Staying Resilient in the Midst of Life’s Hard

Resilient Trees

Trees are resiliant; that’s for sure. A few months ago, we had to have a tree company take down one of the trees in our backyard. When the guy came out to give us a quote, he told us that the tree at some point tried to uproot itself. The entire thing twisted but managed to stay rooted. Now, we’re talking about an eighty-foot plus tree here. The thing was massive. Somehow, it managed to stay upright, even though most of its roots were above ground and the entire thing had twisted.

Verses about Trees

Trees have the ability to stand strong during the worst of storms. I read some verses in Jeremiah this week during my morning time routine that reminded me of the tree we had taken down.

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
    with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
    or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
    and they never stop producing fruit.
Jeremiah 17:7-8

Staying Resilient, No Matter the Circumstances

Trees that are healthy can weather the storm and can grow no matter the circumstances. God says that when we trust him and make him our hope and confidence instead of ourselves, that we are like a tree. Not just any tree—a tree that has deep roots, is settled next to water, and stays strong no matter what.

When we trust God no matter what, we become like one of those strong trees. We are able to weather the storms. No matter what circumstances come our way, we are able to stand strong and still produce fruit. What does it mean to still produce fruit? It means we still love others in the midst of our storm, continue to grow in our faith, and choose joy.

Poem about Resilience

I love this poem about resilience by Douglas Malloch.

Good Timber

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.

Choosing to Be Resilient

We don’t become who God wants us to be by skating through life without any problems. No, we become strong, faith-filled women by enduring trials and still choosing to be joyful, to love God, and to love others.

If we fail to learn to be resilient, we aren’t going to be able to accomplish what God wants us to. In turn, we will miss the blessings God had for us. If we give up now, the only sure thing is that we will have missed out on what God had in store.

So choose to be resilient. Choose to stand strong in your faith, no matter the circumstances. Keep loving, serving, and choosing joy even when you don’t “feel” like it. Then watch as God grows your faith and makes you like one of those tall trees—able to withstand the storms and always bearing fruit, no matter the circumstances.

For More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check out my post, Developing a Faith that’s Strong Enough to Stand On. Or check out Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis Majors. Katie’s life is a perfect example of being resilient and continuing to love people, even when life is hard.

What LJ Taught Me about Praying

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Have you ever had somebody keep asking your for something over and over and over again until you finally give in and give them what they want? If you’re a mom, the answer to that is probably yes. I used to think I was so strong…then I became a mom!

Our Neighbor, LJ

One of our neighbors is an eight-year-old boy named LJ. Almost every day during the summer, LJ shows up at our house multiple times a day and opens the door. “Hey, is Malachi in there? Can he come out and play?”

For the first couple weeks after we met LJ, we tried tirelessly to get LJ not to open the door without knocking first. He would stand in the doorway and ask what the kids were doing and when they could come out to play. We would tell him he needs to knock first and can’t just open the door and stand in the doorway. Honestly, it was more stressful than just letting him come in. So, we finally gave up one day after it had happened at least ten times and just said, “Sure, LJ. Come on in.” It’s pretty much a standing invitation now; he comes over whenever he wants to and comes inside, even if it’s 7:30 in the morning and the younger girls are still asleep.

What LJ Taught Us

Matt looked at me the other day and said, “I think LJ is the perfect example of what God has in mind when he tells us to keep asking.”

I laughed. “Yeah, you’re right.”

LJ never gave up; that kid has tenacity. He wore us down over time until we finally just gave him a standing invite to come in whenever. Jesus teaches a story about prayer that reminds Matt and I a lot of LJ.

Jesus’ Story about Prayer

When Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray, he gave them an example of what to pray. We know it as the Lord’s prayer. Right after that, he launches into a story to help illustrate how to pray.

Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke 11:5-10 NLT

Importunity

There’s a word that describes this type of prayer. It’s called importunity. Importunity is defined as: persistence, especially to the point of annoyance. It doesn’t sound like a very flattering word, and yet this is what God wants from us when we come to him in prayer. It’s not giving up after the fourth, fifth, hundredth, thousandth prayer. It’s persevering and not giving up until God says, “Okay, because of your shameless persistence, I will answer you.”

LJ Wore Us Down

When I think of all the times we told LJ not to come in, I just laugh. He wore us down, and we changed out minds out of sheer frustration.

What would happen if we took that same attitude towards our requests to God? What if we didn’t give up once or twice or even after a hundred times. If we just kept praying and asking and believing that God is going to answer our prayer, what would happen? I believe we’d see more of our prayers answered. We can all learn a lesson from LJ. Don’t give up. Keep asking, seeking, knocking. Keep praying until God answers that prayer; it’s always too soon to give up on prayer!

For More Encouragement

If you enjoyed this post, check out Finding the Tenacity to Wrestle with God. A great book to read on this topic is Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker.

Handling Hard Better

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Handle Hard Better Video

Matt showed me a video this week on Youtube from the Women’s basketball coach at Duke. It’s been labeled Handle Hard Better. It’s a great quick video that all of us can learn from. Take a quick minute to watch it; it’s worth the time.

The simple fact of the matter is that life is hard. It’s never going to get easier. Instead, we have to learn how to bear up under that hard, handle the hard better. The better we handle the hard we’re dealing with now, the better we make it for the next thing we have to deal with.

Life Doesn’t Get Easier

Matt has a saying. “Life doesn’t get easier, but it gets better.” I don’t know that there ever comes a point and time in life when we say, “Wow. This is so easy right now.” School is hard. College is grueling. Having babies is exhausting. Raising children is no joke. Preparing teens for life is not for the faint of heart. Building a career is no easy feat. Choosing to stay married requires love and sacrifice. On and on the list goes. Life never gets easier, but it can get better. Why?” Because we learn how to handle life as it comes our way.

We can choose to live under our circumstances and let them crush the life and joy out of us, or we can choose to live above our circumstances. I like to think of it this way. We can choose to be a Tigger or an Eeyore. Except for Eeyore’s tail that always fell off, Tigger and Eeyore faced the same daily problems. But Tigger faced them with zeal and excitement, whereas Eeyore faced them with dread and depression.

We can’t choose our circumstances, but we can choose our response every time. We have to find joy even in the midst of bad circumstances. If we give ourselves permission to live without joy, to be depressed and discouraged, hopeless and defeated every time we face a hardship, our entire life is going to be like that. Because let’s face it. Life is hard! But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can find joy, no matter the circumtances. But it’s our job to find the joy, even in the midst of life’s hard.

Choosing to Find Joy

Shauna Niequist says in her book, I Guess I Haven’t Learned that Yet, that we are responsible to find joy. It doesn’t necessarily just come bubbling up. No, we have to chase it down; we have to choose to find it.

We also put ourselves in the path of joy, and sometimes, frankly, it takes a little muscle. I no longer wait for joy to rise up unbidden. I put myself in her path every chance I get, and extending myself in that direction delivers me to gratitude, to hope, to a cascade of things that tumble out after joy but don’t show up without a little effort on our part.
Shauna Niequist

Choose today to bear up under whatever hard it is you are facing. Choose to find joy. Learn to build some “muscle” with what you’re going through. If you do, it will make the next hard that comes your way just a little easier to deal with.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, check out You Can’t Wait Until Life isn’t Hard to Be Happy or read Lysa TerKeurst’s book, It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way. The hardback is currently on sale on Amazon for $12.85.

Huge Amazon Sale on Books

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Huge Sale on Amazon

For whatever reason, there’s a lot of books that I love that are on sale on Amazon right now…maybe because Prime Day is coming. Anyway, it’s a great sale to take advantage of.

The Hidden Pain (my book) $9.65

Finding Free (my book) $12.87

Most of Lysa TerKeurst’s Books

Falling Free by Shannan Martin

The Hardest Peace by Kara Tippitts

Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis Majors

Love Does by Bob Goff

Find Your People by Jenni Allen

Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist

The Super Mom Myth by Becky Kopitzke

The Turquoise Table by Kristin Schell

When Women Pray by T. D. Jakes

Plus sooo many more! Even some of my A. J. Manney Books made it into the sale!! Head over to Amazon and check out all your favorites!

It’s a great time to stock up on books that you’ve been wanting to read and books for gifts. Christmas will be here before we know it!!

Check out my Summer Reading Guide, 2022 for more book suggestions!

Getting Stuck in the Dark and Waiting for the Dawn to Break

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the light of the sunrise after the dark — sunrise at the beach

Watching the Sunrise

One of my most favorite things to see and experience is a gorgeous sunrise. There is something so breathtaking about watching the sky go from dark to a little bit of light. Eventually that light begins to grow. Colors begin to streak across the horizon. Brilliant pinks and oranges and yellows break through where once the darkness stood. Then, if you wait long enough, a huge burning ball of light rises and slowly begins its ascension into the sky.

It’s an amazing process to watch, one that takes my breath away every single time. It’s the most spectacular to watch on the beach. The crazy thing about it is that it seems to go slow when you’re watching it. It seems to take forever for the sun to get in the sky if you are a bystander watching. However, if you’re at home, not paying attention, or still sleeping, it’s over and done so fast. If you don’t plan to watch it, to get there early to see it, you will wake up and it’s gone. The sun will be in the sky and there will be no signs of the brilliance that took place just a few minutes or hours before.

watching the sun come up after the dark — Matt and I watching the sun come up

Watching God Work

Watching God work in our lives is kind of like watching that sunrise. Only you get the front row seat to watch what God’s taking you through. Nobody else can fully see your pain, can understand the hurt, or imagine what you’re going through. To everybody else watching, they will simply see you in a season of darkness for a time until you come out on the other side, and they see the sun shining brightly. They miss the process; they miss the beauty of it.

Waiting for the Dark to Dispel

In our own lives, if we’re not careful, we miss it as well. God takes us into a season of trial, and it gets dark. Really dark. It’s the kind of darkness where you can’t see your hand in front of your face. In a spiritual sense, your hand becomes God’s goodness. In a season of dark, you can no longer see God’s goodness. It feels so far away. Further away still is his love. We can’t see anything but the trial in front of us.

Like the sunrise, if we wait long enough, if we hold on to faith and keep believing, the sun will slowly begin to rise. It will take some time, but the process of coming out of the darkness and into light—coming out on the other side—will begin. It’s a slow process, but it’s a beautiful one. Along the way, we will begin to see traces of God’s faithfulness, his love, his goodness. It’s been there all along, but we just couldn’t see it. As God begins to work, we will see his hand once again. Eventually, we will be on the other side of the trial, out of of that season of darkness. But if we’re not careful, we will have missed the beauty along the way.

The Morning Always Comes

Shauna Niequest puts it this way:

Because this is how life is. We get stuck in the dark, sometimes for a long time. We ache for morning. And sometimes it seems like it will never come. But this is also how life is. Dawn always breaks. Morning always comes.
From I Guess I Haven’t Learned that Yet by Shauna Niequiest

David put it this way:

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Psalm 27:13 KJV

God’s Goodness and Unfailing Love

If you are in a season of dark right now, if if seems like your hope is gone, let me encourage you with these words.

For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation
Psalm 100:5

God has not forgotten you; he sees you and hears you. His unfailing love and faithfulness still wrap around you today. You may not be able to see it right now; your faith may not be strong enough to feel it right now. That’s okay. You can borrow some of my faith for today. When your faith isn’t strong enough, lean on somebody else’s faith until you can stand back on your own. I’ve done that so many times. So lean on my faith and hear me when I say, God is still faithful. He still loves you, and he is still right beside you. You continue to do what’s right; don’t quit. He’s going to get you through this. Don’t miss the beauty in the journey.

Seeing Past the Dark

Watch for the light. You will begin to see little signs of him working in your life after a long season of nothing. Don’t miss the little flashes of color along the way. Keep hoping, keep believing, keep growing, keep trusting. Because if you do, there are great things on the other side of this dark season.

For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!
Psalm 64:4 NLT

For More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, check out my posts, When You Feel Like God Has Forgotten You and Choosing Hope—the Best is Yet to Come. You can also check out my book, The Hidden Pain: When You Fear God is No Longer Blessing Your life. It’s currently on sale on Amazon for $9.65. Another great book is Kara Tippetts’ book, The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard. That book is also on sale on Amazon. It’s currently $9.84.

Our Trip to Colorado

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4,000+ Miles to Colorado

We’ve had a great start to our summer. We started out June by driving over 4,000 miles across country to Colorado. We left Pennyslvania and drove to Illinois where we stayed with my younger sister and her husband overnight. Somehow, I didn’t get any pictures of us all together. Not sure how I did that! I did manage to capture a picture of Culver’s, though. What can I say?

Estes Park, Colorado

After an amazing time there, we traveled the rest of the way to Colorado where we stayed with my parents. We had such an amazing time out there visiting family, relaxing, exploring, and more. We got to go to Estes Park, our favorite place to visit and had breakfast at our favorite restaurant up there, The Egg and I. Acting like tourists, we walked around and looked at all the shops, and the kids bought hats and t-shirts. We bought some taffy, the best snickers caramel apple, and dipped our feet in the freezing mountain creek water.

Family

We got to visit my parent’s church, and we got to spend time with my grandma and my dad’s side of the family while in Colorado. We always have a great time with them. On Saturday morning, we did our annual breakfast. My uncle brings his outdoor griddle and cooks up a feast—pancakes, eggs, bacon, hash browns, and so much more. We have so much fun sitting around the table and talking. It’s always one of the highlights of our trip.

Amazing Food

Matt and I discovered a new restaurant that was amazing! It’s called Oreganos and serves Italian food with a Southwest twist. They had the best gluten free food, which is nearly impossible to find at an Italian place. We had the best gluten free pizza I’ve ever had and an amazing bowl of what they call Alfredo the Dark. It’s Alfredo pasta, but they put a spin on it by mixing in poblanos and a blend of Southwest cheeses and top it with diced tomatoes, cotija cheese, and a jalapeño. It was to die for!

This is actually us at Nordy’s- a bbq place that we all went to as a family

Beauty of Colorado

We had an amazing time. Of course the scenery everywhere in Colorado is simply amazing. No matter where you look, there is something beautiful to see. Add in the low humidity, and it’s pretty much perfect!

Our Time in Kentucky

After our time in Colorado, we began the long trip home. We stopped in Kentucky to see my older sister and her family. We haven’t gotten to see them since before Covid, so we were super happy to see them. Our kids were so excited to see their cousins.

Our kids plus my niece Meya and my nephew Nate

They took us to this place called Rec Bar. It was a restaurant that had three rooms of arcade games. So after you ordered your food, you could go play arcade games. It was perfect for the kids. They had so much fun! I had the best meal there. It was totchos. it’s basically nachos, but they use tater tots for the base. Then they added amazing bbq pork on top and all sorts of other amazing toppings. It was soo good!

We had an amazing two weeks! We’re so thankful for God’s safety and for family.

Other News

In other news, we recently released our newest devotional, You Are Not Alone: Promises from Psalms. I have a book coming out on Tuesday. It’s book one of my next series. Bound by Protection pre-order is available on Amazon.

I also created a summer reading guide if you’re interested and a fantasy/romance reading guide as well.

All in all, I’d say summer is off to a great start! Happy Summer!

Summer Reading Guide, 2022

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It’s summer time, and that means it’s time for some extra reading and the summer reading guide.

Summer Break

I love summer break; it’s a chance for me to take a break from homeschooling. It’s also a time for trips to the beach, sitting by the pool, going on vacation, and just relaxing. If you’re like me, each one of those activities entails reading. Sometimes though, it’s hard to come up with books to read. I like having a list of good books to pull from when I’m ready to read. Book recommendations are so nice to have! So I pulled together twenty books that I’ve read and enjoyed to make a reading guide for this year.

Summer Reading Guide

Some of the books on the reading guide are books I read years ago, and some are books I read just this year. I had a hard time narrowing down the list to twenty books, but I finally did it. I can say that all of these books are worth the read!

All of the books on this guide are non-fiction. If you’re into fiction books, be sure to sign up to be on my email list for A. J. Manney Books. I’m sending out an email to my readers with a fiction reading guide.

Check out my Summer Reading Guide for 2022.

You Are the Girl for the Job by Jess Connelly

Kind is the New Classy by Candice Cameron Bure

Having a Martha Home the Mary Way by Sarah Mae

The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson

When Women Pray by T. D. Jakes

Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

The Super Mom Myth by Becky Kopitzke

Am I Messing Up My Kids? by Lisa TerKuerst

We’ll Laugh About This Someday by Anna Lind Thomas

The Turquoise Table by Kristin Schell

Love Does by Bob Goff

A Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman

Get Out of that Pit by Beth Moore

Money Making Mom by Crystal Paine

Rhythms of Renewal by Rebekah Lyons

Find Your People by Jennie Allen

The Power of a Women’s Words by Sharon Jaynes

Unstuffed: Decluttering Your Home, Mind, and Soul by Ruth Soukup

Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis Majors

Hopefully that gives you some ideas for books to read this summer!

Finding Deals on Books

Some of the cheapest places to find these books that I have found are Christianbook.com and Hobby Lobby. Also, don’t discount your local library. You can request books from other libraries in your district. So even though your library may not carry the book, another library nearby just might. I get so many of the books I read by doing this. If all else fails, Barnes and Noble and Amazon should carry any of the books on this list.

Past Reading Guides

I guess I didn’t make reading guides during Covid, but here’s the list for 2019 and the list for 2018.

If you read any books from this list, let me know what you thought of them!

Happy Reading!

You Are Not Alone, New Devotional

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You Are Not Alone Devotional

Today is the release day for You Are Not Alone: Promises from Psalms, our newest 30-Day Devotional. As we started the new year, Matt and I made a plan for the projects we wanted to roll out this year. On our list were several devotionals, so we got to work on those. We actually didn’t have this one on the schedule for the year. We had a few others planned instead.

As we sat together on our date day one morning and talked about everything going on around us, we decided we needed a devotional that would comfort people’s hearts. So many people are hurting; our world is so charged right now. We wanted something that could minister to people who needed to be reminded that God was for them and they weren’t alone in their struggle.

Enter the You Are Not Alone Devotional. We really enjoyed creating this devotional. It’s our most favorite yet! We love it in that it can encourage anybody! It also makes a great gift to give to people when you don’t know what to say to help them. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to say to someone when they’re in the hospital, or when they’ve lost a loved one or heard bad news from the doctor. This devotional is the perfect thing to fill in the gaps when you don’t know what to say.

About This Devotional

Matt wrote this for the back of the book:

For the one who feels so lonely, abandoned even, God is ever and always near. For the one whose heart breaks and feels hopeless, find hope in God’s presence and promises. God is ever and always by your side. You are not alone.

In this 30-day devotional, you will discover some of the greatest promises in all of the Bible in the collection of songs called Psalms. Learn about the six times in life we can know we are not alone. From the seasons of stess to family struggles, you will learn the promises for times of uncertainty even the promises for facing your final days on this earth.

Live Training

We did a live training recently where we discussed how to use this new devotional. You can watch that training on our YouTube page for Manney Resources here. As a part of that training, Matt created a free guide. You can download that guide here if you are interested. One of the pages Matt created was this page of where to find hope in the book of Psalms. I think it’s a great resource and wanted to share it with you.

Sometimes we want to encourage ourselves or encourage a friend, but we’re not sure which Psalm would be best to do that. This little cheat sheet helps with that.

Understanding the Psalms

The Psalms are such a rich book because they were written as songs. There are many times that just speaking doesn’t articulate what we’re trying to say or think. Yet, a song can do just that. How many times has a song caught your attention and hit home for you? Maybe it made you cry, or maybe it made you smile and remember something special. That’s the power of a song. That’s why when you read the Psalms, they just bring so much comfort and peace to our hearts.

My life verse comes from Psalms.

As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Psalm 18:30 KJV

Something to Look Forward To

We will be doing an online Bible study this summer using this devotional and the accompanying study guide, which will release this summer. We’d love for you to join us! So stay tuned! If you’re not signed up to be on my email list, be sure to sign up here so you don’t miss the announcement or anything else from Faithfully Stepping.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, check out my post 10 Things to Try When Today is Too Hard to Face. A great book to read is A Shepherd’s Look at Psalm 23.

Don’t Live with Regret

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Regret

Regret. It’s a word that packs a powerful punch every time we hear it. None of us want to look back on our lives with regret, yet that’s what many of us will face when we come to the end of our lives simply because we let fear keep us from doing what God put in our hearts to do.

So many of us spend too much of our lives on the sidelines wishing, wanting, and hoping instead of jumping into the ring. We dream about the book we long to write, the product that would help so many people, the blog that could make a difference, the small business we know God wants us to start. But fear keeps us back from going after that dream.

The Power of Regret

Danie Pink, the author of several best-sellers including his most recent book, The Power of Regret, collected 16,000 regrets from people in 105 countries. He says that one of the top regrets people have is inaction—not taking a chance.

He posted this picture on social media.

How many of us are living a life we are going to regret one day simply because we have been too fearful to move forward into what God wants us to do?

Reasons We Hold Back

1. We fear what others will think of us.

So often, we let our fear of what others will think hold us back. In reality, most people are too busy living their own life afraid of what others will think of them to worry about what you’re doing. And here’s the deal. So what? What if they don’t approve? What if somebody doesn’t like what you’re doing? It doesn’t matter. Our judgment comes from God. (Proverbs 29:26) It doesn’t matter what others think of us.

2. We think we won’t succeed.

We have this built-in alarm that blares loudly whenever we attempt to do something that is not a guaranteed success. Most of us can’t even allow ourselves to try something unless we are absolutely sure it will succeed. Here’s the thing; you probably will fail. There you go—your encouragement for today. 😁 The fact of the matter is we all fail. Matt and I started a business in 2011 that completely failed. Was it hard? Yes. Discouraging? Yes. But did we learn so much? Yes. Because of that failure, we knew what to do differently for Manney Resources when we launched that business in 2020. We can’t let the fear of failure keep us from trying.

3. It seems like a waste of time, money, and resources.

This one is a hard one. I know what it’s like not to have even a penny to put behind a business, blog, book, product, etc. There are so many ways to get around this. Figure out a way to start without spending any money or little money. It may mean that you don’t have all the bells and whistles when you first start, but start anyway. Just get the ball moving; the money will come in time. If you are doing what God created you to do and fulfilling the purpose he’s given you, then it’s not a waste of time, money, or resources. It’s just the opposite. It’s investing the resources he gave you. When you do that, he can funnel more towards you.

4. It doesn’t seem possible.

If it feels possible, it probably isn’t from God. The thing is that God gives us more than we can handle mostly so that we have to keep returning to him time and again. If God’s given you a big dream, go after it. He will give you the grace and strength for it. On the other hand, even if your dream doesn’t seem huge, go after it anyway. You have no idea what God could do with it once you get started.

5. We don’t think anybody will stand behind what we’re doing.

This is a lie Satan uses to keep us from doing what God wants us to do. I am always amazed at the cheerleaders God sends along the way. Often, it’s not anybody I ever thought of. Somebody sends an email, shares a post, or buys a product and reaches out to me and lets me know how much they appreciated it. It’s usually someone that totally surprises me. Don’t let the thought that nobody will get behind what you’re doing stop you, because you will be surprised. When you step out and start something, people will cheer you on. Will everybody? No. But those that don’t will fall away, and you will find the ones that do.

Choose to Simply Start

There are so many fears that keep us from wanting to move forward on what God has created us to do. We have to turn our back on those fears and just start. Today. There will never be a perfect time. We have to choose to simply start. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, had something to say about this principle in the book of Ecclesiastes.

Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT

If you wait for everything to be perfect, you will never start. If you wait for the finances to come in, for the support of others, for the perfect product or manuscript, you won’t ever get started. So push all that away and start. Don’t come to the end of your life and look back with regret simply because you were too fearful to do what God put in your heart to do.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check my post Don’t Give Up on the Dream God has Given You. A great book on this topic is Soar by T. D. Jakes.

Perspective Changes Everything

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Our Walk

I learned a thing or two about perspective the other day from my six-year-old. I took a walk a few days ago with my two youngest, Maggie and Macey. We were walking along the sidewalks looking at different houses when Macey stopped suddenly.

“Look at that!” she said loudly. I stopped to see what she was looking at and saw a yard that was in desperate need of a mow. The grass was getting long, and there were ugly white dandelions everywhere. But I stopped to see what she had to say. What she said next surprised me. “That’s not fair! Look at all those wishes they have!” My girls love picking dandelions and blowing them as they make wishes.

She took me by surprise, but I laughed to myself a moment later. Here, we had just walked past this yard that was immaculate. The lawn was neatly trimmed and treated; it looked like you could sleep on it and be totally comfortable. Macey walked right past that lawn and didn’t even notice it or pay any attention to it. Instead, she picked the lawn that looked like a hot mess and liked that one because it had so many dandelions.

Perspective Changes Everything

It’s so funny to me how our minds work, but this is a perfect example of how perspective changes everything. We both looked at the same yard, but our perspectives changed how we viewed the yard. I saw it as a yard full of weeds that needed to be mowed; Macey saw it as a field full of magical wishes.

So often, how we see life and how we react to it is simply a matter of perspective. We see one thing, and somebody else looking at the same thing sees something completely different. That’s one of the reasons we have to be so careful when we’re talking with other people about our opinions, views, preferences, and more.

A New Friend

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about perspective and how it shapes so much of how we act, what we think, and what we say. On Sunday, I talked with a lady I had met for the first time. We were at a baby shower and ended up talking with a group of people for a few hours. She was so easy to talk with and had such a great spirit. She was just one of those people you want to hang around with a little while longer.

Towards the end of our conversation, we got to talking about shingles. I don’t even remember how. Matt told her I had a bad case of shingles after Madison was born. So she asked me about it, and I told her about the pain and how it was hard to do anything for the pain because it was nerve pain. She then proceeded to tell me that she understood all about nerve pain because she has Fibromyalgia.

Chronic Pain

She could have blown me away. I had no idea she dealt with chronic pain; she was so happy and fun and easy to talk to. As soon as she told me that, my respect for her increased even more. When we got home from the shower that night, Malachi told me that he thought she was a really nice person. She even made an impact on my kids.

The fact of the matter is, she has every right to be miserable and cranky. She lives with chronic pain and all the problems that go along with her disease. Yet, she’s chosen to make the most of it. She laughs and carries on and enjoys life; she doesn’t let it get her down.

Some of My Favorite Verses

It makes me think of some of my favorite verses in a very obscure book of the Bible.

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
Habakkuk 3:17,18

It’s Always a Choice

Even though absolutely everything is falling apart around us, we still have a choice. We can choose to rejoice in God. It’s a choice, just like anything else.

If we can choose to rejoice no matter what; our perspective will change. We will begin to look at the circumstances around us through a different lens. That lens will help us to refocus and shift our perspective so that we can begin to see and understand life the way God sees it. We can begin to see a field of weeds in our lives as so much more. We can see the mess in our lives turn into a field of wishes. It’s all in our perspective.

For More Encouragement

One of the books I think of when I think of changing our perspective is Kisses from Katie but Katie Davis Majors. This book will stay with you a long time and change your perspective about life and how good we really have it.