Are your insides ramped up because everything seems so darn urgent?
Does it ever feel like you can’t catch your breath?
Consider this: It is absolutely okay to take care of yourself. To slow down and rest.
Will you give yourself permission to focus on your own needs?
Because let’s face it: Life happens.
It gets wonky and then it throws us off balance too.
So let’s pause and reset.
A Scattered Mind
A while back, my brain was working against me. Because I let negative thoughts dictate my mood and my attitude.
Hold on a sec … didn’t I write a whole darn book about how to renew our minds and live this abundant life with Jesus? Sure did. And a few weeks ago, a friend told me I need to read my own book again. Oof. 🙃
Here’s a few things that will help you focus when your brain goes haywire:
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- Pray. Ask God to stop your racing thoughts. Pray for peace. Pray for new thoughts, true thoughts to replace the negative.
- And lists. I make lots of lists. When our to-dos are written down, it frees our minds. We just have to remember to look at the list☺
- Women tell me my book helps them free their minds. So, yes. Perhaps I do need to read it again. Curious? Take a look at my book here –> Uncover Your Divine Design )
A Tired Body
A couple months ago, I wasn’t fueling my body with the right stuff, the foods I know make me feel well, strong. energized. I was stress eating and out of my regular gym routines with Zumba and kick-boxing.
In a season of burgers and brats and chips galore, it’s a challenge to eat food that fuels our bodies well. I am so grateful for other summer foods like sweet corn, watermelon, and fresh veggies from the garden or farmer’s market. Because food, the way God intended, nourishes our brains and our bodies.
A Saggy Spirit
Aren’t feeling your spiritual gifts listed in Galatians 5:22-23? “… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”? I sometimes feel a bit ho-hum in my spiritual walk. Partly because I can fall into the habit of reading Scripture only to see what’s wrong with me. What can I fix? And there’s nothing wrong with that. Self reflection is good. But God also wants us to simply sit with Him. Read, soak, enjoy. Our Bibles are full of beautiful prose: poetry, history, literature, and so much more. I am learning to read it with fresh eyes. Especially the Psalms.
For a good reset of our minds, bodies, and spirits ~ I’m a firm believer in a healthy daily rhythm, a routine. A natural flow of our days that’s also flexible. I like to be spontaneous, to travel or to hang out with friends and family. But I also need days to simply slow down and read, do laundry, cook good food, chat with neighbors … and of course, make lists. Bottom line, I thrive in a good routine. That’s one reason fall is my favorite season. It brings its own new, fresh rhythms.
So, how are you?
Do you want a fresh start?
My friend, today is a new day. And this moment, a new moment.
Let’s breathe deep … Quiet our minds … Settle our spirits … Relax our bodies.
It may take a few tries … but we’ll get there. Because we’re plugging into our power source.
In God’s presence, we pray and breathe in peace.
This is where we get to process the past, change direction, and start fresh. To make new choices, we take inventory. What have we allowed into our mind, our body, our spirit? What is holding us back from God’s best: a whole, balanced, and abundant life?
We invite God into it.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” ~ Psalm 139:23-24
This prayer often feels a bit risky. But it’s so necessary. This is where we experience God’s gifts of confession, repentance, spiritual renewal, and restoration. What beautiful God-given opportunities!
“The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!’
The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.” ~ Lam. 3:22-25
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