Everyday Imperfect

  Something I’ve learned about myself over the years is that my perfectionism can be a good thing…but if I’m being honest, I’d really consider it a “bad” thing most days. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m the firstborn, or because of other parts of my personality, but I do know that there is a big part of me that struggles to make everything I do absolutely perfect - or as close as I can get it. And yes, when I say “struggle”, I mean there have been struggles my perfectionism has caused. Now, just to be clear, I’m not talking about doing things with excellence. (I had a Bible College professor who once said Christians should be the best workers in their workplace, simply because they represent Christ, and I totally agree!) I’m not talking about doing what we do as well as we can. I’m talking about the false belief that everything we do has to be done SO well - and so perfect - that no one could ever find fault with it. That every aspect of it has to be so good that no one else could...

        A couple weeks ago, we had a special service at our church.  Usually, the kids would go into their own class or kids church, but my husband felt strongly about allowing the usual kids leaders time to be with the other adults for this special service, so guess who was volunteered to be with the kids?      Actually, I'm not even sure if my husband volunteered me, or if I volunteered myself, or if it was just understood that I would do it... it just happened, and I was totally ok with it.       At least until the day before the midweek service.  I knew what I'd be teaching on, I had my outline, my game, an activity, a back-up activity in case I needed it, AND a song to start out with.  But despite all that, I started getting soooooo anxious about it.     It has been YEARS since I've taught littles at church.  I was a youth leader by myself for a while about ten years ago....before that I taught a Sunday...

 Last week, we learned about how the enemy can come at you so much with little sideshows and distractions that you start to question and doubt and loose our focus.  Well, this week I have three big weapons to help you do what will be the most effective way to conquer those distractions! Replace your thoughts with the truth of WHO HE IS, which is what the busy-ness of those sideshows tries to distract us from:   YOU ARE THE CHRIST!! Now when I say "replace your thoughts", that's really a concept you'll find in the Bible.... the "renewing of your mind" concept!! (but that's full subject for another day) So how do we turn from the distraction so that we can start again to FOCUS ON THE TRUTH: God’s already given us 3 weapons to combat distraction : Weapon #1: THE WORD   Christ himself used this weapon when Satan came to tempt and distract him from his fasting & praying.  When you have these things coming against you -trying to distract you from your TRUT...

  You‘ve heard it’s the small foxes that spoil the vine - I’m here to tell you, it’s the small distractions that destroy the mind !    You see, we know what to do when we’re faced with something big - a fatal car wreck, a drug overdose of a loved one, the infidelity of a spouse, the hopeless diagnosis for your child…  We know what to do! We start a prayer chain ... we start fasting and seeking God ... we keep His word in us day in and day out to get through that.  But then the small things like laundry or dust bunnies or teenage kids happen, We have all these things pile up around us -  " Mom I need this"….." Mom, sign this for my teacher"… "Honey, did you make that appointment?"..."Sister, can you do this for me?"…."Mom, where’s my socks/backpack/belt?"… Oh, I need to get this posted...I need to call this person… This person isn’t doing her job....Can you believe what she said? … I need to do this...I need to... And we find ourse...

Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you.  Mark out a straight path for your feet;  stay on the safe path.  Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil . - Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT Imagine taking your family to one of those old-timey circuses in the late 19th century. Money was hard to come by, and you had saved up for weeks to be able to take them to see the Ring Master introducing all the acrobatic and animal acts under the big top.   You'd walk down the path toward the circus tent, kids excitedly in tow, and as you were making your way to your goal, walking along with the crowd pressing in around you, you'd hear from the sides of the path loud carnies yelling out their headlines, trying to entice you to stop and see what you could only see right there in their tent!  Cries promising the viewing of the bearded woman, or a boy born with two heads, or a man who could swallow a sword and still live would ring out over the excited gi...

 Since we are nearing the next women's retreat, I thought it so appropriate to re-post this piece, especially since it deals with such a hard thing as losing a parent and the emotional turmoil wrapped up in that.  Praying for my friends who have lost so many so recently! This last weekend, I missed out on joining my team at a conference featuring none other than THE Rachel Hollis (author of Girl, Wash Your Face) and Nichole Walters (business coach extraordinaire - you need to check out her podcast!). I really missed being with my entrepreneur friends, but I got to go instead to another women's conference - Replenish 2019 - with my church group and about 1200 more women in south GA. It never fails - the times that I think I just don't have time for this conference, or that I should be doing something else - or just feel too drained to go to a conference like this ....those are the times that I get the most from the conference! You know, I don't know why that takes me by ...