely to get a book deal and sell books.
This is the way things are, like it or not.
Before I decided to do things the new way – i.e., get a platform. . .yesterday – I asked myself the most important question: What does God want me to do? I knew the answer in my heart.
You see, seven or eight years ago, God gave me a call: to offer the hope to Christian women who hurt and to the people who love them through counseling, speaking and writing. To reach many hurting Christian women, I must work with publishers in the Internet age.
And if this means building a platform, and spending more time on marketing than writing, I will.
You Are Beautiful, Lucy
by Lucy | May 19, 2009 | biblical counseling
Be the woman God wants you to be! 
-
Secure
-
Confident
-
At peace with Him
Yet the world pulls us down, doesn’t it? We each want godly families and marriages, a close walk with our Creator, and freedom from the junk: bad finances, addictions, sadness, fear, anxiety, loneliness.
Praise God that His Word is sufficient. Praise God that He can and will heal you. Praise God that He can will tell you His will for your life.
Why am I so sure? God says so in the Bible.
His Word is the cornerstone of biblical counseling.
His Word is your key to the abundant life in Christ!
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man [and woman] of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16, 17
I am a seminary-trained biblical counselor who counsels hurting Christian women under the authority of my church, Harvest Bible Chapel. Ministering to hurting Christian women is God’s call on my life. To this end, I also write articles and give talks to bring hope to women, and as a published author of four books concerning healthy bodies, I am now writing my first book on healthy souls. It is called Beautiful Warrior, You Are Who God Says You Are. . .Even When Life Gets Ugly. I welcome your prayers that this book finds a home at a Christian publishing house and, ultimately, in every home of a Christian woman who needs to hear that she is beautiful, valuable and strong in Christ.
Does your soul thrist to hear these truths? To hear all the beautiful things God thinks about you and has for you?
He has the answers to your pain. Biblical counseling helps you discover them.
What biblical counseling is:
- Based solely on God’s Word
- Directive, effective, confidential
- Short-term, affordable
What biblical counseling isn’t:
- Based on ineffective, contradictory methods
- Long-term, expensive
Interested but not sure?
This is why I offer a 30-minute, confidential phone consultation at NO COST.
Additionally, I will send you a FREE guide called “You Are Beautiful.”
To get your guide, send me an email today at lucy@lucyannmoll.com or click HERE. Please put “I Want Wholeness” in the subject line.
And that’s not all.
God has a plan for your life.
“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Invest in yourself: Choose biblical counseling.
It helps you get through the tough stuff of life with Christ.
For more on biblical counseling and my credentials, click HERE.
You Are Beautiful, Lucy
by Lucy | Mar 12, 2009 | biblical counseling |
God has a sense of humor.
You see, I detest garage sales. I don’t like going to them. I’ve never had one. Never.
Now I’m beginning a ministry named Save the Girls, and garage sales are a vehicle to help make it work.
Save the Girls offers hope for girls ensnared in the global commercial sex trade. Those who escape or are rescued face a difficult physical and emotional recovery process. World Vision, a highly respected Christian nonprofit organization, ministers to girls (and boys) who were sold into sex trade, sometimes by their parents. Human trafficking ranks #3 on top money-making crime list, surpassed only by illegal drugs and gun sales.
If you’re getting mad, good. Get mad! Then do something!
You can change your world because Christ has changed you!
As I pondered how to Save the Girls — recognizing I’m only one person — the proverbial lightbulb blinked on. Garage sale! Three reasons I believe this is God-inspired is:
1) I really do detest garage sales. I can think of a hundred things I’d rather do than have or go to a garage sale, and scrubbing grout is one of them. Just hand over you old toothbush and I’m good to go!
2) I am excited to have one this May. How weird! This past week my husband has inquired about my mental state. I assured him I’m sane. And joy-filled! I am having a garage sale with COMPASSION and a PURPOSE!
3) God deeply values girls. Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
A chunk of the money my family takes in at our first ever garage sale — and at my kids’ lemonade stand — will be sent to World Vision to save the girls. I so love the fact that I know World Vision workers will share Jesus with them. They will proclaim Christ!
Lord, may the day you give us be beautifully sunny, so many come and thirst for lemonade and you!
My kids, hubby and I will hand out flyers informing people of this crime. I plan to get publicity from the local news outfits too. And, the best for last:
On this blog, I will post promotional materials for you to use at your garage sale to Save the Girls: flyers, press releases, and so on. Check back in a few days and they’ll be available to you. I’ll also set up Pay Pal in case you want to make a donation through Save the Girls. Of course, you may donate directly to World Vision.
Let’s do this together, my precious sisters in Christ. Save the Girls!
A beautiful warrior reaches out to the needy.
Next post: A book review of bestselling novelist Brandilyn Collins’ latest thriller, Dark Pursuit.
You Are Beautiful, Lucy
by Lucy | Mar 4, 2009 | biblical counseling |
A not-so-funny thing happened in Blog-lala-land.
I had a nifty badge [note past tense] where you, my sweet sisters in Christ, could subscribe to this very blog for the Christian woman who want to change the world because Christ has changed them. How you changed the world isn’t the big deal, but that you proclaim the excellencies of Christ: through blogging, writing books, waiting on tables, cutting hair, heading a Fortune 500 corporation, whatever.
Well, guess what? In trying to inspire women to change their world because Christ has changed them, I discovered something nasty: My subscription service provider wasn’t letting you subscribe. Err.
So here’s one of my readers’ favorite posts [the readers came here via Twitter or Facebook] from March. If you sometimes read this blog, please subscribe. If you’re stumbling on it today, please subscribe. I need encouragement!!! Honest.
You’ll find the FeedBlitz subscribe box in two places.
I’m not taking any changes. Lesson learned.
Of course, if you are not a Christian or never plan to change your world, subscribe. Yeah, you heard me. Subscribe anyway. You just may someday. = )
I’ll zip my lips now. Here’s the original post:
A strange thing has happened in publishing.
Authors are expected to sell their books. Writing itself scares my pants off – I love the process but am jittery to have “me” out there, if you know what I mean – but then I found out that I must help sell books by having a platform. Even scarier!
Platform? What’s that? And if I need one, how do I get one?
I first heard this term at a Christian writers’ conference in June. Every other person was buzzing about it. The writers, the editors, the agents – everyone.
Feeling stupid and bold, I asked a writer friend at the conference to put this word in context.
“It’s your built-in audience,” she chimed.
“Huh?” That was the best I could muster.
As I eavesdropped when editors chatted and read marketing materials once I returned home, I felt frustrated, confused and hopeful as I made the decision to build my platform.
What a change from the 1990s!
Back then, when my first three books were published, the publishing houses did the publicity and promotion for the books and we writers showed up to book signings and radio shows. Most important to selling books were one’s credentials and experience. So using this model – outdated but I didn’t know it – I enrolled in the pastoral care to women program at Western Seminary, Portland, Ore., and finished my online classes a year ago. Getting a seminary degree would certainly help me land another book deal, I had figured.
And it will. Credentials still matter. But a platform matters more.
I began to build it. First I worked with a webmaster to get a high-quality website. At the same time, I developed an online ezine called Cup of Joy. (I started with a couple dozen subscribers and now have more than 575 – in four months. . .it boggles my mind.) Then I got on Facebook and Twitter to make contacts with other writers and with potential book-buyers. Remember, this is marketing. I also discovered this wonderfully encouraging online place called Christian Women Take Root and met more people and made more connections.
Now I’m blogging. I have two blogs on my website: Real Hurts, Real Hope and The Sisterhood of Beautiful Warriors. I also have a blog called Counselors’ Coach that appears on the Christian Women Take Root website.
Together, all these contacts (and the ones on Facebook and Twitter as well as the women I meet at my speaking events) make up my platform, my built-in audience.
The reason why a platform matters to publishers is book-buying has changed. Years ago, most people bought books at bookstores; now a huge chunk (at least 50 percent) are sold online. When a writer has an online presence, she is more likely to get a book deal and sell books.
This is the way things are, like it or not.
Before I decided to do things the new way – i.e., get a platform. . .yesterday – I asked myself the most important question: What does God want me to do? I knew the answer in my heart.
You see, seven or eight years ago, God gave me a call: to offer the hope to Christian women who hurt and to the people who love them through counseling, speaking and writing. To reach many hurting Christian women, I must work with publishers in the Internet age.
And if this means building a platform, and spending more time on marketing than writing, I will.
You Are Beautiful, Lucy
