Life is FULL and God is Good!
A life update, a freebie & a sale!
When was the last time you sat still enough to feel your heartbeat? When was the last time you counted your breaths? When was the last time you took a moment to just BE? If you're anything like me, it's been a while. The good news is, that our heart continues to beat, we don't have to count our breaths to make them count and we are free to just BE any moment we want to. But maybe just maybe we can take a moment to slow down, count a few breaths, praise God for our beating hearts and just BE in the presence of our Savior.
May is a time of year similar to December. There are parties to attend, field trips to go on, graduations, confirmations, Mother's and Father's Day, the end of the school year, and even more things that come up and steal away our time. I made a pact with myself to stop the glorification of "busy". It's so easy to just tell people "Oh, I'm busy" but the word "busy" is often just an excuse. People use it as a way to one-up each other or as an excuse to not do what they really should be doing. We use the excuse of being busy to keep us from church on Sunday or to keep us from digging into God's Word during the week. Let us be reminded that if we feel busy it's our own fault and we don't need to heap the burden of our busyness onto other people. We choose what to say 'yes' to and what to say 'no' to. We choose our level of busyness. So let's find another word. Let's stop the glorification of "busy" and call it what it is. Whether that be a blessing or our own poor decisions to take on too much.
If you ever feel like you've let God down by being too busy for Him, read Psalm 103. These verses are so comforting. He will show you again and again that all He has for you is steadfast love and grace!! He isn't going to scold you or give you a guilt trip, He's going to open His arms wide and welcome you home. He loves you. Grace is yours. FREE. Unmerited. You are loved with steadfast love by the creator!!! You're not too busy for that, are you?
So instead of saying that I am busy I usually choose a different word. It depends on the scenario but usually, I talk about my life being full. I can take that in many different directions. Full of blessings, full of laundry, full of noise, full of creativity, full of dinners, full of work, full of so many things. My life is full right now as I am sure you are also experiencing in your own life. I am choosing my mindset because I don't want to regret the time I am spending on certain things. I don't want to look back at this time in my life and just think I was "busy". Busy just makes it sound like I'm doing a bunch of random stuff that makes no difference. But my life is full of good things that do matter and do make a difference.
I started a new job this past week. It's part-time time but I am away from home more, making my time at home more important and meaningful. I don't know how you full-time working moms do it. I'm struggling and I just work two part-time jobs and try to run my own business (ok, life is a little more full than I thought but one part-time job ends next week). When does the laundry get done and the supper cooked? The sheets changed and floors swept? When does one sleep and take intentional rest time without feeling guilty? When do I read all the books I want to read? When do I get custom orders done and make new products for my shop? In due time. It will all get done. Eventually. Luckily, I do not feel stressed about it. Some things have to fall down further on the totem pole and I am totally ok with that.
So, life is full but I wouldn't change any of it. There is a lot of learning going on around here and that's a good thing. There are also a few changes going on with Pure Joy Creative which I am sure you may have already noticed...and if you didn’t that's totally ok too. Branson and I are going to start doing some book chats. We've moved things over to Substack (ok, Branson did it all, I just gave a big thumbs up) and look forward to all the fun things this platform will allow us to do. I am looking forward to talking more about books, scripture, and life as a wife and mom. I hope you will find these things helpful and join in the conversation. There will be room for growth, learning, and coming alongside each other in these FULL days. God is good, all the time. In the fullness of time, He has come. He is with us.
I pray that whatever season you are in you find blessings in the fullness of what God has for you right now. Thanks for being here friends. It means an awful lot to me that you're hanging around and willing to share a little time with me. I appreciate you. God be with you.
in His grip,
Need a last minute Mother's Day gift? I have two ideas for you.
Naomi Lynn Artistry makes beautiful family portraits from your photos. Yes, she's my daughter so I love to promote her work but honestly I wouldn't promote it if I didn't love it myself. Her talent in drawing people exceeds my own and I am so proud of her. She also makes some pretty awesome rings and has some fun bookish stickers in her shop as well. Check her out at naomilynnartistry.etsy.com
Another gift idea is the gift of preserved memories. Memorygram is on a mission to preserve precious memories and legacy. Each week Memorygram will send an email to the person whom you choose as your storyteller. They reply to the email or use the website to answer the question and after a year of questions, you get a bound book full of their stories and pictures. This is a GREAT gift for that mom in your life that doesn't need more "stuff", because everyone has a story to tell. So, it's not only a gift for your mom (or loved one) but also for you because you will have the legacy recorded for the future.