Monthly Archives: September 2020

Revolutionize Your Morning Time with These Ten Products

This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Sometimes we just need a new product to get us excited about something we already do every day. Today’s post is about breathing life back into your morning time. This list of ten products will help get you motivated and excited about morning time again.

1. He Still Calms Storms Devotional

Matt and I just released the He Still Calms Storms Devotional. We combined the three devotional studies we released on Social Media this summer into a book. It’s a thirty-day devotional on finding calm in the middle of chaos. If you’re looking for something to encourage your heart, this devotional would be great. If you’ve been struggling with what to read in your Bible each day, the answer may be this devotional. Each day has a story to read, Bible verses to read, and questions for application.

2. A New Journal

Sometimes getting a new beautiful journal can help breathe life back into your morning time. If you want a journal that’s blank inside, try looking at Barnes and Noble or Hobby Lobby. Those are two great places to find beautiful journals.

If you’re looking for a journal that has a system inside, try my Faithfully Stepping Journals available on Amazon. With three beautiful covers to choose from, these six-month journals have three parts. The first section is for prayer and includes gratitude, confession, and requests for the day. The next section is for Bible reading. Here you record what you read for the day and journal about what impacted you. The last section is for writing down tasks or reminders for the day. Journaling daily will help to develop consistency in your prayer life and Bible reading that will propel your spiritual growth to new levels.

Faithfully Stepping Journal for Morning Time

3. A New Bible

If you feel like you need something fresh for your morning time, maybe it’s time to get a new Bible. I love getting a new Bible because it’s a blank canvas. I get a chance to go through and underline verses as I come to them, to mark it up with new notes and discoveries I make. If you want to really give yourself something to change things up, pick a new version. Matt gave me this beautiful copy of The Message Bible for Christmas. The Message is the work of Eugene Peterson, an amazing man of God who gave his life to preaching and writing this paraphrase of the Bible in everyday language. I have so enjoyed reading and underlining verses in my Bible that I’ve known my whole life but are now worded in a more modern way.

4. A New Book

Another great way to breathe life back into your morning time and find encouragement is to buy a new book for your morning time basket. A new book can encourage your heart and breathe life back into your soul. If you need some good book recommendations, check out my list of books I recommend. Here’s a few more I have read recently that have encouraged me: You Are the Girl for the Job by Jess Connolly, Love Lives Here by Maria Goff, and Momentum: The Simple Roadmap to Clarify Your Calling by Matt Manney.

5. A New Mug

It doesn’t have to be something big. Maybe it’s just something small you buy for yourself that brings a smile to your face each day. A few years ago, Matt bought me this thankful mug.

It always makes me smile when I use it. I also like this blessed mug from Hobby Lobby that’s green on the inside.

6. New Pens

One of my favorite thing in the world is new pens. I especially love these Paper-Mate colored pens for my morning time.

7. A New Candle

A brand new candle is one of the best ways to add something fresh to your morning time. Fall is the absolute best time of year for great candles. My personal favorites are the three-wick candles from Bath and Body Works. Some of my favorites this season are honeycrisp apple, pumpkin snickerdoodle, vanilla pumpkin marshmallow, pumpkin vanilla cream, and salted butterscotch.

My friend Keya started Masterpiece Candles Co. I just ordered some of her fall line candles- apple donuts, cinnamon vanilla french toast, pumpkin pie, and butter maple pancakes. I just received them and can’t wait to light them and use them.

8. Coffee and Creamer

I can’t do my morning time routine without coffee in the morning. I love fall-inspired coffees and creamers. My sister bought me this Pumpkin Spice Decaf Coffee for my birthday, and I am loving it! I have to drink decaf because caffeine gives me migraines. It’s really hard to find good flavored decaf coffees, but this one is awesome. Matt is enjoying Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Coffee each morning.

We love Wawa’s French Vanilla creamer. It’s pretty much the best thing in the world. But this season, we are also enjoying Chobani’s Pumpkin Spice Creamer. My sister-in-law bought this for us, and it’s pretty good.

9. Some New Songs to Listen To

Okay, so these are not a product, but I wanted to add songs to this list. Sometimes, I need some new songs to listen to that encourage my heart. A few songs that are either new or just new to me that I am enjoying are the following:

Your Mercies are New Today– Micah Tyler

Rise Up– CAIN

Who Am I to be Loved by You– Need to Breathe

Don’t Sweat It– Sidewalk Prophets (This is a fun one I have been running to)

10. Gratitude Journal

When I feel myself really struggling with being discouraged, a great remedy is to spend some time writing down all the ways God has blessed me. I do this every morning in my Faithfully Stepping Journal, but sometimes I just need extra time. I created this free printable you can print off to use at home. Sometimes we just need to be reminded of God’s incredible goodness to us and it’s easier to do that when we see all the ways written down in front of us.

Sometimes it’s the little things in life that keep us motivated and staying on track. Picking just one thing from this list may be just the thing you need to breathe some life back into your morning time.

For more ideas on creating a morning time routine, check out Creating a Morning Time Routine You Love.

When It Feels Like You’re Slipping

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Slipping from the Monkey Bars

“Mom, catch me. I’m slipping!” Have you heard those words before? One of my kids’ favorite things to do at the park is the monkey bars. The irony is that it’s their favorite thing, but they are also terrified of it. Over the years, I have spent so much of my time at parks standing beneath my children as they learn to do the monkey bars.

You know the drill. They start. They get two or three in before their grip starts slipping and down they fall. My job is to simply wrap my arms around their legs the moment their grip slips and catch them before they can fall. I put them on the ground. Then they smile hugely and run over to the stairs so they can climb back up and begin the entire process again.

God Keeps Us From Slipping

God works this same way in our lives. The moment we feel like we are slipping and can’t maintain our grip anymore, God moves in and catches us.

If God hadn’t been there for me, I never would have made it. The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,” your love, God, took hold and held me fast. Psalm 94:17,18 MSG

A song that we love to sing at our church is He Will Hold Me Fast by Keith and Kristyn Getty. I love the words of the last verse and chorus.

For my life He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast;
Justice has been satisfied; He will hold me fast.
Raised with Him to endless life, He will hold me fast
‘Till our faith is turned to sight, When He comes at last!
He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast; For my Saviour loves me so, He will hold me fast.
He Will Hold Me Fast by Keith and Kristyn Getty

He is Watching and Waiting, Ready to Catch Us

The thing about slipping is that you have to be close to falling. When my kids are on the monkey bars, I could just make things easy for them and carry them across. When they are little, I do just that. I hold them up while they grasp the bars. I bear all their weight, so they’re not really doing it. They just think they are.

As they get older, though, I let them do it on their own. I’m just there to catch them if they fall. I think God works the same way in our lives. He doesn’t just do life for us. Rather, He watches and waits, ready to catch us when we slip and keep us from falling. The Psalmist reminds us of this truth in Psalm 116.

For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. Psalm 116:8 KJV

When Life Falls Apart

When we feel like we are at the end of ourselves, it’s God that rescues us every time. You may feel like you’re slipping today. Maybe you feel like you’ve lost your grip on everything around you. Life doesn’t make sense. Things are not working out. You’ve worked so hard, yet it feels like it’s all ready to fall to pieces around you.

When we feel this way, there is only one answer. We have to look up. Call out to the only One who can keep you from falling. Know that when you do call out to God, He will hear you and will be there to catch you before you fall.

Verses to Remind Us that God Hears Us

Here are a few verses to remind ourselves that God hears us when we pray to Him, when we feel like we’re slipping.

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers… I Peter 3:12 KJV

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13 KJV

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: I John 5:14 KJV

Encouragement for Today

Whatever it is that you are facing today, God is more than aware of it. If you feel like everything is falling apart around you and you’re loosing your grip, maybe it’s time to call out to God. Then step back and watch what happens when He steps in.

For more encouragement on this topic, read Finding the Momentum You Need to Keep Going.

Pursuing Your Dream, Part 2

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So I wrote Pursuing Your Dream, Part 1 all the way back in March. My plan was to get this post out next. The next week, COVID happened and we went into quarantine. In the middle of a crisis, I didn’t feel like this post was appropriate. I put it on the back burner. So give that post a quick read if you want.

The first post was about finding your dream and choosing to pursue it. This second post is about continuing with your dream.

Continuing with Your Dream

Do you know what comes after starting your dream? Continuing with your dream. It’s awesome to establish your business, create your first product, and make your first sale. But then reality sets in. You have to keep creating. Then you have to figure out sales tax and income tax. After that, you have to put money back into your product or business. Then there’s dealing with people who don’t care for your product. It’s during this time that we are tempted to give up on our dreams. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s worth it.

When the output is more than the income, when you don’t sell enough product to make a profit, when somebody complains or criticizes what you are creating, when you feel like this business will never get off the ground… that’s when we are tempted to give up on our dream.

Why Continue?

Matt and I are pursuing our dream of writing and creating products. I blog here at Faithfully Stepping and write non-fiction books as well as fantasy books, and I’m loving it! I am so fulfilled by writing.

With that said, though, Matt and I are not getting rich on the books we’ve written. We pay more for editing than we make in sales. So why do we do it? Because it’s how God has gifted us, and we love writing! Writing gets us up early, keeps us up late, and leaves us bleary-eyed and tired. Yet, we’re doing what we love, and we have goals in mind that we are striving for. That’s how a dream is. On good days, it will motivate you, so you don’t have to motivate yourself.

Encouragement to Not Give Up

One of the verses that has become a huge encouragement to me is Micah 7:7.

But me, I’m not giving up. I’m sticking around to see what God will do. I’m waiting for God to make things right. I’m counting on God to listen to me. Micah 7:7 MSG

Too many times we give up on our dreams, give up on seeing God do something amazing with our lives for one simple reason. We don’t stick with it long enough to see the dream come to fruition. It’s not enough to start something, we have to stick with it.

Keep Pursuing Your Dream

Let me take it a step further. Have you tried your hand at a dream and it failed? Have you seen your dreams crash and burn and then given up on them? It’s really easy to look around and see everybody that’s doing a better job than you. I get it. Believe me!

There are very few people who have actually become a success overnight. It takes hard work and discipline and sticking with it to become successful.

Jim Rohn says,

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
Jim Rohn

If we want to keep our dream alive, we need to put some habits into practice and stick with them. It’s not enough just to pursue our dream, we need to develop the habits and practices to keep that dream alive.

Five Tips to Help You Not Give Up on Your Dream

Get up early. Entrepreneurs know that successful people get up early. The best book recommendation for this is The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.
Learn to find extra pockets of time throughout your day. If you are just starting to pursue your dream, chances are you are still busy full-time with other work. Maybe it’s a full-time job, parenting, homeschooling, or something else. Most of us don’t have time to focus one hundred percent of our time on our dream. Because of that, we have to learn to get creative and find pockets of time throughout our day. Jessica Turner calls these the fringe hours. Her book The Fringe Hours is a must-read.
Refuse to listen to negativity. There will always be people who don’t like your particular business or product. We have to choose not to listen to that negativity and let it discourage us. We need to choose to ignore criticism or it will cripple us from moving forward. If there is something we can learn and change from the criticism, then do so. Otherwise, ignore it and move forward.
Remember why it is you started. Whether you started because you need extra income, you want to help people, or because you just love your product and want to share it with the world, don’t forget why it is you started.
Picture your success. Form in your mind’s eye what success looks like to you. Then keep that image before you, especially on the days you want to give up. We have to have something that motivates us to keep going.

Other Resources

If this post got you thinking about wanting to start something of your own, but you’re not sure what, Money-Making Mom and Fringe Hours are both great books to get you started. They are both loaded with ideas.

Finding the Momentum You Need to Keep Going

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Finding Momentum

Do you need momentum right now to get back up on your feet and keep going? Have you wanted to walk away from what it is you’re supposed to do?

So many of us get excited about what God wants us to do with our lives- our calling. We jump on board, throw ourselves in with everything we have, and get to work. Then reality hits.

We realize we don’t make enough money to cover the bills, we get sick, the people we are supposed to be helping turn their back on us, and people don’t approve of what we’re doing. We get discouraged, defeated, and want to give up.

Circumstances Don’t Dictate Your Calling

That was where Matt and I found ourselves seven years into our ministry. Nothing was working out like it was supposed to. The bottom dropped out financially, we didn’t see the results we were looking for, and it seemed like the best thing to do would be to throw in the towel and walk away. We found ourselves in a really horrible place. Did we walk away and shut the doors on our church because it wasn’t working out? We could have. No one would have faulted us. God taught us a really important lesson during that time.

“Circumstances do not dictate the direction of our life. Calling is the constant to pull us through the chaos.”
Momentum

God taught us that just because our circumstances weren’t good didn’t mean we were done with the work He wanted us to do. God used that time to drive us to our knees. I’m not going to lie, it was a very difficult time. We spent about two years struggling with whether to stay or leave. God used that difficult time to strengthen our calling. When most people thought we should leave, God showed us that we were in the right place. God also used this time to push us towards the other part of what He had for us- writing.

Gaining Momentum by Clarifying Your Calling

We are much stronger in our calling today. We know we are where we are supposed to be, doing what God called us to do. First, we are to minister to people outside of Philadelphia through our church, to remind them that there is a God who loves them and is for them. Second, we are to write to encourage people to create a life they love. Find what God has for them and go after it with all their heart, and we will be there to encourage and help them from the sidelines with our books, journals, and devotionals. God has given us such clarity and peace for our calling. He used adversity to clarify our calling.

The clarity you need for your calling comes when you’ve been forged in the fire of adversity.
Momentum

You Are Exactly Where You Need to Be

Maybe you are at a similar place in your life. You know what it is God wants you to do, but things are just not working out. Maybe you need to be encouraged with these words today.

You are exactly where you need to be right now, whether it feels good, makes sense, or causes despair. God is working your calling within you. He is molding and shaping you as a potter molds and shapes the clay on a potter’s wheel. (Jeremiah 18:4)
Momentum

I would have given anything to hear those words when Matt and I were struggling. Now, we want to speak words of encouragement and life into others who are in the midst of their own struggle right now.

Momentum: The Simple Roadmap to Clarify Your Calling

That’s why Matt wrote Momentum: The Simple Roadmap to Clarify Your Calling. He writes about the four obstacles that keep us from pursuing and thriving in our calling. Matt and I are at complete peace now and love what we are doing. We would have missed out on the greatest joys we are experiencing now had we stepped away from what God wanted us to do.

You can chose the adventure you want to live- an adventure of stepping into your calling.
Momentum

Momentum is close to both of our hearts. We want others to be able to find momentum in their lives as we have in ours. You can get a copy on Amazon today. It’s available in paperback and ebook.

From Matt: If you’re tired of struggling with the obstacles that stand in your way, you don’t have to wrestle anymore. After years of frustration, bad advice, and trying to find my fit, I discovered the four obstacles that stood in my way to clarify my calling. Don’t struggle like I did. Let this book be your guide to overcome the obstacles that keep you from stepping into your calling.

If you want to give it a try first, you can download the first chapter for free. Just click below.