Elizabeth George - Life Management for Busy Women: Living Out Gods Plan with Passion and Purpose

This book belongs to one of Gods busy women!

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Italicized text in Scripture quotations indicates authors emphasis.

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A WOMAN AFTER GODS OWN HEART is a registered trademark of The Hawkins Childrens LLC. Harvest House Publishers, Inc., is the exclusive licensee of the federally registered trademark A WOMAN AFTER GODS OWN HEART.

LIFE MANAGEMENT FOR BUSY WOMEN

Copyright 2002, 2014 Elizabeth George

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-5126-5 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5128-9 (eBook)

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As always, thank you to my dear husband, Jim George, MDiv, ThM, for your able assistance, guidance, suggestions, and loving encouragement on this project.

Contents

Do you ever wonder what the purpose of your life is? And do you ever feel like life is piling up on you faster than you can push your way forward? That your days are doomed before dawn? That youll never get it all done? That there has to be more to life than this?

Well, we can both thank God that there is hope for our busy days and answers to our heart-cries. Our lives were created by Godand He knows what His purposes for us are and how He wants us to live them out. Indeed, our years, our days, and even our minutes belong to Him.

Im so glad God has brought us together through this book. As you and I, two extremely busy women, head into this book about managing a life of purpose and some of the disciplines needed to fuel such a life, I want

To bring you some of Gods key guidelines for seven major areas of a womans life.

To direct you to disciplines that will help you manage each of these seven areas of your life.

To list a handful of how-tos so you can make progress right away on managing your time and your life.

To point you to the beautyand powerof a life lived according to Gods principles and purposes.

To help you speed up improvements through some study questions, a closer look at key scriptures, and a few practical exercises that will assist you (and others in a group setting) in following Gods blueprint for your life.

Theres no doubt that the forever principles shared in this book can sculpt and remold your life. Believe me, I praise God they have ignited a fire not only in my soul but also in my entire approach to each day and its 1440 minutes!

My desire for you as you read this book is that you will walk in wisdom and make the most of your time and your life (Colossians 4:5 and Ephesians 5:15). May you always remember that you live life one day at a timeyet you are living for eternity in that one day!

Those who wait on the L ORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

I SAIAH 40:31

A s a busy woman, your natural tendency at the sound of the alarm each morning is probably to hit the floor running (like me!). And for many women, each day also includes hitting the road at some point as they head off to a job. At the dreaded sound of the alarm (or of a crying baby!), we are tempted to emote, Oh, no! Not another day! I have so much to do! The blare coming from your clock reminds you (once again!) that you are faced with a life full of responsibilities.

And if we look a little deeper into our hearts, we also find thoughts like theseIll never get it all doneespecially if I take time out of my hectic schedule to read my Bible and pray!

But the exact opposite is true for you as one of Gods busy women. As our Lord Himself said, Without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

Because you are reading this book, Im thinking you dont want to be a nothing woman. No, Im guessing you want to be a something woman, even the everything womanthe all things woman! So where in the world is the strength and dedication and endurance for such a goal going to come from? Read on.

Like an Eagle

The Bible teaches us that with Him we can mount up with wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31). Can you imaginesoaring through your pressured days like an eagle?! Every morning Jim (my wonderful husband) and I watch and wait for our white-headed, white-tailed, American bald eagle to fly by our home in Washington. And sure enough, today at 5:47 am (right on schedule) it flew at eye level past the window where we sit each day to write. The sight is so magnificent that we celebrate each and every time our eagle graces us with its presence. Our eagle sightings have given me a firsthand visual aid for understanding Isaiahs imagery of strength and endurance.

Since realizing that Jim and I have our own private eagle (or two), Ive learned a lot more about eagles. For instance, an eagle

has a wingspan of up to seven feet (how majestic!)

flies higher than almost any other bird, up to 10,000 feet (how awesome!)

glides easily at up to 2400 feet altitude (oh, for the ability to rise above lifes demands and difficulties!)

moves up to 150 miles an hour (and oh, for the ability to speed through our daily work!) and

can carry objects equal to its body weight (no task is too daunting!).

With such grandeur available to our imagination its clear that even with our multitude of responsibilities, we must be women who wait on the Lord. In spite of the busyness of life, you and I must learn to look to Him each new morning. We must realize that life management is really spiritual life management. So we must pay attention to a handful of daily disciplines that are sure to ignite in us a passion for the Lord and equip us for living out His plan each day.

Three Small Steps

Heres a little three-step method that helps you tend to first things firstno matter how busy you are.

1. Time is first on the list. Your time is always well spent when you spend it looking to the Lord through His Word.

2. First time. Aim at giving the first minutes of each day to reading the Bible. Proverbs 3:9 instructs us to honor the L ORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase. Then comes the promiseso your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine (verse 10). This proverb is speaking of the blessings that follow the offering of a tithe to God of the first crops from the harvest.