Balance

Lately I have been trying to find "balance" in my life. I think this is something we all strive for, but never attain, especially those of us who are at home with our children. If we give time to one area of our life, another area suffers. Then the next day we give more attention to the area that was suffering, and then the other area suffers. For example, this blog was something I really attended to the last year or so of my life during our adoption process, but other areas of my life were lacking. I did not spend  as much time with God, my husband, or my children. So I this was one are of my life I could slow down on and give attention to more important areas of my life. Now that we have added a new child, there are many other things on my plate such as a precious face looking up to me who needs constant love and attention, lots more laundry, three kids under four who mess up the house constantly, which needs to be cleaned, more dishes to clean and more disagreements between siblings to regulate. Add all of this ontop of spending time with your husband, keeping up with friends, volunteering for church, cooking our dinner, running errands and spending time with God. Naturally, this left me feeling overwhelmed and basically a mess. But, the Lord revealed to me that he is the only one who can create balance in my life. He is the only one who can give me peace amongst the caous. So, instead of being productive and checking things off my list once the kids go down for a nap, I decided the only way to stay saine and not loose it, is to spend time with the only one who can give me LIFE. I know most of you are probably saying, "Dah!" Of course you should be spending time with God! Well, I was, when it fit into my schedule or when I was desperate. But, fitting anything into my schedule is impossible, because the work never ends and I never get everything checked off my list. So no matter how many dishes are in the sink, toys on the floor, voice messages to check, emails to return, and people to call back...I stop what I am doing and go read, journal, and pray that the Lord will rescue me from myself. Then after thirty minutes to an hour, I feel rejuvenated, rested and peaceful to tackle what life throws at me. This time has been critical for me to stay saine and not be a miserable person to be around. You know those harassing thoughts that enter your mind about what you are NOT doing, or who you are NOT pleasing, well this "time" helps with that too! God has truly met me in my overwhelmedness and given me LIFE. When people ask me how it is going, I can honestly say things are really good...yes, it is hard, but the Lord is carrying me through, literally. The christian life promises suffering and trials...the sooner I learned to embrace this, the sooner I will learn to enjoy life through trusting and abiding in Jesus.

"God calls you to be dissatisfied. You should be discontent, restless, and hungry! The Christian life is a state of thankful discontent or joyful dissatisfaction." ~How People Change, by Timothy S.Lane and Paul David Tripp

Another way to find balance in my life is community, real genuine community. The Lord has provided this group of girls women who I meet with everyweek, to really get deep with and get to the heart of our "stories". Stories, meaning, the stories of our lives, so we can be in right relationship with God and be more free from ourselves. I truly believe this group is one of the greatest things I have ever experienced. I am growing leaps and bounds with these women!! One of the cool things I have learned through this group, is a new podcast called True Sisterhood, that started in December 2010. Is there such thing as true sisterhood? Most of us what say no! But, these four women from many different stages of life, have come together to form this true sisterhood as an example of what it could be to really get to the heart of issues, not just graze the surface in relationships. We were made to be in community and help one another along in this journey through the Christian life. They talk about identity, beauty, and influence...pretty much anything women deal with on a day to day basis. I have loved listening to their podcast once a week while I am cleaning the house, doing the dishes, or running on the treadmill. They really speak to my heart. Go to their website to check it out! TRUE SISTERHOOD You can also get their podcasts FREE on ITunes and it updates on your Iphone everyweek, if you press download. I highly recommend this podcast!! You won't regret checking it out!!!

The mission of the podcast:

"Our private thoughts reveal a lot about the breakdown of relationship among women, even (and sometimes especially) Christian women. We’re catty. We’re envious. We compete and compare. We look to our bodies, our achievements, our men, and even our spirituality to give us what we lack. Addiction and vice soon become our favorite solution to what we may not even realize is our deepest problem: loneliness.

 Turns out, we need each other more than we’d like to admit. The True Sisterhood exists to demystify the drama of female relationship by modeling authenticity and vulnerability, so we can navigate life no longer alone."