Mirror...Mirror

Out shopping for Easter Sunday gifts and paying attention to God's whispers this week.  See my thoughts posted today on Girlfriendit site here. 

May you see His touch this week girlfriend!

Uncomfortable and ROCKIN IT!

“If you are uncomfortable, it means you are growing.”  I heard these words listening to the latest Girlfriendit Radio podcast.  You can listen here.

Being a visual person, I went straight to a row of pruned shrubs I saw while driving through my neighborhood.  I kind of feel like this pruned shrub, feeling a little bare-like something is missing and a little sensitive too. 

Do you ever feel that way? 

It’s funny that Patty and Lisa also talked about kayaking as I just got done taking the kayaks out under the moon with my husband and middle son.  It was my boys first time being in charge of the paddles and rowing himself across the lake.  He was excited but I could tell he was also a little nervous. 

Can you relate to being a little nervous and excited to try something new? 

Then my boy spoke what I already knew: "I’m excited and I want to do this mom, but I am a little scared."

I couldn’t help but say, “Right on!” 

Hmmm....isn't this how it is with God, He already knows how we feel; but He sure loves to hear us communicate with Him...and doesn't He just rejoice over us with 'RIGHT ONS' when we do?!?

This is what life is about, capitalizing on moments like this and walking through something a little scary with those who love us by our side. 

My boy surely rocked it and we made it across the lake for an ice cream treat and then paddled back home.  We ROCKED IT!

Like my boy, I can relate to venturing out into unchartered waters and being a little scared.   I have a core group of girlfriends that God has brought us together to pray with and encourage one another…and God has now sent us in several different directions. 

We started out with our kids going to the same school and playing on the same sports teams, some of our husbands even played sports together; as well as serving at the same church and being involved in the same Bible Study and working together on various different projects.

Life was and still is good…it is just new and different; and I have to admit I am a little uncomfortable and have been these last two years as I venture out to do new things – still connected with these girls…just different being miles away.

I realize now after processing so many emotions with this change…change is uncomfortable.  But I am growing…hallelujah! 

Are you doing anything new lately?   Are you uncomfortable?

I recently grabbed my pen and journal and processed through some uncomfortable emotions with God and grew.  Have you ever done this?

Wrote in your journal:

Lord I am feeling……(write out your thoughts and feelings—remembering that God does not want us to have the ‘right feelings or thoughts’ He simply wants our hearts.)

(Insert your name)….(hold that pen until you hear God’s specific words to you and write them down)

If you are uncomfortable, remember…you are growing! 

Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:8)

Check out this blog here at Girlfriendit too with a little more talk about walking with Him outside our comfort zones...and get out of your comfort zone and share something new you are doing right now...you can do it!  Go on...ROCK IT!

Seize and Squeeze!

“Seize & Squeeze!”

These words made me smile and stuck to my heart as I heard Lisa mention them on a recent Girlfriendit Radio Show!  You can listen to the podcast here while I take another tissue-ha!  *No I am not crying, seizing or squeezing…I’m sneezing!

It seems I have been grabbing one tissue after another while I sneeze my way through the day during this allergy season.

Do you suffer from allergies? 

How do you cope? 

From over the counter, prescriptions and natural remedies; there are so many choices, aren’t there? 

Patty and Lisa talked so much about choices on a recent show and shared 4 Simple Tips on how to make wise choices. I blogged about it and you can see it here.

I am pondering this idea of choosing.  We really have so many choices in this life and I believe God allows such wide open places for our choosing; yet at the same time there are things He desires for us to stay away from.   I recently chatted with a girlfriend who is weary in her current circumstances…can you relate to feelings of weariness?  I can.  Life is hard.

As I studied earlier…opening up my new study on Ruth by Kelly Minter….so great!!!!

This sentence jumped off the page. 

“What will you choose?  Perhaps the Lord has you in a difficult circumstance and the attractive land of Moab is an alluring decision away.  Escaping to easier terrain is all too tempting when we’re weary in hardship.” (page 14)

Minter led us to read in Judges 2:11-19 and the question arose between her girlfriends and I am so curious what others may think about this too.  

Do you think God still works like this today? 

I so would love to know your thoughts…and what scriptures support those precious thoughts?? 

Will you seize this moment with me and squeeze some fresh moments from the scriptures with me this morning?  I so appreciate your willingness to share and allow us to learn from each other here.   

(Oh, and your tips for coping with allergies - please share those too.)

A Peckin' Down the Princess Path

 As I said YES! to writing last week I prayed and asked God for guidance while on my literal walk and I couldn't pass up this time to share a bit of my journey with you. 

May it inspire you down your own path with Him!

I was just so excited to hear God whisper affirmations of YES!  

For where there is fresh revelation of God - vision...there is life! right?! (Proverbs 29:18)

I want to be careful not to squeeze too much out of His Word - but where the spirit of the Lord is...there is freedom for my heart and I am choosing to allow these truths to fuel me forward.

Really it was like God was replying with crescendos of a LOUD YES! after YES!; and I just cannot hold back sharing the details.

This past week while meeting with a group of FABULOUS Bible studying women we talked about the different ways that God speaks to our hearts.  Conversations like this just jazz-up both my heart and prepare my fingertips for a song of their own as they hit the keyboard of my laptop. 

In past writings I have shared the gift of ladybugs; you can read it here.  And this week I heard how God sent someone a ‘helicopter’ to remind their heart that He is hovering all around. 

How does God speak to you? 

Do you share these experiences with others? 

I hope you do; but I so understand why you may not…I used to feel weird sharing the quiet moments with God I experienced with others…and some times there may be moments that God wants us to keep private just between us…but I also believe He wants to be known and thus we feel nudges to share!  

We are set here on Earth to make Him famous; and after all Deuteronomy 6 talks about how we are to love Him and talk to our children about Him.  And I know I love to hear how my God speaks to the heart of someone else…it helps me not to forget Him who has saved me and made me new! 

I have been wrestling with how to spend my time recently; I am a writer (I say this with a new humble confidence - still discovering what this exactly means at times) and have been working here and there on things. My most important jobs are those which have hats as wife/helper/mother  and they have been the main focus recently as all 4 of the males in my life are entering into new seasons and in need of my time and some nurturing.  

{Insert Vulnerable Admission}:  It is challenging for me to balance it all. 

Sometimes I boldly step forward feeling confident in what I am doing and other times I doubt that I am even on the right track.  After feeling the nudge to take a step back from writing as I wrote about here; I felt another nudge to say yes later and I wrote here…as I literally walked on the path and asked God to speak; I heard the words: ‘Keep sprinkling Julie!’

These are the small white petals I saw sprinkling the path as I heard Him whisper. 

*{Insert deep breath}

Then walking further on the path I continued to pray and give God the desires of my heart…I so don’t want to write just to write or write. We all desire to have our actions matter - right?!  

As I remembered my list of 5 things to currently say yes to (next season the list may change…I am giving myself permission now to say yes to new things then) and God seemed to show me a picture of my heart cry and it was as if He was saying…”I GET IT!”   (Don’t our hearts yearn to hear that someone understands)

 See these two ducks…they are out enjoying the green grass, venturing out a little bit farther from the lake than what I normally see…

In this next picture, you can see that the lake is still in sight...I felt nudged to turn around and see the lake behind me as I walked and I took this picture.   It is right here where God whispered, “Yes, Julie, your source of living water is always in sight.”

Do you hear God speak like this?  Oh, keep asking Him to speak to your heart if you don’t…He desires to energize you and inspire you as you walk with Him – I do believe this is true!  

Walking further on the path that I have walked numerous times this past year was something else fresh and new that spoke to my heart…I was remembering a girlfriend’s comment about my parenting choices recently, which I valued greatly because she is now past parenting her own boys and enjoying grand-parenting.  She told me how important it is for us to do what we love to do and encourage our children to do what they love to do!  

I felt the truth in that and know that God used these words to encourage my heart to keep going.  Then as if to emphasize this point, I heard a woodpecker doing what they love to do—pecking!  Except, it was odd to me that the sound was near the palm trees, not the adjacent pine trees.  I just didn’t expect it, I guess, and sure enough, I saw the woodpecker in this palm tree (but he flew away just before I took this pic). 

I kept walking and then heard from behind the sound of the wood pecker not pecking a tree, but the steel light pole. I literally laughed out loud, as I was so amused hearing the woodpecker doing what it loves to do...what it was made to do...peck!

Yes, you would have thought I was a little cuckoo and I would have had a hard time explaining my laughter while all alone on the path...but I wasn't alone, for God whispered, “I love you.” 

Are you doing what you love doing?  

I am smiling pecking away at this keyboard...thank you Jesus!

Let’s keep peckin’ along our princess path and inspire another along the way.

Inspired and saying YES!

Ah, a sprinkling re-appearance on this Princess Path to write...since my last blogpost here.  It may be for a brief moment –and I will both take it and be obedient in this moment. 

I’m not walking on water with Jesus, but I am walking with Jesus and literally walking a path almost daily, praying and conversing with Him in my heart.  It is a curvy path, full of all kinds of emotions, joys and heartaches.  Like Peter I can feel bold one minute and doubt the next.

As I was in His Word this week I was encouraged to see how quickly Peter went from experiencing a spirit of boldness one moment to a spirit of doubt the next in Matthew 14 when He joined Jesus and walked on water. 

I feel bold...

in a relationship with a friend and able to be vulnerable one minute and

...then doubt the next.

I feel bold...

in my parenting decision one minute and 

...then doubt the next.

I feel bold...

with my writing and 

...then doubt the next.

Oh, how I realize that the Lord makes me bold & stouthearted. (Psalm 138:3)  And I truly have a desire deep within that I believe was born from within from Him (Psalm 37:4) to write and I truly choose to write for the purpose of making my joy complete!  (1 John 1:4)  

So,

when tempted to doubt...

in a relationship, I will remember

...I will feel bold again.

when tempted to doubt...

in my parenting decisions, I will remember

...I will feel bold again.

when tempted to doubt...

in my writing, I will remember

...I will feel bold again.

The list goes on and on and after reading Matthew 14 with fresh eyes and a new perspective this week, I have decided ‘it is what it is’ and today I am saying Yes…because tomorrow I may say no.  

( J )

I also listened to the Girlfriendit Radio show this week titled Love and the Red Carpet and was inspired to say YES-in the least.  Their special guest was author/speaker, BethanyJett who authored the book Cinderella Rule that hits bookstore shelves next month. 

With all the princess talk to start the show, I was hooked instantly – (and I will have to either crash Patty’s next princess party or have my own…so FUN!) 

With two of my boys nearing the teenage years I so enjoyed Bethany’s list of 5 things us parents should say YES to:

1 – Phone

2 -  Facebook

3 – Car

4  - Work/Extra curricular activities

5 – Bank Account

Do you agree?  Click here to download the podcast and hear what they have to say even if you feel like saying no; I think the show is both inspiring and insightful.

I chatted with my husband about the show and even came up with some other lists of ‘What To Say Yes To.”

As I am venturing down this path of parenting a toddler again where NO is the favored word for all of us; I created this list:

5 Things To Say Yes To For Parenting My Toddler

1 – Limits

2 – Time outs (for both me and him)

3 – Exploring outside with daily walks

4 -  Quiet book reading time

5 -  Silly song time

And, with my heart to protect and pray for my marriage, I created this YES list:

5 Things to Say Yes in My Marriage

1 – Weekly Date Times (Day or Night – home or out)

2 – Weekly walks

3 – Communication Night to catch up and talk/pray/coordinate our schedules

4 – Daily prayer time before he leaves for work

5 -  Pray for my hubby daily

And inspired to continue to write for both the encouragement of my heart and others, I created this YES list:

5 Things to Say Yes To in My Writing/Career/Personal

1 – Daily Journal Time

2 – Get away for 2 hours weekly to be still/write

3 – Daily Bible reading/prayer time

4 – Exercise/walks (Yes this time clears my head and inspires me and keeps me physically healthy which also promotes good emotional/spiritual health at the same time.

5 – Jot down thoughts/words that inspire me throughout the week to have ready for God to help me compile into a writing piece to share at the end of the week.

What about you?  

What do you value?  

Are there some things that you feel nudged to say YES to?  

Let's keep going and encourage one another and be inspired.

Check out other blogs posted at Girlfrienidt here.