pursuing LOVE...and JOY...and WHOLEHEARTEDNESS!

Do you ever notice themes popping up in your daily life and wonder if God is saying something? You read something that stands out to you and then you hear a song reinforcing the same message. You find this topic coming up in conversations throughout the day. Maybe you even see it appearing in your newsfeed on social media. Your heart moves a little bit every time you see or hear this theme. This has been happening to me this week. The theme is actually a question: What are your eyes fixed on? I'm preparing to lead See You At The Pole at my school tomorrow and the theme is Fix Your Eyes. It comes from Hebrews 12:2 which encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus and follow his example in how we handle difficulties and suffering. Then, I read this amazing blog post this morning by Sharon Hodde Miller about how being a people-pleaser and addicted to approval ultimately causes you to become completely self-focused. (Check out When the Self-Help Gospel Isn't

Wow, it's already the middle of September! This past month has flown by for me. I just finished my fifth week of the new school year. I am loving The Quiet Collection by Emily P Freeman to help me have a sane September. (This blog post appearing is a partial fruit from one of those devotions which encouraged me to stop overthinking things and create.) I'm remembering how vital my crock pot is if we want to have a hot dinner on a work day. I have completed 8 of my 21 days of working out goal for this month! I have done some hard stops for prayer, gazing on beauty, snuggling one of my loves and remembering how to breathe deeply. One of the discoveries in this season of transition is that I have believed that busy=bad. My sweet, slow-paced summer schedule has been swapped out for one that is much more highly charged with many responsibilities and activities that are looking for a place within my week. I have found myself feeling shame over how f