If thoughts of Sandra Bullock are dancing through your head you are floating down the wrong river.

The internet has been a buzz over the past few days about the Oscar take home of cutie pie Sandra winning over the likes of Meryl Streep. I personally like her and think that “All About Steve” should be forgiven and forgotten. In any case, I have to admit, my post title is my own pithy spin off Sandra’s “Hope Floats”, a last decade movie graced by Miss Congeniality herself.

The words were actually inspired my Dad. When I was a little girl growing up in a home with 3 other little girls, one of the family memories we made together was learning to water ski. I grew up in Savannah, Georgia, home of dripping moss, hot pink azaleas and fluffy white Dogwood tress. Not to mention, Paula Dean and “The Garden of Good and Evil” for goodness sakes.

Savannah has lots of water all around and we took advantage of it. We had a boat from as far back as I can remember. We used to load it up with camping gear and hook it to the back of our Chevy Impala and head off for local state parks and annual camping vacations that were filled with hiking, swimming and water skiing from dawn ‘til dusk.

One of the challenges of having a boat filled with 3 sisters was that everyone wanted to “go first” or “go next”. The determining factor for when one sister lost her turn around the lake and the next one got to jump unto the water for her skim across the top of the lake was FALLING! If you fell you either got back up so fast no one had time to steal the rope from you or you were toast and another little sister was in the lake and grabbing the skis.

I remember those moments of panic and possession when I would fall and be struggling to quickly grab the ski rope back before that horror happened.

The wise and promising words of my Dad when that happened have stuck with me all these years.

As I would struggle and strive to keep my turn, skis the size of small cars flailing around in the lake, a life jacket floating up my face threatening to cover my eyes and trying to grab that rope with all of my 65 pound power (that number has changed drastically!! As well as my attempts at “another turn! —But I digress).

My Dad would yell out from the boat, “Just RELAX Pat, lie back on your jacket and I will bring the rope to you” and he did.

He would drive the boat around me in a big circle as close as he could get without running over me and that ski rope would float right into my hands.

It reminds me of what God does for HIS KIDS today. We don’t have to strive and struggle to get what we want from God. We just have to LISTEN, OBEY and RELAX.

God will deliver the rope—the dream, the ministry, the need, the direction, the HOPE that we need—right into our hands.

This is my grandson who has been blessed to have inherited my water skiing skills!!

Let’s Remember Matt 11:28-30 Today!
God’s Burden is Light!

I have spent the past few weeks pressing into God, crying out to God, laughing with God, complaining to God, begging God and praising God as I have been partnering with Him to give birth to a dream.

My dream. His dream.

Giving birth is not easy.

Precious but not easy. Exciting but not easy. Fulfilling but not easy. Exhilarating but not easy.

If you are anything like me, THAT is the story of life as a Christian. There is always something before us, before our children, our spouses or a friend, that causes us to curl up on God’s lap with one or all of those emotions.

The very GOOD NEWS is that He is a gentle and patient Father who is always ready to deal with whatever we bring. All we have to do is BRING IT!

This week, I have been on the last leg of a ministry delivery that has lasted at least a year!!

GEEZE!! There have been SOOO many times this week that I have wondered what the heck I have gotten myself into.

I have been working out a vision that God planted in my heart a long time ago.

I am stepping out in faith and trusting Him to make it all work out.

I know that you have been there, done that.

It has been a sweet week. I am almost done with my part–

The Knocking on the Door part–

The Ask and you shall Receive part–

The “Roll your Works upon the Lord” part–

NOW, I can hardly wait to see Him deliver the final Miracle!!

Today is a sunny beautiful day that MUST be enjoyed outside, with my youngest G Babies! So here I go!

Lord, Please keep working on this while I am outside playing!!

I will be back in a little while to see what new things you have added!

How about you friend? Are you Knocking on Heavens Door today? I would love to hear about it!

Lastly..I would LOVE to have you join us for the Birth!! It will be next weekend at “The Cove” in North Carolina!!

Click on the Sunflower to your right for details!

I was in a conversation yesterday with a friend. She was sharing her recent excitement at meeting a very famous Christian leader and author. She had an unexpected but precious opportunity to chat with this person which was a bit of a thrill for my friend, especially since the famous person spoke some kind and valuable words to my friends heart. In fact, the person was completely gracious and attentive, which does not surprise me knowing the position of tremendous influence that God has allowed in that life. This is a person who is known everywhere. This is someone who loves God with an infectious passion that has changed BILLIONS of lives including mine.

Anyway, while my friend was talking to the FP (famous person), she mentioned my name and something the two of us are stepping in to together.

Well, GUESS WHAT??? The FP knew my name!!!

She responded to my friend that she knew who I was and about my ministry!!

Whhooo Hooo. I would never have known. I would never have thought that MY name would be recognized or noticed by this Godly leader. Someone who has a very obvious call of God on their life and is serving His Kingdom advancement in a MIGHTY way.

As I thought about that during the night and into my quiet time this morning , God began to work in my heart these words:

Pat Layton, I know your name.

Not only do I know your name, I know what you had for lunch yesterday.I know the conflict of emotions you had last night over a decision you are trying to make correctly. I know the scriptures you were reading as you feel asleep. I know what you are going to say today, do today and feel today. I know what is going to charge up your heart and what is going to bring tears to your eyes.

And guess what…I know all of that for tomorrow and forever!!!

I know Lord. I know.

I pray that you are reminded of that today as well my friends.

He Knows OUR Names.

JESUS. The one who died on the CROSS for our sins, for our love, for our relationship.

For US, BY NAME!!

JESUS knows your name and mine!!

Hallelujah!!! Hallelujah!!!

If you haven’t had a chance to watch this interview, it is worth your time. I saw the commercials during the Superbowl but had not seen this Focus on the Family personal interview with Pam and Bob Tebow and President of Focus, Dr Jim Daly. While I was watching, it made me think in a fresh way about my personal “platform”. Take a look.

Focus on the Family, interview with Bob and Pam Tebow.

God has given us each a place, a job, a family, a neighborhood, or maybe like Tim Tebow, a team, to influence. It is a matter of LIFE and DEATH.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know Bob and Pam. They are the REAL DEAL. Bob carries tear around in his eyes for the lost children of God. For the hurting. For the wounded. Pam has stepped up to the place God has provided for her to speak life into young Moms who are told “it’s a blob of tissue” and to encourage the partnership of the body of Christ with Pregnancy resource Centers around the Nation. I am blessed to have been part of that ministry for over 20 years. I joined up with a dinner party of friends in 1989 to start Tampa’s firts PRC, now called Life Impact Network.. God has rescued THOUSANDS of lives through that little neighborhood ministry.

That ministry grows stronger every day.

Now, God has expanded my “Platform” through “Surrendering the Secret” and my newest adventure  “Imagine Me-Freedom Weekends”.

Where He goes I go. Where He goes is FREEDOM. Where He goes is LIFE!!!

How about you??

What is your ministry PLATFORM??

Is it your child’s school or your carpool?
Is it your job? Your church? Your neighborhood?
Is it a hospital or a nursing home?

What has God provided as a place in your life to share His Redeeming Love??

What can I do for you today??

Happy Saturday…

That might Sound kind of prideful I know but I don’t mean for it to. I am just so grateful to God for TODAY!! I am so grateful to be a part of His Kingdom plan.

TODAY–I am wallowing, soaking up, saturating, marinating, embracing, going to sleep with and waking up with…

Psalm 139! I have been for months as I prepare for this:

Oh my. When we REALLY GET what God has imparted into our very lives. The heart He has created. The passion He has implanted. The mission He has assigned. The destiny he has determined.

It just makes your heart go pitter patter.

Today, I am on verses 13-18.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to ^[a] me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I awake,

I am still with you.

I am so struck by the Power of a DAY!!!

I read an article a while back that pointed out these amazing Bible saints whose lives were changed in a single day. Think about it:

One Day—Sarah, Abraham’s Wife, was an old woman with an empty womb. The next, she was pregnant with a child of promise.

She had waited 24 YEARS!! In one day, her life changed.

One Day—David was on the RUN from Saul’s ARMIES, being tormented, falsely accused, rejected.

The next day, his enemy was dead and he was KING! David had waited 15 YEARS!

One Day—Esther was just a young girl wondering what her future might look like, the next day, she was a QUEEN.

One day, she was a QUEEN, the next day, she was rescuing a NATION!!!

God ALWAYS has something bigger!!

Today may be your day!!

One DAY– Jeremiah was just a Jewish kid, the next day, he was a PROPHET to the World and would be quoted in the BIBLE.

An eternal VOICE!! That  is what I want to be!! A voice that leads the WORLD to Christ!!

One DAY—The Israelites were lost and bored with dinner—the next day, they were face to face with the Messiah.

One Day—The disciples were hiding away in a secret room filled with fear and uncertainty.

The next day they were FILLED with the Power of the Holy Spirit—Ready to Shout from the rooftops for all to hear about their RISEN Saviour!!!

Think about it friends.

What can happen in ONE DAY!!

When we give God control of our lives, He will give us a promise, a Word, a Vision.

HE begins to set things in motion that you could never have even dreamed of. I know, I am walking in it!!!

Happy Birthday to me!!! I plan to milk it to the MAX!! Honey already did a Starbucks run for me!!

Hey girls, when was the last time you sang into a hairbrush or jumped up and down on a mattress?

How about laughed until you cried or worshipped God until you just sank into a puddle of praise??

Maybe, stayed up through the night, until the sun came up in the early morning,m talking and sharing with girlfriends??

Maybe mined God’s Word for some fresh truth and thirst quenching living water??

Maybe you are way past due??

Trust me, it is worth the investment in time and treasures!!

I think this may have been my longest stretch away from blogging in quite a while. Sometimes God has other plans for my attention.

The past 2 weeks have been like that. After hanging out with my friend Lysa Terkeurst and her right hand sweetheart, Holly for 3 days here in sunny Tampa, I headed for the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

THAT was an easy diversion. I love the snow!! I love fireplaces that burn all day and night! I love to see deer on the lawn when I wake up in the morning! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera this trip so I just have a few not so great I-Phone shots.

For 5 sweet days last week, I enjoyed one of the “set apart” times that I take twice each year. I was blessed to spend these precious days with some treasured friends in worship, prayer and seeking God for all of the download that He wanted to bless us with. He showed up in a such BIG way! I came home full of new vision and ready to overflow! Mercy me!

Since my return home, I have been pulling together my final keynote preparations for “Imagine Me…Set Free”, an event that God has been building in my heart for over a year!! I am getting so excited I am close to hyperventilating with anticipation and expectation!

Maybe this retreat would be a good “Set Apart” time for you?? It is going to be held at “The Cove” in Asheville, NC in just a few weeks. I promise you that God WILL show up! You will laugh. You will sing. You will have some great girl time! You will be refreshed!

Hairbrushes will be provided!!

I would love to see you there and will have a special treat for you if you tell me you came because you have a relentless desire to sing into a hairbrush!

Register at the the Mecklenburg website or to get more info on this fun FREEDOM WEEKEND at “Imagine Me…Set Free” check out my website.

Truly… I can barely think straight,

can barely think straight,

can barely think straight!!!!

Are you FREE to be there???

If you are like me changing the world is not really on your daily “To Do” list. Most days I can barely get the toilet paper changed, keep cash in my wallet or remember to take the clothes out of the dryer, much less, change the world.

However, truth is truth and this is truth.

It is true for me and it is true for you.

God created us to change the world and we ARE changing it, one way or another.

The plan actually started BEFORE we were born. God says in Psalm 139 that he actually KNIT us together in our mother’s womb. I have never knitted but I have cross-stitched and it takes a lot of attention. One year for Christmas I cross-stitched a pillow with a personal message for each of my 3 sisters and my Mom. It took me all year to get them finished. God creates an entire human being in 9 short months. Each one with different fingerprints, hair molecules, nose tips, eye colors and toenail shapes.

The whole world may not have noticed the day you were born but at least 2 people did, your Mother and God. Both of them planned for your arrival and were all hands on deck when it occurred.

I have spent the past year preparing for a new woman’s conference that I am teaching this year called “Imagine Me…Redeemed, Restored, Renewed…Set Free”. It is based upon the truths found in Psalm 139. I have read and reread that chapter in the Bible more times now than I can even count. I have studied it from every angle and every text that I can get my hands on and I am jazzed!!

As I have prepared for my conference I have realized 3 things that are undeniably, unquestionably and UN believably God’s expectation of our perfectly planned, perfectly created lives here on earth that will change the world.

They are captured beautifully in a prayer that Jesus prayed for himself in John 17. It gets my heart every time to know that just before Jesus prays this prayer and begins his death walk, He claims boldly, “I HAVE OVERCOME (CHANGED) THE WORLD”. Right after that He is beaten, dragged around in the dirt, spit on and rejected.

None of those things rings my chimes in terms of VICTORY although I feel like I have tasted my own tiny molecular version of each experience in the past month.

As Jesus prays in this verse, He list 3 things that He accomplished that we are called to accomplish as well:

The Work (John 17:4) Jesus knew what He was created to do and He did it. We MUST know what we are called to do in order to glorify the plan of God in our lives.

The Word (John 17:14) Jesus knew God’s Word and was able to share it and explain it to others. If we don’t know God’s Word we cannot complete the Work God has created us to do.

The World (John 17:18) God sent Jesus into the WORLD to change everything He touched, every place He stepped, every person He met.

We have each been created to Change the World of our families, the world of our workplaces, the world of our neighborhoods, the world of our churches.

We have been created to Change the World and we ARE changing it–For Better or For Worse.

Selah.

If you live near Ashville, NC; San Antonio, TX or Denver, Co. I would love to have you join us for Imagine Me…Set Free. We are going to talk about those plans that God has for us!!

A few weeks ago I shared about my latest spontaneous project that just about cost me my marriage. Well, it’s finally finished and honey is still here. Which has been the case for many years. He is a big ‘ole teddy bear. Growls a bit now and then but in the end calms down with a good dinner.

Check out this post and photos of where I started: “Honey, Don’t….Please” This is what the consignment shop picked up.

Here’s where I ended up!!

and this:

A look at my “Wild Side”.

What do you think??

After 3 weeks and some wear and tear on my weekends, I have a little advice to offer.

These are my “Martha Stewart wanna be” tips for updating a room.

1) Have an inspiration picture. I always have a picture of what I want my room to look like when I am done. I use pictures for holiday decorating, for dinner party planning, for outfits I like and definitely for rooms that I want to decorate. I use sales catalogs from Pottery Barn, Ballard Designs, ect. to inspire me and give me ideas.

2) Measure your room carefully and draw a picture of the layout that you want. I even take pictures on my IPhone and my camera to carry around shopping with me since I easily forget details. I also carry around my paint swatch and inspiration picture in case I spot any accessories that might work.

3) Determine your budget ahead of time and make a shopping list. (I don’t do this part but it is a VERY good idea I recommend it!

4) Shop-Shop-Shop. This was the part my honey was so grouchy–I mean patient about, but it paid off big time!! I had no idea how much office furniture cost when I watched mine go onto the back of a truck headed for the consignment shop. BTW–I did just get a check for $ 130.00 for the 3 items they sold. Every little bit helps. We ended up saving lots of money between the first desk I picked out and the one I actually bought at American Signature Home for $299.!!

5) Be patient–Everything cost more, takes longer and is more complicated than I originally plan when it comes to decorating. I had to hang and rehang my curtains and my project board several times even though I measured and taped ahead. First the nails popped out of the wall, then I ended up off balance. (not me, that is, my drapes!!) That’s just the way it is.

Anyway, It was fun and I LOVE my new office…LOVE IT!! NOW, I have to work! It is going to be fun to IMAGINE things in here!!

Speaking of WEEKENDS, I would love to have you join me for one girls!

“Freedom Weekends”

We have three of them planned before Summer. They are in North Carolina, Colorado and Texas.

You must be somewhere close to one of those!! See my speaking schedule tab for dates and contacts.

My “Imagine Me…Redeemed, Restored, Renewed…Set Free” Dream Board!

Now, I am off to make honey some dinner!!

In my early days of serving God, I nearly lost my ministry opportunities wallowing in that question. In fact, I turned my resignation in to my Board so many times they finally ordered me to never to write one again, they would just keep it on file for when THEY wanted to use it. I spent so much time beating myself up over my inadequacies and failures that I began to create bruises in my heart, head and spirit.

Finally, somewhere along that journey, maybe 10 or 15 years into it, I GOT IT….and MOST of the time now, I keep it.

“Pat, YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
You have Never been good enough.
You never will be good enough”.

WOW! What freedom I have found in my “Not Goodness”!!

What happened was I finally GOT IT and allowed the truth to sink from my head to my heart that God’s GRACE truly is all that I need. (2 Corinth 12:9) and in fact my weaknesses allows His Power to be PERFECTED!! Which is really good news!

There are so many truths in God’s Word that make absolutely no sense to the rational brain. I’m just guessing here, I have never HAD a “rational brain” so I am not totally sure about this but my hunch is, that any Boss in the corporate world who heard “my weakness allows your power to go on display” and did not trust in God’s Word, would say….Yeah Right, Your Fired!

Paul actually said in these passages that he “DELIGHTS” in his weaknesses, IN INSULTS, in hardships, in persecution and in DIFFICULTIES.

I definitely give God lots to work with in my life in this area.

I FAIL constantly. I failed yesterday. I am sure I failed today but yesterday’s failure is still stinging so I haven’t noticed.

I really try to stay true to the character and behavior and words that God has planted in my heart. I want to honor His name in my life every second of every day. I would love it if everybody thought I was wonderful and perfect and never failed but oh my….they don’t….Not even close.

Jesus knew it would happen when He proclaimed, “The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”.

Thank you Lord for your grace, for loving me and using me even though I am not “good enough”. Not good enough TO ME, but more than Good Enough to you!

How about you, have you struggled with this truth lately?

Do you ever feel “Not Good Enough”?