Whoever we are with today, may we make it a point to be quick to listen and slow to speak. May we choose to...
pause. breathe. pray.
And listen to their heart to gain understanding before responding.
With love and hope,
Shawn
God Loves You As You Are, Not for What You Accomplish
Do any of you struggle with feeling unproductive and unaccomplished at the end of the day?
Me too.
I know I am adjusting to a new schedule this week yet I have been beating myself up about my lack of productivity.
I have been praying about it and this morning after every task I finished I felt like God say to my heart, “see you accomplished that.”
By the time it was 8:30 am I realized I had accomplished a lot of mundane things, like making the bed, brushing my teeth, making meals, tidying up, driving my people places, etc.
I share this with you today in case you have lost sight, like I did, of how many little things we do accomplish in our day. They may not be big, fancy, social media worthy things, but they matter and make our world, and our family’s world better.
So if you have been hard on yourself like I have been, I invite you to join me to...
pause. breathe. pray.
May we gain perspective on how the little things do matter. May our worth not lie in the big things we expect of ourselves, or in what others expect of us, but in the truth that God loves us as we are, not for what we accomplish.
With love and hope,
Shawn
We love because he first loved us.
- 1 John 4:19
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
“May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.” - Irish blessing
With love and hope,
Shawn and Georgia
For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. - Isaiah 41:13
Sifting through Emotions to Gain Perspective
Today is the first day back to school for this guy in a year.
Lots of emotions.
Matt is full of joy and excitement while mine are more bittersweet, knowing this is great for him yet sad because I’ll miss having this fun guy around.
On the outside he sees my smile, joy and excitement for him, while on the inside the reality is I am sifting through my emotions.
I share this with you today in case you too are sifting through emotions in some way. I invite you to join me to...
Pause. Breathe. Pray.
May we give ourselves permission to feel the emotions. May we also turn to God and allow His truth to lead us as we sift. When we are able to let God’s truth lead us it can help us not get stuck under the weight of our emotions. My prayer is that with God we will gain the perspective we need for whatever it is we are working through - which for me will require me to not impose my feelings onto my child and instead greet him with a joyful heart ready to hear about his experience today.
With love and hope,
Shawn
Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God, and my hope is in you all day long. - Psalm 25:5
Grateful Moments
I am grateful for the moments that slow me down, inside and out
With gratitude,
Shawn
“Give thanks to God for He is good.” - Psalm 136:1
I Failed but am Not A Failure
This week Matt came over to me with his head low and said “Mom, I feel like a failure.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
Matt replied, “Because I haven’t done as much of my work as I should have done by now.”
I quickly thought about my day and how I had been struggling with some of my work stuff too. I looked at him and said, “Me neither. I guess I am a failure too.”
He looked up surprised by my reply. Then I grabbed his hands in mine and raised our arms together towards the ceiling screaming, “failures unite!” and we both started laughing.
I share this with you because my guess is in some way, shape, or form each of us feels like we have failed this week.
If so, I invite you to join me to...
pause. breathe. pray.
Matt and I want you to know, you aren’t alone. You are welcome to unite with us as well! Yet to dwell in the mindset that we are failures in not healthy nor beneficial. Yes, we may have failed but that doesn’t make us failures. May we not allow our shortcomings, or struggles, to define us. Instead may we meet ourselves with the love and grace God meets us with, and allow His truth and who He says we are to define us.
With love and hope,
Shawn
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. - Deuteronomy 7:6
Be Patient with God's Timing
I am so thankful for the taste of spring today. How I wish it would stay.
Practicing patience and remembering God’s timing is always perfect.
With love and hope,
Shawn
For everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven. - Ecclesiastes 3:1
Walk Humbly with God
On our walk yesterday, while the rest of us avoided the ice, Matt walked on it the whole way. At one point I told him he could go faster if he walked in the grass. He said he enjoyed the challenge of the ice and was completely content with his slower pace.
I share this with you today because so many of us unknowingly opt to walk on the grass throughout our week. We take the easier, fast track.
Yet what if we instead, like Matt, chose a more challenging path? One that would help us slow down and walk with purpose?
This is what walking with God is like.
I invite you to join me to...
pause. breathe. pray.
This week may we choose to walk with God. It may not be the easy, fast track, yet walking with God will help us to slow down a bit and give greater clarity and purpose to our steps.
With love and hope,
Shawn
“Walk humbly with God.”
- Micah 6:8
His Vantage Point
Our family loves hiking to Heublein throughout the year. It’s a quick, local hike with a beautiful view at the top that looks down at the valley below.
I was passing it the other day and paused to get this picture. I was reminded, as I looked at the tower, how when we go up there everything below looks so small below.
I share this with you today because often the struggles in front of us feel so big, and some of them are. Yet when we look to God and invite Him in, He can help us step back and widen the lens, like what happens for me at the top of the mountain. When we are able to do this, sometimes what we thought were big problems are brought down to size. Other times, the big problems don’t shrink in size yet we can gain a renewed perspective for the struggle before us from His vantage point.
If you have something in front of you you are going through, I invite you to join me to...
pause. breathe. pray.
May we take a step back from the struggle and a step closer to God. May this faithful step help us widen the lens and give us greater insight, clarity and a renewed perspective
With love and hope,
Shawn
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord - Psalm 121:1-2
Rest in the Brokenness
Rest in the brokenness.
On so many levels I think this is what so many of us are seeking. In so many ways we experience brokenness, whether it’s our story or someone else’s that we hold in our heart.
I don’t know your story but I want to reflect this to you, in case you too are experiencing brokenness. There is a place, a person, who we can go to where, if we open ourself to the possibility, we will find rest.
In God’s presence.
It’s an inside out, upside down statement in our current world but a truth that has brought me rest in my brokenness over and over again. I wholeheartedly know that this rest is available to you too.
I invite you to join me to...
pause. breathe. pray.
May we bring our brokenness and surrender it to God. May we find comfort in His loving presence so we can find rest in the brokenness, and peace for our souls.
With love and hope,
Shawn
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. - Matthew 11:28