May I BLESS You

By Joanne Smith

May I BLESS You is a book that came out of a heart that was desperate for more of God.

Hungry for God and sick from overindulging on a diet of self.

In the years between concept and creation of May I BLESS You, there has been no other principle that has challenged me quite so deeply.
Challenged me and helped me take flight in my spirit, both at the same time.

Simply explained, May I BLESS You, is a book about how to put yourself to the side, and surrender yourself uninhibited to God.

Not only surrender yourself to God, however, but surrender yourself to others to be used by God.

Jesus did not minister just when he felt like it.
He didn’t give only when things were going well.
He never had to stop, think about and decide to walk in love, even if He had somewhere else to be or something else to do
Jesus, ministered, loved and gave of Himself habitually and He did it with joy and without wearying himself.

Wow! What a thought!

To be completely loosed from yourself to be completely free to be used by God, anywhere all the time.

This book is not only about having that kind of freedom and purpose, it is also about having the tools to do it.

May I BLESS You has those steps that will take you there, and keep you when you get there.

Do you ever try to imagine what it would be like to let go and free fall into the wild adventure that destiny has for you?

Would you like to let God use you, right where you are?

Right now? Just as you are?
In your own little corner of the world?

Maybe you’ve whispered the prayer “God, use me...”

Have you ever wanted to make an impact for the better,
even in the midst of your most usual, everyday -days

To know that God used you to make a difference.

If there was a way you could add value to each moment; turn the mundane into the miraculous;
the ho-hum into a heavenly assignment; and the routine into something of significance ~ would you ?

God is the ultimate designer and He has an exciting plan that includes YOU.

All of us are called and designed for it.
We are here to be the light and the salt.

Even if you have never realized it consciously or spoke the words outloud, the truth is...
We all want to be USED BY GOD!

May I BLESS You will touch you, so you can touch others.

What exactly that means is that instead of just hoping something changes, you are actually becoming the change.
You will be the one making the difference. An eternal difference.

Although it is supernaturally effective, May I BLESS You is not just for training or for those in professional ministry and leadership.
You do not need to be a bible teacher, seminary student, preacher, pastor, priest, worship leader or missionary.

ABSOLUTELY NOT It doesn’t matter if you have never stepped foot into a church in YOUR LIFE!

May I BLESS You is to be used by anyone who has ever had family and friends, co-workers or acquaintances.
* If you ever wanted to live and give like there were no worries.
* If you ever wanted to know that you made a difference in someone’s life.
* If you ever wanted your usual, every -day, routines to become alive with purpose and value.
* If you ever find yourself wishing that you knew the right words to say or wondered what you could do.
* Maybe all you want is to simply be able to look people squarely in the eye, and give a sincere smile.
Is there a way to appreciate, enjoy and savor each moment that you have? And not sweat the small stuff, anymore.
Do you desire for more satisfaction in your relationship with God? To respond to His love?
To know His voice? To trust and believe Him?
If you have ever whispered ; “God, please use me” Then May I BLESS You needs to be in your hands.

Because GOD WANTS TO USE YOU and HE WILL!

Prayer journal and Study Guide/ Workbook included

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joanne Smith
• Release date: Jun 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311518309

Joanne Smith

Joanne Smith is a virtual assistant and author from Manitoba, Canada.She has a passion for single parents, natural health and helping others discover all that they are meant to be.

Book preview

Key #1 ~ Believe

This is where we begin.

We are going to start with the first letter in our acronym "BLESS".

It is the first step on our journey towards letting go of ourselves and letting God use us.

B is for BELIEVE.

Believing will be the foundation that everything else in this book is built upon.

So, having a solid understanding of this key is crucial.

But don’t worry, believing may be easier than you ever would have...well... believed

When we want to have rewarding relationships with the people in our lives, we have to begin with a look inward; deep into our own selves.

We’ll take a fresh look - from some new angles and perspectives - at what make us tick and examine the unseen things that can taint the joy in what we have, where we are, and who we’re with.

Several years ago, when BLESS was forming in my heart, I heard the testimony of a man who had come from being an orphaned child in Africa’s most impoverished country, Burkina Faso, to supernaturally finding a life, education, family and ministry in Canada.

It was a journey unlike any I had heard before and it has impacted me to this day.

Pastor Daniel Zopoula had many opportunities to wrestle with the unknown and the uncertain. There were countless moments when his circumstances and its impossibilities could have trapped him from moving forward into the life he has now.

His words still spur me forward when - to be completely honest- the last thing I want to do was take one more look at my own hodge-podge of pains and chains.

He tell us, "An unexamined life is not a life worth living."

A life worth living is what May I BLESS You is all about!

May I BLESS You is about becoming available and unhindered so we can move freely with the ebb and flow of God’s heart, hearing His voice, savouring His friendship; enjoying His blessings.

In Key #1 we are going to sit down unreservedly - perhaps for the first time- and ask ourselves that ageless question~

What do I believe?

Not what I think I believe.

Or what I know I should be believing.

Or what am I taught to believe.

But, we will look ourselves square in the eye, and settle the argument; "what do I really believe?"

If you have never done it, this is your time to slow down and ask yourself some really important, life altering questions.

It’s been said that the longest foot on the body is the distance between your head and your heart.

Let’s begin to move our opinions and theologies out of our brain down into the very soul of our being.

Let’s take that leap and jump in head-first. It’s time to become honest and transparent with ourselves and get as real as possible!

Digging Up Some Dirt

Before we go any further, this is a good time to remind you that the principles of May I BLESS You are founded on Christian beliefs and, most importantly, the Bible.

That being said- I also understand that there are many who have respect for the Bible but have varying opinions of it.

That is absolutely fine.

Even if you see the Bible as nothing more than a fiction book or another piece of historic literature - or you aren’t quite sure what you think -I encourage you to hang tight and stay with us.

What if part of the reason you are here, right now, is to reexamine your opinion of this ancient book?

Is it fiction and fairy tales?

Nope. The amount of documented proof that we have validated by science and archaeology is undeniable.

The evidence is unexplainable any other way and the only conclusion should be obvious.

The Bible is supernatural and not of man’s hands.

I would love to sit down over a cup of coffee and share with all I know and have experienced that confirms the identity of the Bible and its best-selling author.

But for the sake of time and flow in reading, I just cannot answer all your questions about the Bible in tremendous detail right now.

So until we can have our coffee date, I am going to direct you to some reputable online resources that can answer your questions and give you - if you are willing- a fresh and possibly different perspective on that Bible of yours

Answers in Genesis is a resource with a very comprehensive article base and free video and audio programs. There are also study guides and online courses.

With thousands of article topics including creation, evolution, the big bang, dinosaurs, geology, genetics, Noah’s Flood. They focus particularly on providing answers to questions surrounding the book of Genesis, as it is the most-attacked book of the Bible

Questions such as~

What’s the Best Proof of Creation?

How Old is the Earth?

What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?

How Do We Know that the Bible Is True?

You can also find a kids section with games, activities, videos, and articles to help make the history of the world come to life in an engaging way

Atheist-turned-Christian and former legal editor of The Chicago Tribune, Lee Strobel, is an award-winning author of more than twenty books.

His defense of the Bible has earned him interviews on numerous national TV programs, including ABC, Fox, PBS, and CNN

Lee’s Investing Faith web resource is, however, an all-video site.

So if you are a reader, who learns best by setting your eyes on words, and taking time to digest the material - or if (like yours truly) your computer isn’t fast enough for videos - you may need to zip past this site.

But if you are a visual learner, there is more than enough to keep you exploring and learning for a long, long time.

Some of topics that Lee and his team tackle include~

Investigating the Da Vinci Code

Investigating Jesus

The Case for Easter: Did Jesus Actually Die on the Cross?

Do Ancient Prophecies Prove That Jesus Is the Messiah?

Why Would Someone Die for a Lie? The Disciples Speak from the Grave

Investigating God

Is Truth Absolute?

Other Religions

Christian Answers is a mega-site providing biblical answers to real -and some amusing - questions.

It’s easy to find something for everyone including a children’s area, and a personal issue forum.

It includes over 45-thousand files and is available in 43 languages.

Besides addressing the more theological contradictions and puzzles in the Bible, this site gives insight to other baffling hum -dingers such as~

Did Adam have a belly button?

Did Jesus really sweat blood?

Is the mustard seed really the smallest seed, like Jesus said?

(And my favourite….) A thoughtful response to a sceptic who says the congruency of the Bible is no more impressive than a series of James Bond movies.

Each of these sites offers you an opportunity to experience the reality of the Bible you may have just assumed about.

Please, by all means, go and spend all the time you need there.

Be sure to utilize the material, search out your own tough questions, and don’t leave until you are satisfied.

All of this material should not be simply passed over and swept under the carpet.

It is clear that there is so much more to this humble little book than first appears.

My hope is that you walk away with a new appreciation of the Bible, and are awaken into a new appreciation of its author, as well.

Do You Believe Me?

There is a moment in the Bible (John chapter 21) when Jesus looked his disciple Peter, in the eyes, and asked him, three times Peter, do you love me?

There have been countless moments when I felt like Jesus was sitting me down, looking at me with those same big beautiful eyes, and asking , probably in the same tone~ Joanne, do you believe me?

Just like Peter, I would respond- most likely with the same over-confident tone -"Of course LORD!!!"

As with Peter, He would then graciously ask a second time (although I could never see Him with my physical eyes, I would sense Him gazing even more intently into my soul) -

"Joanne, do you believe me?"

Like Peter, I would reply the second time, of course Lord,

Oh how those words have chased me.

In the many times when disappointments came; pain and questions, things unexpected and things unexplained, it was a question that I wondered if I can ever completely answer.

Do I? Do I really believe Him?

Finally, I would answer- perhaps like Peter did-confidence fleeting as the words crossed my lips, Lord you know all things… you know I do

There’s no question about it, believing can be a get down and get dirty kinda work and there will be times when it will take all the strength and faith you can muster to look Jesus in the eye, open your mouth and say those words; yes, Lord, you know I believe you

Webster’s Dictionary defines Be`lieve´ as~

"To exercise belief in; to credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to regard or accept as true; to place confidence in;"

So what do we believe, exactly?

For the first part of our first key, we are going to settle in our hearts whether we believe what God wrote -specifically the Bible- to be true.

Do we believe that God actually said it and God actually meant it?

The next three steps towards letting go and letting God are going to follow in the footsteps of this very first one; so let’s make sure we take our time and get it settled. Let’s allow ourselves to become fully persuaded and confident that this is indeed what we believe.

Again, I’ll repeat the sentiment from the beginning of this chapter; if you are not sure how you think about all this, please, don’t close this book up just yet.

It’s a very honest place to be.

I commend you for being real with the questions you are wrestling with.

It’s a brave thing you are doing here.

Getting real and honest with your questions is something many folks spend their entire lives trying to dodge and avoid.

Do keep reading along and stay with us.

This journey is not a race to finish quickly, but to finish well, thoroughly with no questions remaining to nag and taunt us.

There are days - it may even feel like most days - when the bombardment of questions and doubts will be non-stop and relentless.

There will be many moments when your own intellect will proudly present to you an endless lists of legitimate reasons not to believe a single thing.

There will be times when everything obvious to your senses will rise up and ridicule that faith, and you are going to feel like squirming on the inside.

Your mind will do loops around it and a natural progression will lead you to every conclusion that those things you believe are just not plausible.

Not just your logic and understanding, but others – whose intentions are probably good - will take a shot at undermining and negating what you believe.

Our physical eyes are just not designed to see past this tangible, bricks and mortar, world around them.

None of that is believing; as we have it defined here.

Believing goes beyond that common-sense logic we’ve come to rely upon.

Believing will go past the need to see, with our human eyes, proof and confirmation before we can trust.

Believing, when referring back to our original definition is to credit upon the authority or testimony of another

Who is this authority and testimony will we be placing that credit, and our belief upon?

It will be God, the maker and sustainer of all that is before us, and the words that He has spoken to us.

How Do We Believe?

To have sincerely satisfying relationships with God, people and our own selves the first thing that needs to be done is to believe.

So, again, I am going to ask; what do we believe?

Then I’ll ask; if and when we decide to believe God, what exactly does that look like?

If putting confidence in someone who we do not see seems like a bit of an uneasy stretch, remember, that's why we picked up this book... to stretch ourselves.

We have just spent time exploring the links in the beginning of this chapter that confirmed scientifically the integrity of the Bible.

Something is starting to stir and awaken in you. You are realizing the tremendous amount of substance and validity in the Bible.

Believing is - in many ways- the easiest thing to do.

** If you are still surfing through the previous web pages I suggested, all is good! Give yourself the time you need. You are going to hear me say this a lot in these pages. These are not steps to rush through. Go ahead and stay there on those sites for as long as you need, just don’t stop. Most importantly- ask God to show you what He wants you to see and know. Invite Him into what you are doing, be honest with the questions you have, but also be honest to hear for the answers. Your answers usually don’t come as an audible voice, but be sensitive to that feeling of peace and a confidence growing big inside your understanding grows. **

Believing doesn’t have its roots in our feelings. Our feelings have a way of swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other. (Some of us can swing from one extreme to the other in a record 3 seconds flat)

We do not believe just because we feel like believing and our feelings should never dictate what we believe.

Believing does not need to be verified by what we see, because, what we see is limited to so many different variables.

Things can change before our very eyes.

Seeing is Not Believing

Have you heard that old saying, seeing is believing?

Seeing, and the other four physical senses for that matter -smelling, tasting, touching and hearing- are not the same as