3D in the eyes of a 6 year old

I've been meaning to post this for a while now. It is really encouraging and it deserves to be read by a larger audience than just myself.

A good friend of 3D is a woman named Stephanie, her heart for 3D - students and staff alike - is incredible. Thankgoodness for me, our friendship has blossomed beyond 3D! :)

I can only do this story justice by letting Stephanie tell it in her own words:

"Bekah's homework this week is all holiday themed. Each night she has to pick an activity for her homework. tonight's activity was choosing one of our Christmas cards and writing a story about it. Our table has lots of cards on it, filled with the faces of some of her favorite friends...and she chose the 3d card out of all of them to write a story about. So tomorrow she will share with her class a 6 year old's perspective on your ministry. Can you tell I am a proud mom?

(bekah's story)

the card is of the boys from 3d life.

they are standing in front of Christmas trees.

they are very nice boys.

they helped us pick a Christmas tree.

they live on the farm and learn about Jesus and making wise choices."

I love, LOVE this. 3 Dimensional Life, by God's grace alone, is not merely influencing students and their families, but also six year old little girls who understand that God is at work and changing lives for eternity.

It is my hope, on this last day of 2009, that your heart will be focused and open to what God has in store for you for 2010!

End of 2009: Thanks

As the end of the year draws to an end, I am exceedingly thankful for many things. Here are a couple of things I'm thankful for:

- Team work. Right now, in front of my office window, I'm watching two of our students complete a task during their work crew afternoon. One is the oldest in the house (oldest determined by status in the 3D) and one is younger...You can hear their muffled conversations, occasional laughter and focus to complete the task at work. Team work is a wonderful thing.

- 3D Staff. I've mentioned it before, but it must be mentioned again. I work with the BEST staff in the world. No, really, I do. While we work hard, we also have a lot of fun. Coming to work is a pleasure!

- 3D students. It takes courage to realize you have a problem, and then voluntary decide to change. That is courageous. And, that act of courage is something that they do every single day.

- Glue Stic for Envelopes. Remember my hatred for licking envelopes? Well, one student's mom read about my dilemma and FOUND Glue Stic for Envelopes!!! Does anyone need me to mail anything? Lemme know, I'm armed and ready. :)

- Watching God work. That phrase pretty much sums it up, but it is truly amazing to watch God work. You don't have to look hard, you just have to recognize when He is working and give Him glory at recognition.

Life is good.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Resolution.


Every year, pressure mounts to establish a resolution for the new year. You know the pressure. It comes up all the time. And, before you know it, you create a New Year's resolution. Again.


I recently read this quote in regards to New Year:


"I'm thinking the smart thing would be having 365 New Day celebrations rather than one New Year celebration. You know...start each day with resolve about doing this and not doing that; resolve about living forward and re-shaping habits. Seems a New Day resolution would be much less daunting while having a significantly lower mortality rate than a New Year resolution."


Doesn't that quote inspire motivation? I love it for several reasons.


1. It makes goals easier to handle. Just One.Day.At.A.Time.

2. It aligns PERFECTLY and really sums up 3 Dimensional Life's overall goal: to help those bound in destructive behaviors


For our 3D Life students, they spend every single day during their program with the "resolve [towards] living forward and re-shaping habits".

What about you? How do you intend to make 2010 the year of "living forward and re-shaping habits"?

Post-Christmas: Family Restoration

Aside from the presents, parties, abundance of food and continuing family traditions, Christmas is a great time to reconnect with family. I suppose, it is the Christmas season that provides a great reminder of the importance of family. With that being said, I hope your Christmas was full of remembering Jesus' birth, family and rich Christmas traditions.

I've been thinking about the subject of 'family' a lot lately. I'm sure Christmas had a lot to do with it, but what further cemented was the 3 Dimensional Life graduation held yesterday at Free Chapel. While we are immensely proud of our students and their achievements, there was a phrase that continued to come up: family restoration.

When a student comes to 3 Dimensional Life, its because they want freedom from their destructive behavior. What is truly amazing is how that singular goal blossoms out. Families are brought back together, relationships with parents and siblings are restored. At graduation, over and over again, restored families were emphasized. Students were sharing about how they can have conversations with their parents without yelling and quality family time is enjoyed. What a miracle. Really, we can't be given credit for this, it's really the LORD.

As we are watching family restoration take place, I'm reminded of the following story:
"A study was once done on two men who lived during the late 1700's, both from the state of New York.
The first man, Max Jukes, did not believe in Christ or in Christian training. He refused to take his children to church, even when they asked to go. Max's decision was very destructive to to his family and costly to the state of New York. Max had 903 known descendants. Of Max's descendants: 100 were sent to prison for an average term of 13 years, 90 were public prostitutes, 145 were admitted alcoholics, 285 had social diseases and 300 were delinquents. The report estimated that the crimes and care of the Max Jukes family line cost the state of New York over one million dollars.
The second man studied, was the puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards. He was an uncompromising theologian and pastor who lived to please God and was a man of prayer. The research found 1,394 descendants of Jonathan Edwards. His descendants included: 13 college presidents, 65 prominent lawyers, 32 noted authors, 90 physicians, 86 state senators, 30 judges, 3 congressmen, 1 Vice-President of the US, and 200 ministers of the Gospel. It has been said that this family never cost the state of New York one penny for any kind of rehabilitation or for incarceration."

This is a great reminder of how lives are being changed at 3 Dimensional Life; not just students, but families as well.

Rippling Effects

Have you ever heard a statement that influences your life so much it literally changes the way you approach life from that point on? Several years ago, that happened to me.

This is the statement that changed my life: "Everything that happens in your life has a rippling effect on your life. Good or bad, it is like throwing a pebble in a pond. No matter how small the splash, the rippling effect influences everything around it."

This statement can easily be aligned with 3 Dimensional Life. Students come into our program because they allowed a bad pebble into their pond and the rippling effect was negative. The splash have been small, perhaps even subtle, but the influences spread to everything around them. It influences their performance in school, their relationships with parents and siblings, their hope for the future, their purpose in life, etc.

However, by coming to 3 Dimensional Life, they are experiencing a new rippling effect: they are watching recovery take place in their lives as they seek the LORD. Then, watching how that decision positively influences their families and their decisions for the future. They have hope and are rediscovering their purpose in life.

Isn't that amazing?

Helping students discover freedom from destructive behaviors does not just end at their graduation. It influences entire families, how they respond to life, it influences more than we can ever know.

What is influencing your life?

Miracles

We see miracles every day. Literally.

Take, for instance, John. He is one of the students at 3 Dimensional Life. He has only been here 3 months, but in that short period of time, 2 of his best friends have died from drug overdoses. But, John is alive. He has a second chance at life. That is a miracle.

We've watched God supply our every need. Over and over again.

-Girls 3D Life: funds and individuals are coming forward to make freedom from destructive behaviors a reality in the lives of teenage girls. That is a miracle.

-We've had a need for interns. Not is that need being met, we are also making our internship program even stronger with guys like Matt - who is committed to investing in the lives of our interns, so that as our interns pour into our students, they are also getting poured into. That is a miracle.

Miracles. Are not something that we can ever grow accustom to. We must always stand in awe of how the LORD works. Greg, our Executive Director said: "We need to give God the glory now, so we don't take credit for it later."

Isn't that the truth! Its our prayer that we never take credit for the work that ONLY God can get the credit for.

Office Tasks

Working at 3 Dimensional Life is both a privilege and a blessing. I love that I work with an incredible group of people. As staff members, our hearts, are focused on serving Christ and helping our students see their potential and be able to live destructive behavior(s) FREE!

However.

As the only female consistently on property, I don't have to worry about doing things like taking out the trash or killing bugs. There are enough men and guys around here to take care of that. Needless to say, I've become spoiled.

I enjoy office-work. Really, I do. It means that I'm not outside braving the elements. But the one office task I struggle with is LICKING ENVELOPES. I hate it. Really, and truly, I absolutely abhor licking envelopes. Just writing those two words turns my stomach. In college, I would take my unsealed envelopes to the Post Office and beg them to either lick it for me or give me tape. :)

You can imagine my excitement when we began to send out 3 Dimensional Life Christmas cards, I enjoyed the task of stuffing the envelopes, placing address labels and stamps, but there was that LAST task I was dreading. This morning, it took me 30 minutes and two stores (both which did not have a sponge envelope sealer), to realize I had no choice but to lick.the.envelopes. For over a hundred of them...all by myself. It was quite the task. Each time, I would tell myself, "Its just one more envelope", quickly followed by the pray of, "Please don't let me get a papercut or die from the adhesive".

Thankfully, the LORD was gracious. I survived and the Christmas cards were sent out. :)

I think this is an important aspect of our work here: sometimes, both the staff and students at 3 Dimensional Life, have to do tasks that are not our most favorite, but they must be done! The students at 3D experience this every single day.

I have to admit: I'm hoping we get a sponge envelope sealer in the office soon. But, it was a great reminder that life is full of choices and my attitude that follows is crucial.

Christmas Tree Give-Away

Over the last couple of weeks, 3 Dimensional Life has been busy with the Christmas tree season. Every Saturday, we have been providing trees to the community for a donation. It has been incredible to see the response we have received!

One morning last week, I noticed a van pull up to the office. When I opened the office door, a woman stood outside.

"I heard I could get a Christmas tree here if I gave a donation." She paused. "Is that right?"

I told her that was correct. When she asked why, I told her that, "We want to make sure everyone is able to celebrate Christmas this year. If there are individuals in the community who cannot purchase a tree, we will give them a tree."

Her eyes glistened with tears. "Really? I can't believe this. I didn't know how I was going to do it this year."

I told her where she could find the trees, and then she and her family made their way through the trees to find the perfect one.

I could say it felt magical to know I was providing an opportunity for a family to have a real tree for Christmas...and it DID feel magical. But, beyond just a "feel-good" feeling, I hoped I was giving her a glimpse of the love of Jesus. That is why we are doing giving Christmas trees away this year - we truly want to give back to the community. However, more than that, we really want to show the love of Jesus in a practical way. And, what better way than to provide Christmas trees to those who can't afford it?

Allow me to encourage you to do just that - what practical way can you show Christ? Not just because it's Christmas, but because HE lives in you.

December 12th is the LAST Saturday we will be giving away Christmas trees! Join us from 9am-6pm as we have s'mores, hayrides, choose and cut Leyland Cyprus and more! For more information, please contact info@the3dlife.com.

Rainy Day

Today is one of those days when the rain is pouring down hard and you didn't bring a umbrella or wear rain boots. Ever had one of those days?

Over the past couple of days, our staff has been reflecting on the overflowing-pour-down-goodness of our God. A lot of incredible things have taken place at or for 3 Dimensional Life lately, and we have the privilege of being up close as we watch the providence and awesomeness of God.

Here are some examples:

- Tractor. A couple of months ago, we looked at purchasing a tractor for the property. When we went to inquiry about it, the tractor was gone. Last week, a gentleman pulls up, saying he has a tractor he'd like to loan to us. Turns out it was the SAME tractor we had looked at several months ago.

- Girls 3D: Our Girls Director will be setting up a booth in Alpharetta for a local charity fund raiser. Guess what charity they are donating the money?! You guessed correctly - 3D Life for Girls.

Blogging on the Farm

At 3 Dimensional Life, we wanted a way to connect better with you (supporters, prayer partners, parents, graduates, friends, etc)...and what better way than a BLOG?!?

We are excited to launch this blog as a way to let you know what's happening around 3 Dimensional Life. We will be sharing daily life, encounters that inspire us, pictures and more.

Keep stopping by; we've only just begun!