I've been realizing that we should focus more in our lives on who we are becoming, than where we are going. As Martin Smith said at a recent conference at Hillsong, "being a history maker is whole lot less about what goes on up here [on the stage] and a whole lot more about what's going on in here [in our hearts].

I can't stop thinking about Daniel lately. I posted on my facebook two weeks ago - "Daniel knew how to get serious with God, and God took him seriously. Look at how this guy prayed in Daniel chapters 9 and 10." An acquaintence named Isaac commented on my post – "When angels tell you that they wish they could have helped you sooner, you're doing something right!" So good, so true!

It doesn't matter our vocation. The same rules apply to all of us. If we want to be effective for God, we have to be effective with God.

Our heroes in Scripture were not all preachers or Pastors.
Moses was a farmer and travel guide
David was a farmer, soldier and eventually became King
Elijah was a consultant to politicians and famous people
Job was a wealthy, successful businessman (really, the Warren Buffett of his day)
Peter worked on a TV show … I don’t know if you’ve heard of it … "Deadliest Catch"
The list goes on...

Bottom line: There is not a special anointing on a preacher or Pastor. There is a special anointing on walking closely with God.

So, what is the holiest vocation or calling? To do exactly what God calls you to do, and to walk with God.

As Mother Theresa said, "This is holiness: to do His will, with a big smile."

I have seen many Christian leaders who handled incredible amounts of tasks with ease. It would seem impossible, but they work day in and day out accomplishing more than many of us might ever have to handle.

There are many things to be done in God's Kingdom. Thank goodness that it does not all depend on us. The Body of Christ is many parts working together for the common goal of lifting up Christ for the world to see. We are each only one small part in this great working. And even those parts which we are responsible for, we do in Christ's power with works so powerful within us. Offering ourselves to God as instruments of righteousness.

Still, there is a nagging sense, that there is no way we could ever keep up with all that needs to be done. Instead, we should seek to simply bless others using the spiritual gifts we are given by the Holy Spirit, and blow freely with the wind of Holy Spirit.

1. Bless others with our spiritual gift
Scripture shows in 1 Corinthians 12, that each of us is given at least one spiritual gift. It benefits all of us, when each of us discovers our gift and grows in our ability to use this gift to serve and help the rest. The purpose of our gifts are to serve one another. Peter says, "each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." (1 Peter 4:10, NIV).

2. Blow with the wind of the Holy Spirit
Scriptures says "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8, ESV). It is not up to us to decide when and where we will work best. Our duty is to remain dependent on the leading of the Lord, following Him with all our hearts and going where we sense He is placing us, with the incredible joy He gives.

Would you add anything to this list? Would love to hear your thoughts - comment below ...

Scripture says that "The righteous are bold as a lion." There should be a certain boldness to those people who follow God. Do we realize that "everything he has belongs to us?" Do we realize that we have power with God to move mountains?

If we are not happy with our current circumstances, we have all authority in Christ to "approach the throne of grace" and pray for change. We are never powerless as believers, rather we have power with God to move mountains.

Moving mountains often requires "praying through." One simple prayer in Jesus' Name is powerful beyond our comprehension, but many times we must keep on praying until we see God's clear answer. When we pray, we should never give up or lose heart.

On the flip side, we also don't want to be overly ambitious, or assume we have the understanding or perspective that only God can see. We have this treasure in jars of clay, so we must remain close to the potter as he molds our lives and directs our steps before us. We must always be careful that we don't fall and that we are standing firm. This requires a continual dependence on God and His help and direction for each step of our lives.

In this final article of this "Steward Your Health" blog series, here are a few other key ways to steward our health for the glory of God:

Be intentional about drinking water 
Experts tell us we need far more than 8 glasses of water per day. It is actually more like 11-15 glasses of water. We don't naturally drink this much. We have to adjust our normal to get used to this. 

I've noticed that I don't even get close to this amount unless I intentionally try to. The way I have been learning to track this, is using a water bottle that is 2 cups. I refill this, and try to consistently drink enough water.

LoseIt app for tracking calories and nutrition
Michelle and I have been using and absolutly loving the LoseIt app on our iPhones to track our meals, calories, sodium intake, and more. It is surprisingly easy to enter foods, by scanning the bar code on most foods, and saving all foods we enter, so we can easily add staple foods we eat on a regular basis. It has been an eye opening experience about which foods are great for us, and which foods we need to avoid more. 

Why exercise is so good for us
As I mentioned in the first part of this blog series, one reason exercise is so important is that it helps sweat out excess sodium in the body to a healthier level, which protects our hearts, and also helps prevent stroke. There are many other reasons, including controlling our weight.

Watch how much caffeine we take in daily
It is important to watch how much caffeine we are intaking on a daily basis; not because we don't want to get hyper or grumpy, but because too much caffeine consistently can be detrimental to our heart.

Experts tell us to be careful to not have more than 3-400mg of caffeine per day. Here is a useful chart for seeing how many milligrams of caffeine are in various drinks. 

An 8 ounce cup of coffee contains about 100mg of caffeine, but keep in mind that most coffee mugs are larger than 8 ounces. A shot of expresso is about 75mg of caffeine, and the average can of caffeinated soda is between 50-75mg of caffeine.

Make small changes in your diet for long-term stickiness
I wrote back around New Year's 2010 about making small changes:

Cognitive scientist Daniel T. Willingham shares about this idea, "A great deal of research shows that the most successful diets are not diets.  Rather, they are lifestyle changes that the person believes he could live with every day for years - for example, switching from regular milk to skim milk, or walking the dog instead of just letting her out in the morning, or drinking black coffee instead of lattes.  When thinking about helping slower students catch up, it may be smart to set interim goals that are achievable and concrete." (Why Students Don't Like School, p 186).

Michelle and I have and continue to make many of these small changes, including switching to skim milk, not putting cream or sugar in my coffee (mainly for my teeth health), watching how much butter, sugar and salt are used as Michelle cooks, and more.

Are there any other important ways we can steward our health that you'd like to add to my lists? Would love to hear your comments below!

Here is a great, short list of several dozen of Mayo Clinic's most potent, foods that are healthiest for your heart:

Salmon
Oatmeal
Black beans
Almonds
Walnuts
Tuna
Brown rice
Soy milk
Blueberries
Carrots
Spinach
Broccoli
Sweet potato
Red bell peppers
Asparagus
Oranges
Tomatoes
Acorn squash 
Cantaloupe
Dark chocolate
Tea 
Grapes

Learn to love these foods, and make them your best friends! Eat plenty and often!