Why I Don’t Fear My Thirties

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Yesterday was my birthday. I love my birthday, I really really do. The presents, the cake, the flowers, the FB notes and texts. Wonderful. But for about a split second I had a bit of a birthday crisis: I am getting OLDER. Ok, I will go ahead and admit how old I am for full authenticity and disclosure. I am now 34 years old. No this is not anciet nor am I REALLY that old. For some reason, for a few minutes, I tortured myself with the negatives that come with age…

~ A few minute wrinkles forming around my eyes…minute!!

~The fact that it gets harder and harder each year to drop pounds.

~ I don’t look as cute in the summer shorts as I did when I was younger.

~I have to use major sunscreen these days because I don’t tan like I used to.

All of the above flew through my mind in a matter of minutes. The funny thing is that when I was 29 I couldn’t WAIT to be 30. Most of my friends thought I was nuts to be excited for 30. Haven’t you heard of those who write bucket lists of things they want to happen in life before 30? These bucket lists for 30s baffle me for I usually don’t think of 30s as a bad thing. I always ask those bucket list friends why they can’t do those things when they are 30? What is it about the decade in their mind that makes them think life will change so drastically or won’t be as much fun.

But-one-thing-I-do

 

 

Revisiting my age crisis…as I mentioned, the crisis only lasted a few minutes because I didn’t allow myself to travel down that destructive road of thinking. I allowed the Lord to speak into my heart all of the wonderful things that come with maturity. With the minute wrinkles forming and the added lumps and bumps to my waistline come blessings of life experience where I look back on how God is working through me. My past mistakes and sin from decades past no longer haunt me because I live assured that I am forgive. I also live assured and in the comfort that God doesn’t waste ANYTHING in my life if I allow Him to use it for good. I get to look back on my past and pull from it in order to encourage and lift up others. This is ministry for me now.

So, no…I don’t fear my thirties.

What I do fear is…

~that I will waste precious time worrying about meaningless things like wrinkles and trying to fit into cute summer shorts

~that I will not continue to grow and mature; that I will be stagnant in my faith.

~that I will take for granted the special blessings God pours on my life when I worry too much about what I’m with out. The “grass is always greener” mentality is not productive.

With a heart that loves to do life and ministry with young adult women, I write this to encourage you to GET EXCITED about maturing and future birthdays. Please don’t fear your 30s if you are a twenty-something. Life does not end on your 3oth birthday. Life is fluid and always changing. What you think is the end all and the most fun when you are younger will change. God offers special gifts for each year of our life. We must approach our Lord each day open to the gift of His presence. We must offer ourselves with open arms and an open heart to what that new year will bring. These are opportunities to know Him more and to serve Him well.

With excitement and commitment to maturity, I step out into the 34th year of my life with the goal of seeking God’s face and serving Him with a willing heart and soul…even if that means more wrinkles to come in the future…He is WORTH IT.

What do you think? Leave a comment. Let’s chat!

 

The LIST

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The List

Well hellllloooo there, Friday! I’m seriously excited about today because my birthday celebration begins tonight with sushi dinner and a movie. Actually, my birthday isn’t until Monday but I always like to make a BIG deal of birthdays in general (especially my own!) and so we are starting early.

 

On to the LIST before I get too excited thinking about birthday presents!!!

I thought it would be fun to list out what influences us these days. Now, before you give me your best “Sunday school answer,” I ask that you get specific! So instead of just saying, “the Bible influences me,” go ahead and list out particular books or verses in the Bible that really fire you up. I’m going to be listing all kinds of things, not just “churchy” stuff.

**thank you Rebecca from France for this week’s LIST idea**

Here we go:

~Music!! I’m totally influenced these days by Jesus Culture and anything from Bethel Church.

~The author A.W. Tozer is really rockin’ it for me too. Love his book The Pursuit Of God. It is an older book that I’ve already read but I’m circling back to it for research on my next book.

~In the past I’ve totally been influenced by magazines, especially fitness mags. Nothing wrong with them but I get too caught up in wanting to look like the perfect models who have been perfectly photo shopped.

~Lately I’ve been influenced by artist that I love. In the art world, we call pretty art or pictures, “eye candy.”

~Psalm 145 has me all fired up these days, too. Man I could read that Psalm every day!

So that’s my LIST. What would you add to YOURS?

Leave a comment, let’s chat!

 

 

Where Does Hospitality Begin?

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***I’m thrilled to introduce you to my friend Shari Johnston. Shari is one of those women ready and willing to doll out encouragement when others need it most. I love Shari’s message below and her heart behind it. I think the topic of hospitality is often overlooked by those who feel like they don’t have the perfect house, the perfect set up, the perfect recipe. Whether you are married with a housefull of beautiful furniture or single with a small and quaint apartment, hospitality is a word for YOU. Check out Shari’s thoughts below…

shari

Where does the Gift of Hospitality start?

When I think upon the word hospitality, I usually envision this Norman Rockwell-Martha Stewart moment. Everyone comes in feeling incredibly loved. The atmosphere is beautiful, conversation flowing, everyone is having a great time. The food we’ve prepared has not been stressful. It presents amazingly and tastes wonderful. I wish that this were true 100% of the time. URCH! SKREECHING HALT!! Let’s face it- we get upset because as we prepare, it is not turning out how we envisioned the event to be. I’d like to share a story. It is not my most glorious moment; in fact it is far from glorious. I am sharing this because I hope that from my misstep the Lord can use this to change me and maybe even open your eyes to how NOT to act, rather react. Here’s my story:

It’s February and my grandma’s birthday. Mom and I decided that we really wanted to have a nice family dinner for her- my aunt, cousins, and great grandkids. I’m to make the cake, mom’s working on dinner. I plan on being a little sassy and making grandma one giant cupcake rather than little ones. My good friend came over and we made a cupcake paper for it to sit in. Everything was going great until I went to frost the cake. German Chocolate cake is NOT the cake to use. I love this cake. It’s pretty. It’s fun. It’s nostalgic for me, BUT this one was not forgiving. The frosting was too heavy, the top was sliding, and it wasn’t presenting well. I was frustrated. Why am I getting upset over a cake?! Rather than become even more frustrated at a cake, I walked away. My actions of leaving ended up hurting and offending someone. Again over a cake! I wanted the day to be perfect for my grandma and really who’s going to notice that the top slid slightly. I’m the only one that will notice. I was taught to pick my battles, so why do I battle with a cake? The day ended up being glorious and grandma loved her cake. And guess what?! She never even knew about the minor mistakes I stressed over.

This story is such a teaching lesson for me and my hope is for you too. When we are in the practice of hospitality it must begin by first being hospitable to ourselves. If we extend grace to ourselves over our so called “mistakes”, stressors, or imperfections, and we don’t allow them to affect us; we are then able to have those we are serving be our primary focus. If we focus on ourselves, we don’t allow God to use us to serve others. Instead we prevent God’s work to shine because we have turned to an inward self-focus rather than an out-ward God focus.

As I’m writing this, several verses really touched me. Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This verse demonstrates to me what our focus should be- on others, not ourselves. Christ was an example of servitude. He washed his disciples’ feet, He fed hungry people, and He healed the sick. His servitude was to bring glory to our King. His servitude was humble and not self-seeking.

Mark 12:30-31 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” This verse says to love ourselves. When we are so critical of our actions, not extending grace we are not expressing love. Love is NOT conditional. It is Unconditional. If we do not love ourselves, how can we expect to love our guests? How can we expect to love those we serve? How can we even begin to further love our King? Our bodies are living sacrifices to our King (Romans 12:1-2) and they are the temple in which the Spirit lives (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We are not honoring our King by unjustly loving ourselves and having a practice of forgiveness and grace.

1 John 4:10-1, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” It all comes together. By extending grace to ourselves when things aren’t the Martha Stewart moment we wanted, we are able to truly love! We are able to place the focus onward and upward on our King! Hospitality begins with us. It begins with being able to release the small stuff, to forgive our mistakes, to be open to what God will do through us. If we hold on tight to our fear and anxiety how can we begin to be used by Him?

I’m sure you must remember my very embarrassing story from the beginning of this post. I’d like to share how far I’ve come from this moment. Since the “episode” I have had friends and family over. One occasion is very poignant for me. My sweet friend Lindsey came over for brunch. We have wanted to see each other for a few weeks now. I had some new recipes I wanted to try, which can always be stressful! I decided to try one of the recipes and keep everything else simple. I desired for this to be about Lindsey, to allow her to feel loved and special. There was no stress. I had a game plan and my key thought was on our King and serving Lindsey. We had an amazing time- great food, great fellowship, and most of all I let go, let God, and loved! Behaviors only change with small steps. Know that anything is possible when you seek our King and commit your plans to Him.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
    and he will establish your plans.  {Proverbs 16:3}

A bit more about Shari:

Hi ladies! I’m Shari. I’m a Jesus lovin country girl, born and raised in Idaho. I enjoy studying God’s Word, being with family and friends, creating yummy goodness in my kitchen, and livin country. I’m a huge fan if country music, collect country/cowboy memorabilia, and adding to my cowboy boot collection. I work as an athletic trainer in a physical therapy clinic and volunteer with a professional rodeo sports medicine team. And for extra fun I blog about my cooking adventures at www.bootsandbiscuits.com 

***What are your thoughts about allowing yourself some grace and not stressing about perfection when it comes to hospitality? 

Leave a comment…let’s chat!