Are you feeling fragile right now? Maybe you are stressed or feeling overwhelmed with so much to do. Here is something that may help you.
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Hey friend, I am coming up for air after an emotional week.
Needless to say…my new Christmas jammies have been comfortably broken in already, as my body kind of collapsed on me after our return from Kentucky last week. (Thank you so much, to all that reached out to offer your thoughtful condolences for my Aunt.)
I think my body was sensing it had crossed an emotional finish line of sorts…and it forced me to crawl into bed and get the restoration I needed.
Thankfully, I just needed a good 24 hour reset of real rest and I bounced back just in time to celebrate our youngest daughter turning NINE on Saturday!
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It’s hard to believe our Livvy is NINE.
I had so much fun making this video, full of hysterical clips of Livvy being the unique and entertaining girl that God made her! She is for sure a special edition!! 🙂
So, if you are in need of a good laugh?
You can watch the video of Livvy making us laugh over her 9 years HERE on Instagram or HERE on facebook.
In a rare weekend occurrence, our entire family of five was able to all be in one place for ALL of Livvy’s lacrosse and soccer games on her birthday…which was a true gift in and of itself!
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And now?
I am catching up on life and work and all the things…
Perhaps feeling a lot like yourself right now.
So much to do and so little time.
Friend…today I am excited to share with you a devotional that I was asked to write for Club 31 Women that was published yesterday on their website.
While, I wrote this message over a month ago, in order to meet my deadline…
Today…my heart needed these words now more than ever.
I pray that this message will bring you comfort today, in whatever pressures you are facing at the present time.
And so?
Whether you are facing a full plate today, holding a fragile heart, or you are feeling a low grade of burn out starting to creep up on you…
Follow me friend…
I have something that will help you feel better…and move forward.
How To Live Out A Forward Paced Faith
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“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
Ephesians 2:10 NKJV
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Maybe it’s just me.
But these days?
These days are tricky.
And a little slippery.
And sometimes (more like a lot of times)…sloppy.
I am currently in a season where I am juggling a variety of tasks, wearing multiple hats and well…let’s call it being stretched….mentally and emotionally.
And all of this keeping up with the forced forward march of the daily grind, coupled with the hat swapping roles of wife, Mom and business woman and the brain bending of new beginnings…
It makes for days and emotions that can wind up looking and feeling a little…messy.
If I’m being totally honest?
It’s leaving me a little blurry.
A little stressed.
A little self-doubting and second-guessing.
And a lot exhausted.
Maybe you can relate?
One morning, I was in a deep wrestling match with time management.
Considering and weighing the tasks against the time and structure of the day, stuck and not knowing which to-do list line item to focus on first, as there were so many…I was convicted with this question:
What is my greatest contribution to others?
As I chased down the answer in my mind…I paused and finally landed on my willingness to follow the call on my heart, to write.
And not just to write..but my willingness to write vulnerably and authentically.
And then?
Almost immediately, another silent, follow up question popped into my mind:
What is my greatest contribution to my family?
That answer came easily.
Unconditional love for them and of course the many hugs and snuggles I love to dish out.
In short, showing up for them.
Interestingly enough?
Vacuuming was not the answer to either of the two silent and convicting questions!
Praise God!
That right there…I needed that laugh! Let the dust bunnies party!
Because?
Because I tend to take life a little too seriously.
Maybe you too?
Oh friend, come sit with me, you are in good company.
I think…actually I know, God never intended us to be so stiff.
So wound up.
So stressed.
Instead?
God invites us and wants us to come to Him, so that He can help us with all that is weighing us down.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 KJV
And yet?
God is patient.
He is not pushy.
In His lovingkindness, He waits on us to make the first move.
There, in the audience of our life, He patiently waits for us look up from the list and the laboring, to lock eyes with Him and acknowledge our need for Him.
Yes, He waits for us to lift up the rope of the self made wresting ring we are standing inside of.…and invite Him into the fighting match we have created, of what feels like – US vs. Everything Else…
only not to fight…but to fall on our knees.
Forward is a pace
Several years ago, I was listening to The Today Show, while getting ready in the morning and I overheard a group of runners being interviewed, who shared their running group mantra.
Their running mantra was this:
Forward is a pace.
Oh how I needed to hear that refreshing encouragement, while in the blurry throws of diaper duty and sleepless nights with a load of laundry waiting.
And now?
This idea that simply moving forward, one baby step at a time, however slow or sloppy it may look, continues to provide a soothing sense of calm, to a mind that tends to race ahead.
Yes, forward is a pace…continues to be an encouragement in this season.
This season of discerning what it looks like practically, on the daily, to contribute well and with wisdom within the current roles assigned to me.
Friend, I don’t know how this might be speaking personally to you today. But, here’s what I’ve learned.
Inviting God into my daily agenda, bringing my overwhelmed heart, weighed down with a long list of to-do’s and submitting it all to Him?
It changes the pace of the day.
True, the list doesn’t change…but how I approach and move through the list does.
Allow me to explain.
I’m not referring to my morning quiet time daily surrender.
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I am talking about a continuous, ongoing conversation of surrender happening as I move throughout the day.
The shift comes when I chose to repeatedly bring forth my lack, lay it down and ask God for His grace, wisdom and strength to guide and equip me for each project and task, before I attempt to tackle it.
Which means?
I am submitting to His lead and His pace.
Sharing my honest heart with God, admitting that I am depending on Him entirely to show me the way, makes it possible for me to release my own agenda and the pressures it’s packing and pressing on me.
And instead?
Move ahead more freely, with a posture of confidence in a forward paced faith…even if it means, walking into unknown territory.
Because, it’s in the transferring of my trust in my own competence and receiving the exchange for a confidence in Christ and His perfect direction of how I am assigned and called that allows me to show up and contribute well to the day ahead.
Because, while I tend to struggle in recognizing what the high value targets of the day are and in what order the long list of tasks I need to tackle should be accomplished in?
God knows exactly what the next right thing is.
Not only that?
He longs to come beside us and help us figure it all out.
Down to every small detail.
He wants to be a part of the process…part of the pace.
And while I may not think I have a minute to waste, because of all the things waiting for me and a ticking clock?
What I keep learning over and over again, is that spending time in surrender is never wasted time.
Choosing to mindfully meet with God, there in the moment to moment, tucked inside the ring of round and round we go…is not a moment of missed opportunity to get something done.
Instead?
Choosing to seek God out and His perfect will, both there in the split minute decisions and also deep inside the habit of overthinking and second guessing –
There in the seeking and surrendering, allows for a moment.
A moment for clarity to be called on, created and cast.
Where the opportunity for direction, lights and gently guides the way into living out the next steps of a forward paced life, walked out in faith.
There it is.
The moment by moment surrender, giving way to a perfect and limitless God, whose Holy Spirit intercedes, works and moves on our behalf, and the next step in the forward is a pace walk of life is found…in faith.
Friend, I want you to know I am not writing from a place of claiming I get this right all the time.
I write from a place of someone crawling back towards the Light, time and time again…after she has exhausted herself in the self created, invisible wrestling ring of ME vs. Everything Else.
It’s within this walk of forward paced faith, through the on-going surrender of all the things, that we receive the gift of grace to live a life marked by love because of the One who is love.
In Your Life
Remember friend…it’s not a perfect walk.
You don’t have to walk perfectly, to walk well.
Jesus was and is the only One who will ever walk this Earth perfectly.
In fact, Jesus came and died so that we can be saved and also, so that we can have access to His wisdom, guidance and grace for doing the things of today.
And so?
He doesn’t ask us to walk perfectly.
He invites us to walk with Him, who is already perfect, in forward paced faith together.
Living on a prayer,
Heather
“Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
2 Corinthians 5-7 NKJV
Side note –
The above scripture verse is the same verse that my cousins requested me to read during my Aunt’s funeral service…and here I had already included it in my devotional a month prior.
No coincidences…no coincidences.
God sees.
God knows.
Take heart friend.
Thank you, Heather, for your sharing, & your obedience to the Holy Spirit!
Thank you for your kind comment Kathryn! XO
Beautiful
Thank you Melinda!!