Keeping it Personal» coffee

Your Moments, Your World

Rebekah Johnson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:00:13 +0000

shhhhh… did you here it?

…listen again.

What you heard just now is your world.

Whether you love it, tolerate it, or hate it, it is yours and it’s going by at the speed of light.

You. will. never. experience. this. moment. again.

Take time to acknowledge what is yours.

If you don’t like it, be the change you want to see in it.

We are 4 days into the NEW YEAR already…4 days! I told you it was going by quickly…

I challenge you to enjoy your moments, your world. Right now, this moment, take time to take it in.

You’re at work? Pop some ear buds in and create an uplifting playlist.

You’re a stay-at-home mom? Stop wishing your little angels would just. take. a nap. and embrace the opportunity to spend more time with them.

Brew some coffee, steep some tea, light a candle…YOU have what it takes to change a part of your world in this moment.

You won’t regret it. In fact, you’ll most likely end up making memories you never ever dreamed of…

Stories are Gifts, Share

Teri — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:40:27 +0000

This morning I was having coffee with my husband at Starbucks. We were sitting outside talking about our day when I noticed the words on the Starbucks door. They might be on every Starbucks door or window across the world, I don’t know – I hadn’t noticed them before; Stories are Gifts – Share.

I LOVE watching good movies that share heartfelt stories. I LOVE reading good books, both fiction and non-fiction, that tell stories. I enjoy telling stories to my kids and hearing stories about people in my life. There is nothing better to me than getting to know and understand people better through their stories.

A special friend of mine has an amazing gift of sharing her life and relating to others through analogy stories. I always look forward to talking with her and listening as she shares her insight and wisdom through great stories.

As we embark upon our 1 year anniversary of our keepingitpersonal.com blog and our Daily KIPs, I’ve been reflecting. These words, Stories are Gifts – Share, speak to me. Over the past 12 months, I’ve had the privilege to hear AND read a lot of personal stories. Many of these have encouraged me. Many have brought me to tears. Many have changed me. Many have inspired me.

It brings me joy to share MY story with the hope to encourage or inspire others…….or simply plant a seed in someone’s life. Stories ARE a gift and I am grateful that I’ve been on the receiving end while others were willing to share. Priceless!

Teri — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:03:51 +0000

Daily KIP: Timing. Do you ever feel that God is on a coffee break or something because He isn’t seeing the urgency in “your” situation? Don’t forget that we see only a fraction of any situation. Most often “our” timing reflects impatience and/or selfish motive.

Declined

Teri Johnson — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:30:00 +0000

My morning routine, when it’s my turn to take the boys to school, is to go through the drive-thru at Starbucks and grab a coffee before I “hit the highway”. So, last Thursday I did just that. Placed my order, pulled up to the window looked in my wallet – had absolutely NO cash, thanks to the boys who tap me out continuously at the hockey rink getting snacks at the concession stand, UGH! Anyway, so I decided to grab my credit card. Thinking to me, this is embarrassing that I’m going to charge a $2.00 coffee, I decided to purchase a gift certificate for $20.00. Yeah, that’s perfect; I can use that gift card later – tomorrow! So, I gave the card to my friendly Starbucks barista and the card was DECLINED!

Declined? I said to the Starbucks barista, that’s odd, I JUST paid this down to zero a few days ago. Luckily I had another card to use, so I gave it to him – it went through, woohoo! BUT, what’s the deal with the declined card? This is not a good thing. This is our main credit card, the one that earns us points that we use for EVERYTHING. Every month, we charge it up with gas, groceries, business expenses, haircuts, travel, etc. and every month when the statement comes we pay it off. I immediately got on the phone to FIX the problem since clearly there was a misunderstanding, right?

Initially I talked to customer service – they had to transfer me to another department who could look into this further and after about 30 minutes on the phone, with the boys still in the car on our way to school (traffic was horrible that morning, long commute!), the “credit analyst” informed me that the reason my card was declined was because my credit limit was $900.00 and I had pending charges OVER that limit. WHAT?? $900.00? MY limit is $25,000.00 NOT $900.00 – you must be mistaking!! NOPE they weren’t; You see, Bank of America decided to do a random review of my account and because it had been 5 years since I received the card and they didn’t have my current financial information I apparently didn’t fit into their current guidelines based on the other credit that was extended to me which shows on my credit report. SO – they adjusted my limit to $900.00.

After taking a deep breath I said very politely, “What can I do to get this back up to where it belongs? What can I provide to you to fix this NOW? My husband is traveling on a short business trip with this credit card and he NEEDS access to the funds.” The credit analyst said, “Ma’am we need to take a new credit application over the phone and it could take up to 48 hours to get this approved.” REALLY? Are you kidding me? You took this away from me without ANY notice, I’ve been super nice and patient through this whole phone call, I’ve NEVER had a late payment with you, and over the last 5 years our relationship has been GREAT, I pay you every month. I’m sorry, that’s NOT going to work for me. I need this NOW! Oh and by the way, I have to hang up now and call my husband to let him know this so he doesn’t look like a fool taking clients out to lunch today with a credit card that will be declined – UGH!!! I was NOT a happy camper!!!

Ok, so the next call was to my husband. He could tell I was very upset. I gave him the run down and I’m sure I over dramatized everything, but I filled him in. Here’s what he said in a very calming unbothered voice, “Honey, its ok. It’s not our money.” I was like, yeah BUT………look at this! What an inconvenience, we don’t deserve this, we are a great customer, blah, blah, blah, blah. He listened to me go on for a little bit and said calmly again, “Honey, its ok. It’s not ours. We will figure it out. We don’t need it. It’s ok.” He’s so level headed AND has other GREAT qualities, of course, I just LOVE him!!

After shedding a few tears, getting my boys dropped off at school, finally!! I had a chance to reflect. It’s now about a week later and I’m still thinking about it……….I learned a HUGE lesson from this. It’s NOT ours! None if it! Everything we have is a blessing on loan to us by God. Where in the world did I get the sense of entitlement? I DESERVE to have that credit limit, I earned it? SICK can I PUKE?!?! Who do I think I am?

This is not only about material things. It’s about what has been so freely given can be gone in an instant; our children, health, opportunities, family, friends, shelter, food, everything!

Romans 11:36 says “All things come from him. All things are directed by him. All things are for his good. May God be given the glory forever! Amen.”

He is the source of ALL things, I am nothing without Him. I pray that God will continue to humble me like he did with the declined credit card; that He will open my eyes to see when my focus is not on Him and when I’m becoming dependent on other things or other people.

I HAVE to tell you how the story ended with the card that morning. I went back to Starbucks sat in a comfy oversized chair with my laptop to view my account online. My balance was OVER the $900.00 limit, approximately $1,400.00 because of some preauthorization’s for hotel charges and airfare for my husband’s business trip. To my surprise the reward points that had accumulated over the years were 220,000 – I had never really looked at them before OR what I could do with them. I took the time to figure it out and I was able to convert them into cash and electronically have a deposit into our checking account. So today, I checked our account and the money was there……just over $2,000.00 can you believe it?? I used that money to pay off the new balance on the card AND had a little left over. We haven’t needed the card so now were going to cancel it. I LOVE how God works!! He’s soooooooo cool!

When we don’t have any answers…..

Teri Johnson — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:57:00 +0000

I started this blog on Tuesday evening, three days ago when I was sitting on an airplane flying home from Scottsdale, AZ. For some reason I had to “pack it up” and put it away, I just couldn’t focus. Here’s what I wrote on the airplane:

Today my heart is sad…….I can’t seem to hold back the tears. Over the past few days I’ve been hit head on with several situations; some people very close to me are struggling with severe depression, alcoholism, chronic pain, hopelessness, financial hardships, and broken relationships with children.

I have to admit, I’m angry. This isn’t a feeling that I have frequently but today I’m sad and I’m angry. My husband asked me what I was angry about and through my tears I shared that I’m angry because I don’t have any answers! Here are just a few of my questions…….Why are these things happening? God where are you in the midst of this despair? Two of the situations that I mentioned above are ones that I’ve been praying about for many years now – will the pain ever go away? How can my loved ones continue to suffer? Why are our prayers not being answered? What do I say to someone who is hopeless and doesn’t want to live any longer?

On the airplane Tuesday night I shared with Brent, my husband, a thought that I could NOT get out of my head, one that I thought was stupid – UGH!! I shared, “I know this is so dumb, but I just can’t get this out of my head. I feel that I need to go read this book that I’m reading, Embracing your Freedom by Susie Larson, to my brother.” Brent encouraged me to do what I needed to do – he actually thought it was a great idea.

I wasn’t sure if I should mention him, by brother, in this blog – BUT I’m “keeping it personal” and this is real. He’s been sick for about 5 years. And believe it or not through the many doctors and the trial of almost every recommended medication and treatment you can possibly imagine and prayer he has not been able to find a solution or any answers to help him feel better. He’s been living with chronic pain and chronic fatigue for years and has given up hope for everything – EVERYTHING! He is severely depressed and feels no need to continue his life. He is hopeless.

That night when I got off the plane, got home and went to bed my heart was heavy for the people in my life who were suffering.

On Wednesday I had a road trip planned to visit a friend of mine who lives about an hour and a half away. I love my quiet time in the morning, so I was excited to get up 5am. I showered, grabbed my Starbucks coffee and hit the road ready to have a long conversation with God. That I did!! I prayed and cried asking Him to show me how to be His hands and His feet – I shared with Him that I have NO clue what to do, yet I have such a heavy burden to do something! I don’t have any answers to my many questions and I KNOW that I can’t fix or rescue anyone from their suffering – so what?? What can I do? I begged for Him to show me – asked Him to open my eyes to see, my ears to hear, and my heart to know.

I arrived at my friend’s house at 8:15am to drink more coffee and chat – I just love girl time!! While we were talking my friend asked me about my brother; how he was doing. I let her know that things hadn’t gotten any better, but now he was hopeless, he was defeated and DONE. I asked her – what do you say to someone who is hopeless? I told her that I’ve tried to talk with him and encourage him, but I just can’t seem to find the words to say. Listen to what she said, “Teri, I’m not sure what you need to say, but I feel that you need to read to him.” She suggested the Bible, not having a clue that I had even thought this same thing. She continued on saying, “I know this might sound silly, but maybe 3 days a week, go, meet him where he’s at, sit next to him beside his bed and just read to him.” I was STUNNED – Through my friend, who I drove to see, God confirmed to me an action that I needed to take; I hadn’t shared with her the thought that I had shared with Brent on the airplane, remember, I thought it was stupid thus I wasn’t eager to share that with anyone, but this ultimately answered one of my questions. What do I say to someone who is hopeless and who doesn’t want to live any longer?

So, 3 days later as I’m wrapping up this lingering “topic” When we don’t have any answers……I am NOT angry, instead, I am challenged to be consistent. I have no clue where reading to my brother will go. But today I will start. I pray that I will be consistent and not quit even if I don’t see the results right away that I so desire for my brother. I’m a little nervous, I have to admit, but I feel that this is the answer to one of my questions and I’m going with it.

Take it down a notch!!!

Leah Mickschl — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:39:00 +0000

I grew up in a rural farming town of about 1200 in central MN. Life was simple then. People took the time to stop each other on the street and visit. Have coffee. Make cookies. Life wasn’t as rushed as it is now. In my opinion, there was a lot more focus on relationship. Relationships with children, spouses, friends, neighbors, teachers, pastors, bankers… Kids weren’t running from this activity to that sporting event- or at least not as often as they are now. Families sat down and had dinner together at night. I suppose because the work day predictably ended at 5pm (at least it did in my parent’s home). There weren’t fast food restaurants to run to, or pizza delivery options to choose from.

I remember my mom getting together on a regular basis with other women and their children for ‘coffee’. This ‘coffee’ group I suspect, was really a group of amazing women getting together to talk about parenting, marriage, life experiences both good and bad. They shared each others joys and sorrows. They were a built in support group for each other and never hesitated to pray for one another. If my memory serves me correct, these were all stay at home moms, who in order to stay connected with each other, made an effort to get together in each other’s living rooms and talk. Even if it was about a new recipe they found, or a new quilting pattern they were going to try. In fact, this ‘coffee’ group continues to this day, in a more limited fashion. They are still getting together throwing bridal showers, baby showers and attending weddings for the children who were carted along to these coffee groups. (We enjoyed it by the way!)

For me, Keeping It Personal is about bringing to my life a deliberate effort to do just that. Keep it Personal. I don’t expect it to mirror my description above, as life is different now. In fact, I am sure it wasn’t as ‘simple’ as my memory would have me believe. But there are changes I can make, which I think will ultimately impact my children, my marriage, my relationship with God, and others. I was talking to Teri earlier tonight, and told her this. I have no real idea what this blog is going to turn into. Seriously, I don’t think I even knew what a blog was a year ago! I feel like we have a blank canvas in front of us. We have given much thought and prayer into KIP, and don’t feel like either of us has a clear picture of what this final work of art will look like. We want to take this opportunity to be real, to share from our own experiences, to learn from others’ experiences, and to inspire people to take it back a notch. Occasionally step out of the high tech, fast paced world we live in, and into the ‘living rooms’ of our friends both old and new…. and keep it personal. Kind of ironic that we chose a blog to carry out that message, right?

There is a bit of anxiety on my part about putting this blog out there for everyone to see. A vulnerability. I just pray that God-willing, we will encourage each other, and those who choose to follow us to keep it real, by keeping it personal.