Category: Faith and Inspiration

What’s Love Got to do with It

Love is an amazing, beautiful, wonderful, mysterious, adventurous thing. It instantly changes an atmosphere. It creates a safe space and a warmth. It births intimacy, both physically and emotionally. Love is empowering- when you know you are loved, you feel as if anything is possible. You feel strong and beautiful and at peace. Love means trust. I honestly don’t think you can have love and not have trust. When you love someone, you will go to the ends of the earth to make sure they are taken care of- that they have everything they need and that they are safe. When someone you love is happy, it makes you happy. When they are hurting, you hurt. When they are sad, you feel sad. When they are angry, part of you feels angry as well. There is such a special bond between people who love each other- be it family, friends, or lovers. Growing up, I loved love. I could sit and watch romantic movies or read romantic books till the cows came home. It was just so beautiful to me. I loved the feeling I got from seeing two people so in love that they would do anything for each other. I loved seeing real life love, too. I had and continue to have a beautiful example of love between my parents and grandparents. I loved seeing couples interact with one another. Seeing true friendships with a foundation of love made my heart happy. Watching a parent’s unwavering love for their child warmed my heart. As I’ve grown older and become married myself, I, too, have been able to experience the wonder that is love. It’s hard to think of a love greater than the love I have for my husband. But I know it’s out there. In fact, I get to experience it every day.

See, when I think of how much I love my family and my husband, and how much I am loved by them, I can’t help but think of how much more God loves me. The love between God and his children is the greatest love story of all. Even when we go back to the old testament, before grace replaced the law, we see His love for us. We see it in His creating Adam and Eve. Again in his warning to Noah, and the promise He made after the flood. Abraham experienced it with the birth of Isaac. Moses saw it time and time again, even in the wilderness. David saw the love of God at every turn in his life, from shepherding as a young boy to being king of Israel. Daniel saw it when he was delivered from the lion’s den, and Jonah from the belly of the whale. Then we move on to the New Testament, and right off the bat, God gives us the greatest show of His love this world will ever experience. He loved us so much that he sent His only Son to endure all of the sin that had ever been and will ever be, and to die on the cross for us. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we get to experience an abundant, grace filled, love filled, everlasting life! How crazy a love is that!? We not only get the amazing examples of love that the Bible gives us through the old testament and the new testament in Jesus, and Paul, and Silas, and Timothy, and John, and all of the miracles that Jesus performed, but we get to experience this love and greater on a daily basis. Every second of every day is filled with the extravagant, unending, unwavering, love of God.

Even more so, when we think of the effects of our love on other people’s lives or vice versa, how much greater, then, is the effect of God’s love in and through our lives? God’s love is what raises the dead to life. It heals the sick and broken. It brings joy and peace and strength and healing, and salvation. In His love we find hope, and vision, and restoration. When being examples of God’s love becomes our sole ambition, we become unstoppable. As a result, when we offer ourselves to be the vessels and conduits of God’s love on the earth, we possess the power to change atmospheres through the power of His love.

Why then, do we feel we have the right to disregard this love? We fear things and become anxious as if God isn’t in control. We become depressed as if we don’t have an unending supply of joy. We feel alone as if we don’t have the Holy Spirit that sticks closer than a brother. We act out in anger as if Jesus isn’t our peace. We mistreat others as if God hasn’t called us to love one another.  Worst of all, we become prideful and think we can do this thing by ourselves, when in reality, we desperately need the love, grace, joy, and peace of God. Can you imagine what we would accomplish as a church if we fully grasped the concept of God’s love for us? We would be able to set aside our selfishness and our prideful ambition, and fully chase after the things of God. I believe our generation is one encounter with God’s love away from a total and complete reckless abandon of our selfish ambition and prideful ways. We are one encounter away from an abandonment of our own wills and saying, “God, I don’t care what it looks like, or where you take me, or what I have to go through.” This is because we know that our God’s love is so vast and beautiful that it will carry us through even the darkest and lowest places. Our revelation of God’s love is so very crucial. It is the key to unleashing Heaven on earth. Our being yielded to God’s love is the key to His Kingdom come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Today I would encourage you to take a look at your life. Look at the people you come in contact with and influence. I don’t care if it’s for 5 minutes on the bus or train, or if it’s someone you live with. Analyze your interactions with them- have you really been showing the love of God? Trust me, I know this can be difficult, because life isn’t all cotton candy and gumdrops. People can be mean and nasty, and you don’t always want to show them the love. But ask yourself, what do you stand to lose by loving people? I can guarantee it’s nowhere near what you have to gain.

 

XOXO

ELK

Monday Funday

Happy Monday, y’all! Yes, I did just use “happy” and “Monday” in the same sentence. If you are anything like 99.9% of the rest of the entire world, you dread Mondays. You probably saw several “Monday’s suck” type posts on social media, or made one yourself. I get it. Your two sacred days of rest, relaxation, cleaning, organizing, or whatever you consider to be “me time” have blown right by, and it’s time to get back to the grind again. It can be a daunting task to look at. Mondays generally start the 5 day countdown to the weekend, and it’s a never-ending cycle.

If you haven’t learned yet, I love a good paradigm shift! That being said, let’s shift some paradigms and dive into some ideas on how to make Mondays a little more enjoyable. The following seven tips are things that I do my darnedest to accomplish in order to set my week up for success. I would say I hit at least 5 of these on an average week, and I’ve seen a noticeable shift in my stress levels since applying them. Let’s get started!

1) Mind Control

We live in a super negative world. We also live in a very lazy world. I’m convinced these two things are the reasons we have this hatred for Mondays in our current culture. We will find anything and everything to be negative about, and we want to live in a never-ending weekend state. I hate to break it to ya, sweetheart, but that’s a super unrealistic expectation of life. We look at the beginning of the week as a bad thing when in fact it presents a whole new host of opportunities. This a chance for you to wipe your slate clean from all of last week’s blunders, set new goals, and achieve new feats. Every Monday is the start of something new! Look at it as a new adventure- what will you see, do, think, dream, and create this week. Who will you meet and where will you go? Don’t take for granted this opportunity to change the world. Not everyone will get another Monday. Don’t look at Mondays as a start to a mundane week- they deserve more credit than that. Take some time to pray over your week ahead. Make declarations that this will be the best week yet, that God is for you, that you have the mind of Christ, that you have a spirit of peace… the list goes on and on!

2) Proper Preparation

Here come my favorite “5 P’s” again- Proper Planning (Preparation) Prevents Poor Performance. Monday morning is not the time to scramble at the last-minute and run around like a chicken with you head cut off. For your sake, and for the sake of those around you, take some time on Sunday afternoon/ evening to prep for your week ahead. Don’t stay out too late, do some meal prep, double and triple check your 15 alarms set in 5 minute increments (I’m not the only one, right?), make sure your home is tidy, and pick out a cute outfit you will look forward to wearing. This will all eliminate potential stress factors from your Monday, and in turn, your week as a whole.

3) Start Off On the Right Foot

It’s everyone’s famous saying, “I’ll start that on Monday”. Well, honey, Monday is HERE! If you said your diet starts today, do whatever you need to do to make sure that happens. If you said you’d exercise on Monday, do it. If you said you would start getting more organized on Monday, just do it! There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment you get when you do what you said you would do, when you said you’d do it. Imagine starting off your week with that feeling- you’ll be unstoppable! Do whatever it takes to get there. Even if it’s just a small step, it’s a step nevertheless.

4) Create Weekday “Me Time”

It can be really difficult to find quiet time during the week. My favorite way to do this is my morning routine. I am usually up an hour or two before my husband , so this time is pretty much guaranteed to be by myself (not that i don’t love time with Jon-Paul, but alone time is vital for a successful marriage- more on that next Sunday) A good, solid morning routine is a huge key to success. It is another way to eliminate stress from your week, especially if you are making it enjoyable! Get up, wash your face, do your skincare routine, work out, drink your tea or coffee, do your devotions, listen to some praise and worship, etc. I always feel SO much more fulfilled and accomplished when I do the things I set out to do. You will actually have MORE energy by doing these things. Make this your “me” time during the week!

5) Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

If you let every little thing get to you during your week, you might spontaneously combust. Is it just me, or does it seem like 70% of things that go wrong during the week happen on Mondays. Someone cuts you off, you spill your coffee down the front of you, you get a flat, or worse, you get pulled over. Yes, these things SUCK, but no, it is not the spirit of Monday out to get you. It’s life and once it happens, there is nothing you can do to change the fact that these sucky things took place . The only thing you have control of is your attitude in response to these events, and how you choose to learn from your crappy event. Spilled coffee? Chances are you were rushing. Someone cuts you off, don’t flip them the bird. Chill out. Get pulled over, leave on time and don’t speed! Hit traffic? Take some time to pray. There is a positive perspective and solution for every problem, but your attitude and response to these situations will determine the outcome and success.  

6) Take 30 Minutes to an Hour at Work to Plan Out the Rest of Your Work Week.

If you’re anything like me, you have a legal pad for every topic. My favorite one is my to-do list legal pad. Every Monday when I get into work, I get a couple of quick things done, then create a list of things I have to get done that week, including the 2 or three things I already did. I automatically get to cross those off with an amazing feeling of satisfaction. It helps motivate me to get everything on that list crossed out. If I have time, I even write out a personal version of that list. I live by lists. They keep me accountable and organized, and keep me from forgetting to do things in a job where there are always things to do!

7) Plan Something Enjoyable When You Get Home from Work

What makes a day more exciting than having something to anticipate when you get home! Save a show on DVR to watch. Try out a new recipe for dinner (or throw something in the crock pot in the morning! You’ll be excited to get home and see how it turned out). Plan a family game or movie night. Have yourself a bubble bath for some quiet time to wind down from the day. Any time you start to catch a case of the Mondays, just remember what you have waiting at home for you. I try to keep the exciting event at the end of the day at home rather than going out. If you start your week out exhausted, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Mondays do not have to suck. The last half of your Sunday should not be filled with stress for the week to come and your week as a whole should not be a countdown to the weekend- savor every bit of your week- even Mondays!

Hold On

First of all, if you haven’t already started singing “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips, I don’t know that we can be friends. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s move on, shall we?

I love reading. I can really read anything, but nothing gets me like a good love story, particularly forbidden love. I read Romeo and Juliet in 7th grade, and from there, I was hooked. In fact, I faked being sick one day so I could stay home from school and read Twilight. Needless to say, I was “miraculously” healed when my mom got home, and I didn’t miss another day for the rest of the year. There is just something so magical about books. I love being given creative license to envision the characters however I want. I love picturing how they interact in their conversations and picking up on tones in the dialogue that help you capture the true meaning of the story. Dialogue is my favorite to read. It’s so much fun to try to envision the conversation taking place. This is why reading whole chapters made up of only narrative,  with absolutely no dialogue,  is almost enough for me to put the book down for a bit, if not altogether. But, it’s what happens in between the dialogue, the narrative,  that’s so important! That’s where you really learn who the characters are and where the story is going. There is so much vital information in the action and the narrative.

This is so similar to the not so fun parts of life. Life can suck. And it usually starts to suck right after an amazing event or season. So you’re coming out of this amazing season and you’re pumped and ready for what’s next, and then BAM! Life’s like, “Oh! You’re really happy? Let’s fix that- you’re laid off!” Or you go through a bad breakup or divorce. Or your car breaks down. Or you have a loss in your family. You should get it now- there’s a lot of storms that can come and rain on your parade, and these storms tend to not be very fun. However, what they lack in fun, they make up for in experience. There is something important waiting for you in that stormy season, or God wouldn’t allow you to go through it. He may not cause the storm, but He can absolutely use it to better you. Often times, the information and experience gained in the season of storms is necessary for the following season of sunshine- just like the narrative of a book. If you were to only read the dialogue of the book, you would be extremely lost. That’s the same with seasons of life! If you were to just jump from good season to good season, you would miss out on so much knowledge!

One of mine and my husband’s favorite TV shows is The Office. He has seen it about 9 time through, and I’m working on number 4. It’s one of the funniest, wittiest, most stupid and awkward tv shows you will ever watch, except for season 1. Season one is mostly just awkward and kind of horrible. Honestly, how it got renewed after season 1, I’m not quite sure, but thank God it did! I mean, it’s not that is completely horrible, it’s just boring. In fact, 4 years before my husband and I got together, another friend of mine tried to get me to watch it and I only watched 3 episodes and was done. So for four years, FOUR YEARS, I was missing out on one of the greatest comedies ever all because of ONE SEASON! I was so caught up on how bad and boring that season was, that I refused to keep pushing through it to witness the comedic genius that is The Office. We do this all too often in life. We approach a hard season, dip our big toe in the water, and immediately back off because it’s not what we expected. We get so caught up in the stormy season and how uncomfortable it is, that we retreat rather than pushing forward to see what God has for us on the other side! Even more so, we miss out on the vital information that awaits us in the storm! While season one of The Office may not be the most exciting or funny season, there is important information in it that you need to get in order to understand the other 8 seasons.

We see something similar to this in the Bible in Matthew 14:22-33. You are probably very familiar with this story- It’s the one where Jesus walks on water. I guess you could say it’s pretty popular. A little background on this story- Jesus and his disciples have just finished feeding the 5,000. They are pumped. They are like, “Heck yeah, I’m totally with Jesus. This dude just took a few fish and loaves of bread and fed 5,000 people- not including women and children, He’s the bomb.” The Bible says in verse 22, “As soon as the meal was finished, he insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he dismissed the people.” So, as soon as this amazing event was done, Jesus told the disciples that they needed to go ahead because he needed to rest and pray. It goes on to say in verse 24, “Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against them and they were battered by the waves.” We can kind of parallel this to our lives. As we move from one season to the next, a storm arises and we freak. We’re like “Oh my gosh, God, where are you?! You sent me into this next season and now it’s storming??? How could you?!” But, what’s so cool about this story is Jesus was with them in their darkest hour, and Peter stepped out in faith and walked on water. We have all been taught the lesson of “not taking your eyes of Jesus or you’ll drown”, but I think there is an even better lesson in this verse. The response the disciples give in verse 32 and 33 after seeing Jesus and Peter walk on water makes me giggle a bit. 32-33 The two of them climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. The disciples in the boat, having watched the whole thing, worshiped Jesus, saying, “This is it! You are God’s Son for sure!” They said, “You’re the Son of God for sure”, like they hadn’t had enough proof before that! As if they hadn’t seen him cleanse the leper, heal the centurion leader, heal Peter’s own mother, cast out demons, and for goodness sake, they just saw Him feed 5,000+ people!

We do this so very often in our own lives. We have seen God do amazing things in our lives, but when times get tough, we doubt that He will show up. It’s like we forget all of the other things Has done because our focus in on the severity of the storm. But, if we would just shift our focus back to God, we would see that He is so much bigger than any storm we face! My pastor always says It’s not over until God says it’s good. So if the situation you are in isn’t good, then your story isn’t over! Don’t give the enemy permission to end your story on a bad note. You cannot give up just because this chapter isn’t as good as the others. You have to give God the chance to make it good! Like the song says:

Some day somebody’s gonna make you want to

Turn around and say goodbye

Until then baby are you going to let them

Hold you down and make you cry

Don’t you know?

Don’t you know things can change

Things’ll go your way

If you hold on for one more day

Can you hold on for one more day

Things’ll go your way

Hold on for one more day

You just have to hold on and keep fighting and pushing! Take advantage of this storm. Learn all you can from it, and watch God show off in your life by turning it all around for you.

 

XOXO

ELK

Quit Hating the Waiting

We have all been there- sitting in line in the drive through for what seems like an eternity, or sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, where said doctor is running half an hour or more behind, or waiting for that package of new somethings to show up, or waiting for God to bring the right man or woman into our lives or to take us to the next step in our journey. Let’s be honest, often times the perspective that today’s world has is that waiting SUCKS. I find myself in the place pretty much every day, waiting on someone to answer my email so I can move forward with my work, or waiting at a stoplight for fifty-thousand minutes when I’m running late. It never stops. It is so easy to hate your state of waiting. I love to look at things I ‘hate’ or struggle with in my life and evaluate them from different perspectives. There is one thing in my life that I have been waiting on for a very long time. I have prayed and fasted and done everything I know how to do, all to what seems to be no avail. A few weeks ago I was thinking about this particular thing, and I began to feel genuine hatred for it. Not the person involved or the choices made, but the situation in general. I was getting angry with God for not fixing this situation after my many desperate cries and many tears shed. Then my BFF, Holy Spirit, put me in check real quick. For you to get this statement, you have to get an idea of how I hear the good ol’ HS. God knows what we respond to in our minds. He DID create us after all. So in my mind, my “conscience” or the Holy Spirit speaks to me like an old Southern Belle. Judge away, but God knows this is what I respond to, because, in my mind, what’s more stern yet loving than a Southern Grandma?! ANYWAY, the Holy Spirit said “Honey, you have got to stop hating your waiting.” 
HELLO!!!!!
Now, for those who know me, you know that I am not one to just back down and say “Okay, you’re right! I’ll just let this go and life will be lemon drops and lollipops!” I sometimes wish this were my attitude, but it’s not. I immediately went into my stubborn arguments of “Yeah, that’s easy for you to say! You aren’t the one waiting!” To which Holy Spirit replied, “Umm, yes I am! I am waiting on you!” 
HELLO!!!!! (again) 
At this point I decided it was best to listen, and I started digging in the Word. The Bible has no shortage of truths about patience. It’s a freaking Fruit of the Spirit, for Heaven’s sake! There is POWER in your PATIENCE (Proverbs 16:23). Anyone can get angry or fly off the handle, or even throw in the towel and call it quits. But it takes true strength to preserver in the face of what can seem to be defeat. So with this new revelation, I asked God to speak to me some more. I felt Him say “I need you to stop seeing this as a ‘waiting season’ where you can’t do anything, and to start seeing it as a preparation season. And not just for you, but for everyone involved.” That was it- the change of perspective I need! Our culture has but such a negative stigma on the word “waiting”. Everything has to be fast and quick. Fast food, quick internet, quick service, fast speeds, everything has to be now, now, now. We live in a fast-paced life style. And if it’s not fast enough for us, you better believe someone, or everyone, is going to hear about it. There is a military saying that my dad used to tell me all the time. its called “The 5 P’s”,- Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance (try saying that 10 times fast). I now like to sub Preparation for Planning. Your preparation season is crucial to preventing poor performance when you do finally step into the season you’ve been waiting for! You can’t just take a toddler and throw them into the deep end of the pool and expect them to automatically know how to keep themselves afloat. You take them to swimming lessons and teach them the proper technique and how to distribute their weight to float. Then you teach them how to move their arms and legs to propel themselves forward. It doesn’t happen overnight. And some kids learn faster than others. Some kids have to conquer their fear of water from a past traumatic experience. Some kids have to develop their trust in the instructor who is holding them afloat until they learn to do it themselves. Some kids have to learn to let go of the side of the pool and get out of their comfort zone. Some kids have to get over how cold the water is and move past to discomfort. THIS is what your preparation season is for. It’s to help you get over past hurts and burns. It’s to teach you that you can’t do this all by yourself- You have to trust God and learn that He knows what He’s doing. You have to get out of your comfort zone and do things that aren’t comfortable for you. 
Patience is not always a fun task, but there is so much to be learned in your season of preparation. You learn how strong you are and how mighty our God is. You learn to be patient. And through your patience you learn one of the greatest truths of love. Love is patient (I Corinthians 13:1). It is in your season of preparation that you learn to be patient and love yourself and those around you. You learn to truly love the people or the place, or thing you are believing for, because let’s be honest- if you don’t love something, is it really worth the preparation and waiting? 
With all of that being said, It’s time for you to stop hating your waiting! Use this time to grow in you spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health. Strengthen your relationships. Love people. Your are in this season for a purpose (I purposefully didn’t use the word “reason” here to avoid the cheesy rhyme. I was tempted though!) That purpose is so much greater that just you! It impacts every person you come in contact with and you have complete control and responsibility for the impact you leave. Never be in such a rush that you forget to love.
XOXO 

ELK