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: live
Feeling Good
We all have feelings. We all also run and try to hide from our feelings. We lose living a full life when we run. We lack closeness with Jesus when we try and hide from our emotions. Stop running and start feeling. You will be thankful that you did.
I Found Joy
I was brushing out my wet hair thinking about what a nice day I was having. The weather outside was gorgeous for December 1st. We all took the morning slow staying in our pjs well past the morning. We had nothing on the agenda. I was excited to get started on some things for my ministry. The boys were happy and calm. The day was good. If I am being completely honest, days like this used to terrify me.
It is no secret that I deal with anxiety. I hide it well, so many don’t even know the crazy that can go on inside this brain of mine. I remember when Scott proposed to me. I was so afraid. I wasn’t afraid of marriage. I was afraid of marrying him. I knew he was the one. I knew I was going to marry him. But, I was scared. We had been through the ringer in our six years of dating. When we began our relationship, he didn’t believe in marriage, had no desire to have children, and did not know Jesus. When he proposed, he had obviously changed his mind about marriage, wanted to have children, and had found the Lord when we were on one of our “breaks.”
I went to winter camp with our church youth group soon after he proposed. I was a leader and I was a mess. I was laying on my bottom bunk during free time bawling my eyes out like a fool. Our youth pastor’s wife came in and caught me. Look, just because you are a leader doesn’t mean you don’t struggle with life and the Lord. You’re human. It’s part of the mess.
Of course, she asked me why I was crying. I explained my fears through my tears and she listened like all good youth pastor’s wives do. Then she said to me, “Why don’t you just enjoy this moment. Enjoy the excitement of being engaged to your best friend. Enjoy the anticipation of what is to come. Enjoy today. Just today.” Funny. My husband/fiance at the time, had said those exact words. Ugh. God was trying to get His point across and I was having a hard time listening.
When joy comes across my desk, I struggle to live in it. Oftentimes, I convince myself I don’t deserve the goodness and gift that it is. I create disaster stories in my head of what is to come because surely, this joy cannot last forever. I used to fear joy.
I know I am not alone in this. Somehow, someway, many of us have convinced ourselves that our good God doesn’t want us to stay in the goodness for very long. We watch others suffer and think that is all there is to life. Lamenting. Suffering. Trials and challenges. That is what Christianity is made of, right?
No. That is not what it is made of. Sure, we will have trials. James 1 talks all about that. Of course we will find ourselves in seasons of suffering. We live in a broken world. But, Jesus didn’t come to oppress us. He came to free us. The moment we walk towards Him, He gives us life. And He doesn’t just give us an ordinary life. He gives us life to the fullest.
“I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and life in its fullness. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” John 10:9-10
Stop right now and close your eyes with me. Well, hold on a sec. Let me give you some instructions first. When you close your eyes, envision what your life would look like if you chose to live it out fully. When the season explodes with joy, what would it look like if you embraced it? How would you feel? This. This is how He intends us to live.
I have learned to enjoy my life. I have recognized good seasons and allowed myself to exhale in them. I have stopped trying to anticipate what could maybe come next. Because I have learned that when I allow myself to be robbed of the joy, when I steal that moment of goodness in my life and replace it with anxious thoughts, I am taking away the life He intended me to live.
Hard times will come. It’s inevitable. But, we were never created to live in those times. Our valleys of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4) moments are just that: moments. They are valleys we are to walk through not live in. Stop robbing yourself from a full life. You deserve it even though you didn’t earn it. You are His and He came for you to have a fulfilled life in and through Him.
Once I released myself from the chains of what-if, my view shifted from fear to disbelief (in a good way). I couldn’t believe how good my life really was. I had chained myself to the fear of what may come next that I couldn’t see the goodness right in front of me.
I finished brushing my wet hair and added a headband to make it look like I tried. I walked out of my bedroom and outside to feel the warmth on my face. I looked at my youngest and the pile of laundry in his room and thanked God. This season is sweet and I am going to enjoy the heck out of it. It is a gift that I am choosing to open and enjoy. Go ahead, open your gift. He is giving you life and life in abundance.
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20
Love & Blessings,
Meg
Show Up To Your Life
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 It’s time. It is time you show up to your life. Too many of us are sitting on the sidelines …
My Whole Life. My Whole World.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: A Post on Motherhood to Celebrate All The Mamas Out There Ten years ago my husband and I loaded everything we owned into a moving van. We strapped our 15-month old into his car seat and headed 3,000 miles east to plant new …
40 Things I’ve Learned Now That I’m 40
- Life truly is PRECIOUS
2. I WILL enjoy my people
3. I have made it through all the most difficult days thus far & survived
4. I’m a good mom
5. I’m a good wife
6. I have a lot of good to give this world
7. I matter
8. I am valuable
9. I have purpose
10. I can laugh at myself
11. I still have a lot to learn
12. The urgent things really aren’t that urgent
13. My opinion isn’t always merited or necessary
14. Listen. Just listen.
15. Life is a whole lot simpler than I’ve made it
16. Be present
17. Allow interruptions
18. Make mistakes
19. Always work towards being a better you
20. Give grace: to yourself & others
21. Love really does win
22. Healthy isn’t a number on the scale
23. Food is so much more than something yummy to eat
24. Life really does happen around the table
25. Slow is good
26. My mom and dad really were right
27. Allow others to help
28. Listen when your friends say the hard things
29. Take that compliment
30. You’re never too old to follow your dreams
31. Send that text, give that compliment, write that note
32. Forgive. Always be the first to forgive
33. Always be open to learn
34. Serve others whenever you get a chance
35. Make time and space for you
36. Sabbath matters
37. Say no
38. Give your best yes
39. Walk away from the solid and run towards the possible
40. Take that nap
Love & Blessings,
Meg
NO Regrets
I looked over at my husband during worship at church and thought, “I want to enjoy this guy for forever.” I just want to enjoy him. I don’t want to try and change him, nag him, or ask him to do all the things. I …
My Best Life
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 I follow a lifestyle blogger who touts living her best life. She just turned forty and decided that it is about time …
Alive
Easter was yesterday. Or, if you are a Christian, yesterday was “Resurrection Sunday.” We put on our beautiful Easter dresses. Our husbands wear some type of button-down shirt (usually of the plaid variety). If you are like me, you finally get your boys out of athletic gear and into shorts that actually button. All three of my kids wore collared shirts (gasp). My youngest kept calling his collar his “over coat.” I can’t even. He’s adorable. We go through the rig-a-ma-roll of all the Easter traditions moving through the motions without being moved. This year, however, I was moved.
Our world is in a constant state of turmoil. The earth seems to be waning in pain most of the time. Our rest comes in distress and it doesn’t seem there is and end anywhere near. We’ve gotten used to living in the turbulence instead of resting in the grace.
Something about this state of being has us living more in Good Friday and less in Resurrection Sunday. We talk a lot about the “trials of many kinds” (James 1) we will face in this lifetime. If you watch the news, you see that we live in the negative. There isn’t much positive reporting these days. Not on TV or in our lives. Misery loves company and we are keeping it company something fierce.
What I am finding, however, is that we live because of death. Rebekah Lyons says, “Death is the gateway to life.” Christ’s death and resurrection gives life to our weary souls. Through death, we live eternally.
Death = Life
We need to start living in Resurrection Sunday remembering Good Friday. When we pitch a tent and move into the horror of Good Friday, we don’t give glory where it is deserved: to God. The same is true for our lives. We will always have “deaths.” It is a part of this life. However, with every death comes life and it is time we start celebrating this.
You are alive. You are breathing. It is time to start living. Can this life be difficult? Absolutely. Yet, there is so much beauty to be celebrated from the victory of those hard times. The more we recognize His goodness, even in the hard, the more we can celebrate and remember euphoria of Resurrection Sunday.
It is time to pull ourselves out of the pit of despair. The resurrection is for us every day not just one Sunday a year. It is time we celebrate His goodness because it is there. Every day. Even in the hard. Even in the mundane.
“With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all” Acts 4:33
He is resurrected. His grace is powerfully at work in you and I. Now that’s something to celebrate!
Love & Blessings,
Meg
