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No One is Self-Made

Posted on March 25, 2024March 25, 2024 by Pam

I saw a reality show commercial. These women are selling the show and boasting. Sales is boasting as I well know. It would have been an oversight to attend a marketing meeting and not mention how many successful home-sales I conducted. However, I was not “self-made”. Credit where credit is due. I was created by God. He gives life. He gives gifts. I work hard to use those gifts. When my business did well I tried to give God the credit. Also, when business or life has not gone well, He is still to be trusted and given credit. That may sound harsh so feel free to rebut. Self-made just sounds overly confident. James writes about making great plans for ourselves in 4:13-14, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” The rest of the chapter suggests we consult our Maker. He has the best plan and sin is just missing the plan. Normally we think it is about what will make us happy and I hope your future does make you happy but that cannot be the measuring rod. Jesus never promised to guarantee our happiness but He did offer a future that we can trust to Him. I believe that my children turned out more amazing than I could have imagined. That is a good example of how God does more. I also think He can redirect my miscalculations. That is not self-made but God-directed. Be confident but don’t take credit for all you are because your plans have a limited view while God knows the beginning and the end. I hope the show that started this discourse succeeds in the best way as not all success is positive.

When there is trust, conflict becomes nothing but the pursuit of truth, an attempt to find the best possible answer. – Patrick Lencioni

God only knows what your best answer is. Let’s listen.

Unknown artist

"Thoughts from a genuinely evaluative mind."

Pam writes so that must make her a writer. Recently retired, she can now fill days with family, friends, missions, writing, creating, and showing up for whomever needs her. Pam loves the Lord and people. The Bible is God’s love letter to us (and who does not need more love) so she studies and writes some more.

Pam lives in the Pacific Northwest but was home-grown in Southern California. She attended San Jose Bible College and finished a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at UCLA. She became a teacher, then a Research and Development Chemist, then she built two successful real estate businesses in two states. Pam also pursued study at Fuller Theological Seminary and just completed six months serving in missions abroad.

Pam has two amazing children, married to two precious in-laws, and five sweet grandchildren. Pam is a gifted connector and communicator and the Northwest has the perfect climate for staying inside and writing – or baking! She has been writing since a wee one and is currently converting many years of blogging, by topic, into ten books. The first is a collection from 2011 titled, Beautiful Enough. The second is a yearly day-timer titled, Weekly Planner - Lessons in Life, Glory, and Grace. Number three is in progress with the working title, Christmas Today.

Ten facts about Pam in no particular order:

  1. On the team that developed an insulation for the Alaskan oil pipeline.
  2. Loves looking at homes, decorating, and has flipped five homes.
  3. Likes being tall.
  4. Films have helped define her vocabulary.
  5. Comes from Colorado tenement farmers with history traced to Wales.
  6. Was lost but now is found.
  7. Baking makes her happy – as does eating sweets with coffee, of course.
  8. She thinks mission work is the most important work in the world.
  9. The church started in Rome so she is learning Italian.
  10. Pam is a work in progress!

“I will be your God throughout your lifetime - until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.” Isaiah 46:4

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