Re-Invent Yourself
For the past ten years, I have tried to fit my square peg into a round hole. I was a teacher before I chose to stay home almost 15 years ago. I became a teacher because I liked kids and knew it was something I …
Tag: dream
Episode 10: The One About Her
Where do you find your self-worth? Do you look in the mirror and value yourself? Is your truth found in Him or some other narrative?
When we see someone else succeed, we have an emotional response. We end up working from that space instead of the truth. The truth is your voice, your message, and your gifting and it is just as worthy as hers.
Listen and be encouraged.
Episode 9: The One About the Money
Let’s all do a better job of believing in the God-breathed dreams in each of us. And let this episode serve as a reminder that you ARE valuable.
Episode 8: The One About Activating Your Dreams
You know what your dream is, now what? How do you activate that dream? In this episode, Sarah and I talk about how to live in an active state and how to sustain it. We talk about how the middle is the sweet spot but …
When God says, “Lay it Down”
We all have a word. Maybe you don’t have a word. Instead, you have a thought, a goal, or a dream. You might not be a New Year’s resolution type, but we all want more for our lives. My word for 2018 is expectant. I walked into the year fully expecting God to do big things in my life. I launched a ministry on a prayer and a dream. I knew God would show up and He did. However, as the year progressed I realized my expectations got wrapped up in my vision and not His story leading to some disappointment.
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14
My dreams swirled around in my expectations. I know that God has placed this desire in my heart. I know I stepped into what He was calling me to do. What I don’t know, however, is how it all will unfold. And, quite frankly, that freaks me out a bit. I keep showing up day-after-day doing the next thing He is calling me to do. But, there is an emptiness, a longing, deep within. My daily journey wasn’t matching up with my expectations. I was expectant of the Lord but my expectations were all mine.
Lay down your expectations so He may fill you with more.
As 2018 comes to a close, I realized that while I started the year expectant of God, I became more expectant of me instead. I thought I knew best: that I knew how fast things needed to move and which direction they needed to travel. I know how this story plays out so let’s get to it. God doesn’t work that way. Thankfully.
It took me until December to awaken to my confusion; to see that my expectant vision was blinded. At the end of this year (literally, at the beginning of December) I clearly heard the Lord tell me to lay it down. Lay down the dream.
Let’s have a little chat. Laying down what I hold dear, what I have worked so hard for, what I have dreamed about, what wakes me up in the middle of the night is much more difficult than I think. Sure, I’m a strong Christian girl. I trust God. I know He has great plans for me. I know he delights in giving me the desires of my heart. I know He wants to exceed my expectations. But lay my dreams down? Ha. Are you crazy, God?
He’s calling me to lay it down to make room for Him to fill my life with more. The more tightly I grip, the less space He has. He wants to fill our lives. He wants to give us more than our little hearts desire. But, when we hold too tightly to the dream, when we put our spin on it and add our narrative, we don’t make room for miracles.
It’s taken me a few days to write this. If I am being honest, I have not fully laid down my dreams for The Messy Mingling. I still have my grip. I sat down to finish this post and noticed something. Next to the computer on the coffee table was my mug. On it read, “Get Your Hopes Up.” Isn’t it just like God to ask us to sacrifice but not lose hope? And not only hold onto hope, but get your hopes up.
Laying it down, laying it ALL down, when God calls makes room for the miraculous to happen.
Laying down that dream can be rough. We often lose hope when God asks us to lay something down; especially something we hold near and dear to our hearts. But, what if laying it down doesn’t equal hopelessness? What if laying it down equals hopefulness instead? Laying it down, laying it ALL down, when God calls makes room for the miraculous to happen. Don’t fear laying it down. Don’t be burden by the sacrifice. Don’t lose hope. Fill your heart with anticipation for what He’s about to do.
I am not laying down The Messy Mingling. I will still work it wholly and completely. I am laying down the chase and replacing it with an active pursuit of God. My focus is no longer whether or not this dream will succeed; whether it will come true. My center of attention is actively pursuing God. There’s been a shift. Laying it down reignites the hope within. Journey with me, and I with you, as we all lay it down and pick up hope: hope in our active pursuit of God.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
The Messy Mingling
I had a dream. I was at a conference and a speaker did not show. I was asked last minute to fill in. I did not have any content; nothing written down. I had gone as an attendee desperately wanting to fly under the radar and not be seen. I got up on stage wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. I stood before a crowd not knowing what to do or say.
And then it hit me.
I abruptly woke up the moment I read what was on my sweatshirt.
The Messy Mingling.
This.
This is it.
This is what the Lord has been preparing me for all these years.
The Messy Mingling.
My whole life has been neat. Let me say, I have had my fair share of messy moments. Like all of us, I have faced struggles and hardships so deep, so painful, I never thought I was going to push through. But, now that I am on the other side, I can honestly say I could wrap my life up in a beautiful box and pretty bow.
Everything in its place.
All the throw pillows coiffed perfectly on the couch.
The to-do list on the fridge written using bullets.
Neat and tidy.
And then came the dream. The vision was also neat and tidy. Do step one followed by step two. Each foot landing perfectly in front of the other. Eventually, I will follow this perfect little path towards the splendor of a dream fulfilled. Or so I thought.
My whole life, that perfectly wrapped box with the beautiful bow, was not as neat and tidy as I thought. If you opened it up, out would pops Jack-in-the-box.
There’s a mess inside and it’s beautiful.
All the things I have experienced up until this point have hands-down prepared me for this moment right now.
Not growing up in a Christian home.
Finding my faith as a young teen through a friend not my family.
A family on the rocks; on the fringe of despair.
Walking a dual life for years trying to balance them both.
Meeting my unbelieving husband thinking I would be the one to change him.
College taking longer and being much harder (and more expensive) than I thought.
Student loans.
Debt.
Marriage.
Kids. Oh, the kids. (All boys. Who would’ve thought).
Miscarriage.
Moving across the country.
Finding myself.
Anxiety rearing its ugly head.
Losing myself.
Finding myself again.
All of it. All this mess has purpose. The mess is what drives my faith. The mess is what propels me to search for a Savior. The mess is what forces me to lean into Jesus because there is nothing else I can hang on to.
The mess.
It launched a dream.
As I think back on my dream, me standing in the spotlight in all my messy glory, I see you. We are all a little messy, aren’t we? We all get a little lost sometimes. We all search and fret and wonder and doubt. Every single one of us. We all have a similar goal: we all desire to make this mess into something beautiful.
The Messy Mingling? It’s not one girl’s made-up dream. It’s made up of each of our gloriously messy stories. Stories that shout redemption and grace. Stories that usher in victory and healing. Stories that make space for the mess. Because the mess matters.
You are The Messy Mingling.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
