Each morning, my husband and I have a routine where I call him while he’s on his way to work, and I’m getting ready for the day. We share what we have going on for the day and what we want to accomplish that day. My husband usually shares about his “daily huddle” meetings with his staff and team members to ensure they are on track and to accomplish their daily goals.
Saturday is my special day with the Lord. I spend extra time praying, reading my Bible, and writing. In fact, I consider it my “writing day.” I’ve been doing this for fifteen years. But what’s most special about my writing days is my time with God. As you can imagine, however, meeting with God just once a week is simply not enough to get through life. So, I’ve been wanting to have these special meetings more often. Last year, I started to make the effort to meet with the Lord every morning for at least one minute before I start my day. That’s how I started. The weeks went by, and now I have finally established a routine where I meet with the Lord daily, anywhere from one minute to 15 or 20 minutes, depending on what I have going that day. And it has changed my life!
This past week, I told my husband, “I have to hurry up getting ready so I have time to meet with God. Wait a minute, I do have daily huddles too. They are ‘my daily huddles with God’”! I just realized that there is nothing better than meeting with God each day as you start your day and literally asking God, “What do you want me to focus on today? Who do you want me to help today? How should I show love to others today?” Then I pray, “Please cancel meetings that are not important or that will have zero impact on my long-term, eternal goals. Please show me the way in my business, send me the right people to partner with, send me the right speaking engagements and the right consulting clients.” And He does.
I’m sure some of you may be reading this and thinking, “I pray every day in the mornings. Why didn’t she figure that out before?” Well, I always knew how important it is to meet with God, but I’ve never been serious enough and dedicated enough to do it. I’ve always been too busy, and I’m always running to the first meeting of the day. I pray through the day, as most of us do, but now I make the time to be with the Lord intentionally and make Him my priority for the morning. It takes time to have the discipline to establish a new routine until it becomes a habit. And God doesn’t mind if we give him ONE minute or more time. He just wants us to be with Him and make Him a priority in our lives—one day at a time.
Today, I want to encourage you to create the new habit if you already don’t have it. Make the time to be with your Father. He yearns for your time and for your friendship. He wants to be close to you. He’s always there waiting for you. You just have to do it and make the commitment. Try it!
I’ll leave you today with the scriptures I was reading this morning from 1 Cor. 9:24-27:
Marcia Malzahn (Marci) was born in Nicaragua, Central America. In 1979 she left Nicaragua due to a revolution and moved to the Dominican Republic and lived there for seven years. Marcia moved to Minnesota in 1986 and started a career in banking with Marquette Banks that continued for the next thirteen years in the areas of Cash Management, Private Banking, and Retail Banking. In 1995 Marcia became the first Online Banking Specialist in the Twin Cities.
In 1999, she moved to the IT field and started working for Living Word Christian Center (LWCC), a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. At LWCC, she held the positions of Y2K Project Manager, Director of IT, Associate in charge of Finance, Human Resources and IT, and was Corporate Assistant Secretary of the Board. She managed a budget of $31.5MM and 28 employees.
In January 2005, Marcia moved back to the banking field and helped start a new bank in Edina, MN, Tradition Capital Bank, now at over $400 million in assets. From 2005 to 2013, Marcia was the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of the bank. In January, 2014, Marcia’s role changed to EVP/COO and was promoted to Chief Risk Officer. Marcia was also the Corporate Secretary of the bank’s Board and of the holding company’s Board.
In October 2014, Marcia started her own bank consulting firm, Malzahn Strategic, focusing on Strategic Planning, Enterprise Risk Management, and Talent Management for community banks. Marcia is also a public speaker and speaks on motivational/inspirational/leadership topics as well as banking topics such as Enterprise Risk Management. She holds an Associates of Arts degree from North Hennepin Community College and graduated with a B.A. in Business Management from Bethel University. Marcia also graduated from the Graduate School of Banking in Madison, WI.
Marcia is involved in the community. She was a member of Financial Women International for sixteen years and held several board positions including president of the local group and of the District. She is a member of the Minnesota Women Economic Roundtable and served as treasurer for two years. Marcia is also chair of the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities. Marcia has also volunteered in other organizations including Matter, Pulse Movement, Opportunity International, Way to Grow, Feed My Starving Children, HopeKids, Meals on Wheels, and Farmers Market Youth Project.
Marcia was the recipient of many awards including:
• 25 On The Rise award given by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in December, 2005.
• Forty Under 40 award given by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal in May, 2006
• Virginia D. H. Furman Outstanding Woman of the Year award from Financial Women International in September, 2006
• Top Women in Finance award from Finance and Commerce Newspaper in November, 2008
• Outstanding Women in Banking award given by the North Western Financial Review magazine in November, 2009
Marcia is the author of her book Devotions for Working Women – A Daily Inspiration to Live a Successful and Balanced Life published in 2006. Marcia published her second book The Fire Within – Connect Your Gifts with Your Calling in October 2015. Marcia and her husband Tim live in Minnesota and have two children: Nicole and Patrick. Marcia enjoys spending time with her family, working out, singing, writing, and public speaking.