Peace in Uncertainty

Life right now is much like this path above; the end seems far off and uncertain. Some have lost income, others drift from day-to-day hoping and praying their jobs are not next in the long line of shut doors and down-sized staff.

I know, we are in the latter group.  Each day my husband works from home on projects we pray will continue and keep him employed while many of his coworkers collect walking orders. At times the stress can mount. I know to look to God, I remember the countless times he has carried us through even deeper divides. Yet, I believe it is human nature to adopt worry and carry it along. Perhaps this is why the Bible speaks so extensively about not worrying!

Skimming through Instagram this weekend I felt as though the general pulse was beating on one word: uncertainty.

It isn't that we may be laid off... it is IF.
It isn't that the kids are home in otherwise public schooled families... it is IF they are heading back.
It isn't that life is shut down just now... it is IF it will get back to normal anytime soon (and what "normal" will actually be).

It is hard to set schedules and find rhythms when each day feels as though it is a breath caught in your chest which you are afraid to release. At times it immobilizes us, paralyzes us with fear or concern. How do we breathe normal in these times? How do we have peace in the midst of so much uncertainty?

5 Tips for Finding and Maintaining Peace of Mind 

in Uncertain Times

1. Be OK With the Unknown
Yes, not knowing is the biggest part of the battle for many. However, no matter how much we worry or plead, much of life right now is just stuck in that gray area beyond: be OK with that. It seems like an over-simplification, but it truly boils down to just.that. There are things you DO know: walk forward with those.

For us, we have a job today and, likely, for at least the rest of this week. I will opperate with that simple fact. Any small (or big) thing you can find to walk forward in... walk. The rest will work out in it's time and we can't focus on what we can't see, we'll just end up wandering in circles or off a cliff!!

2. Find Routine at the Core
On that note, routine can help in the process.  NOT to worship a routine, however, I know, for myself, without routine or plans inside of even the most basic days, I am more likely to sit and wallow. NO WALLOWING! Like worry, it won't solve anything. No, get up and DO.

Make a list of daily chores, projects or other to-dos and challenge yourself to tackle them. Have a plan for each day and walk it out as best you can, giving yourself grace if you can't get to it all. Plan for an entire week or just a day at a time. Find a routine, whatever the case, and let God guide you in and around it.

3. Menu Plan
This may seem like an odd thing to add into our top 5, however, one thing is always constant: we need to eat! Planning meals not only gives you a point to plan around through the course of each day, it also helps you to be better prepared as meal time approaches. You can just plan dinners out or you may detail Breakfast and Lunch and even snacks as well. This type of planning will also help you to ration your food well and keep you mindful of needed ingredients before they are due.

4. Laugh!
Sometimes I feel as though there is an undercurrent of people right now who feel we must be somber because these are somber times. I say: respect those who are feeling down. The Bible calls us to empathy for those who are struggling. However, tasteful joking, laughing through the tension and pursuing a more light-hearted approach can be the difference between hope and heartache.

To help me walk with a lighter frame of mind I have cut back and rarely watch or read the news anymore. I've done all the research I can do. I know what I know and, honestly, it doesn't matter in changing the course of life right now. So, moving forward, I refocus that energy.  I try to share at least one funny or light-hearted meme each day on Instagram. I let myself laugh when something seems too crazy. I remember how, someday, this will all be a memory and I pray it is one in which I can remember perseverance and hope rather than giving up and brokenness.

(P.S. They say 'laughter is the best medicine'!)

5. In His Presence
This may be last on the list but it is the first and overarching point in the whole of this tally. Get-with-God. A daily Bible study is always one of the best ways to grow and experience the presence of God... and never more-so than now. Study and memorize scripture, pray without ceasing and surround your heart and home with worship music such as can be found on KLove, Air1 or your local Christian station.

Contemplating throughout the day: What does God's Word say about this? What is His Character and how can I draw strength from that? How can I find His mercies or blessings today? can be deeply transformative. Bathing each point in this list (and any additional you may think of) in His Presence will open up His Power to guide you forward in peace... even if you can't see the end of the path right now.


***

We can't change the way of the world... but we can change the way we let the world impact us.  Jump to task, push forward and, most of all, keep our eyes squrely on Christ as our one sure hope ♥️

I pray you are able to find peace in uncertainty this week and each week ahead.

Blessings to you!

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Menu Monday: Week of October 12th

It's a fresh new week and a fresh new approach to MANY things, including menu planning!  If you didn't catch last week's Thursday post you can check it out here.  This wonderful, rejuvenating message from God's Word has given me the release and peace to 'get back in the game' of life and start tackling bigger things with greater focus.  I'm excited, especially as a few other impactful things happened this past week which directly effect my menu planning: 

#1, hubby announced he is getting tiered of eggs every morning!  This was news because for a number of years that has been his go-to breakfast (he even requests them with pancakes when I make those!)  He put in an order for more oatmeal, which is fine because it is good for his cholesterol. 

#2, the kids and I decided to join the church choir for the Christmas program, which is exciting in itself but, when hubby suggested HE make dinner since we won't get home till around 6:30 on Sundays due to practice, I felt super blessed. He isn't going with us to choir rehearsals so it is nice how he wants to jump in and love on us through meal prep.

#3, the biggest change to impact my menu planning is the way we use what we have.  I have recognized a progressingly bad habit of not using ALL my resources in meal prep.  I think the habit developed with the move when I was making quicker meals and taking the easy way out on some dinners in order to rush things along (even eating out more than we have all year combined!).  I want to make a commitment to be an even more frugal cook than I have been and still provide delicious meals.  It may seem like I'm re-stating what I already do but actually, this is a challenge to myself to find new ways to use ingredients I keep shoving to the back of the pantry or fridge/freezer.  I recognized the need this weekend when I looked into my freezer and realized the small space is half loaded with garden produce I put up just before the move.  I need to plan meals which can include all those little extras more often  =  Save space and money!  Double bonus!!  (I think it is part of that whole Balance thing I feel called to this year!)

One thing I did to prop my frugality was to use some of the extra money we have this month (due to no mortgage payment till November) to stock up at Costco on things which are more cost effective bought in bulk but typically too expensive to buy in a regular month on our budget.  I am hoping these purchases will see us through until another budget boost which we are blessed to receive about every 3-4 months due to pay cycles and income taxes.  These will be my spring-boards throughout the year.  Hubby and I needing to curb our portions is another incentive to cut spending and make due!  We need to trim more than budget and meal out-sourcing!!!

So, with that...


This week we will be attending TWO games, Brooke's last week of multiple games (assuming they don't make finals beyond day one.... which I am certain they won't).  Tuesday's game will be immediately followed by youth group and hubby is joining me to do our Wal-mart shopping.  Dinner that night will reflect the goofy schedule since we won't be back at the house until after 8pm (a bit late for a hearty meal).  Thursday's game is typical but the slow cooker will be pulled out so we can eat upon arriving home.  Wednesday is another youth group so I like meals which are quick to fix and easy to clean up.  Most evenings I hope to escape to the craft studio since I am participating in a craft show next month and want to have good stock ready in plenty of time. Timely meals will be crucial to this aspiration since my body doesn't respond well to staying up late (I hope to wrap-up my work time by 8/8:30).  I'm excited for the challenge......




Menu for this week...

BREAKFAST....
- eggs (me, I need that protein)
- oatmeal
- cereal
- french toast
- banana bread
   * In trying to clear space in my freezer I have a plethora of bananas.  I freeze them when they start to turn then, when I am ready to make banana bread, I pull them out a few hours ahead of baking, let them thaw, snip off the very top where you pull the stem, and squeeze from the bottom straight into a measuring cup.  Mashing is quick and easy and the final sweet loaf is delicious.

LUNCH....
hubby: smoked sausage and rice
me and kids: leftovers, ham sandwiches, mac-n-cheese

DINNER....

Monday
Greek Style Chicken Salad with Dill-Cucumber Sauce and Pita Bread
I splurged on Costco Pita bread this week which is phenomenal with my chicken salad.  Simple: cubed boneless chicken fried in oil (olive is best but I use Canola) and while it fries I season it with Greek Seasoning which you can get in the baking isle at Wal-mart and some grocery stores.  Serve over a tossed salad with with Ranch dressing or the Dill-Cucumber dressing.  I make mine from scratch using an old Betty Crocker Recipe (2 Tbsp Mayo or Salad Dressing, 2 Tbsp Sour Cream, 1 Tbsp chopped Cucumber, 1 Tbsp fresh dill OR 1 tsp dry dill... process in food processor or blender... I usually triple the recipe)
 
Tuesday
HOT lunch and cold sandwiches.... I haven't quite figured out the details yet!

Wednesday
Stroganoff, Mashed Potato, Green Beans and Fresh Bread
We have ours over potatoes instead of noodles, it is better on the starches and digestion AND it is actually more filling.  For the 5 of us (all teens and adults) I use 2 lbs ground beef (or turkey), fry with some chopped onion, sprinkle on garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.  Spritz in some Worcestershire sauce.  Drain.  Add 2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup, 1/2-2/3 can beef stock (I use water and half a teaspoon beef bullion) and 1-2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce. Stir and warm well over medium heat and serve over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.  (You can add parsley and/or fresh garlic when cooking for additional flavor)

Thursday
Slow Cooked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Yellow Squash, Frozen Green Beans and Rice
The rice isn't frozen!  I will throw the veggies and rice in the pot just before we leave for the game so it is all warm and ready when we return.

Friday
Chicken and Cheese Chimichanga (frozen from Costco), Salad and Spanish Rice

Saturday
Burgers and Fried Yellow Squash Medallions (My freezer is insanely full of these because my garden wouldn't stop spitting them out this year!!!!!)

Sunday
Pizones. 
I revived these from my old menus last week and everyone raved, having forgotten how much they loved them!  I have had multiple requests for a repeat.  I may prepare them before we leave for rehearsal and have hubby pop them in the oven at their appropriate times.  This works well because i we are late getting back, pizza is still good when it starts to cool down!

  

What are you cooking this week?


Blessings,

Linking up today with some of these...

Forgetting and the Absolute Power of Absolute Prayer

Isn't summer just that time when you either have NO time to check up on the bloggy realm and we all become drifters in and out of vacations, swimming, biking, hiking... living summer....... OR...... we become the immovable object in front of the computer screen wondering why others aren't checking into the bloggy sphere and thinking 'Shouldn't summer equate more time to catch up?'

I know, I have been both these types.

This summer has been a curious episode.  Kids growing older, my roll in their lives changing, and, as of a few weeks ago, HOUSE HUNTING.  It is hard to believe I have hit my 40s and never had serious opportunity to purchase a house.  Oh, we have considered, but our rentals have usually been so nice.  Our last one we were in for TWELVE years, brought home 2 newborn babies and raised all 4 kids there until God called us into missions.  It was an amazing HOME at a steal of a deal... locked in before the town became a tourist trap.  Why buy?

But this summer that all changed.  We felt this Tug.... this Pull saying it was time.  We bathed the process in prayer.  Our finances haven't had the best history what with a business that went under in the recession and 4 years of NO credit on account of field work.  But God saw fit to stamp approval and the process has begun.

So many details.

What I can share is, in this roller coaster ride I call summer 2015, God is working in big (and small) ways both in my heart and through people around me.  Just when I think I can maintain control... just when I think I have learned all there is to learn about my faith... just when I think I know what is going on (or have had my fill wondering what is going on).... God moves.

And now we are moving too!!!

It is a big story still unfolding and I look forward to articulating the whole tale when it finishes playing out.  One highlight I want to pause to share today is this:

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

James 5:16b-18

A lesson I apparently needed to RE-learn, louder than any other in this crazy on the blog/off the blog summer navigating the waters and cut-throat field of house hunting and buying, is to pray big prayers, expect big answers.

I spent so much time seeking God's will, I forgot how to pray God's will.  

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

1 John 5:14

I forgot to trust, with my whole heart, that if I pray His will ASKING for what I know will glorify Him....

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

John 14:13

.... then I don't have to worry about bad things being given.  I don't have to wonder if the results of my prayer are really God's best for me.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:11

It is part of the atrophy which halted my growth and ability to truly know peace and live in it.  PRAYER, the most powerful part of our faith and our hot-line to heaven.  Somewhere in the last two years I forgot how to pray!  I got stuck wandering.

I think, as the dust settles from this summer, I will have to ask the hardest question and face the truth of it's answer:  what started this decline? What caused me to forget?  If I want to avoid a relapse; finding, facing and dealing with the answer will be key.

I would challenge you, along side myself, to take this summer 2015, whether busy to the bust or lulling you to sleep, and do a soul search.  Seek out the corners and recesses of your heart and mind for anywhere your faith is in danger of (or actually currently in) atrophy.  The body of Christ is meant to be moving, breathing, very active.  

This self-search for me hasn't been easy,  but it has been wonderful.  I see it as part of my One Word experience this year as well.... the Balance of Faith and how to NOT let worldly faith (i.e. "religiousness") over-ride the true and balanced faith found in the Bible and simply trusting Jesus Christ.

I pray you know (or find) a balance of faith and prayer and trust in God's plan for all the big/small, quiet/busy moments of your life!  REMEMBER true faith and the absolute power of absolute prayer!

Blessings,

Linking up today with some of these...

Balancing, Eclectic Style!

I had hoped to blog a Balance update where I share this wonderful system I set up for chores so my time and housework balances into this beautiful homemaking haven.  You know, the perfect little system where everyone has their job and we all pitch in each.and.every.day to work towards a beautifully kept house.  I'm not talking the quick vacuum clean and dishes are clean and toilet doesn't look diseased kind of clean.... No. I'm talking the deep clean one room a week kind of clean.

                                                                                                    
The grand idea was to spend about an hour each day on a "Zone"... AFTER we had spent all day on homeschooling, .  An awesome idea I discovered through Flylady.net and even blogged about in February.  I meant every word I said there... especially the part about developing MY own version over the years... and why did I need to change it???  Oh the headache that ensued a few weeks ago.  But here I digress.

"Balance" was a subtle undertone as I looked over my slowly deteriorating house.  We have lived here more than 1 1/2 years and have managed to maintain order and in-the-cracks clean, though I can't explain how.  I think the cats we were *blessed* with have something to do with the slow decline... I am certain almost 2 months of family illness hasn't helped either.  None-the-less, I am NOT truly OCD and there is a LOT I often overlook, however, certain areas of the home have gotten so out of control I have felt overwhelmed:

The garage can barely be walked through (a critical route when bringing in groceries).

Our basement rec room has turned into a WRECK room.

My laundry room has become the catch-all for craft supplies, material, yarn and done-using-decorations... we are often in danger of tripping just trying to get to the washer.

A visitor might wonder if we ever dust surfaces or sweep and vacuum the edges!

It has seriously been THAT bad.  And while Fly Lady is GREAT, it just wasn't a fit for me right now.  I spent most of a Saturday afternoon re-developing a system.  Pouring over pdf.s, making flash card chore cards (one idea that has worked well for us for quite some time), typing up deep clean lists and modifying old ones by hand.  I even drug out my old Fly Lady binder I used back in the day when she was my crutch to get me out of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) with 4 small children around.

Week one hit.  Zone 3, which entailed the basement WrecK room and a bonus room.  I was hopeful to tackle the laundry room since it is in the basement as well and the super-ambitious side of me wanted to order the garage before the week was out.  We dusted and swept and even cleaned the windows, light fixtures and railing.  At the end of our hour we traipsed up the stairs covered in dust and worn out.  Our brains were tiered from learning all day and now our bodies were beat from the deep-clean.  I cringed to consider the rest of the week in this way.

Tuesday was put on pause on account of youth group.  I used the time to pray for direction and strength. Then, as I was browsing Pinterest, I stumbled across this article (which it would seem I forgot to pin!!) where the author talked about cleaning once a month.  You bet she had my attention!!  She proceeded to discuss how they set aside one day a month where they did NO schooling and No laundry and basically none of the mundane daily tasks.  They teamed up and did a house-wide deep clean.  Hubby brought home take-out (so she didn't have to dirty her fresh sparkly kitchen!) and the rest of the month was just touch up.

SOLD!

I realized, in my effort to balance my time well AND balance the chores and the running of my house, I was trying to use a system that just didn't fit right now.  A GREAT system that worked at one time (and may work again) but life for me is currently more complex than it use to be.  Trying to Fly while teaching elementary was a breeze.  But seeking to balance all that is needed for a good homeschool high school education, while still teaching an early middle schooler, while still trying to do ministry work, while still trying to cook most food from scratch.... adding an entirely new chore regiment on top requiring a focused hour of cleaning a day was too much.

I was reminded how recognizing what doesn't work and being flexible to try something else is critical for the domestically inclined mama and wife who finds herself overwhelmed by her tasks.  Balance in the schedule seems like a simple thing.  However, when the roller coaster of life kicks in, learning to negotiate the mound of tasks which often pile up while still maintaining critical time for rest and bumpers is not so easy to configure.  In my efforts to re-balance our current situation I am finding that old-meets-new is the key.  Going with once a month cleaning (I still think that is beyond awesome!!), daily touch up, chore cards and a splash of Flying, I believe the scales will even out.... balance... eclectic style! 

I pray you may find balance in the chores and daily to-dos you have.... seeking His hand to guide you and His peace to sustain you when you haven't quite found the balance yet!

Blessings,

Linking up today with some of these...

Balance Check-in: Open Windows Edition

I actually had my windows open in early February!!  Not today though.

It is that time of month again when I report back to the blog world (a sort of accountability protocol) on my 'One Word' progress:  The state of the union is good!

In January I recognized a Balance needed in LIFE as a whole.  Balancing my time to do and be all that God has called me to.  It is a work in progress with many great revelations along the way.... especially the one where I embraced the need to STOP procrastination!! It was like fresh water to parched lips and I keep remembering that wonderful feeling every time I want to procrastinate again!!

In February I had a rude awakening to the need to Balance my diet.  I keep remembering my pain and sickness as I wrote the raw confessions and every time I want to reach for a snack of the wrong proportion or type.... I stop.  I would rather miss my favorite snack (or have less of it) then endure the grueling pain it will cause... and remembering the research which followed, convicting me; diverticulitis is not something to mess with.  Especially to the extent I have it.  I do NOT want to end up a worst case scenario.  I DO want to be healthy and ready to GO when God says GO!

It has been an ongoing but blessed challenge to carry out appropriate eating habits.  I'm even slowly filtering in exercise.  The kids and I have started to set our day off with morning stretches.  The weather has been cold, freezing, cold.... so more rigorous activity has not been as regularly implemented yet.  We are trying to find other ways to fit it in though.  I even started a health unit with them, to pull them on board and equip them with the vital information needed to make good health choices.  Everyone seems to enjoy it! 

Other Balance side notes:

Remembering a Balance of time for myself.... brought on by a weekend full of activity and NO time to rest or do something relaxing right after a weekend of OVER-indulgence in doing nothing!!!  Too much on my slate leaves me un-rested come Monday, weary and lacking stamina for my week.  Too little makes me numb and lethargic and empty. I feel like I could have found something more fulfilling to do. Balance even in leisurely activity!

Emotional Balance allows me to see and accept the peace of Jesus as well.  Something I found when a personal heartache occurred.  A situation out of my control and quite emotional.  I almost couldn't breathe from the pain... until I realized: God offers peace even in the hard times.  I could justifiably continue in a state of heartache or I could just as justifiably embrace hope and peace in the midst of the turmoil.  This beautiful balance of emotion was liberating.  I am still in the midst of this heartache but my constitution is much more peaceful as I embrace the balance of emotion through the storm.

Balance has been such a delightfully, refreshing, beautiful word to walk out so far this year.  Like having the windows open to my soul with a fresh breeze blowing in to chase out the winter! I will continue to be mindful of the balance of time, diet, leisure activity, and emotions.  I even feel compelled to be mindful in the balance of budget as our tax return afforded us some debt relief and we hopefully look forward to all the ways our (even if slight) increase in expendable cash can afford small outreaches and necessities more promptly met.  I pray to check in again next month with more hope-filled testimony of the pursuit of a Balanced lifestyle!

I pray your world is balanced on the peace and guidance of Jesus as you pursue his Glory here on earth in ALL things (even washing the dirty dishes!).

Blessings,

 

 

Linking up today with some of these...

Balance and The Dare

 

Checking in because it has been a month now since I declared my One Word for 2015.  This year's word didn't seem as intensive as 2013's.  Then God drew me into a TWO-year adventure of transformation... one which has inspired the outline of a chronicle I will (eventually) publish.  No, this time the One Word came as an assurance... a resolution so-to-speak.  Not as in the New Year's type of "I resolve", rather, as in that I.just.know and I am resolute to do as I feel God laying it, like a mantel, over my heart, kind of 'resolution'.  I am simply resolved to BALANCE.

So whats to it?..... easy enough... right??

Balance, for January, has been a reminder.  A subtle tap on my shoulder when I want to lend myself to extremes.  Balance has been my tether point.  It has been my training wheels to a new lifestyle I recognize God leading me into.  Yup, you got that image right:  I am wearing training wheels while tethered to a stake in the ground marked "BALANCE".  See, I told you.... e.a.s.y.

   Easy when each time I wanted to make a cusp decision God whispered  balance.

   Easy when I want to spend too much time fiddling with the website or facebook or Pinterest.... or one of any other diverging tasks instead of wrapping up an assignment or taking care of chores.  God whispers balance.

See, on top of my tether stake of  BALANCE is a knob (it keeps my tether chord from popping off the stake!)  I recognized this 'knob' in January as the balance of time (can you tell I am a very visual thinker?!).  Using my time appropriately (not that I can't or don't still have my crazy off-the-hook moments.....) but simply that I recognize how far I can tether before my chord becomes taut and I need to be mindful of balance.  I ACCEPTED (because I have always known and often alluded this fact) that a little balance now = a lot of peace later.

Like I said: Easy.

... until....

....laying in bed (because I couldn't handle sitting at the desk to work) typing the first draft of this article there were no more whispers.  More like sirens and the pain in my abdomen to tell me my tether point cap for February was another well known but often alluded point:  Diet.

I don't mean that ugly word we often seek to dodge and break and make excuses for avoiding.  No, I mean that lifestyle which we should all be cautious of in order to keep a healthy and clean temple for the Spirit to indwell.  The word which simply represents: what.I.eat.

I know this is my tether point cap for February because I heard that voice in the back of my head as I slowly became more and more over-indulgent these past few weeks.  It said BALANCE, even ESPECIALLY in food.  My Faith Dare challenge even spent a chapter discussing the mindset we, as Christians, should regard with highest priority: we are Not of this World.  And guess what just one example was?  FOOD!  Author Debbie Alsdorf had to alter her diet after a premature bout of heart trouble.  She shared her struggle and distress over the drastic food changes tempered with the Trust and understanding that this is not our world, we have another destination and the best we can do is be at our best here for God's Glory.

You see, after some very alarming health issues in November and a series of resulting tests, in December I was diagnosed with Diverticulitis. It may not seem so serious.  I read it is one of the most common 'diseases' out there.  However, discussion with my specialist revealed my case is rare in that I am a mere 40 years old and my entire colon is absolutely riddled with the disease.  Something they expect from a person far more advanced in age than I.  As if that wasn't bad enough, I have a lovely tumor at the opening of my colon.  Non cancerous but annoying non-the-less.  Treatment:  diet change.  Can't get rid of diverticulitis but can manage the symptoms with caution and good choices.

A nurse called with follow-up info.  She assured me life would be 'normal' if I followed her advice.  I thought... surely these suggestions are merely 'guidelines' and my illness which led to all the testing and diagnosis was a fluke.

Nope.

My flagrance and blatant ignoring of diet plans and all warning signs put me flat on my back this week because sitting caused too much pain from an infection that literally felt knives twisting in my upper abdomen.  B.A.L.A.N.C.E.  It is more then schedule... it is moderation in EVERYTHING.

I don't know if a new "cap" will be placed on my Balance tether point each month.  I do know I have two there now though.  Time and Diet.  I am positive I want to be more focused on God and being useful for His glory here... not on things and food which pull me away or bog me down.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I love food.  Plain.and.simple.  This won't be easy.  But when I think on how Christ has done so much for me... the least I can do is take better care of myself for Him!  To be ready and able to be used by Him.

I pray your life would be balanced in everything... that you would be able and ready to be used by God in whatever course he has for you!

Blessings,

Balance

It started as a mother's heart simply groaning.  A planner, a scheduler, a everything-in-its-place borderline OCD kind of person married to a.... what's a planner? type.  We are an odd-couple if ever there was one.  But he tries to listen to my incessant spilling of all that is and isn't right in my over-planned world.  His heart ached for me, feeding his final assessment: stop plotting so much.  Lay down the planner and step away from the pencil. 

It was an honest assessment which I groaned at even considering.  How can I, homeschool mom of 4 (do I count the husband too?) balancing life and ministry and life... HOW do I do that? 

At first I reeled to such an insensitive thought.  He has no clue what my life is really like.  He WOULD suggest such an outlandish thing....  But eventually I rationalized this as the best (albeit extreme) solution to my closet control-freakiness.

Thousands of miles of ministry work and countless homes (both temporary and 'permanent') later I have swirled from overly prepared to complete unpreparedness and back to a point now where I search for center.  It was a difficult few years for me... but a good and learning few years.  I believe, with all my heart, God spoke through my husband that day.  It was a time of trial and testing as I walked out LETTING GO of everything I knew.  Had I not accepted his crazy sounding advice the last few years would have actually been harder. 

Try being a perfectionist as you juggle homeschooling from a campsite.  Try coordinating the perfect schedule as you wander homelessness for the sake of sharing the gospel.  Try putting everything in it's place when the places you have don't even belong to you, rather, every surface is gifted and lent under someone else's roof.  Anxiety would have had me institutionalized if I had ignored my husband's wise counsel.

For it was in that time I learned how to shoot from the hip marksman-like... how to truly turn every moment into a learning moment and how to embrace the NOW and accept an ever-changing environment by faith alone.

Now, I no longer live in the land of extremes.  We have resettled with a stable 'base of operations'.  Hubby is securely employed outside of the insecurities of full-time ministry work and while we still pursue missional living, we are needing to settle into routines as I find my way around a planner again.  A clean slate, if you can believe that!  However, my nomadic ways for the past few years have caught up with me and I feel like a circus clown trying to balance on a giant rubber ball while holding platforms of spinning dishes and dogs and a pretty acrobatic lady.  Every so often a dish (or, sadly, a dog) come crashing to the floor.  And lest the pretty lady fall too, I began to pray for HELP.  Then, as if I peaceful knowing settled it's warm arms around me, I heard it:

Balance

 

It was a call.  A "One Word" for 2015 to set at the center of all I seek to do.  Balance, as beautiful a word as a recovering control freak/nomad could hear.  My developing split personality welcomed the thought.  Neither side of my rambunctious spirit had to be sacrificed, rather, the lessons of 20 years of housewifery and 4 years of full time ministry could find their place on both sides of the juggling act.  An act, if executed correctly, which could feel more like a low-beam stroll on a platform 3 feet wide.  No more plate (or dog) dropping.  As a matter of fact, much of my juggling implements can come off their planks.

Purging, managing, and leaving plenty of margins.  Settling finances, family time, and private time can all have it's place.  I am certain it sounds easier than it is, yet I am positive it is mountable with my Father guiding me through.

Balance

My one word for 2015 which also calls me to step out of the extreme of nearly never blogging and back into the realm of regular article sharing.  A welcomed balance I didn't realize how much I missed until I was reminded of how important fellow encouragers are in the Mommy On mantra of "Mom's Night Out"!

I pray you will join me in finding Balance in 2015 and even consider what One Word God has for your center this year.  More than a "resolution", One Word is a commitment to resting in His Hands for transformation!  I will check in with progress reports here in the weeks and months to come!

Blessings,