What are Your Credentials?

I've seen friends posting about the newly graduated medical doctors in their families. They have credentials and titles now. They earned them after years of hard work, intense training, and much effort! Along with those credentials comes respect, plus enormous responsibility to medical ethics. Their new titles and credentials will forever be a part of their life story.

I don't have a suffix that could be added to the end of my name, but I DO have credentials, and if you are a child of God and earnestly follow Jesus....so do you. Here are mine, and yours, too!

Donna Wuerch, COG -- Child of God
“All of you are God’s children because of your faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26

Donna Wuerch, NC – New Creation
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” II Corinthians 5:17

Donna Wuerch, AC -- Ambassador for Christ
"I am an ambassador for Christ." 2 Corinthians 5:20

Donna Wuerch, FD – Forgiven Daughter
“For this is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:28

Donna Wuerch, WDF – Worth Dying For
“But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Donna Wuerch, FB -- Fruit Bearer
"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in Him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

You can obtain those credentials, too. No tests required. Our God-given credentials don’t belong to us because of who we are, but rather because of to Whom we belong. We have a tremendous responsibility as representatives of Jesus Christ to exemplify Him in our attitudes, our character, and in our love for others.

Maybe we should have business cards made with our God-given credentials on them!

Doing the Right Thing

After 18 years as a Real Estate Broker, today, I will be completing my Real Estate Broker-in-Charge requirements for another 3-year term. My sweetheart had over 30 years under his belt when he went to heaven. After obtaining my initial R/E Associate License, he urged me to obtain my Broker's license to further assist him in our Sonlife Properties R/E Company. At the time, it seemed so unneeded (better said, UN-wanted -- it meant I had to use a lot of brain power to learn so much), but I am so grateful he was relentless in encouraging me to finish strong. Now I know why. The blessings, for both of us in our years of real estate, have been so many, and since he went to heaven, it has served me so well.

I always learn so much when I attend these continuing education courses which are also "refresher" courses. These few days have been no exception. So many rules, regulations, do's and don'ts, attention to details, ethics, standards, laws, codes, provisions! Ugh! Laws....all those things that restrain us, keep us from fun and living it up. OR, is it those things that FREE us and PROTECT us and give us a meaningful, blessed and prosperous life? In these classes, plenty of tragic stories are heard of how negligence or lack of integrity destroyed a family's life. But, at the same time, we heard stories that "saved the day" because of law-abiding, generous, kind and thoughtful actions that were taken.

Whether it be in real estate, or any profession, or being a good citizen who adheres to the laws of the land, we will be known by our actions. J.C. Watts said, "Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught." And, the Apostle Paul said in Matthew 7:20 "You will know them by their fruits."

Our reputation of honesty and integrity is worth its weight in gold in all of our business relations, our human relations, and our relationship with God. There will be so many opportunities in our life to take a shortcut or do the wrong thing or even to justify bad behavior as a reaction to someone else’s bad behavior. Let's live our lives in such a way that when each day comes to a close we can look in the mirror and say, “Today I did the right thing.”