Books I’m Currently Reading Or TBR

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My Love of Books

As an author myself, books are one of my favorite things in the world. So I love reading and sharing book recommendations.

I woke up this morning dragging. Ever have one of those days? You get up early because you know you have a lot to accomplish, but you just can’t seem to get yourself moving. I felt that way this morning.

After making a cup of coffee, I sat down at the table, lit my candle, and started my morning time routine. As a part of my morning time routine each day, I read a chapter or a few pages of whatever book I am currently reading. Right now, it’s Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen. I read more than I usually do because I am trying to finish the book before March starts. By the time I finished reading, I had a smile on my face and encouragement in my heart. Why? Because reading puts us in somebody else’s shoes for a little bit. We get to sit back and hear somebody else’s story or struggles and witness their victory and then feel encouraged in our own lives without having to do anything.

I am a huge advocate of getting up each morning and spending time reading God’s Word and praying. I write often about developing a morning time routine because I believe it is so important. Right behind that is the importance of reading uplifting Christian books. There have been so many times in my life that God has used a book from a woman I have never met and will probably never meet to encourage my heart and help keep me from giving up.

The Encouragement Books Bring

So many women have encouraged my heart, strengthened my faith, made me laugh, made me cry, caused me to see life differently, challenged me to take the next step, and more. I wrote in my book, The Hidden Pain, that some of the authors I was reading became mentors for me. They were the reason I started blogging and writing my own books.

I believe God can use books in a powerful way in our lives. I believe that because I’ve seen it happen. When Matt and I get discouraged, we will often go to Barnes and Noble and buy a book or two. In fact, we just went there last night for our date night, and we each bought a book. Books have played a huge role in who we are, what we believe about God and life around us, the work we do, and our overall spiritual health and encouragement.

So what are some good books to read? I have a list of some of my favorite books on my site. You can find that list here. Below are seven books I have recently read, am reading, or planning on reading soon.

7 Book Recommendations

Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want

This book is by Maria Goff, wife of popular author Bob Goff. Side note— if you haven’t read any of his books, you should. They are some of my favorite books, especially Love Does. This book tells a little more behind the scenes into their family life. It was an encouraging, uplifting book that reminded me that in the end, it’s family that you come back to time and time again.

2. Have More Fun: How to Be Remarkable, Stop Feeling Stuck, and Start Enjoying Life

Mandy Arioto is the President and CEO of Mops International. I really enjoyed this book. It’s lighthearted and fun, just as you would expect it to be from the cover. It’s a quick read and one that just makes you smile or even laugh out loud, like I did several times.

3. Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts

This book was not what I expected at all, having read some of Jennie’s other books. She did a lot of research for this book, and you can tell. The first few chapters pulled me in quickly. I am really loving this book. So much so, I am considering doing it for a ladies online book study for our church. I feel like the truths she is uncovering are so prevalent for women today. Each woman needs to read this book and learn that we can find victory in our thoughts and don’t have to live a life of spiraling defeat.

4. You Are the Girl for the Job: Daring to Believe the God Who Calls You

This book is such an encouragement for any woman who feels like God is calling her to step out and do something. I loved this book. As a person with an entrepreneurial heart, this book was inspiring and just what I needed.

5. When Women Pray: 10 Women of the Bible Who Changed the World Through Prayer

I just picked this book up last night at Barnes and Noble and can’t wait to start it next week. I love T. D. Jakes. His book, Soar: Build Your Vision from the Ground Up is one of my favorites. When I saw that he just released this book last year and it’s for women, I snatched it off the shelf. I am so excited to read it.

6. No More Holding Back: Emboldening Women to Move Past Barriers, See Their Worth, and Serve God Everywhere

Matt got me this book for Christmas. I’ve heard of Kat Armstrong but haven’t read any of her books yet, so I’m excited to try this one. From the back of the book… Kat debunks five common myths about women and invites us to discover the joy and freedom in being all in for Jesus.

7. All My Friends Have Issues: Building Remarkable Relationships with Imperfect People (Like Me)

Matt also got me this book for Christmas. I haven’t ever read anything by this author before, but I love trying new authors. I also like the topic of this book. As someone who struggles to build good friendships, I know this book will be good for me.

If you feel discouraged right now or just need some new life breathed into you, I encourage you to try one or more of these books.

My Reminder This Week to Hold My Loved Ones Close

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I had a painful reminder this week about holding your loved ones close because you never know how long you will have them. A friend of mine from high school passed away this week after a long fight with heart problems he was born with.

I remember in high school, Gordon always tried to be as involved in sports as he could be, even though he couldn’t do a lot because of his condition. Even with health problems, Gordon had the best zest for life. He always had a big smile and a hearty laugh.
He went on to to get married and have four children. His health started declining, and he ended up being hospitalized several times, almost dying before he was finally able to get a heart transplant. Everybody thought he would finally be okay, but God had a different plan. He fought long and hard, but in the end, God took him home to Heaven.

Why is it that some people just seem to breeze through life, and other people suffer so much? I don’t think I’ll ever know the answer to that question until I get to Heaven. Have you ever noticed that usually, those people who endure so much in this life are the ones with the biggest smile and the biggest heart for people? It’s like God gave them extra grace and extra fullness of life because He knew they wouldn’t have as long on this earth. That’s how Gordon was, and that’s how my friend Rachel, who passed away two years ago, was.

Gaining Perspective

Sometimes it takes losses like these to remember how blessed I truly am. When we lose someone far too soon, it causes each of us to sit back and reflect on life. It gives us perspective. Perspective is an amazing thing. It helps bring clarity into our lives and shows us what’s really important.

Perspective reminds us that this life is temporary. For some, it’s over way too fast. That’s a sobering reality. We can live our lives in fear of the unknown or we can celebrate each and every day as a gift.

That’s what I’m trying to do this week. I can’t take away the heartbreak from this young mama and her precious children, nor for the rest of Gordon’s dear family- his parents, his brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews

Hold Your Loved Ones Close

What I can do is hold my loved ones close today. I can choose to be present with the people I do life with. I can spend each day that I have soaking in life and being so grateful for all that God has given me.

We don’t know how long we have in this life. Each day is a gift. So, choose to celebrate it. Thank God for it. This is my challenge: I want to choose to live every day as if it were my last, to love my family today as if it were the last day I had with them.

A book to read along this same vein is The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard by Kara Tippetts. I’m not going to lie, it’s a hard book to read. But I can’t recommend it enough. Just keep the tissues handy.

Understanding the Process God Takes Us Through

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picture of son and stacks of books- the process of reading — Malachi with just a few of the books he’s read recently.

Teaching Reading

When I first started homeschooling, my oldest was in kindergarten. I thought it would be a breeze. After all, it’s kindergarten. How hard can it be? Well, in two words. Very hard. I didn’t realize how crazy I would become trying to teach him to read. I was so discouraged with it. No matter how many things I tried, he just didn’t get it.

The only thing that kept me from switching curriculums a hundred times was the constant advice I heard from Sarah Mackenzie from Read-Aloud Revival. She kept saying, just let the process work. Give your kids a love for books, and the reading will come in time.

So, I did that. Fast forward a few years. Now Malachi is in fifth grade, and we can hardly keep him stocked with books. Now, I’m working with our third daughter who is learning to read and is still struggling. But I’m not worried, because I know that if I just let the process work, she will be fine. It may not be this year or next year, but at some point, everything will come together for her and she will be able to read fluently.

God’s Process to Develop Us

God is a God of systems and structure and order, so it shouldn’t surprise us that He has a process He takes each of us through. That process is found in Romans 5.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 4:3-5 KJV

The New Living Bible puts it this way…

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. Then, when that happens, we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that all is well, for we know how dearly God loves us, and we feel this warm love everywhere within us because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Romans 5:3-5 TLB

Let’s look at the process in greater detail.

1. Tribulation

First, the problem or trial comes. It may be the loss of a job, a sickness, the loss of a loved one, financial stress, the betrayal of a friend. We all have problems and trials come into our lives. It shouldn’t surprise us. This is the first step of God’s plan to get us to a point where we are completely confident in Him. Certainly, enduring hardships helps us to develop patience.

2. Patience

Without the trial, we wouldn’t mature and grow; we wouldn’t develop the patience required to get to the next step. Learning to endure the trial, to not give up and quit, to not lose faith in the midst of life’s hardest moments develops grit in us and gives us experience.

3. Experience

Learning to endure helps us to grow in our experience. It’s been often said, “A faith not tested is a faith not trusted.” All of us want to be mature, experienced Christians. We want to help others endure their trials and give others encouragement, yet most of us don’t want to have to go through the process of gaining that experience. However, gaining that experience is what gives us hope.

4. Hope

Gaining hope means we’ve been tested, we developed patience and stuck it out, gained experience along the way, and that fills us with the hope that we can do that with the next trial God sends our way. Moreover, we can also be a light of hope to others still in this process. This hope that we have deep inside of us helps us to not be ashamed.

5. Not Ashamed

Once we’ve made it through this process, we can hold our head high in confidence in God’s absolute goodness and working in our lives. We revel in His love for us, that He has worked on our behalf. We begin to understand just how much He loves us. That confidence we take with us into the next problem or trial God sends into our life, and subsequently, the process starts all over once again.

Where are You at in the Process?

We have the “cheat sheet” to understanding how God works in our lives. Instead of just being in the dark, confused, and hurt by God’s allowing something to happen in our lives, we can see exactly where we are at in the process and see what it is God is trying to work in us right now.

Where are you at in the process right now? Has a huge problem come crashing into your life? Did something happen that you just didn’t see coming? Or are you just trying to endure right now? Are you in the developing patience part of the process? Have you entered the experience stage? Are you learning what God wants you to learn and growing in your faith? Have you reached the stage where hope begins to finally bloom? Do you finally see God at work and feel His love? Have you just come out of a trial and better understand God’s goodness and love towards you?

Wherever you are at in the process, take hope in the fact that it’s all part of God’s plan. Know there is an end in sight. Above all, don’t give up. Stick with the process. As a result, you will gain patience, experience, and hope. Subsequently, that hope will make you step confidently into what God has for you because you better understand His incredible love for you.

Lastly, for more encouragement on this topic, read Developing a Faith That’s Strong Enough to Stand On.

3 Lies I Buy Into that Show What I Believe About God

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girl looking at sunset — photo credit: Anatol Lem

Lies that We Believe about Ourselves

I’m reading Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen right now in my morning time and loving it. In her book, Jennie writes that her friend, a licensed therapist, told her that every lie we tell ourselves is rooted in one of these three lies.

I’m helpless.

I’m worthless.

I’m unlovable.

Jennie goes on to say, “Every lie we buy into about ourselves is rooted in what we believe about God.” That caught my attention. I went back and read it again. Those three lies are at the heart of every lie I believe about myself, and every time I give into believing one of those lies, I’m showing what I truly think and believe about God.

Let’s look at these lies in more detail.

Lie #1: I’m helpless.

This may not feel like something we tell ourselves very often. But before we check this off our list and move on, let’s expand on the thought. These may hit a little closer to home.

I can’t change.

I am dependent on _________________.

I’m tapped out.

I’m unable to…

I can’t do this anymore.

I am weak.

I’m ready to give up.

Do those hit a little closer to home? I know they do for me. In fact, those have been some of the thoughts I’ve had the last few weeks. January and February are notoriously months that I struggle with feeling depressed and discouraged. A lot of people do; it’s called seasonal affective disorder. In short, it’s winter depression. I find myself ready to give up every January and February. I feel like everything I am doing is a waste of time. Nobody cares. I usually want to just crawl back into bed, throw the covers over my head and binge read. Some people binge on Netflix; I binge on books.

So how do we refute the thought and lie that I’m helpless, ready to give up, tapped out, weak, unable to change?

We have to choose to believe what God says.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:13 KJV

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit.We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.
II Corinthians 4:8,9 TLB

We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.
II Corinthians 10:5 MSG

We have to come back to God. It’s God who will give me the strength to be who and what I need to be. We may fall, but God helps us to stand back up and keep going. Matt and I say this to each other, “We may be knocked down, but we’re not out.” We have to tear down the thoughts that say I’m helpless and not give them power.

Lie #2: I’m Worthless

Why do women struggle so much with feeling worthless? We work hard at our jobs, care for our families, run our homes, constantly help others, yet we feel like none of this is enough. We feel we have no worth in who we are.

Yet, God has the exact opposite to say about us.

For you know that you were not redeemed from your vain way of life inherited from your fathers with perishable things, like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
I Peter 1:18,19 MEV

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows.
Luke 12:6, 7 MEV

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it.
Psalm 139:13, 14 TLB

Do those verses sound like we have no value? Just the opposite, actually. God saw enough value in you that He gave his Son to redeem you. He created every part of you and knows you better than you know yourself. He knows how many hairs are on your head. That sounds like you are incredibly valuable to Him.

Lie # 3: I’m unlovable

If you didn’t relate to the first two lies, you can probably related to this one. Most women, including myself, struggle with feeling lovable. We are so incredibly hard on ourselves. Then because we’re hard on ourselves, we in turn are hard on those closest to us which makes us feel badly about ourselves… and that circles back to making us feel unlovable. It’s a vicious circle.

This is something I constantly struggle with. I am so hard on myself, never feeling like I’m doing enough, trying hard enough. Then I turn that attitude on my kids and push them to do more, work harder, do better. Then when I lie in bed in the dark of night, I feel guilty because I was too hard on my kids once again. That in turn makes me feel unlovable…and the cycle continues.

What does God have to say about it?

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
Romans 8:38,39 MSG

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.
Ephesians 3:18,19 NLT

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are.
I John 3:1 MSG

You may have to take a moment to go back and read those verses to truly let them sink in. This lie, I am unloveable, is rooted in what I believe about God. If I believe this lie, I believe that God doesn’t really love me. And that, my friend is the furthest thing from the truth. That is a straight-up lie from the enemy. He wants you to feel that way, but that is so not true. The truth is that God loves you absolutely and completely and far more than your human mind could comprehend.

There is nothing in this world that can separate you from his love. It’s too vast for us to even begin to understand. We are his children. If you have kids, take a moment to think about how much you love them. You would do anything to protect your children, to make sure they know they’re loved, that they’re valuable, that they matter. Why would it be any different with God? Only, his love is so much greater than our human love.

The Truth

We, as Christian women as a whole, have believed these lies for far too long. It’s time to start believing the truth. Here’s the truth.

You are strong because you are a child of God.

You have incredible value and worth.

God loves you so much.

Write those truths down someplace where you can see them every day because it’s not enough to hear them one time. We need to hear these truths every day. Then, when we’ve begun to internalize these truths, we need to speak them into the lives of the women around us—our sisters, our daughters, our friends, our co-workers. Then, just for the fun of it, speak them to the men in your life too. They need to hear them as well.

How much could our lives change for the better if we stopped believing these lies about ourselves and started believing the truth instead? If we truly started believing that we are powerful through Christ, that we have incredible worth, and that we are so loved by God, we could begin to change our corner of the world. After all, we don’t have to change the entire world, just our corner of it.

Erasing God from My Story

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Our Harrowing Experience Last Night

Have you ever had an experience where you just knew God had his hand on you and protected you? That happened to our family last night.

Last night, we were driving home from our date night. Matt’s parents watch the kids on Thursday nights, so Matt and I can go on a date. We picked the kids up and began driving home. Matt was driving, going about 70 mph on the highway. I was looking at my phone, telling Matt about a text I had just received when he suddenly jerked the car hard to the left, swerving into the other lane. My head jerked, and I caught the flash of a car that had already passed us.

It happened so fast, I barely saw the car. I watched as it flew down the highway and weaved in and out of traffic. We drive on this particular highway quite often, and there are always people driving too fast. But this one takes the cake. I have no idea how fast the car was going, but it was fast!

My heart racing, I glanced over at Matt. “Good reflexes. You okay?”

“Yeah, I saw him in the rear view mirror,” Matt said.

The kids were all quiet for a moment; then Maggie asked, “What happened?”

“Somebody was driving way too fast,” I said.

It took several moments for my heart rate to slow down. That had been too close. I have no idea what that driver was thinking. We were just driving in our lane. If Matt hadn’t moved when he did… it wouldn’t have been good. I spent a moment in quiet, thanking God for His protection of our family.

Seeing God’s Hand of Protection

There are times like that when you can easily look back and know with all certainty that God was protecting you and working in your life. I wonder how many times, though, God is working in and through our lives, and we have no idea. We just don’t see it because it’s not as obvious.

We’ve been so conditioned to just write God out of the story of our lives. We don’t even realize that we are erasing God from our lives.

Studying the Book of Jonah

I’m reading the book of Jonah right now in my morning time, and we’re also doing Jonah in our small group study on Tuesday nights. On Tuesday, we were talking about all the times God showed up directly in Jonah’s life. Matt asked the question, “What would happen if we just erased God from Jonah’s story?”

It really made me think. Honestly, it wouldn’t be that hard to do. Let’s look at the story of Jonah and God’s involvement in his life.

Seeing God’s Hand in Jonah’s Life

There are nine times we see God work directly in Jonah’s life. The book of Jonah is only four chapters long. It’s short, yet we see God acting over and over again in this small book.

Look at the nine times God directly does something.

God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh 1:2
God sent a storm 1:4
God prepares a fish to swallow Jonah 1:17
God tells the fish to spit Jonah out 2:10
God tells Jonah a second time to go to Nineveh 3:2
God grows a small tree to give Jonah shade 4:6
God creates a worm that destroys the tree 4:7
God causes a hot wind 4:8
God rebukes Jonah 4:9

Erasing God from Jonah’s Story

What would it look like if we totally erased God from the story of Jonah? We would have a very different story to tell. Yet, we could easily do it. Jonah could just have as easily done that. Here’s how Jonah could have seen it.

Jonah gets a feeling he should go to Nineveh.
A storm comes up while he’s out at sea
He gets thrown in the water, but a fish happened to be swimming nearby and swallows him
A few days later, the fish spits him out
He decides maybe he should go to Nineveh after all
He finds a small tree to give him shade
A worm comes and destroys his tree
A hot wind develops
He feels badly about how he acted

Erasing God in Our Own Lives

Do you see how easy it was to replace God in Jonah’s story? It’s pretty easy to take each of the times God directly acted in Jonah’s life and replace it with just life or circumstances.

It makes me wonder, how many times have I removed God from my story? How many times have I “rewritten” my story, erasing God from the picture. Things happen, and I just chalk it up to “life happening.”

Looking For God’s Hand

Jonah’s story encourages me because it makes me believe that God is more actively involved in my life than I give Him credit for. I believe if we really understood God, we would see His hand a whole lot more in our lives.

Let’s choose to actively seek God in the mundane of our ordinary day. I believe if we start searching for His involvement, we will end up seeing it so much more.

Then when you do see Him at work in your life, write it down so you don’t forget. I think we will begin to understand that God is alive and at work more in our lives than we ever realized.

For More Encouragement

For more encouragement on this topic, read When You Can’t See God Working in Your Life. If life looks different than you thought it would, and you’re having a hard time seeing God working in your own life, two books to encourage you would be It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered by Lysa TerKeurst or my book, The Hidden Pain: When You Fear God is No Longer Blessing Your Life.

A Virtual Hug from Me to You

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A Virtual Hug

I can’t believe we’re already halfway through January. While some people are off to an amazing start and crushing it with accomplishing their goals, others are struggling big time. I’ve had conversations with three different women over the course of the last week all of whom are struggling. They feel like life is crushing them. Each of them is in different circumstances, and each of their stories is different. Yet, I found myself saying the same thing to each of them—There is nothing wrong with you.

I don’t know if you’re struggling right now. I have no idea what you’re going through, but I know we can all find encouragement in being reminded that we are valued. If I could, I would give you a hug. But since I’m not near you and the whole hugging thing is kind of nixed right now because of Covid, I want to give you a virtual hug.

So consider this a hug from me as I remind you of a few simple truths today.

1. Your value is not in what you can do, it’s in who you are.

Too many of us focus on what we do. We feel we are only valuable when we put something out into the world or accomplish something great. Yet, that’s not true at all. If you never accomplished anything else for the rest of your life, you would still be of value simply because you are you.

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Matthew 10:29-31

2. You can not do anything to make God love you any more; neither can you do anything to make Him love you any less.

Sometimes we forget that Jesus’ love for us has no boundaries or conditions. We get so hard on ourselves. I feel like that’s our specialty as women—being hard on ourselves. We need to let go of the expectations we have for ourselves and simply rest in the knowledge that God loves us just as we are, and that’s enough.

Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Ephesians 5:2 MSG

3. There is nothing wrong with you.

You were lovingly crafted by a perfect Creator. To criticize yourself is to criticize the Creator. He made you exactly as He wanted you to be. So take comfort and joy in that. Be who God made you to be without apologizing for it.

That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
Galatians 5:26 MSG

Wherever you are today, I wish I could reach out and hug you and share these truths personally. Instead, let this be your virtual hug as I remind you that you are valuable, God loves you just as you are, and there is nothing wrong with you.

For more encouragement, read Encouragement for the Weary Soul.

A great book to make you laugh is Have More Fun: How to be Remarkable, Stop Feeling Stuck, and Start Enjoying Life by Mandy Arioto.

Finding Free- Coming Soon!

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Finding Free

I am so excited about my new book coming out in just a few weeks—Finding Free: 5 Simple Steps to a More Peaceful, Content, and Happy You. To give you an idea of what the book is about, continue reading below. This is the introduction to my book.

Introduction

If you had told me years ago that I would write a book on finding free, I would have laughed. I was the least free person I knew! My life felt out of control; I lived a frustrated life, one in which I was just existing. I didn’t wake up each day excited about the possibilities life had to offer. I didn’t know who I was or what God wanted me to do with my life. I was merely being carried along by other people’s desires and plans for my life.

The process of getting to where I am today was not by my own planning or choosing. Actually, it was quite the opposite. God turned my life completely upside down and changed everything for me. I didn’t realize it at the time because so many changes were coming at me hard and fast. But I realize now, looking back, that God was turning my life right side up. He was changing everything around me and subsequently changing me as well.

I talk to so many women who are lost, confused, frustrated, lonely, fearful, and feel like they have lost sight of who they are. That was me. If you feel like there must be a better way to live, that God has something more for you, then this book is for you.

What Finding Free Isn’t

Before I explain what finding free is, I want to start by telling you what it isn’t. Finding free is not a problem-free life. If you picked this book up with that in mind, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Jesus himself told us that this life is not going to be easy. He tells us in John 18:33 that in this world, we will experience tribulation. We could just stop there. Life is hard—end of story. Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t stop there with those hopeless words! He continues with five hope-filled words: “I have overcome the world.” He didn’t leave us to try to figure things out on our own. He promised he would never leave us nor forsake us in this world full of hardships (Hebrews 13:5).

Our life is not going to be problem-free just because we find free. My life is probably more problem-filled than it’s ever been, but here’s the key: I have incredible peace and am so content with where God has me despite the messy life around me.

So many women I talk to are not happy, not content. They are stuck in jobs they can’t stand or are at home living lives that are empty and unfulfilling. We want more, want to experience more; we crave finding what will truly make us happy and content. Yet, we are utterly clueless about how to find it or even know what it is we’re searching for.

Finding More

I felt so trapped in the life I was living for so long. I spent so many years spinning in circles, trying to find what I was missing and what I was supposed to do with my life, trying to figure out why things weren’t working out and why I wasn’t fulfilled. I knew God had more for my life, but I didn’t know how to find it.

God created us to experience an abundant life, not a mediocre, okay life. He said in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” That doesn’t sound like a boring life. It doesn’t sound stressful or empty. It sounds like what finding free looks like.

What Finding Free Is

Finding free is about discovering who God created you to be and being completely okay with that. It’s about finding what God has created you to do and chasing after it with your whole heart. It’s about learning to turn a deaf ear to critics and people who don’t want you to succeed. It’s about learning to abandon people-pleasing, about realizing that you will never please everybody.

It’s about learning to step into the life God wants you to live. It’s about leaving behind busy and pursuing peace. It’s about pushing perfectionism out of your life and accepting the messiness of your life. It’s doing more of what fills you up and less of what drains you. It’s about creating a life you love. It’s about letting go of the secret rules you have that are holding you back. It’s about finding momentum and moving forward. It’s about letting go of shame and comparison. It’s about finding total freedom. It’s about finding the love you’ve always wanted but don’t know how to have. Finding free is about all of this and more.

I have broken down finding free into five simple steps. We’ll spend several chapters on each step so we can really delve into them:

Understand Your Personality
Discover Your Purpose
Create a Life You Love
Allow God to Redirect You
Release the Shame

Finding Free is a Journey

I’m going to warn you: finding free is a journey. You aren’t going to find it in a day, and you won’t find it a week from now. It’s going to take time. It took me years to get to where I am today. But don’t let that discourage you. There’s a secret that every traveler knows, and it’s this: there’s joy found in the journey, not just the destination.

Throughout this book, I’ll share parts of my story of finding free to help you get your journey of finding free started. After that, it will be up to you to continue your own journey. The key is not quitting until you have found your freedom. As Tony Robbins says, “The only impossible journey is the one you never take.”1

Don’t get discouraged and quit halfway through this book or halfway through your own journey. You won’t ever find free.

It may feel at times that you’re better off just staying where you are in life. There may come a time when it feels like it’s too hard to create your own version of free. Don’t believe the lie! It will be work, and it will be difficult. There will be decisions you have to make, people you have to leave behind, and things you must release from your life. However, if you stick with it, I promise you will come out on the other side living your own version of free, and you’ll be so grateful you didn’t throw in the towel.

Why I Wrote this Book

The life I am living now can simply be summed up as finding free. I spent my entire life trying to live a certain way, be a certain kind of person, and letting others dictate my life for me. Now I am content in who I am and what God has me doing.

It’s taken a lot of years, a lot of purposeful decisions. Our family has made a lot of changes over the years. We’ve made sacrifices to live the life we are living now. But I can say without a doubt that we are peaceful, content, and happy with the life we have created.

I decided to write this book for this very reason. So many people I talk to are not free. They aren’t living a life they love. More than that, they are miserable. They don’t know who they are or what they’re supposed to do in life. They feel empty, like they are missing something. They feel like they are a mistake or not good enough.

This book is for them. If you feel any of those things, this book is for you. I want you to find your own version of free. I don’t want you to struggle like I did for so many years. I want you to learn from my mistakes so you don’t have to make them yourself.

Using This Book

If you want to find freedom, then use this book as a manual. Keep a pen and a highlighter handy. Underline things, cross out what doesn’t work for you, highlight what helps you. Mark this book up. Digest it; let it change you. The best books I’ve read are marked up because I don’t want to forget what I learned from somebody else. I want to learn from their failures so I don’t have to experience them myself. I want to learn from their successes so I can experience those successes myself.

When you’ve finished this book, pass it on to somebody else. We all need to find free in our lives. Are you ready to get started? Are you ready to begin your journey of finding free? Grab a pen and get ready. Finding free begins now.

*Be sure to follow Faithfully Stepping on both Facebook and Instagram for a release date. While you’re waiting for Finding Free to release, check out my other book, The Hidden Pain: When You Fear God is No Longer Blessing Your Life. You can read about that book in The Hidden Pain: A Peek into the Book I’m Writing.

Discouraged? 12 Ideas to Try

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A Bad Start to A New Year

It’s been a week! We started out the new year ready to let go of 2020 and all the negativity that came with it. Yet, here we are, just days into the new year and it’s a mess again. As a result, you are probably feeling as hopeless and discouraged as I am.

Our Reminder

However, I listened to a message by Rick Warren that reminded that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. Jesus told us repeatedly that He was not of this world and that his kingdom was not of this world. When it was time to go to the cross, Jesus rebuked Peter when he tried to fight off the guards who were preparing to take Jesus away. He looked at Peter and said, “If I wanted to fight, I could call legions of angels at this very moment.” But that was not God’s plan.

God’s plan has never been to make this earth perfect. He told us in John 16:32, that in this world we will have tribulation. That’s because this world is full of sinful people. We live in a broken, sinful world. We can focus on that and be discouraged, or we can focus on the fact that this isn’t our home.

Jesus reminds us in the book of John that He was not of this world, just as we are not of this world.

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:14 KJV

They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
John 17:14 MSG

This World Doesn’t Define Me

When we get discouraged and disillusioned by all that’s going on around us, we need to remind ourselves with this truth— this world doesn’t define us. This world of sin, brokenness, and hatred does not define us.

We need to take our eyes off of our circumstances and everything going on around us and look up. Remember where our kingdom is. We are part of a heavenly kingdom, a place where there is no sin.

So, what do we do in the meantime until we get to that heavenly kingdom? Because right now we’re stuck in a world of hatred and hurt. Here are twelve ideas to try when you are discouraged to get your mind off of things around you.

Twelve Ways to Be Filled Up

Find encouragement and strength by starting your mornings with God. Start a morning time routine.
Read inspirational and encouraging books that help you focus on the good in life and not all that’s taking place around us. Check out Manney Resources for books to encourage your heart.
Listen to uplifting, God-centered music. Try these 3 Songs to Encourage Your Heart.
Spend time with friends or family. Sometimes just being around people that love you and that aren’t going to drag you down can really help at times like these.
Don’t look at social media or watch the news. Take a break from all the negativity.
Plan a fun night with your family— a movie night, a game night… something to get your mind off all the negativity around you.
Take a nap. Getting extra rest can be really helpful to take away the feeling of helplessness or depressing thoughts.
Buy one thing that brings you joy. Buy some fresh flowers for your table, a candle that you love, a puzzle to work on, some new nail polish, a new pair of earrings, a new book… something that brings you joy.
Bake some cookies to take to your neighbors or take a meal to someone who is having a hard time.
Drive somewhere new and explore the area. Find a new restaurant or coffee shop to try.
Get a craft kit and create something or try your hand at something new like sewing, knitting, painting, etc.
Pick one drawer, closet, or space in your home that you want to organize and feel good about it when it’s done.

Remember…

These are just some simple ideas to help get our focus off of everything around us. The most important thing to remember is that we are not defined by this world, just as Jesus wasn’t defined by this world. Let that thought encourage you today.

A New Year! 3 Steps to Take to Have Your Best Year Yet!

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365 New Mornings

It’s a beautiful new year. There’s something about the beauty of a new year. It’s empty and full of so many possibilities. Because my passion is mornings, I see 365 mornings stretched out before me. I see 365 new mornings and new mercies.

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22,23 KJV

God’s compassion starts fresh every morning. He gives us a fresh supply of mercy and compassion each morning. That’s the most encouraging thought as we face a brand new year.

Facing this New Year with Confidence

While everybody around us may face this new year with fear, trepidation, and uncertainty, we can step into this year with confidence in a God who has not forsaken us, in a God who gives us a clean slate every day.

Just as we can be sure that the sun will rise every day this year, we can be equally sure that God will walk alongside us every day in this new year.

If you want this year to be better than any other year so far, I believe it begins with three simple steps. If you want to have the best year yet, start with these three steps.

1. Write Down Your Goals and Dreams for this Year

You May Say I'm a Dreamer Journal — My Dream Journal

If you want to accomplish something great, it starts with writing it down. Take the time in these first few days of the new year to write down all the dreams you have for this year and what you want to accomplish.

open journal with the words 2021 goals and dreams written — Inside my Dream Journal before I wrote down my goals for the year

If you don’t write it down, you probably won’t accomplish it. Every year, I take the time to write down what I want to accomplish. Those goals range from books I want to write, projects I want to complete, vacations I want to take, places I want to visit, things I want to do, goals personally, and more.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
Tony Robbins

“People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.”
Brian Tracy

2. Get Up Early

If you want to accomplish great things for God this year, it starts with getting up earlier. When Matt and got really serious about our mornings and got up earlier than we ever had before and started doing it on a consistent basis, our creativity and productivity grew in leaps and bounds.

If you want to find extra time in your day to begin to accomplish your dreams, I believe it can be found in getting up earlier and starting your day with God, then moving on to what He has for you for the day. There’s so many wasted hours waiting to be claimed in the early morning hours.

“The difference between rising at five and seven o’clock in the morning, for 40 years, supposed a man to go to bed at the same hour at night, is nearly equivalent to the addition of ten years to a man’s life.”
Philip Doddridge

3. Develop a Morning Time Routine

After you set goals and determine to get up earlier, the third step is to develop a consistent morning time routine. This is the routine you do every morning that sets you up for success for the rest of your day. My morning time routine starts with making a cup of coffee and lighting a candle. Then I begin my time with God. Reading my Bible, journaling, and doing my prayer time. For more details about my morning time routine, read Creating a Morning Time Routine You Love.

Matt and I have created a system we call 30 to THRIVE. It consists of reading your Bible or doing a devotional for 10 minutes, journaling for ten minutes, and reading a book for ten minutes. You can find out more at Manney Resources where you can download a free Morning Time Guide to help you get started on your journey,

Matt and I believe that if you can change your morning, you can grow your faith and change your life, and you do that best by developing a morning time routine.

2021

2021 can be your best year yet! Start with writing down your goals for the year, then figure out how to get up earlier consistently. Lastly, implement a morning time routine and see if that doesn’t make this year your best one yet!

The Backwardness of the Manger and Bethlehem

Why Bethlehem?

The little town of Bethlehem must have been buzzing the day Joseph and Mary finally arrived. Out of town guests were looking for lodging. Roman officials were dealing with the local Jewish tax collectors. The tax collectors were scheming and plotting. Pickpockets were eyeing up unsuspecting targets. Airbnb was trying to keep up with the onslaught of business. What was it about Bethlehem that made it the locale for the census to be taken?

Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown of ancestry as a descendant of Kind David, the most famous biblical character known for coming from Bethlehem. It was a perfect rest stop for travelers going north or south.

The census ordered by Caesar was not a pleasant event. Some historians believe Caesar called for multiple censuses throughout the years to be sure the Jews were being counted and most importantly, taxed. It’s amazing how God orchestrated a political event with a prophetic event to bring about His will.

Why the Manger?

Why does the word manger come up so many times in the Nativity story? Luke mentions it several times. He tells us Mary wrapped baby Jesus in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room in the inn. (Luke 2:7) The angels tell the shepherds they would know Jesus was the baby they were looking for because they would find him wrapped in swaddling clothes, evidently something you didn’t normally wrap a baby in, and laying in a manger—again something that was not necessarily a custom of their day. The shepherds leave the fields and go looking for Jesus. They find him just as the angel said, lying in a manger. Luke records for us in Luke 1:32 that Jesus was destined to sit on the throne of his father David. Yet we find him lying in a feed trough for animals.

The feed trough or manger we picture today in our Nativity scenes looks nothing like what Mary used to lay Jesus in. The wooden cross-piece of furniture set center stage in a creche is a far cry from the stone piece used in the first-century. Mangers were often crafted with a combination of clay mixed with straw and formed into a trough to place feed or hay in for the animals to eat from. Other times they were chiseled into natural rock outcroppings.

Why didn’t Mary just hold Jesus? Where was Joseph? Mary and Joseph were simply human. They were exhausted and needed to sleep; just as baby Jesus needed to sleep. They needed a safe place for Jesus to lay while they slept. The manger was what was available, so that’s what they chose to use.

For Such a Time as This

Sometimes we try to sanitize Bible stories. Think about the turmoil of Bethlehem politically, socially, religiously, and economically. The Jews already hated the Romans because of their overbearing taxation. The presence of the Romans was undeniable. The people couldn’t get away from the heel of the Romans pushing down upon their necks. Yet, God chose such a time as this for Jesus to be born.

Imagine the cries of a baby Jesus filling the stable. Imagine the tired eyes of a weary, post-labor and delivery Mary. Think of the worry of a humble and hardworking Joseph looking to protect and provide for his newborn and young wife.

These are the moments to watch God work. God doesn’t come with a grand ad campaign, billboards, and thirty-second commercials on television. God didn’t crowdsource His cause with masses wearing wristbands and t-shirts with a two-toned silhouette of a baby with the words “FOR the MANGER” screen-printed across the front.

God’s Subtle Work

Jesus slipped in unannounced. He settled into a shelter used for beasts of burden. He came in the form of an unassuming six-pound baby. And when God felt the need to let people know about it, He tapped the least credentialed social group in town to come to the party—the shepherds. Everything was backward about Bethlehem and the manger, but that is exactly what arrests our attention.

God’s way and plan is always the best plan. He works even through our difficult circumstances to get us where we need to be at just the right place and just the right time.

Recapture Christmas

This post was taken from Recapture Christmas: Unwrap the Mystery and Wonder of the Manger, a 30-Day Devotional Study. Each day contains a reading similar to the one above and Scripture reading and questions to answer for application. If you liked this post, then you will love the devotional.

If you still need Christmas presents, check out this devotional or A Few of My Favorite Things.