Hi! Happy Monday!
How was your weekend? Ours was a crazy mix of good and bad, wonderful and hard. We had some great times and some not-so-great. We headed to Sweetwater Tennessee for an all day soccer tournament on Saturday and stopped off at Sweetwater Valley Farm. If you are ever near Sweetwater you must stop there. They make the best cheese and it is such a beautiful place to visit. While I was there I learned about cheese curds and we will be frying some up this week for a special treat! Yum! Oh yeah, my husband and one of our sons sampled Elk salami. Weird.
We did some shopping Friday afternoon and this is where our two year old decided to take a nap. Yep. Make yourself at home at The Home Depot.
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| By the way, they loved it. |
Lastly, I snapped this picture at dinner. She doesn't like him at all.
I mentioned in my last post how easily I can become overwhelmed and frazzled and worn out. I planned a series for this week on what you ( I ) can do when we feel this way. Funny thing is, this past weekend and this morning have given me plenty of material! I'm going to post one thing each day this week that will help us to avoid being frazzled, overwhelmed, stressed out and burned out.
The single most important thing you can do is spend time alone with God. This doesn't have to come in a specific form following a series of specific steps. Time alone with God is just your special time - you talk to Him, you cast your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. When you worship the Holy God of the universe - suddenly your priorities are placed in proper order. In those moments we are reminded what really matters and what doesn't! The peace and comfort can't be beat. I love my time alone with God and HE changes my entire day. He helps my heart. He enables me to be a better wife and mother.
Soooo... if this time is so special and so wonderful why would I ever miss out on it? Here's the thing, there's a little lie (I believe straight from Satan) that says, "You have too much to do. You can't slow down. There's too much that needs to be done and you are already behind! There's no time for praying and reading the bible today. That will have to wait until another time when you aren't so busy. Now, go go go!"
Soooo... if this time is so special and so wonderful why would I ever miss out on it? Here's the thing, there's a little lie (I believe straight from Satan) that says, "You have too much to do. You can't slow down. There's too much that needs to be done and you are already behind! There's no time for praying and reading the bible today. That will have to wait until another time when you aren't so busy. Now, go go go!"
Total lie.
I have believed that lie many, many times. I've tried to run my life my way and get back to God when I had a little more room in my schedule. How stupid is that thinking?!! I've actually told myself I'm just going to buckle down, get busy, and work. There are places to be and people to feed and rooms to clean and there's a mountain of laundry to do. The problem with that thinking is this...when things are out of order in our lives, and when things are out of order in our hearts it is almost impossible to flee that overwhelmed feeling. There is no peace in putting God off. I've been through this struggle. Very recently I have struggled. I was trying to be everything to everybody. It was like trying to run a race without ever eating any carbs. I was miserable and I was making everyone around me miserable. I've struggled in the past and I will likely struggle again. Why? Because Satan knows how important our intimate relationship with God is so he will do anything he can to stop it from growing. He very often succeeds in keeping busy wives and mamas from taking time to worship, pray, read, meditate, or spend any time at all with the Lord Jesus.
I'm here to tell you that the #1 way you can avoid burnout, feeling overwhelmed and frazzled, is to spend time alone with God each and every day. You will grow to love this time. The Lord Jesus is your power source for being the woman you want to be.
I'm here to tell you that the #1 way you can avoid burnout, feeling overwhelmed and frazzled, is to spend time alone with God each and every day. You will grow to love this time. The Lord Jesus is your power source for being the woman you want to be.
You want to be loving? Love comes from the Father.
You want to be kind? Kindness comes from Him!
You want peace in your life? Seek Him first and ask Him for the peace only He can give.
You have a lot to do? Hard decisions to make? He will walk with you every step of the way.
Your house is a wreck, your children are bickering and you still haven't had a shower? Some time with Him will set things right in your heart and He will give the grace to take each step, one at a time.
You cannot pour sweetness into your family if you are not being filled up yourself. We really can do nothing apart from Him so why do we try?
You cannot pour sweetness into your family if you are not being filled up yourself. We really can do nothing apart from Him so why do we try?
Feeling burned out? Don't give up your time with God! It will only make things worse.
Not to take away from what you have just said. Rather, to add to:
ReplyDeleteFrom; Grace for the Good Girl; Letting Go of the try-hard life.
"I like to think I have grown past trying to earn my way into God's acceptance. Because of my good girl tendency to perform, I have had a lot of relearning to do when it comes to understanding how to remain in Christ.
In the midst of an active, blurry week, John came home from a walk with a friend who asked him this question; Are you willing to be more and do less? The words stopped me in my dinner-making, clothes-washing, nose-wiping tracks. On the scale of life, these days my doing far outweighs my being. Be more. Do less. It sounds as blissful as it does unrealistic. I hear the mocking voice of reason, the one telling me how the sentiment is nice, but the reality is that things just have to get done. There is no room for rest, for still, for quiet. The words repeat like a drumbeat in the background.
Do. Act. Work. Produce.
The lie creeps back in and I forget to receive the big and the little as from the hand of God. Instead, I try to earn it. I put the demands of life on one side and the time I spend with God on the other and worry and fret when life falls down heavy with a bang. I measure my time spent with God against everything else and let it define me, for better or worse.
And then Jesus enters and changes everything. In the place of my balance scale, he puts a cross and willingly places his hands on either side. They weigh equal amounts, both hands scarred heavy with the weight of the world. He fulfilled the requirements of the measuring because I couldn't keep the law and was never meant to. All he asks is that I receive his sacrifice for my inadequacy and then stay in that place of truth.
To remain in Him means to refuse to get up from His lap. When it seems like the situation calls for me to stand up and take charge, Jesus gives me permission to remain still, if only on the inside, to trust deeply and fully that he will be strong on my behalf. Even when it seems impossible. Even when it's counterintuitive. Even if it means I will look weak. To remain in him means to *let the Great I Am be.* And there is that word again: let. The letting power is still up to you....
Skip a couple pages..."Quiet time is no longer something I do. Rather, it is a description of what happens when I am with GOd. Time can be a loud, chaotic, rushing-around companion. But as I sit in the presence of God, he quiets my time. Now that I know what the truth is, I long to allow space for my soul and spirit to begin to believe it."
Such good stuff. SO much more. I'll stop there :)