Monthly Archives: September 2023

4 Reasons Why Getting Up Early Transforms Your Day

Leave a reply

Early Bird or Night Owl?

Are you an early bird or a night owl? Did you know that most people are neither? Most of us fall somewhere in between. I find that fascinating. There are some people who really enjoy getting up early, and there are some people that love staying up late. But most people are right down the middle—we like to sleep in a little, and we like to go to bed at a normal time.

I didn’t used to be a morning person. I got up early for years in junior high, high school, and then college. So when I got married, I hated having to get up early. But over the years, I have transitioned into a major morning person. That doesn’t mean I like getting out of bed every morning, but it means that I enjoy waking up before the sun comes up and having my morning routine before the rest of the house comes to life.

If I had to point to one thing that helps me to get more done each day, it would be getting up early. That has made the difference in increasing my productivity these past several years. I get soooo much more accomplished when I get up early.

4 Reasons Why Getting Up Early Transforms Your Day:

1. You get a jumpstart on your day. There is something about getting up early that makes me feel so good about jumping into my day.

2. There’s a peace and quiet that you can only experience if you get out of bed before everybody else. For me, the best time to do my morning time routine is in the quiet morning hours when it’s just Matt and I, a candle, and coffee.

3. You accomplish more. There’s something about getting up early that sets you up for success the rest of the day. I always accomplish more in my day when I get up at a good time, compared to the days I sleep in.

4. Early morning hours are like bonus points in your day. Somehow, whatever you accomplish just accumulates into more for the day.

Start Somewhere

If you want to be a morning person but struggle with it, start by getting up just five minutes earlier each day. That’s all you have to do to start. Eventually, add another five minutes and then another. Before you know it, you will be a morning person!

More Encouragement

For more on this topic, check out Hal Elrod’s book, The Morning Miracle.

What’s Your Cross to Bear?

Leave a reply

I am convinced that each of us has a cross to bear in this life. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. Jesus told the people of his day that if they didn’t pick up their cross and follow him, they couldn’t be one of his disciples.

And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:27

What’s Our Cross?

It’s sometimes hard to know what he was talking about. It’s kind of confusing. How do we know what cross it is we’re supposed to bear? This thought is so familiar to us as Christians, and yet I’ve never really fully grasped what Jesus meant.

But the longer I’ve been a Christian and the longer I live this life, I have come to believe that each of us is given a cross to bear. Our crosses all look different, but I believe that God gives each of us something difficult in this life that we have to choose to pick up and carry every single day.

Something Different for Each of Us

For my daughter Macey, it’s type 1 diabetes. There is no cure, and she will have that disease for the rest of her life. For my mom, it’s a lifelong debilitating disease. For my husband and I, it’s been financial burden and the weight of a small church. My friend’s cross is being single for so many years and wanting so desperately to be married. For another friend of mine, it’s being stuck in a bad marriage. Another friend of mine faces debilitating mental health. I could go on and on. 

For each of us, it’s something different. But it’s our “thorn in the flesh,” just like Paul had. It’s something God gives us to keep us humble and keep us trusting in him. 

Jesus taught us that we have to pick up our cross every day to be a follower of him. How does that work? Why would he say that? Does he not love us?

The Answer to Why?

On the contrary, God knows if he gives us something that’s “our cross to bear” in this life, it will drive us to our knees every single day. We will have to depend on him. There’s no chance of making it through this life without him. 

There are so many questions we don’t have answers to this side of Heaven. Kay Warren says we should write those questions down and save them for Heaven one day. Your cross to bear—loss, a bad marriage, divorce, singleness, infertility, poverty, health problems, a wayward child, a blended family, being wronged…is one of those questions to ask God one day. I don’t have the answers. 

Encouragement from the Psalms

I think of the verses that the Psalmist writes in Psalm 77.

When I was in deep trouble,
    I searched for the Lord.
All night long I prayed, with hands lifted toward heaven,
    but my soul was not comforted.

And I said, “This is my fate;
    the Most High has turned his hand against me.”

Psalm 77: 2, 11

From Hopelessness to Hopeful

You can feel the hopelessness, the sense that God doesn’t care, that he’s turned against us. But thankfully he doesn’t stop there.

But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
    I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

Psalm 77:12

What was the answer to his desperation? To remember the things God has done in the past. That’s the same answer for us today. How do you pick up your cross every single day? How do you deal with whatever it is God has given you as your cross in this life? You remember what he did for you in the past. You focus on the fact that God got you through yesterday, and he will get you through today.

So you choose each day to pick up whatever it is God has given you to deal with in this life, and you choose to carry it, while following Jesus. And just maybe, lead some others to Jesus along the way.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, check out my post, Handling Trials, or check out my book, The Hidden Pain.

Looking Past What is to What Could Be

Leave a reply

One of my most favorite things is to watch those before and after pictures of homes on HGTV. There’s something so satisfactory about watching an old house transform into something beautiful, trendy, and fresh. It always makes me look around my house and imagine what could be.

Before and After

We love to see the after; but for most of us, it’s hard to see the after when you’re looking at the before…unless you have a gift like Joanna Gaines. I do not have that gift, and I am perfectly okay with that.

God is in the business of creating before and after pictures, but he does it through our lives. He has the amazing ability not to see us as we are now, but for what we can become.

Jesus’ Conversation with Peter

At the last supper, Jesus tells Peter that he’s going to betray him. Peter can’t even begin to imagine any circumstance in which he would deny Jesus. In the midst of this conversation, Jesus tells him something that is so key to understanding how Jesus works.

Jesus says to Peter, “After you have repented and turned again to me, strengthen your brothers.” Jesus could see past Peter’s failure to the man Peter would become, in spite of his failure.

God has always had the ability to look past what is, to see what could be. He started the world that way. He took what was and turned it into what could be, an amazing creation. All throughout the Bible, God sees people for what they could become.

How God Sees People

  1. Zacchaeus. Jesus tells him, “I’m coming to your house today.” He said that before Zacchaeus even changed his heart.
  2. Gideon. The angel calls him “mighty man of valor” even while Gideon is hiding.
  3. Mary. Gabriel calls her “favored” before she chose to go through with the pregnancy.
  4. David. God saw him as the great king of Israel while he was still a lowly shepherd boy.
  5. Esther. God saw a queen in a young Jewish girl.
  6. Samuel. God saw a mighty prophet in a small boy left at the temple.
  7. A little boy. Jesus saw a little boy who would feed over 5,000 with a simple lunch.
  8. Jesus saw some lowly fishermen as the men who would turn the world upside down for Christ.

Seeing Us for What Could Be

God has never been content to leave us where we are. No, he sees what could be, who we could become. So he pushes in on us and chisels and works on us, chiseling off the rough edges. He sends trials into our lives that change us and mold us and grow us into who he knows we can become.

He does all this so that one day, we can become the “after” picture. In heaven one day, we will look back at the “before” picture and not even recognize ourselves, and we’ll see that he was busy crafting and changing us and molding us into who he wanted us to become.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, check out my post, There’s Beauty in the Unmaking. A great book to read is Love Does by Bob Goff.

The Simple Tool I Use to Get More Done this Fall

Leave a reply
fall desk

It’s September 1st! Happy Fall! I love September. I love getting back on track with schedules and structure, working on projects, hitting writing goals, and of course all the fun that comes with fall—hayrides, apple picking, pumpkin spice everything, the leaves changing, walking on trails, doing fall crafts with the kids, and more.

The Busyness of Fall

Every year when we hit September, we enter our busiest season of the year. I think most of us do. Our school schedule is full, our family days are packed, and our church and growth group schedules are overflowing. Then there’s all the work goals Matt and I have—book deadlines, writing projects, and more. If we’re not careful, it gets overwhelming really fast. I have to really protect my time and make every minute of every day count.

The easiest way I do this is so simple, you’ll probably laugh. But it’s the system that works for me time and time again! Here it is: I write down my to-do list for the day with a little empty circle next to it. When I finish that task, I check off the circle. It sounds so simple, but honestly, it helps me stay on track every day because otherwise my mind whirls and twirls with all that I need to be doing. Without a to-do list for the day, I can spin my wheels the entire day and work hard but not actually get anything accomplished for the day.

I’ve used a lot of planners over the years, and I love them. I have one that I’m using right now for the calendar. Honestly, though, what has worked even better for me is a clean sheet of notebook paper every single day, either loose-leaf or in a notebook. There’s something about a clean sheet of paper that represents a new, fresh day with endless possibilities.

My Favorite Tool

One of my most favorite thing in the world is spiral notebooks. I use them for everything!! I use them for meal planning, homeschool assignments, budget work, meetings at church, planning dates with Matt, book project deadlines and tasks, and so much more. I have found that they are absolutely invaluable. The other great thing about them is that they are cheap! I always buy a huge stack in the summer when they’re on sale for school. I just went to Staples yesterday, where they are currently $.35 and bought thirty of them (because that was the limit.)

Simple Hacks

I have found over the years that sometimes the simplest ideas have the most profound impact on our lives in the area of getting things accomplished. So that’s my hack for getting more accomplished this fall. Grab a spiral notebook and write down a to-do list every single day.

What are your hacks for meal planning, chores, getting more accomplished, keeping the house clean, etc? I’d love to know!

For More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, check out my post, 3 Things I Do Every Night before Bed.