I got this fantastic devotional book from a friend summer before last from Lysa TerKeurst entitled, Embraced. Somehow I forgotten I had it until earlier this week and I realized I had 10 more devotions in it that I had not gone through yet. I was so excited to discover this and dove in this week.
I read one statement in Day 91's devotion that was a mic drop moment and I wanted to share it with you. This particular devotion was talking about when we want what someone else has. Lysa shared a statement she says to herself when she finds herself enviously wanting what someone else has-- I am not equipped to handle what they have, both good and bad.
Stop and go back and read that again. Now let's think about this statement and how it's so very true! As we all know everything we have and experience, no matter how wonderful, it comes with some good and bad. For example, when you get a new vehicle, you had to pay for it or assume a new car payment and greater insurance payments. Yes, you're driving an amazing new car, but unless it was given to you free and clear or you have a Daddy Warbucks, then the realities of paying for it come with the new car smell.
This last year I really sat with myself on several goals I had and got down to the foundation of why I wanted those. There was one goal in particular that I realized I didn't really want as much as I originally thought because I experienced a bit of an inside view of what that top prize entailed, and I realized that didn't match what I want my future to look like. Now I know that the Lord equips us for what He has for us and if that top level is where I end up, then He will equip me to deal with that. However, in my current mindset that top level does not appeal to me anymore once I sat with myself long enough to think through what that would be like and all the responsibilities that would come with it.
Maybe that's why the statement from this devotional reading stuck out to me so much! Obviously, there are situations or items that the negatives seem almost miniscule, and the positives seem to far outweigh the negatives and we might need to chant the "I am not equipped to handle what they have, both good and bad" over and over to ourselves. We would all be kidding ourselves if we don't experience those and that's where praying for contentment comes in or asking the Lord to show us the reality of what we want so much. Or maybe we ask that person, so what's it like having .... and most likely they will share some of the bad along with the good.
Can you think of something you've thought you wanted until you sat with it and realized the bad that would come along with it--and that caused you to reevaluate? I hope this statement of Lysa's helps you as much as I know it's going to help me.
Do you ever get the idea for something where the result will be YEARS in the future?!? You have no idea how it's going to turn out, but when that YEARS in the future day finally comes...it's surreal.
We have just experienced one recently that I thought I would share --
When we had our first daughter (Victoria) in 2000, we intentionally decided to get her an ornament every year that signified something from that year of her life. It was definitely easier some years than others to think of and find an ornament than other years. There were the baby ones from the first year or two, then the Blues Clues and Strawberry Shortcake years.
(That Strawberry Shortcake ornament still smells like she did that first Christmas!)
Then we moved on to the school years where there was the violin, art classes, elementary volleyball and tennis playing years. There are repeats of some of those because they were such a part of her life and there are always new and different ornaments! Many years, ornaments would come from grandparents as well.
Our plan was that when she got her own place, once she graduated college, that she would have these ornaments for her own Christmas tree so she wouldn't have to start from nothing.
We are doing the same thing for our youngest daughter--Some of those elementary school play parts made it REALLY hard to find ornaments. Apologies to the woman in the Disney Store in Branson that I beat out in quickly reaching for the very last Rafiki ornament (and only one I ever saw, and I even scoured Disney World while we were there).
Well last year as we packed up our tree, we separated out Victoria's ornaments since she was graduating in May and would be teaching somewhere this year. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when she put up her tree in her apartment and she was thankful to have her ornaments to go on it. It was a bit weird for her to have them on her own tree and a bit bare looking on our tree not having them.
However, it is an idea that worked exactly like I envisioned all those days (oh I mean years) ago!
Does your brain ever feel like a hamster wheel when you lay down to go to sleep at night? You’re SO tired but your brain won’t turn off so you can go to sleep? You follow all the things they say to do but you lie there in bed for what feels like (and may be) hours watching the clock and calculating how much time you have left to sleep.
Anyone?
That was me. I would read when I got in bed and make myself put my book down even though I knew I wouldn’t go to sleep for a long time. Well…let me introduce to you the thing that ended all that for me! From the first night it’s worked amazingly for me! I knew after the first couple nights (I of course thought it was a fluke at first) that I never wanted to be without— Young Living Lavender!
See I had tried Lavender from the health food store (because aren’t all essential oils the same except for price? The answer is a HUGE NO!) and that hadn’t worked at all so I never dreamed that the first bottle of oil I pulled out of my first oils purchase was going to bring me quick sleep every night! I mean, I didn’t even like the smell of this Young Living Lavender! But I’m so thankful that I tried it anyway.
Of course, after those first few nights when I quickly fell asleep (even when I was just starting to read), I informed Mark that we were never going to be without a bottle of Lavender from YL. We haven’t been and it still works just like it did the first night…every single night.
Fun fact – Did you know that there is more Lavender essential oil and products than Lavender grown worldwide? That’s because a vast majority of the Lavender products on the market are made from essential oil that’s never been a plant but is totally made up of chemicals in a lab.
That’s one of the reasons I didn’t love the smell of YL Lavender at first…my nose wasn’t used to smelling the real thing with nothing else added in.
Do you have a Newk's where you live? Or even a place you can buy a cooked chicken?
So, we are huge fans of Newk's and REALLY LOVE that they place their Grab & Go items on half price the day before a holiday they are going to be closed. I buy several packages of their already cooked chicken and steak and divide it out between containers in the freezer to use in the future. (I'll share in a later post what I do with the steak.)
Now if you have more than one kid at home, this is just not going to be that cost effective so you should probably stick to the purchased rotisserie chicken route. We are empty nesters now and it doesn't take much food to put together dinner for the two of us. (All the praise hands for this!)
So when I'm making Chicken & Bacon Flatbreads or Pita Pizza (I like to put chicken, spinach, cooked zucchini with cheese on top) then I pull out one of those containers of Newk's chicken and put a bit of water on the stovetop in a skillet and add the chicken to warm it up and give it moisture. In moments it's ready to be shredded and added to that Flatbread or Pita Pizza and ready to go into the oven. Throw together a salad while it's cooking, and you will serve your people a healthy meal that caused you minimal work! That's a hugely successful and complete win for me.
We are constantly reading things like I did in a recent devotional from Lysa Terkeurst, " Thinking runaway, worrisome thoughts invites anxiety." Or things like, "Why do we let such destructive words fall hard on our souls? Toxic thoughts are so dangerous because they leave no room for truth to flourish. And in the absence of truth, lies reign."
We hear the Bible verse that says to take every thought captive...but how do we really do that day in and day out with effectiveness?
Well thanks to my Wellness Community going through a book study together several months ago...I found an amazing resource that is helping me do just this! The book is called 'Switch on Your Brain' by Dr. Caroline Leaf.
Let me first say that I'm in the very beginning stages, so I am by no means an expert. However, I've had some pretty amazing results, so I wanted to share this with you. I'm all about helping people to thrive and live their best, most positive life, so here's my testimony to date.
At the end of the book there is the directions for a 21-Day Brain Detox Challenge. I began that on a Saturday. However, a couple of days before that I had an incidence happen that really put me in the dumps mentally and emotionally. I had to really intentionally pull myself out.
Well, just a week later (and only FOUR DAYS after beginning the 21-Day Detox), I had this very same incidence happen. However, the reaction I had was a total 180-degree difference! I'm talking my automatic reaction was totally different. I didn't have to talk myself into a better mindset...it was just there from the very beginning.
Instead of being so down and morose as I was the week before, I instead saw what a gift this was and how helpful it was going to be. About five minutes in on this discovery, I was SHOCKED that I was already seeing such a change to my mindset when I was just a few days into this detox. I can't wait to see what differences come in the coming weeks and months!
I highly recommend you read the book, so you can understand the science and the Biblical applications as to why this method is so necessary and so powerful! Dr. Leaf states that many times more than one 21-Day cycle is needed. I'm choosing to do three cycles to really ingrain this new thought.
You can grab it HERE if you don't already own a copy! You'll have to let me know if you read, or have read the book, and if you do the 21-Day Brain Detox. I promise it's not painful like brain surgery would most certainly be, however it's truly changing the signals your brain is sending.
