I realize that my past few posts may seem like I'm sitting here in my house wallowing in self-pity. The reality is that while I do have moments of sorrow, most of the time I get back up, dust myself off and move forward. My sense of humor remains intact so I can find humor in most things going on in my life.
I told someone the other day that one of the side effects of my covid-related lack of taste and smell is NOT losing weight. I said that I just keep eating, hoping the next bite will be the one where my taste comes back! So far that's not working. 😉
My biggest dilemma in life is figuring out what I should do and what I shouldn't do with my time. I have so many good opportunities that come my way and quite often I leap before I look. I'm learning to slow it down, pray about things and figure out what fits into the bigger plan that God has for my life. So rather than just say, "Yes!" to opportunities, I need to figure out what is the best yes I can give.
Some of my best "Yes's" the past few weeks....
💗 Blessing a new mom at church with a basket full of homemade goodies.
💗 Putting the final touches on my next book, a 10-week Bible study on the epistle of James.
💗 Studying for an upcoming class I'm taking in women's leadership. That starts on September 18th and I have reading a couple of papers to write for that.
💗 Hosting a children's art class at our church this past Saturday. I'm starting up my 3D Kids program that I designed in our past ministries and I am excited that we have 4 children already registered from the community.
💗 Said yes to a freelance job to design a website for the head of the Northeast Church Advance for our denomination. It may open the door to other freelance jobs. Looking towards the future when we are no longer in full-time ministry.
💗 I've headed the hour and 15 minute drive to my in-laws at least twice a week to help where I can since my mother-in-law fell and fractured her pelvis. I'm thankful for this time of getting to know them even better than I had before and the opportunity to assist them.
I had to turn down some opportunities and ministries that came my way just in the past couple of days and weeks. I was excited about all of them, but know that I can only do so much. They were great things that I agonized over, but I had to keep looking at the bigger picture of what I'm doing now and how those things fit into that.
So as I keep moving forward, I'm working hard on slowing down before I leap into something so that I don't have to backpedal out of an opportunity. It's still a work in progress, but I'm getting there!
That's cool that you're writing a Bible study for James. A friend and I recently decided to memorize all of James (we'll see if we really get all the way through it), so I'll be interested in your study when it's available. I have also had a hard time learning when to say no so I can say my best yes. Still working on that and giving it lots of thought these days, so I'll pray for you about that as I pray for wisdom and discernment for myself.
ReplyDeleteIt's always a hard thing trying to figure out what to do when things come my way. I often agonize over whether the thing before me is an opportunity or a distraction. Still figuring it out!
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