Not into (relationship with) you…

His word is where we need to press in when we’re feeling a desire to fill that gap or hole.

This advice applies to men or women, despite the gender noted in the quote… I’m a girl, I pick girl quotes.😉

It’s so difficult to fall out of relationship with someone and not want answers and closure that will make sense to our hearts. I’m talking about any relationships. When the girls left, I was desperate for answers that just weren’t being given to me.

Anytime a meaningful relationship ends and we weren’t the ones ending it (but even sometimes then…), we are going to feel gaps in our day, our night, our heart because they were once filled with that person(s).

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The level of restraint that needs to happen, when we so desperately want to connect, is what I call miracles of biblical proportion. 🤐

I’m a word person, I want to communicate. I long to make sure my feelings are known and understood. I also want to make sure that person knows, no matter what’s happened, I’m here. I don’t hold grudges, I’m not angry, and to remind them, in case they forgot what kind of person I am, relationships and people are important to me.

But God…

His word is where we need to press in when we’re feeling a desire to fill that gap or hole. His word will reveal to us truths about ourselves in order to move through the day. It will give us strength to be filled up with HIM and not with the desire to connect with someone who’s chosen to walk away.

And if you’re anything like me, you may be constantly checking your phone or messenger to see if they’ve finally come to their senses… Probably not. And constant checking might be our own slow form of torture… stop that.

Allow yourself some extra time to study what He has for you. He is always there to fill those spaces that are empty and a little bit needy.

Ephesians 6:10 (AMP) In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might.

Philippians 4:8-9 (AMP) Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you.

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It’s not you, it’s…

Choosing to no longer invest in others or to no longer be vulnerable isn’t reasonable, or biblical.

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I feel like I’ve had too many opportunities to grieve for people who aren’t dead, but have chosen to walk away or abandon relationship with me. Often times, when my heart has been invested, and someone walks away – especially with no explanation – it causes me to really turn inward, to question who I am, my personality, my motives, my pride, my appearance, my goodness, my obedience…

It makes me wonder what it is about me that makes me such an easy person to leave.

In theory, I should be able to easily grasp that I’m not always the reason they’re leaving. Admittedly, sometimes I am, though. I should also understand that other people have their own stuff to work out and their own wrestling match with God happening. I should also acknowledge other people have a choice to walk in their own obedience or not. These things I know and understand, in theory.

If only we could live in the land of shoulds and theories.

God has been doing a solid work in me over the last couple of weeks as I came face to face with another round of rejection. I made a promise to write more about the things that hurt, otherwise I would normally steer clear of sharing such a raw, tender spot. However, I know God has called me into this space to share and that He will use it to encourage another broken soul.

Friends, the enemy will try to invade, attack, and worm his way in by any means necessary. Ephesians 6: 11 tells us to prepare ourselves with the full armor of God to protect us against the schemes of the devil. If the devil can use a diminished sense of confidence in order to gain a foothold in our heart, reminding us how we’re not worthy of relationship with others, or we’ll never have the family we crave, or whatever tactic he tries, then we’re giving him a power over us that he does.not.get.to.have. No.

We have the Holy Spirit of the living God living inside us! The Creator of the world and the devil cannot reside in the same space. It’s not possible. That means that every time the enemy tries to attack, we have to pull up the armor of God, we have to connect with our community and those God has given to us to be our helpers and unbinders, and we have to walk back into the confidence that God has poured into us as we’ve built relationship with Him.

Choosing to no longer invest in others or to no longer be vulnerable isn’t reasonable, or biblical.

We do get to choose to stay in the Word, remain prayerful about our relationships, to remain connected with community, though. While that won’t necessarily stop the pain or the grief from happening, God will be there to comfort us in that grief. He will give us the power to walk in a spirit of grace and forgiveness. It’s okay to sit back for a bit, learn some lessons, restore our broken parts, refresh our spirits… but then we have to surrender ourselves to Him again so that He can continue to teach, mold, and use us for His glory and purpose.

Walking through a broken moment or season is much more tolerable when we’re allowing God to walk alongside us. He loves us so deeply and with such fervor. And He will never, not once, not even for a nanosecond, decide to walk away from us or abandon us.

Ephesians 6:10-18 Amplified Bible (AMP)

10 In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might. 11 Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places13 Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious]. 14 So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist and having put on the breastplate of righteousness (an upright heart), 15 and having strapped on your feet the gospel of peace in preparation [to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news]. 16 Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. 18 With all prayer and petition pray [with specific requests] at all times [on every occasion and in every season] in the Spirit, and with this in view, stay alert with all perseverance and petition [interceding in prayer] for all God’s people.

We all need people…

God does not have any of us walking this journey alone. If we’re alone, it’s because we’re not being obedient.

Find your tribe. 

82b7e60e9b1ad83d0b2776295d311fb8If you know me personally or have spent much time with me online through social media, you know that I’m a professional retreater. I’ve written about it and my desire to get over it time and again. I’ve gotten very used to pulling into myself when I’m mad, sad, frustrated, disappointed, etc… I have little desire to talk about whatever’s bothering me until I’ve had time to get really real with God about it and to get over it myself. Then I’m happy to talk about it; mostly.

I talk about the importance of community all the time, to all the people. And yet… I heed not my own advice. It means visibly displaying weakness, disclosing my mistakes for others to see and judge, preparing myself to defend my actions or inactions. No thanks.. let me lick my wounds, make confessions to God, share with someone in my inner circle if I need another voice to help me. I know this goes against everything I say, advise, and talk about.. but… well, this is my continual hope to come clean and to be a better person.

Today at church, the message, in part, was about how we need community. It was really about Lazarus and raising him from the dead… but one point that I kept being drawn to over and over is that when Lazarus was called out of the tomb by Jesus he was bound tightly in burial linens, even his face was covered. Jesus instructed Mary and Martha to unbind him and to let him loose. Lazarus wasn’t able to unbind himself – he needed Mary and Martha to help him be free. He needed his community to unwrap him.

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Friends, we can’t unwrap ourselves. We can’t get free all alone. We need to invite people into our spaces and places, giving them permission to help us unwrap ourselves. God will continually bring people to help us walk in freedom as long as we keep seeking Him. We have to trust and have faith that the way He answers our prayers and cries to Him is the best for us and for us to see His glory working out right before our eyes. Either we trust that He’s faithful or we don’t.

If you don’t feel like you have a community, I encourage you to find one.

Now.

Immediately.

God does not have any of us walking this journey alone. If we’re alone, it’s because we’re not being obedient.

Find your tribe.

 

 

Rejections and onions..

There really is no way to know how another person will react when we begin to reveal who we are and why we are and what we are… but there is freedom in walking out our truth and speaking our stories.

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I had a conversation with someone not too long ago and basically said exactly this phrase. It’s certainly a fear that when someone gets to see the real me, the real struggles, the real insecurities, the real everything.. the other person will either determine that I’m not enough or it’ll be too much work to love me.

In either case, I’m alone.

Then last night while talking to a long time friend and discussing this fear of allowing someone to get too close and the possibility of rejection… and how I was left feeling a bit undone and not really sure how to not be too much or too little or too exhausting or too underwhelming or too (fill in the blank…) – his advice was simple.

“You’re like an onion. Even after all these years, I pull back a layer and see something new about you. This keeps things interesting and there’s always something to learn. The alternative is to be like a piece of bread. You see one side and you flip it over and see the other side. Then you’re done. You’ve seen all there is to see. Be an onion.”

There really is no way to know how another person will react when we begin to reveal who we are and why we are and what we are… but there is freedom in walking out our truth and speaking our stories. We won’t always get it right and sometimes we’ll have people walking around with bits of us that we’d rather they not know, but I want to believe that God can even use those rejections in His grand plan.

All of this to say… be an onion. Have layers. Don’t be afraid of your depth. The truth is we will be too real, too hard, and too much for some people. We just continue to be who He has created us to be. We continue to walk with Him and allow Him to direct us to the people He has for us. And be okay with knowing that, on occasion someone will peel back some layers we’d rather wish they hadn’t. It’s called vulnerability and it’s a mandatory part of relationships.

I’m cheering for you friends.. and for me too.

Being me…

When I think about how God created me to be in this world and how to interact within the gifts He’s given me, I’m always drawn to the opportunities I’ve had to share out my story and to be in a place of transparency and vulnerability. While I do believe those gifts to be true, what I also know to be true is that I’m the ultimate gatekeeper to the level of transparency/vulnerability I’m willing to share. In a recent post, I talked about this specifically.

As I was praying last night and then thinking about what my next post would be about, I really felt like God was asking me for a bit more. bd98228d14ddb7951dfdf1b4c7814a60

A few weeks ago, I felt myself slipping into a space where I was questioning my worth on a regular basis, I was comparing myself to other people, I was scared of being overlooked, again. I had an overwhelming fear of rejection creeping over me. I even signed up for a book study called, “Why Her?” (which was good, by the way!) These were all things I hadn’t felt in so long.

After all, I am Strong. Empowered. Brave. Confident. Wise. Smart. Unashamed. Guilt-free. Secure in who I am. Faithful Jesus follower.

And then BAM! suddenly I was back to a place where I was questioning all the things I thought to be true about myself.

My purpose as a woman who encourages others felt like a big, fat, fake lie when I knew that deep inside my own heart I was struggling to keep my heart intact and to keep my footing in God’s truth about me. I was easily able to speak God’s truth over anyone else, but speaking it over myself was becoming difficult. The affirmations I was writing to myself on my mirror left little room for me to actually use the mirror.

And then Jesus… He reminded me that:

1) I don’t belong in that space of doubt, shame, fear, rejection because He feels none of that about me. That isn’t His approach to us – to hold us in that space of questioning our worth. He died for us so that we don’t have to sit in those places… He is alive inside of us.

Galatians 2:20 (AMP) says, “I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

2) That I don’t have to stay there. By staying there, we allow the enemy a foothold and we give start to see things the way the enemy sees them rather than the way our Father God sees them. We need to allow the things and truths of God to bubble over so that our footing remains steady.

Psalm 40:1-2 (AMP) says, “I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.”

3) He gave me not only Himself to cry out to, but flesh and bone people to walk with me too. One of our most valuable lessons is to remember that God provides all kinds of resources for us to get out of whatever mess we find ourselves in. Many times, it’s our own friends and people He’s put in our lives who are willing to journey alongside us. ( J & S, <3)

1 John 5:14-15 (AMP) says, “This is the [remarkable degree of] confidence which we [as believers are entitled to] have before Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, [that is, consistent with His plan and purpose] He hears us. And if we know [for a fact, as indeed we do] that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask, we [also] know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted to us] the requests which we have asked from Him.”

So, this is the girl who sometimes hides. The one who is, every now and then, way more broken than it may seem. A lot less put together than I might project into my world. Much more undone than done. He’s helping me to reveal the truths, not only for those around me, but also His truth to myself. Today, I am confidently walking in His abundant and overwhelming love for me. He is faithful. And good.

 

 

Beautiful heart…?

God is in the heart-winning business and in order to win hearts and souls to Him, I need my heart to be healthy, whole, and beautiful.

I think we’re all afforded lots of opportunities to have crappy hearts. I mean we are humans and we live in the world with other humans; every one of us a sinner. The excuses for maintaining messy, broken, unhealed, and locked up hearts is almost understandable. It’s easier.

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But Jesus.

Every day we’re given a choice to get up and conquer the things the Lord puts in our path with a healthy, whole, beautiful heart or with a hardened, unhealthy, unable heart.

God is in the heart-winning business and in order to win hearts and souls to Him, I need my heart to be healthy, whole, and beautiful. It does take some work to keep a beautiful heart, one that will likely be damaged and broken. It reminds me of how Jesus must have felt so often – no, I’m not comparing myself to Jesus… 😉 I think about how brokenhearted He was on a regular basis, yet He kept on. He knew and understood His goal and purpose. Think about the work we can do for Him when we understand our goal and purpose. Think about how our hearts can attract some of the most damaged, broken, hurting hearts if we allow ours to be beautiful and seen.

Proverbs 4:23 tells us that above all else, we need to guard our hearts. I used to really struggle with that verse and in some ways, I still do. I believe some people use it as an excuse to keep their hearts so hidden they’re not able to be vulnerable. If we’re so busy hiding our hearts or keeping them locked away and safe; how can they become beautiful and able to be used for God’s purposes? I understand the point of the verse… to be cautious. Be aware. I also understand our human flesh nature to justify keeping our hearts in a safe, locked box with Scripture as the excuse. Let’s not do that, okay?

Most of us know the popular C.S. Lewis quote from his book, The Four Loves, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

This is quite possibly my favorite statement. In a world where it’s so easy to stay locked away, not engaged with others, locked up in spirit and in heart, I’m always drawn back to this quote… and remind myself to never be in the place where it’s easy for my heart to survive. Sometimes it’s gonna be really hard on our hearts, it’s going to be hard to keep them beautiful. It’s going to be hard to understand why God is allowing us to experience some of the things that will come with an open heart.

Let’s be in a place where we’re consistently desiring to maintain a beautiful heart. It means being in a position of vulnerability, being teachable, and it also means the Holy Spirit will have easy access to the gaps and spaces that need work in us.

Love does…

People don’t need to justify to us why they deserve love because we should be giving it to them by the bucketful before we even know why. Simply because they were created by the same Creator as us.

Several years ago, my women’s group did a study by Beth Moore called “Loving Well” and that’s when I learned about the 4 different types of people to love:

1. Joy– the people who are easy to love, who make our world joyful.
2. Testy– the people who test your ability to love, those who are hard to love.
3. Foes– people you want to hate even though you know God is calling you to love them.
4. Strangers– people who are not involved in your everyday life.

I remember at one point in the study we had to list our “foes” and I felt really grateful, as I looked around the room watching other women scratching names into their journals, that I had none. Not at all a humble brag on me, that’s a SUPA DUPA brag on Jesus. There was a time I could’ve filled pages of “foes”. Because of the mighty work of my loving Father God, my page remains blank.

I watched a sermon last night that touched on the Loving Well theme and served as a reminder that people matter and are the most important responsibility in our lives, after Jesus. There is never a point that we should be able to look into the face of another human and not call to mind that even this person was created by God and for God’s purposes. Any person we meet needs to be seen through the lens of Christ and we should always seek to see them with His eyes. People matter. To me. To you. To Him. As believers, we have a charge to go out and make disciples of ALL the nations; please note that the bible never said…

… of some nations, but not the ones that you don’t like
… of some people, but not the ones who love in a way that’s unbiblical
… of some people, but not the ones who have committed crimes/who are bad
… of some people, but not those that look different than you do
… of some people, but not those ones who struggle with addiction
… of some people, but not those who vote differently than us
… of some people, but not those who believe in ending pregnancy
… of some people, but not those who support/don’t support gun laws

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You guys get the picture, right? People don’t need to justify to us why they deserve love because we should be giving it to them by the bucketful before we even know why. Simply because they were created by the same Creator as us.

In last night’s sermon, the woman at the well (John 4: 7-45) was mentioned and served as a reminder that when we go out of our way to love people well, we can’t begin to understand how their life may become unlocked with a sense of freedom that can only come from the Holy Spirit. We don’t even have an inkling of an idea what God has in store for His people who are walking in the freedom of Jesus Christ because someone chose to love them well.

• Love does…
• Love gives…
• Love sacrifices…
• Love invests…
• Love serves…
• Love listens…
• Love meets needs…
• Love forgives…
• Love hopes…

Emphasis below is mine.

1 Corinthians 13 Amplified Bible (AMP) The Excellence of Love

13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]. And if I have the gift of prophecy [and speak a new message from God to the people], and understand all mysteries, and [possess] all knowledge; and if I have all [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love [reaching out to others], I am nothingIf I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all.

Love (Stephanie) endures with patience and serenity, love (Stephanie) is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love (Stephanie) does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It (Stephanie) is not rude; it (Stephanie) is not self-seeking, it (Stephanie) is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it (Stephanie) does not take into account a wrong endured. It (Stephanie) does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. Love (Stephanie) bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].

Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. But as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for the gift of special knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part [for our knowledge is fragmentary and incomplete]. 10 But when that which is complete and perfect comes, that which is incomplete and partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God]. 13 And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love.

We can come up with lots of reasons why we shouldn’t be loving certain people. I promise you, they’re all wrong and not biblical. Friends, I hope that you’re able to look into faces today and see them with a fresh perspective and a fresh burst of love for them. I hope that you’ll be able to see someone in need and not just pray for them, but also meet needs for them. I hope that you’ll see someone sitting alone in church and you’ll go sit beside him/her, even if that person doesn’t look like you. I hope that you’ll see each set of eyes today as Jesus sees those eyes. His. Beautiful. Belonging. Deserving. Worth loving.

Love is a verb. An action. Something we have to choose to do. Let’s choose well, shall we?

Restoring the temple…

When we ask God where change needs to happen, it’s amazing that He’ll not only show us where, but He’ll also give us practical steps to get there – if we’re listening for His voice. 

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been using a hashtag in a couple places where I post on a regular basis; #RestoringTheTemple.

A few months ago, I had a long overdue surgery on my foot, with a plan to have the same surgery on both feet done this year. The recovery plan was fairly simple and my life would resume at a fairly normal pace pretty quickly. Within the first month, we realized it just wasn’t going to be that easy for me. We began to see small complications, followed by bigger and bigger ones. Here I am, 4 months later, far from being done – BUT I am walking, moving pretty well (as long as I don’t want to go hiking!), and am moving in the right direction with the healing process.

I wanted to share that because from that space came my desire to really dig into temple restoration mode; not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally, as well. For me that’s meant a good bit of time spent with just me and God and a lot of journaling, praying, crying, reading, studying, worshiping, meditating, etc… It’s been a beautifully weird few months, for sure.

It reminded me that when we arrive at a place of total surrender how perfectly God moves in that space. He will basically say something like, “it’s about time… let’s get started.” and He’ll just ignore the fact that we’ve maybe been holding Him at arms length, while loving and praising Him still, we weren’t fully ready to just let Him run the show again. Maybe it came from a place of hurt, anger, frustration, mourning, etc… He will allow us that space – for a time. His pursuit for us, though, just continues; bigger, bolder, faster…

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When I had my latest surrender moment – cuz if you’re like me, you probably have them more often that we’d care to share with the world – He really pressed into my heart that this temple needed some work in order to be used fully for what He was calling me to do. I knew that meant dealing with my foot, my heart, my spirit, and my body.

When we ask God where change needs to happen, it’s amazing that He’ll not only show us where, but He’ll also give us practical steps to get there – if we’re listening for His voice.

Keeping the #RestoringTheTemple mindset has been helpful in pushing me through changes in my diet, in my workouts, in my bible study/meditation, in my prayer life, in my relationships with other people, in my writing… in every area of my life, I can see this theme playing out.

So what do we do or how does #RestoringTheTemple mindset begin… ? It just does. For me, it was just a continual giving over to God full ownership of my thoughts, my body, my choices. It meant that every single thing turned into a Spirit conversation for me…

I encourage you to stay in prayer about the changes God wants to make in your life in order for the restoration to happen and continue happening. While we conquer some areas, others will bubble up to the surface. One of the most important things we can do is allow God to keep us in a space of constant state of renewal and growth.

I would love to be part of this journey with you and to walk it with you. I believe that as I share this out in various places, God is going to be sought after in big ways for some temple restoring gigs. That’s my prayer anyway…

Being you is…

Whenever I’m getting to know someone new, I feel a need to kind of rattle off some of my weirdness so they can grasp how weird I am. Like, I feel like I need to provide that person with the information necessary to bolt if they aren’t ready to deal with all the things Stephanie.

I definitely have some quirks, some insecurities, some brassiness, some weirdness, some difficultiec6f020115f7bd055ce7d293734083accs, etc… we all do. So I have to sometimes ask myself why I think all of those things that make me, me are so much worse or different than the things that make you, you or her, her or him, him. We all have our quirks, insecurities, etc…

One thing I’m learning as I’m growing (b)older is that I’m not nearly as much of a mess as I think I am, that I am worth knowing and loving despite my messy bits, and that God has given me a set of circumstances and gifts that are unique to me in order to fulfill His purpose through me.

The things that make me who I am, as weird as they might be, enable me to reach a group of people who need the specific things I bring to the relationship. And the very same thing is true for each of us. I don’t doubt the bigness of a mighty God to draw certain people into doing life with one another based solely on the things one of those people may deem as insignificant, useless, weird, or messy. We are in this together and we have the most perfect God putting us in each other’s path.

So how do we own our super power and walk in it daily? I’m still learning.

Surrounding ourselves with people who encourage our true selves and desire to know the real us, that’s important and I would put it second behind our own desire to know and love ourselves and being our true selves with our self.

Also, being confident that God is a Master Creator.. leaning into Him to recognize, restore, and repair places that need to be tended while welcoming the bits that aren’t nearly as messy as we think they are. Which leads to embracing our faults… they are probably more endearing, and way less “faulty” than we think.

Finally, in most cases, what people think about us is none of our business. So what if people think we’re weird, or messy, or loud, or “too much” – like, really.. why do we care what THAT person thinks?? Now, I’m going to counter this one some with the willingness to be teachable where necessary. What Joe Schmo thinks about me isn’t necessarily important. However, if my husband (whenever I get one!), best friends, boss point out something to me that might need some work, I want to have a willing heart to accept their words and the desire to work on changes, if needed.

In all my unprofessional, but life lived experience, there is my wisdom about how to embrace the super power that is YOU! Mine is mostly embraced, but I am still working on the full embrace in certain situations, with certain people… I’m giving myself some grace there and I hope you give yourself some grace too. As long as we continue to do the work, we’ll eventually find our way to the embrace.

Now go on and be all weird and lovely and beautiful and messy in this world, you super hero!

Time for a Restart

It’s been one and a half years since my last post and even those last few were basic explanations about why I wasn’t writing more…

I think I’m back. For now anyway. Restart

When I was in my quiet time over the last few weeks, I was really just trying to understand my next move. I thought through my gifts and talents… how can I be used?

Two things always come to mind. I cook well. I write well.

So, here I am.

In seasons of restarts, there might be a few misstarts (totally not a word…) and I’m in a place now that lends itself well to some trial and error in life. I will probably make some mistakes or missteps along the way, and I’m so glad to invite you all on the journey with me! =]

Let’s enjoy this season of restarting together…