How are you doing?  2020 has been an interesting year, wouldn't you agree?

I did something this year that I thought that I would never do.

I signed up for a group coaching membership.  Yep, I did.  The past few years have been difficult and I have really been struggling with trying to figure it all out.  So I had to try something.  And in my typical fashion I had to do something that was somewhat anonymous.  The group is big enough that you can attend and not be seen, but you get all of the teaching.  And this works perfectly for me, and I have been learning a lot.  I am so thankful that I put aside my preconceived ideals and make this investment in myself.  

What could have been a very difficult year - that continued to spiral downward, has become a year of healing that I am so thankful for.

​Are you taking time to invest in you?  It is really important that you do.  I carried some baggage around for far too long, and I wasn't taking care of my health - I just kind of let everything go.  This is not a good place to live your life.

Making active choices to live intentionally is where we all need to be.

I have made a variety of changes in my life and part of it includes the environment that I live in and how I start my day.  I am going to share a bit of that with you.

I have been following Yoga with Adriene on YouTube for years.  I am not a big fan of public displays of exercise, I like the comfort of my own home.  I start my diffuser with a relaxing scent, play some relaxing music (which for me is jazz), lay down my yoga mat and spend 30 minutes relaxing and stretching.  It is an amazing way to start my day. 

​Now that I am working from home I have more time in the mornings because I no longer have the commute.  Yoga helps clear my mind, stretches out the muscles that ache from the night (which seem to be increasing year by year) and gets me motivated to take on my day!

Yoga for Writers is a favourite of mine.  I like the stretching with a little bit of core.

king the time to invest in my mental wellness has so important.  

I created the My Journey journal years ago and it keeps evolving and become something that is a huge part of my life.  It is my weekly check in with myself and has become a place where I can see my journey unfold and give myself more grace in my journey.

If you are interested in checking it out for yourself all you have to do it CLICK HERE to download your free journal.

2020 is year that I will always remember and I am thankful that I used this time as a positive experience.  It is so easy to get sucked into a negative environment - and it happens.  But you don't have to stay there.  You get to choose, I really hope that you will join me as we choose to end 2020 well.

I am just overflowing with emotions.  I don't know if it is the change of seasons, the state of the world or the mid-40's - but I overly affected and emotional about the events going on around me.  

Mentoring has always been something that is so heavy on my heart that it pains me to see opportunities lost and the pain and silent suffering of those who needed that interaction in their life.

A young man that I knew committed suicide in our community.  This is becoming too common and is not something that is talked about.  And that just makes me mad!  I am sorry for this family and their loss and that this is the choice that he made, as well as the other families in the community who have lost a loved on this way.  But we need to get our heads out of the sand and see that this is becoming a problem and we need to help our youth.  Why are they even considering this as an option?

As I look at this trend in my community I wonder who are the people that are involved in their lives, who comes across their path that could make a difference?  When given that nudge in our spirit to say a word of encouragement do we choose to make the effort or do we continue on with our busy schedules?

As I am being consciously aware of my responsibility as outlined in Titus 2, I am noticing more opportunities crossing my path daily!  It makes me wonder how many opportunities I may have missed.  As I looked at the picture of this young boy the thought kept running through my head, "What are we as the “church” doing?”  I do not mean that big building on the corner I mean those of us who are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ doing in our daily lives? 
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Scripture tells us to become more Christ-like.  I heard an interesting description from Matt Chandler from The Village Church as I was listening to a podcast.  He was talking about when Jesus was instructing his disciples to go and make disciples.  The word “go” in the context is passive.  It means as you go about your day-to-day make disciples.

I see it the same with mentoring, as you go about your day be an example of Jesus Christ.  The church doesn’t need another program, we as followers of Jesus need to actively live our lives for the greater good.
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I see so much hurt in the lives of teen girls today.  I often ask myself what I am doing about it?  Am I living up to what God has instructed me in Titus 2?  Do the young women today aspire to be women of God?  Why or Why not?
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I am asking myself a lot of questions that are burning on my mind these days - What I have been finding in my own life is that I am too busy.  That I busy myself doing things with my family, with friends, work, etc.  But I leave little to no room for opportunities to be a positive example in the life of someone that God has placed before me.

In order to fulfill our calling in Titus we all need to “make” the time and be open to any opportunity that sets itself in front of us.  The word mentoring doesn’t always mean taking someone out for coffee once a week.  A new term that is being used is “lifestyle mentoring” which is more of what I am thinking about.  That we be open to sharing our lives with those that enter our path as we go about our day to day.

Take a few minutes today to read through Titus 2 and may you start to become aware to whatever opportunity may cross your path.

We spend so much of our life listening to what others are trying to tell us and teach us.  At age 5 we are sitting in class learning the basics, we continue on through grade after grade building on the basics.  Our parents help us to grow in character, our Church feeds into our spiritual life and the media we are constantly surrounded with gives us all kinds of messages.  With all this knowledge and input all around us sometimes it feels like our head may explode.

Over the past few years I have been trying to escape this life craziness and figure out what is important in my life.  I thought about the relationships in my life: my husband, my daughters, my extended family and my friends.  I thought about my Church, my involvement at my daughter’s school and my neighbourhood.  Just like most people, I have a lot going on; where do I put my focus?

The answer is so simple that often times we take it for granted.  The most important thing in our life needs to be our relationship with Christ.  Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it.  Depending how you look at it, it is pretty easy but in today’s society we really complicate it.

Imagine what life could look like if we put our relationship with Christ over everything else.  Life would be easy, not a care or worry in the world.  WRONG!

Once you give control over to Christ you never know what could happen.  He will choose to grow and develop your character when it may not be on your schedule.  Time is required to develop your relationship with your Creator.  Think about relationships in your own life, the people you know the best.  How did that happen?  By investing time to get to know the person.  The same is with Christ, you need to spend time with Him studying His Word, meditating on His Word, journaling about His Word, talking with other followers about His Word and choosing to be silent to hear that still small voice. (1 Kings 19:22)  Sounds pretty easy, right?

I have been listening to an audio version of the book of Acts.  The beginnings of the early church are so exciting for me.  To see the leading of God in people’s lives, the choice to be obedient and the miracles that happened in the lives of believers.  The apostles did not have an easy time but they remained steady in what they were required to do.  Personally, I believe that, that is only possible when you have your priorities right.  Your relationship with Christ is above all else and believe it or not, everything will feel like it is falling into place.  

Things in life may not always turn out the way that we want or how we expect but what is necessary for God’s plan. 
  
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 

Life is full of chaos and noise. It has gotten to the point where we are afraid of quiet. The art of 'Being Still'. Whenever there is quiet our thoughts take over and those thoughts can scare us sometimes. So we keep adding to our lives. 

Tonight my girls were outside playing so I finished up the dishes and thought I would go and sit down and rest for a few minutes. While I was sitting down to relax I turned on the TV to watch the news, then I remembered that I hadn't read the paper today. When I finished the paper I picked up my cell phone and checked Instagram and then started to play a game on it.  Then all of a sudden I realized what I was doing.  I had planned to sit down and relax for a few minutes and now I was bombarding my brain into overload. Why do we willingly do this to ourselves?

It is time my friends, to embrace quietness and stillness and learn to just 'Be'. It takes time and practice - it will not be easy for me - I can tell you that! But it is something that I know I need to do.

The first step is to find a place where you can find quiet.  Also, if you have children that would include a time as well. I have friends who get up at obscene hours in the morning just to guarantee their quiet time. I am not a morning person.  I get up because of necessity to take care of my family. I like dusk, the girls have quieted down for the night and I have time to think about my activities of the day - the conversations that took place - and ponder "What did I learn today?"

Use those precious moments during your day to pause and "Be Still". I am told that your quality of life will increase dramatically. Life throws so much at us each day, I want to be able to treasure those moments of silence and solitude, and use them to become a better wife, mother and friend.