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Thursday, April 27, 2017

New Website

Hello there! You have reached an old blog, but you can find me by clicking here.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Change and BIG News

I don't welcome change.

Let the groundhog allude to more snow because even though spring is my favorite, the reality of time passing and buds blooming while my closet is filled with warm sweaters, tall boots, and pretty scarves, items representing the season when I gave birth to my youngest girl, leaves me longing for sameness.

And yet, flower buds were noticed when I stepped off my porch on this warmish, windy day. Why exactly do we let groundhogs determine change?

Season after season and year after year, I must come to terms with change. I suppose moving to Hawaii could be beneficial, but I would eventually long for the four seasons again, because while consistency is my happy place, inconsistency brings an array of beauty that I do enjoy once I've come to terms.



Just as seasons bring change, so does life.

And so, how exactly do we choose contentment when a war chock-full of change takes over our very lives?

How does the new mom rest when rest is an unknown word in her new position?

Where does a girl turn when the actions of others leaves her longing for a blanket to hide beneath?

Why must the medical condition rule her body when life was just feeling normal?

When can mourning be turned to joy for the wife who lost her husband?

What will it take to reach a place where wholeness can encircle weakened hearts and souls?

Change will take place in all of our lives, some change in the form of precious babies and dream jobs and honorable husbands, and other change in the form of a scary diagnosis, a tragic death, or a job loss.

We all want to know contentment, but first we must conquer change.

While I don't always welcome change, change welcomes me, and God is involved in every beautiful and frustrating change that we face.

A few years ago, I created a blog called "The Content Mom." It moved from that to "The Content Mom: rejoicing, learning, and resting in grace." I needed this space to learn how to be content while taking on motherhood and the intense change involved with such a significant title, and many of you joined me on the journey, but now it's time to write for you, especially those of you experiencing an intense change, the kind that leaves you barely holding a single thread of hope.

In order to reach a place of contentment, we must first conquer the cyclone of change in our lives.

This is the mission: Though life doesn't go as planned, there are CONSTANTS found at the foot of the cross and in the beauty of holiness and that these changes, these different plants, these unfamiliar places, become tapestries of trust when we place our hope in an unchanging God.

You can expect to see changes on my website in one month. I'm sure that navigating your way around will be fairly straightforward.

And finally, I saved the super exciting news for last (drum-roll please)...a FREE ebook will be offered to every single person who'd like a copy. There will also be a giveaway for one lucky someone. Keep in touch via Instagram & Facebook for details at the end of February or beginning of March.

Friends, while I don't always welcome change, I've come to terms with this change, and I'm excited to serve you. Let's conquer change together.

"...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." Romans 8:37



Tuesday, January 24, 2017

An Anology and Prayer For When You Feel Weary

After rest comes restoration, a wholeness that penetrates our weakened souls and brings us life. Life. John 14:6 tells us that Jesus is the life. Jesus restores, makes us whole, and gives us life.

We need restored.

Life is difficult. The daily hour to hour is hard without considering the whole of life. I wake, attempt stillness, but all too soon the routine begins. Children need tending, breakfast needs made, counters need cleaned, laundry needs washed, and words need written. Let the children nap only to begin phase two of the day.

The other day, my mom spoke an analogy into my weary and worn soul. I share it now with you, because I can't think of a woman who'd disagree. Sometimes you feel like you're in an automatic car-wash without a car. The brushes scrape against you, soap stains your clothes, and the water sprays forcefully. We have little time to catch our breath before the next event hits. 

How true. The car-wash is our life and it never ends, but at times stillness permeates, allowing us to breathe. The brushes stop while the water prepares to rinse. This is the time for restoration. Our souls and our bodies need prepared before we navigate through the next big event, and this is when we cry out to God.




***

Restore me, God.

Restore us, God.

Restore us from:

  • the mundane
  • the heartache 
  • the exhaustion 
  • the changes
Restore our souls. 

Build us like the child who methodically places one block above the other with concentration and fervor. 

Heal us like the doctor who performs surgery to remove the tumor that keeps us from performing simple, daily tasks. 

Mend us like the seamstress who binds a tear by hand, one stitch at a time.

Refresh us like the sweet tea grandmother used to make, the tea that required boiling, steeping, and cooling. 

Renew us like a slow soak in hot water, the fragrance of rose petals and the melody of music calming us. 

Repair us like the mechanic who spends hours to reach and replace one piece on a vehicle so that it will perform perfectly again. 

Restore us, for we need you.



When the world brings change upon change,
when our hard and chaotic lives keep us from breathing,
when our lives skirt and shadow death itself,
we need you.

When our lives foreshadow death over life,
when fear settles deep into our soul,
when we are lost and afraid and alone,
we need you.

Make us rest, and then lead us. Restore out souls, and then lead us.

Let the words from Psalmist David penetrate our hearts.

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Psalm 23: 2-3



Thursday, January 5, 2017

A Reminder to Rest

When I slow down to enjoy every mundane moment, my soul feels better rested. I may be a mess physically. I WILL be a mess physically. As I sit here typing these words, I wear sweat pants, a t-shirt stained with spit-up, and the messiest hair bun "unknown" to man.

Physically, I'm a mess and so is the living room and kitchen hiding behind me. We won't even talk about the mountain of dishes covered in chocolate and soaking in water. After waking to feed my baby twice through the night combined with the trouble of going back to sleep, I could certainly use a nap.

But in this mess, I pause, because when both children are napping, I MUST spend time with Jesus and give you these words. I desire to bring hope into your situation today. Today, I hope that you'll attain the same rest my soul experiences though chaos screams behind me, chaos that must be taken care of in a bit, but for now, this is where we both need to be. 

I think Jesus was thinking of the exhausted soul burned out on the daily and mundane when he said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

In this passage, Jesus isn't saying, "kick up your feet, chill, and do as little work as possible all day long." I mean, who has the luxury of doing that on the daily, right? Rather, Jesus is speaking to the one racing around, burned out on the daily, and he offers rest. He's speaking to the one jumping from one fiery hoop to another while onlookers gaze at her nonstop life and the concerned look on her face as she wonders when the circus will end so she can breathe. And breathe, free from the hectic, the routine, the life.

I've read this passage of scripture a thousand times, have heard it preached from pulpits on multiple occasions. This is one I know by heart, but had never fully digested until now. Perhaps that's because in this season of raising little ones with little time to breathe, I desperately NEED rest more than ever before. But this rest needed is not in the form of relaxation, though I could certainly use any kind of rest afforded. The rest needed is in the form of fulfillment. Hear it again. Fulfillment. It's where my soul receives rest, not necessarily my body. Are you with me? You'll want to remember this next sentence even if the others fly out of your mind.


Jesus offers soul rest, and it's fulfilling. No amount of physical rest, from spa days to couch potato days to sleeping away the days, will ever bring the best rest that comes by way of Jesus.

This is what he's saying to our worn out bodies and worn out souls: "Side with me by taking on the same yoke that I am in, this same harness used for working. The load will be light because I will be right beside you, and you can learn more than you ever have about me in the process, finding the rest that your soul needs to continue on with the difficulty that life brings. Go ahead. Take off the yoke of stress, the yoke of anxiety, the yoke of pressure, the yoke of bondage, etcetera, etcetera. Be meek and lowly with me. Learn what it means to come to the end of yourself physically but be fully rested spiritually. Let's work together, because in doing so, I promise that you will receive rest. Soul rest."

Take a moment, here and now, to consider which yoke you live under. If you're not under a yoke with Jesus, you'll never experience the fulfilling rest that only he offers. And friends, I desperately long for you to experience this rest. 


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