rest

What does rest look like to you? For me, physically it means to get a good amount of sleep each night, it means to relax and unwind, it means to not be so busy that I make myself crazy. I know it probably means something similar to some people, but it probably means something else entirely for you. 

There is another type of rest, though, the kind that is mentioned above and that's where I'm going to camp out today. I find myself most at peace when I am resting in the Lord, when I am trusting in Him. As a believer, this means that no matter what may come, I can rest that the Lord knows what He is doing and I can trust His perfect plan. I'm doing a Bible study right now on biblical womanhood and as I did the last day of homework yesterday, that was something the author mentioned—that I can live a surrendered life of service to the Lord. I can live life saying yes to Him and whatever His plan is for me. 

I know that even when hard times come, I can rest in Him. I can trust that He has a plan that was already set in motion before I was even a thought in anyone's head. I know that when things are uncertain, God already knows my future. I know that when times are scary, they've not taken the Lord by surprise. Do you get what I'm saying here? I can rest in the Lord. I do not want to live my life in fear of any of those things. We're still living in some crazy times (not as bad as when the Old Testament history took place) and I could easily let that dictate how I live life. Resting in the Lord is life giving. I am choosing not to live my life in that way. I am choosing to live surrendered to Him in every circumstance, resting assured that He has got me in His hands, no matter what. 

I have a dear friend who is undergoing surgery today for her cancer and I know she would say the same thing. She is resting in the Lord and trusting that He has got her in the palm of His hand. He's loving on her, He is caring for her and meeting every need she has, and He is ministering to her through the lives of her friends and their friendship. We got to meet outside at her house last night to pray over her before her surgery today and we ended our time together singing her favorite hymn together, because it's her anthem. "Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul." It was the sweetest time together last night and I think it was a tremendous blessing for her family to see her army of friends standing in the gap with her as she faces whatever her future holds. If you think of her, will you say a prayer for my friend Wendy? 

I'll include a picture so that you can have a face to go along with her name.

This was taken a couple years ago on a one night choir trip. We shared a hotel room and became the new kind of friends as we saw each other with no makeup, in pajamas and fell asleep watching a Hallmark Christmas movie. 

Thanks for reading, friends. Love to all. ❤ 

(This was another writing prompt for those of us at #hopewriterlife.)

slowing down

 

I have something to confess. I am a hurry-up-and-get-it-done type of person. I would love to say that this isn't always the case, but it wouldn't be true. I have this thing I do that when I'm excited about something, I can't wait for that day to arrive that I get to go or do whatever it is I'm excited about, then while I'm there, the time flies. I don't know what this says about me except that maybe I'm extremely impatient. This can be said of the time in which our sons grew up or in looking forward to a vacation.

Just last week, a friend of mine posted something on Facebook that resonated with me. It was something about not wishing away her kids' lives and that she could never say that the time flew by during their growing up years. I could not agree with her, because for me, the time flew by really quickly, though I don't feel like I wished their years away. We both love our kids and we especially enjoyed them at all the different ages throughout their years. I can't say what this difference in us would be, other than that her life is different from my life and her last three or four years have been very hard. 

All of that being said, I have to sometimes remind myself to slow down. I often feel the pull in my life to slow down when the six of us are together as a family. Sometimes I don't say much in those moments, I'm just soaking in the quality time. That was the case on my birthday back in December. We went to Lost Pizza Co. here in The Ville and I soaked up the feeling of us all together again. I loved sitting in the middle of the table, with them all around me. I felt loved, I felt appreciated and I felt so proud to be their mom. In the moments that we're together, I love to be in the middle of them and I love when they give me their undivided attention. I don't want these moments to pass by too quickly, as they often seem to do.

In the instances when I've taken the time to slow down, I've discovered how someone feels about something. I've discovered what one son's dream is, or what their goal in life is at that moment. I've discovered that the mess will be there long after they're gone, so I've lingered at the table for longer than usual. I've discovered that when everyone else leaves the room, one son starts talking, that he's always patient to wait like that and he gives everyone their turn first before speaking up on his own.

I'm not always comfortable when things move slow. As a small group leader in Bible study, I was given some advice regarding this one time. My friend told me that in the moment when I ask a question and nobody answers, to count to twelve slowly in my head before answering. It's often in those final moments—ten, elven, twelve—that someone speaks up. There is one dear older sister in my small group that I'm talking about and when she speaks, you had better lean in and pay attention, one because she is super quiet, but also because she has profound wisdom. I'm looking forward to hearing from her lots during our Bible study this semester. 

So, to quote my Pastor, the $64,000 question is this: How does one slow down in life, or in a task?

Or, how do I slow down? I know that in reading through the Bible this year, I've been taking notes each day. I don't write a lot each day, but I at least write down the highlights or something that stood out to me. Doing that one small thing helps me to slow down and absorb whatever I'm reading. I also try to do something similar when I'm praying. Just yesterday morning when I started praying, I decided to come into the living room with my coffee to sit and talk to Jesus. Praying somewhere different helped me get out of the rut I was in. Sometimes in order to slow down, I read. I'll put my phone facedown on a table and turn it to silent so that I'm not distracted. Speaking of being distracted, there's an iconic passage in Scripture that I'd love to share with you, even though I'm sure you've read it a thousand times.

Luke 10:38-42 says this: While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand." The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her."

Martha gets a bad rap in this story, at least in my opinion, because I have Martha tendencies. I know it's best to be like Mary and though I do try to be more like her sometimes, I don't always succeed. Which are you most like in this passage? I think most moms are like Martha. I like how Jesus said her name twice to drive home His point. 

I don't have any definitive answer in this question. I'll ask you now—how do you slow down? I would love to hear from you. Thanks for reading my blog, friends. This was a writing prompt idea I was given through the Hope Writers program. #hopewriterlife 

Love to all. ❤

Hello Monday and a perfect winter day

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for this blog post. Before I get started, know that nothing life changing happened here over the weekend. Rather than bore you with details of a couple of days in which I didn't do all that much except for read books and binge watch shows, I thought I'd do something different. 

When I woke up Sunday morning, our world here was blanketed in white snow. It's always so beautiful! I love when it snows in small increments. Last year we had the giant snowmageddon of the year that lasted for days and made me feel claustrophobic, but this snow didn't last long. It snowed all morning, but it wasn't cold enough for it to freeze over. I thought I'd share what my perfect winter day looks like and then I want to flip it around to ask you the same thing at the end of this post. 

I actually had a perfect winter day a couple of weeks ago. It was the week after New Year's day and everyone had returned to work and I think it was an ordinary Tuesday. The house was quiet and I had all the time in the world in that one day, to do whatever I wanted. I had been to the grocery store for the week already, so I had nowhere to be and nothing to do other than the mundane things I wanted to do that day. It was really cold outside that day, I remember and though I did go back upstairs to wash my face and brush my teeth, I just put on clean comfy clothes and lounged around in them all day.

I lit a candle on my kitchen table and sat down to linger in my quiet time that morning, because it seems like I may have gotten behind from the weekend. I love to read slowly and to take my time making notes. This is the only thing I'm doing in 2022. In other years I've added Scripture writing in my quiet time and though I may do that in bits and pieces this year as I write, I'm not making it a daily habit. I am 90% likely to change my mind, though, because I love doing that so much. It's only January and I know at least for this month, I'm not doing that. I remember pausing often to pray as I read that day and for a good while, I just sat and prayed. All too often, that is something I don't spend enough time doing and after a few days, it starts to get to me. 

For the rest of the day, it was a normal day, but I loved being home all day to enjoy every minute. I did things around the house, but I also took time to do things that I wanted to do. I read for longer than usual that day and finished a book, I took time to make myself a really good lunch and I watched a movie while I ate. The weather was cold, so I felt cozy inside all bundled up and all the dogs were the same. They snoozed on blankets all day, I kept music playing quietly and I made a good dinner that night. I do some of these things a lot of the time, but I also don't usually sit for too long in the day. Don't ask me what I do to fill the time, but I somehow always manage to do just that. I know that when our house is orderly and somewhat clean, I am able to enjoy being at home more, so I am sure that at some point I did a few things to accomplish that. 

I've been trying to clean out certain areas here and I am trying to keep them clutter free—cabinets in the kitchen and in the bathrooms and drawers in our bathroom. I usually take the time to straighten up and do that kind of thing as I am getting ready for the day, or as I'm putting away laundry and making the bed. (Do you make your bed everyday? I at least neaten the bed everyday, but my preference is to have it fully made each day. It just depends on what I'm doing that day and who is out of the room last.) 

So that was my perfectly cozy winter day at home. The weather was cold, music was playing, candles were lit and the smell of pine was in the air. All of those things make my heart feel happy and peaceful. I do remember talking to my mom, my mom-in-love and my dad that day as well, which isn't always the case. The only thing that would have made it even better was if I'd thought to have a fire going in the fireplace, but I honestly didn't even think about that. My husband did make one later in the week.

So now I'm asking you—what would your idea be of a wonderful winter day? You don't necessarily have to love the season like I do to have a day like this. I'd love to hear your ideas for this! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all. ❤

Friday Favorites, 1.14.22

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika for this blog post. How has your week been? Life is starting back for me and this week has been more busy than the previous weeks. I do love this notion, but I also struggled letting go of the whole nowhere to be thing I've had going on. I actually wrote a little more about that yesterday, as I struggled with the thought of Bible study starting back. I'm better now, by the way, but if you'd like to read that, you can read that post here. 

In my blog stats, I noticed that the people who read my blog had a favorite post that I wrote this week. It was the day that I linked up with Shay and Erika, which was a post about organization. That just so happens to be one of my favorite topics. My number one favorite thing to talk about is my faith and relationship with Jesus. If you missed reading that, click here to go to the post about being organized.

Here are my favorite highlights from the rest of this week.

Our son Drew bought himself a new (to him) truck this week! I don't know about you, but once your kids start becoming adults, there is nothing quite like seeing them achieve hopes and dreams they have. Seeing them happy and having fun in life is one of my favorite things to witness. I am so proud for him! I know exactly what it feels like to be very excited and proud of a newer used vehicle. 

(It won't look like this for long, he's already ordered new things and is going to work on making it his.)

One of my favorite things I saw on the internet this week. Also, how true is this? I go into full on stay inside and stay cozy mode when it's freezing outside. I know you've heard me say this, but winter really is my second favorite season. I love the cold, clear days like we had yesterday (though it wasn't really that cold), I love the sun that comes in through the windows and doors in the back of our home that warm me from my head to my feet. I love to sit in my chair and have that pour over me in the afternoon around two o'clock. It feels like I'm getting a good dose of vitamin d, which is something I take and always need more of.

I have already read five books this month. This one pictured above has been my favorite! Stay tuned for what I read this month coming up in a couple of weeks.

I have a couple of more favorites from the week that I'll include without pictures...and even though it doesn't sound as exciting, these parts were actually my favorites from the whole week. One is that one of my very best friends and I met last night for dinner. We both had Christmas money left, so we treated ourselves to a fancy dinner. We ate yummy Japanese food and only left because the waitstaff was staring us down for our seats. Andrea and I almost always end our nights together by going to Home Goods and last night was no different. 

The other favorite part of my week is that midweek church started back Wednesday, so I'm back in Bible study, a class on Wednesday nights, and our weekly Fries & Friends resumed. All of those things brought about seeing some of my favorite people on earth, also known as my church family. 

How has your week been? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! ❤

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I'm glad to be back with the Thankful Thursday link party this week...I may be the only one participating for this week, because Rebecca Jo and Leslie each have things going on in their lives right now that are beyond their control. Even so, I'd love for you to join us in posting alongside me this week! 

On that note, I'll jump right in.

I'm so  thankful that Bible study started this week! I've been in a weird place lately with not wanting to be away from home very much and I'd honestly been dreading starting back this semester. Until Tuesday—the Lord changed my heart and mindset and all of a sudden, I was excited to get back. Do you ever go through times like that in your own mind? It's exhausting! I also think it's the result of being alone or not having enough fellowship in life. Whatever it was, I'm glad it seems to have passed for now.

 

(The book pictured above is what we're doing this semester. There's a part one and part two.)

I'm thankful to be back at Wednesday night church after taking last semester off. I joined in with the chronological Bible reading class last night and it was so good! My best friend happens to be one of the teachers, along with two other friends of mine, and I'm excited to do this each week.

I'm thankful for godly friendship. After church, a few of us went out for a quick bite to eat and to catch up. It was so good seeing them and having that sweet time of fellowship together. 

I'm seeing a theme here with what I'm thankful for this week. 

I'm thankful that tonight I get to see one of my very best friends for dinner. She'll be in my area and we made a last minute plan to meet for dinner tonight. This is my friend Andrea whom I met at another Bible study years and years ago. We don't go to that Bible study anymore, but we've remained friends over the years. That was such a sweet time in my life. The boys went to fun homeschool classes and while they were in those, the moms did Bible study. I loved the years we spent there and I still love all of the ladies I got to know there. 

More than all of this, I'm thankful for my husband who never minds when I do things like this. He has always encouraged me to do things like this with friends. He also never opposes when I go on weekend or girls trips and has never once complained about the going that I like to do. On the other hand, I never say no to him doing things either. He loves working with the sheriff's department, so I always try to encourage him to do that kind of thing, or be with his friends, as much as possible. We've been like this forever. We love each other, but we always enjoy our separate lives. I know that may sound weird, but it's always worked for us. As much as I love to do these things, I'm always happiest when I'm home with him and we're watching a show and laughing together. 

The last thing I'll mention is how thankful I am that my sons love to talk to me. They're all such great communicators and are so good at sharing things. I've had quality time with each of them this week and nothing thrills my heart more than that. I've seen Drew a bunch, I've spent time with Graham  chatting, and I've had the same with Jonah and Noah. I know most guys are not like this, which is why I'm so thankful mine are. I love them all, but I genuinely like them and being around them as well. They're usually in great moods, they smile a lot, they laugh a lot, and they're just really fun to be around. My heart is so full in the moments we're all together. 

Your turn! I'd love to hear from you now. What is something you've been thankful for this week? Thanks for reading, friends. Love to all. 

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Let's Look at Organization!

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm linking up with Shay and Erika today for this monthly blog post. 

This is a fun post! I love talking about organization and such, and though my home is nowhere near being organized the exact way I'd prefer, it's not too bad. Just promise to never step foot in the attic. 

Organizing with kids—

Having a modest sized home and a large family has forced me to be even more organized than I'd ever dreamed I would be. I am not including their rooms in this post, because they're not as good as this as I'd like, with the exception of Jonah. He has the smallest room in the house, so he has to stay on top of it, or it would get out of hand. When our sons were young, I always taught them how to clean up after themselves. The two sets of boys each shared rooms with the other, so if they made messes, they were also expected to pick up after themselves. I didn't make them do this everyday, though...if it was in their room, we would go for about five days before it would need to be dusted and vacuumed, so that's about how often they'd put their toys back in the designated areas. I always love ending and starting a week with a neatened house. 

Our common living areas were another story. We used to have a car rug in the living room with buckets of cars, and they would play on that thing for hours at a time. I'd let them leave all of that out, as long as it stayed on the rug. At one time we had a toy box down here and it was the same situation—they could keep things out that they were playing with, so long as it stayed in one general area. (They were very young at this time and eventually started using the playroom upstairs for this.)  

I can remember never-ending board games on the dining room table. Because that was a room that was rarely used, those games would take up the table space for days on end. If more than a week went by and they weren't actively playing the game, we would get the surface cleaned off again and put the board game back into the downstairs closet that was designated for such things. I call that closet the tornado closet, not because of the fact that it usually looked like a tornado had been through it, but because it's the closet under our stairs. Other things kept in there were extra school supplies and paperwork from their school days. Nowadays it's used for tools that stay inside, there's a firesafe cabinet and a filing cabinet there, coats, a small amount of gift wrapping supplies, games I hung onto and paint.

Though they each cleaned up their own messes, there was a lot of background work that I did to make this easy for them. I would make sure their dresser drawers stayed fairly neat and organized. I went through them often and would pull out things they no longer wore or that fit them, and I'd put it away until one of the other boys could use it. I worked with them a lot in their closets, to help keep them maintained so they could hang their clothes right or fit things onto the shelves inside. We would clean the house every week, so on the day we did that, I'd make sure that they had a trash bag with them to throw away the millions of pieces of paper they always seemed to accumulate. As they got older, we did start let them take food and drinks upstairs, so the trash bags began to be used for that instead. We also had to buy a trash can for every room, because it was needed all of a sudden.

Other organizing tips—

I have a few tips that I've tried to implement over the years. One is to stay on top of paper clutter. I cannot stand paper clutter! My husband is really good at this as well, so that helps. We don't keep papers/receipts/mail that we do not need. We will look at it and either put it away or we'll trash it. I have a couple of things that help with this, because there are some things that we have to keep. One is that we have a filing cabinet in our tornado closet that I already mentioned. We keep important documents there that we can get to quickly. Just this week, Noah needed his birth certificate and social security card, so I was able to find it in less than 30 seconds. That is all thanks to my hubby. I have a basket in our kitchen for mail that we need to hang onto and I have another one in my laundry room right off the kitchen. All things that are paper that we have to keep go into one of those places.

These areas pictured are the problem areas for us that get junky with the mail. I just try to keep it neat as best I can, or I use one of the things I mentioned before. I am all about using all the space that we have and I've done that since the boys were young. This just means if there was usable wall space, I used it. Another example is in the hall where our tornado closet is—Todd installed wood shelves with pegs and turned that area into a storage area for lunch bags, backpacks, my purse and then all of our DVDs are on top. 

This kind of leads into my second tip and that is to have a place for everything. Extra charging cords? They go into the drawer that also holds our trivets and oven mitts. Odds and ends that we always need, like a letter opener? These things go into our "junk drawer". Extra lighters for candles and fires are easily found in their special drawer, as are batteries (tornado closet), extra soap for our shower (on a shelf we keep in our bathroom) and shoes that aren't worn very often (outside on a shoe rack in the garage). Everything has a place to go here and I try my best (and fail a lot) to keep those spaces neat. We have a full house still, though, so it does all get messed up and I just go in and neaten it all back up a couple of times each week. I still like to do this every Friday and Monday.  I am constantly cleaning out a cabinet or a drawer. Just last week I cleaned out under the downstairs bathroom cabinet. I keep extra hand soaps and hand towels in there, as well as fingernail polishes. I pulled everything out and put it all back again nicely. (We keep fingernail clippers and such in all the bathrooms, as these are things that are needed often.) 

Lest you think I'm better than I actually am, know that Todd and I just cleaned this drawer above out before Christmas in our search for a missing smart outlet. We literally emptied the whole drawer, threw a bunch of things away and then I put it all back neatly. I am to blame for a lot of the messes in our house! I get lazy sometimes and don't take the time to put it all back where it goes. 

I cleaned out our refrigerator yesterday after I started writing this post, because I became motivated to get it organized again. Our refrigerator is another trouble spot and things get lost in the shelves all the time. 

Extra tips and tricks—

Clean and organize a little each day, if you have time. I promise, it's worth the effort. My house never looks dirty, but I assure you it does get dusty. It's just that I keep things neat and tidy, so that makes it seem clean.

Light a candle! It's easy to clean and organize when all of your senses are involved. Smell is one of my most powerful motivators. So is sound, for that matter, so I love having quiet music playing throughout the day. Sight is pretty important too, and I like for things to look pretty. 

Start with one small area and go from there. Start small, because that's enough to motivate you to go bigger with the next area. It's satisfying to see quick results!

I don't have fancy clear containers for everything and I don't have cute jars for things with labels. I'd love to have those things, but they're not necessary and it's my opinion that you don't have to spend a lot of money to be organized. In a perfect world that could happen, but I think if we're all just smart about our spaces and how we buy/put away, the result is just as nice and just as satisfying. Also, before social media, people didn't spend money on that kind of thing. 

Someone mentioned yesterday in the comments of that day's post that we're all too easily influenced by "influencers". I agree wholeheartedly! There are certain things I care a lot about (my relationship with Jesus, my family, praying for our family and friends) and there are a lot of things I don't care that much about, like what my organized spaces look like. I think it's always a good idea to have a healthy amount of perspective. 

I'm so curious to hear from you about this topic. And if you use those pretty clear containers for everything, more power to you! There's nothing wrong with that, it's just not something I've used. I'd use them if they were given to me, though! They can get really pricey. How do you organize and stay on top it all? Do you have any tricks that you'd like to share with me? I love learning about this kind of thing. Also, have you ever watched people clean and organize their homes and cars? I LOVE watching TikTok videos on this and can easily get swept away down the rabbit trail that becomes for me. My friend Andrea got me interested in the same types of videos on YouTube. They're so fun to watch! I love to clean, organize, fold clothes and all those crazy things.

Have I bored you to tears? Thanks for reading, friends. Love to all. ❤

a word for the year

 

I haven't talked much about new year resolutions here yet, because I am not really one who makes them anymore. I have nothing against setting goals and such, I just know that for me, when I do that, it seems like I'm setting myself up to fail. I know I am not alone in this. In previous years I've resolved to lose weight, read the Bible more, eat healthier, exercise more often—you get the gist. There is nothing wrong with any of those things, in fact, they're all great things, It's just that when I resolve to do something, I usually do the opposite. 

So, a few years ago, I quit making resolutions. Instead of doing that, I would try to come up with a word for the year. I would always spend time praying about a word I could focus on for the next year, and it seems like something would always jump out at me while I was reading the Bible. It could be a word like faithful, or it could be a phrase, like wisdom of the Lord. It would always be really personal and there would be much meaning in it just for me that was between me and the Lord. Usually it would be something I needed to work on in my heart and within my relationship with Him. 

I haven't done this in a long time either, though. Then over the Christmas season, I started doing a study on the book of Hebrews with my friend, Bri. I started strong, but I've still not finished this. I'm not giving up on this and will get this finished eventually! Anyway, the name of the study never really occurred to me, but as I started reading and studying, a certain theme was standing out to me more and more. Before I go on, please do not read that this is anything mystical or special that I do to pick up on a word or theme. This only happens as I read the Bible and keep noticing a certain word or phrase. 

One day I was praying and I kept going back to the title of this study that I was doing—fulfilled. And I started wondering at all the things that I had allowed to bring a sense of fulfillment in my life. The list was long, because for years I have been a self-proclaimed people pleaser. I placed entirely too much value in what others thought of me. I also have a tendency to want to be very good at something, whether it's being prepared, being on time, or being first to accomplish something. I'd allowed all of that into my life to bring fulfillment, when there should only be One who brings that about in me. In the middle of this study, the Lord started doing some internal work on my heart that He had already started months prior to this. 

Somewhere along the line in the last few months, I've let go of a lot of expectations. This doesn't mean that I don't expect certain things from certain people in my life, but at some point I have started acknowledging and sharing in real life struggles. I haven't ever confessed to having perfect sons, but I've just never talked about things they do that I don't agree with before. At this point in my life, I am much more likely to discuss this with a trusted friend or loved one. I don't have to agree with everything they do in life, but I know that I can trust the One who loves them even more than I do to work it all out within them. I don't hide things anymore, and I am not ashamed to say when life is hard and that I'm disappointed. 

They do not bring fulfillment in my life, only Jesus does. Not every other relationship in my life brings fulfillment, either. People will always be people-y and they will continue to let me down, but Jesus never does. I don't expect perfection anymore, because that doesn't bring about the fulfillment that I crave. Only Jesus brings this to my life, and what my home does or does not look like doesn't matter in the grand scheme of life. What matter more are the relationships that happen inside and outside the walls of our home. When people come over, do they feel welcome and loved? When we talk to our neighbors, do they sense our affection and prayers for them? These are the things that matter. I guess you can say that not only am I paying more attention to and spending more time with the One who brings about this fulfillment, He has also shifted my perspective in life. 

I still get frustrated, but instead of going to someone to "vent", I pour it all out to the Lord as I sit and spend time with Him. I still have moments when it's hard to control my attitude or the quick retort that is right there on the tip of my tongue, but I'm more likely to pause and pray silently for the Lord to guard my mouth and my heart in this matter. I'm more likely to sit and converse with Him and not feel too legalistic when I don't go about praying in the exact way that I used to. Some days it's hard to pray and yesterday was one such day, for whatever reason. I finally gave up trying and just confessed to Him that He knew my heart and even when words are hard to form, He already knew everything I was thinking. I asked Him to examine my heart and to help me more clearly commune with Him throughout my day. I didn't notice a huge difference, but I felt better after I poured my heart out. 

Ironically, when I went to the Dayspring website to take their quiz for the yearly word, this picture at the top of my blog is what my word was for this year. Think about that for just a minute...out of all the words they could pick, they would make this one of the choices and that would be my result? I had no idea what the word would be when I quizzed. Here is a link, if you'd like to do that yourself. Don't ask what the other words are, but just know that I'd already been thinking a lot on this word for at least two months. As I was thinking on what I was going to share here, I read this passage out of Romans 8 that I'm going to share with you. These are verses one through eleven.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law's requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

I don't know about you, but I want my mindset to be on the things of the Spirit, which bring about life and peace. I could definitely always use a lot more of that in my life, especially given the world we live in today. It's a mean place! I need my mind fixed on the Lord at all times, and like I said before and will say again, I've not reached this ultimate level of relationship with Jesus. He is refining me day by day and I am continually growing and learning more from His word through the time I spend with Him. 

On that note, I know some of you were interested in participating in our Bible study with us last semester and we're starting again this week! I'd love for you to join us as we study God's divine design for our us as godly women. Even if you're long distance, there is a zoom option! Here is a link for you to register, if you're interested. Make sure you pay attention to the class name, time of day and whether on campus or virtual. Let me know if you do this! If you participated last semester, you'll be placed in the same small group. 

I'm sure you can purchase this book on Amazon or by visiting Revive Our Hearts ministries. You won't be missing anything yet, so don't let that stop you. The first week is nothing but an intro. 

So, that's what has been taking up brain space in my life. A lot of this work is strictly internal, so it's not like it's super obvious all that has been going on in my heart recently. I'm also working through some things that I'm struggling with right now, like feeling burned out in a lot of areas that I help in. I know that often times this is when the enemy is good at his job, but the Lord is always faithful to show me this in my quiet time and I pray fervently against Satan's tactics. He is only as successful as I allow him to be, so I pray about this very often. I feel very raw sharing a lot of this, so if you're still here, thanks for reading and thanks also for being so very kind in your comments on a lot of my posts. I appreciate that more than you'll ever know. 

Tell me about you now—have you ever had a word for your year? Do you this year? I'd love to hear about this, so share away, please! Love to all. ❤