So it's been a while since I've blogged. For various reasons. I've been focused on crafting and making for the Vintage and Revamped Furniture Market that I will participating in mid April. It's my first one and it's a big one so I'm equally excited and nervous. I guess I have to start somewhere. My plan is to try a few different crafty items to test out the market and see what is a hit and where I should pursue my efforts. I've come across some cool ideas that have my mind consumed by wood hoops, fabric, lace, twine, mason jars, etc.
But in the middle of all this is remembering what my real priorities are. I need to balance. With Trevor focused on applications and interviews for firefighting, life is to say the least abit hectic. This is a crazy season for us and it too will pass. I'm trying to take it in and come out of it full and thankful. We know God has a plan for our family and praying for patience for a door to be open.
Lent starts tomorrow. 40 days leading up to Easter. I've been doing abit of research about it and what it means for me as a Christ follower. It is almost like I want to ignore it or forget about it because it means sacrifice. Giving up. Discipline. Not necessary bad things to practice but it's not our first things to want to sign up for. I'm new to Ann Voskamp. I'm just starting to read her book One Thousand Gifts. I follow her on Facebook and try to visit her website. I'm learning alot through her writing.
She is doing a March Joy Dare. I started March 1st and trying to document three things I'm grateful for everyday in March. This helps me be intentional.
Today, March 4: 3 Things Hard to Give Thanks For
1] Wonderful + loving family who live far and that I miss.
2] Uncertainty. Patiently waiting for a door to be opened for Trevor.
3] Parenting. Some days are long and challenging. Desire to do the best you can without guilt.
Even as I wrote this, I realized the things that are hard right now are passing. Not to be focused on. Maybe uncomfortable but not unbearable.
I've really noticed a trend of gratitude and joy. Especially when it comes to social media. Maybe it's the pages I follow which are largely 'mommy' related. Many of them focus of finding the good everyday and focusing upward. I like this movement, if I can say that. One of the pages I follow is Momastery by Glennon Doyle Melton. She is candid, humorous and encouraging. Yesterday she posted on lent and instead of giving something up, like the token coffee or chocolate or Facebook, she encouraged readers to give up ingratitude. Like Ann, she suggests writing down three things you are grateful for forty days. Gratitude = peace + joy really. While we can't change our circumstances, let's change how we see our circumstances.
I like what Ann Voskamp wrote on her blog about lent today:
Why doing Lent is what we need — because it leads us to Christ:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
I'm not much a of a journaler mostly due to lack of time but I found these journal cards at Target. I'm going to use these to document my combo project rolled into one: [forty days of gratitude for lent and thirty days of joy] on them. Probably post them on my bedroom wall or mirror. What I like about both of these women's way of doing lent is it isn't filled with guilt. Fasting is hard. Giving up something too extreme is hard. Not that we shouldn't do hard things but I don't think God wants us to be set up for failure or feel guilt as we journey towards a deeper relationship with him. I will forget to document somedays but that is ok. It's about an experience not a requirement. Along with journaling my gratitude, I need to slow down. Re-focus. Be still. In his word and in prayer.
How are you going to journey closer to Jesus in the next 40 days?
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