We are all influencing someone!

I take the honor of teaching & influencing God's people VERY SERIOUSLY. I don't consider you "my followers." My deepest desire is to make you BETTER FOLLOWERS OF JESUS :) Facebook/social media & blogging are a PRIVELAGE, a platform GOD has given us to influence others in some way. We ALL answer to God for the decisions we make, the things we say, the pictures we post (whether we believe it or not). It takes humility to surrender ALL that we have to the Lord. AND It's never too late to make a change ;) My page looks VERY different than it did several years ago as I've let the Lord discipline me, correct me, sift me and change me. God is gracious!! I do not deserve the platform He has given me, and I too am a work in progress. Please forgive me if anything I have said or posted in the past has lead you further from the Lord. It grieves my heart (as it did God's) when I used to flaunt my success, my body & wild party pictures for anyone to see :( Pride. Yuck. Thank God for His grace & loving-kindness...and that He disciplines those He loves! 

On another note, if what WE'RE looking at on social media is distracting us from following Jesus, our family, our work/ministry...causing confusion, anxiety, jealousy, perverted thoughts, lust, anger or tempting us to sin...then it's time to make a change. Just because someone is your "friend", doesn't mean you have to "follow". You can stay friends but "UNFOLLOW". You answer to the Lord, not people. Perhaps God is calling you to fast from social media for a bit?? If that thought gives you anxiety or makes you angry... I strongly urge you to pray about this. 

The Lord continues to show me how to use social media and my website responsibly. Personally, I don't have the Facebook Messenger app on my phone. It's way to much of a distraction and it's very unprofessional (and a personal  boundary violation) for patients to be contacting their Doctor for questions outside of office hours. Facebook, for me, is primarily to hop on/off to do my mission (educate, inspire, equip people to be healthy & share the Gospel). I don't answer health questions or manage health care through PM. I'm also not a huge fan of selfies. How have we become so desensitized to the selfishness of this generation? 

Do more pictures of "ME" really point people to Jesus? ...Honestly?

DO THE THINGS WE POST REALLY POINT PEOPLE TO JESUS?? *my tone is kind, not harsh ;)

*Does posting constant yoga poses, half-dressed workout pics, pictures in bathing suits, sexy shots or selfies really point people to Jesus & make people more Godly? Could we be stumbling someone's husband or wife or child? Could there be any underlying pride or selfish ambition? What message are we sending out to all the various people that "follow" us? Are we willing to let the Lord sift our hearts/motives?

HEBREWS 4:12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

I need more time in God's Word to know HIM, to know right from wrong, to know what kind of example JESUS was, to know the real motives in my heart, and to expose my pride, before I go and mislead MORE people "in the name of Jesus".  The bottom line: There's only so much time, so I can't be on social media all the time without sacrificing time with  Jesus. 

CAN ANYTHING IN OUR PHOTOS STUMBLE SOMEONE ELSE??

*As a recovered alcoholic, when I see Believers/leaders of any capacity posting pics of drinking, I am stumbled. I don't know how much they drink, how often, or if they "use their freedom to destroy their own (and others') freedom". I can attest that it steals MY FREEDOM for a moment. I wonder where else that person compromises. I wonder if they are really reading the whole context of God's Word. FOR ME, it's not a lead I can trust. We are all sinners, yes. I'm the biggest one. But I've fallen enough times to know that I don't want to go back to those places of bondage. I've fallen so hard that I KNOW that who/what I surround myself with matters & influences me over time. There are other people I can be inspired by that point me to Jesus better, who understand that having a platform to teach The Word or influence others is a HUGE RESPONSIBILITY & carries a stricter judgement. Influencing God's people is something the Lord takes VERY SERIOUSLY and so do I. I know that if I surround myself with Believers who compromise, justify, and who aren't teachable, I could easily follow suit... and it would have a ripple effect on my marriage, patients, friends & family. 

JAMES 3:1 says "Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.

I personally can't risk my own freedom (or the freedom of all those I've been entrusted with) to go backwards to a place that left a wake of destruction... so I "unfollow" and pray for that person. Furthermore, I want to make God proud. I don't want to answer for misleading more people.  I've done enough of that in my day! It is simply not worth it to me.

Finally, are we looking to stay a comfortable Christian or become a true follower of Jesus?

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.

John 15:13 There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.

What does it mean to take up your cross or lay down your life for your friends? This is REAL LOVE. And Jesus was the best example. Choosing NOT to post that picture of me in a bathing suit or that "good butt shot" is 1 of many ways I CHOOSE TO LOVE my friends. 

It's not my website, it's His.
It's not my Facebook account, it's His.
It's not MY BODY, it's His. 

If I could follow JESUS CHRIST on Facebook, I wonder what His page would look like??
I want mine to look similar ;)

​I'd love to help you carry your cross. Clean slate. New mercies. You ready?

Oh Lord, forgive us...