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Holy hustle- unpacking my 2020 manifesto
Have you found yourself pulled between two seemingly incompatible mindsets that surround us in social media and the world at large? On one hand, there is a call to rest, slow down and take care of yourself. On the other, there is a push to hustle, work hard and relentlessly pursue your goals. How do you know which is the right way to go? I wholeheartedly believe in the importance of rest and recharging our minds, bodies and souls. I can relate to the need to step out of the frantic pace that can pull us along and have us spinning. I have experienced the need for white space and…
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Finding deep, soaking-to-your-roots rest.
Is your rest like a light shower of rain or like the deep, soaking kind? I’ve been thinking about this again in my own life, particularly as I prepare to talk on phone addiction at a MOPS group next week. It feels ironic to be asked to give this talk right now as my phone use has been out of control again of late. Maybe it’s the best timing for it as I am forced to stop, evaluate and relook at the strategies that have helped in the past. So much of it comes down to the kind of rest I need versus the kind of rest I engage in.…
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Life-giving investment in friendship
You know how Facebook throws up those friendship anniversaries? I noticed a trend in mine. Those friends that I actually feel closest to in real life have the least amount of evidence of friendship online. We don’t tend to take many photos together. I don’t think to pick up my phone and document the moments with them. I both love this and am disappointed by it. I love that I am able to be relaxed and present with them (not an easy feat for my mind often.) I love that we are too caught up in simply being together. I would also love to have more of those moments captured…
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Work out what brings you rest
Many of the posts over this series have had this idea of true rest at the core. I am discovering in my own life that prioritising rest is even more important in busy seasons. Ironically, activities that I find restful and recharging are usually the first things that get dropped at these times. With this year seeming to accelerate as we near the end, I am reminding myself to make rest an essential in my everyday life. Rest might look like spending more time in silence and increasing the whitespace in my days. It may look like getting creative. It will definitely look like switching off devices and getting…
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Should I let go or keep fighting?
When I put out the call to my subscribers to send me requests for what they needed encouragement with, I did not anticipate the incredibly personal and vulnerable responses that I might get back. The reader request that inspired this post tugged at very deep places of my heart as I could feel the depth of pain and struggle contained in the words shared. It is not my place to share the details and it isn’t necessary to do so. At the core of it was this question: should I let go or keep fighting? This is a question that so many of us can relate to in a myriad…
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How do I balance feeding my soul and relaxing?
In our hurried pace of life, our souls are crying out for rest and refreshment. Trying to figure out what that looks like can feel like a full-time occupation by itself. There are so many opinions and ideas out there. Figuring out how to feed my soul and make time for rest has been a journey over the past several years. I find it tends to change and shift frequently for different seasons and different levels of overwhelm and tiredness. When I first read this question in my inbox, my initial reaction was that they are the same thing. Spending time relaxing and unwinding does feed my soul. When I…
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Rest: A Five Minute Friday post (and pausing Thankful Thursday)
Intention to write and sitting to put words down are two different things. I had planned to write my usual Thankful Thursday post this week. Then I woke up on Friday and it wasn’t done. I thought about doing it late for this week but can’t bring myself to do it. This shows me that I need a rest from it. Writing has been taking a back seat for me of late, at least public writing has. The inspiration isn’t flowing. I realise that the rest I am taking is not actually restoring me or inspiring me. I get so frustrated with myself at the end of the day when…
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Weary: Five Minute Friday
It is Friday night. My daughter is FINALLY asleep. My husband is out doing the grocery shopping (oh yes, I have an awesome husband!). After a busy day and a full week, I am weary. Today I don’t see that as a negative. I am weary from serving an amazing bunch of ladies at MOPS, building relationships there. I am weary from putting myself out there to meet new people at a 2016 Kindy kids playdate. I am weary from wrestling through a very unexpected decision with God. I am weary from working in a job I love with people who build me up. I am weary from interrupted sleep…
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Soaking in His Presence
Taking the time to stop and rest has revealed even more how much I needed it. I underestimated how depleted I have become. I sat to write the post I had originally planned and there were no words. I don’t want to have words on a screen for the sake of it. If they are not from my heart and containing encouragement or a purpose, I don’t want to put them out there. I have been loving soaking in God’s presence today through listening to two albums from Bethel music: “You make me brave” and “Without words”. I share a small of part of that with you in the videos…
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Embracing Rest Today
It has been an intense few days and I am physically and mentally exhausted. Emotionally and spiritually doing pretty well as everything I was doing was filling up those areas, although I will admit to some irritability and lack of patience thanks to the tiredness. I wrote about the steps I have been taking to increase my capacity to rest here. Today needs to be a rest day for me if I have any hope of having the capacity I need for the rest of the week. These are my plans for getting rest today: focusing on the bare essentials of housework and allowing myself to leave most of it…
Encouragement for women in leadership
