New Year, New Me...??

I have always been inspired by the phrase "New Year, New You". I have taken it as permission to try something new, to become someone that I have always wished to be or to simply become better than I am.

However, for some reason or another, I am now a bit bothered by this phrase as today starts another new year. Why is it that toward the end of each year, I look back and feel just a small sense of inspiration but most of all, I feel a sense of failure and frustration???

I think back to the things that I told myself that I would accomplish or complete, dedicate energy to and that I wanted to overall become a "better" person. Why do we continue to tell ourselves that we have to be a "new" person when we should just focus on being who we already are?

I am not against setting goals for yourself (which I am terrible at doing) or saying that there are things that could be improved or focused upon for the upcoming year. I am merely saying that we don't have to become someone NEW to become what we are intended to be.

I wholeheartedly believe that we are meant to live a certain life, to come across certain people, to make a difference in a way that no one else possibly could, but this is all because of the person that you already are, not the person you think you should become.

I don't think we need to focus on becoming someone "new" but merely remind ourselves that we are already someone and need to be that and that only.

New phrase for myself: New Year, New Outlook on You

A time for thanks...

I have come across many people who have been doing the "30 days of Thanksgiving" this past month or those that have listed things that they are thankful for as the season approaches and reminds us of those things that make us who we are and why we should be thankful.

You often see things like family, friends, husband, wife, children, job (if you are so lucky), material belongings, good health, God and so much more. It is often a reflection of the life of the person sharing and offers a great insight into their everyday joys as well as sometimes even their struggles.

Now, I do realize that this might cause a bit of a stir or even confusion. During this holiday season, I have been often reminded that I am TRULY thankful for one thing: ME

Sounds quite vain, do you say? Now don't get me wrong, I am thankful for many things and people in my life and I am often reminded that I am not always deserving of all that I have been blessed with on a daily basis.

However, I challenge you to try and follow me as I work through this thought of being thankful for MYSELF...

I am thankful that I am a mother to two beautiful girls. I am thankful that I am the type of mother that will put my own goals and ego aside to make sure that my girls are provided for and loved upon in a way that they will never feel from any other human being, being that I am the only mother that they have.

I am thankful that I am a stepmother to two boys who have been some of the most challenging aspects of my life. I am thankful that I have learned to be more patient and have put in the time and effort often times needed for a relationship between myself and them to even be possible.

I am thankful that I am a loving wife. Without my ability to love him, my husband would have never known the idea or feeling of non negotiable love that two people can feel for one another.  I believe this leads him to be a better man in many ways.

I am thankful that I am a person that pays attention to detail as well as has overall ideas of the big picture. I am thankful that I have learned ways to better budget for our family, so that we may continue to enjoy a beautiful home and other things in life that we may not otherwise be able to afford.

I am thankful that I have had the strength to face many obstacles and to help educate people in what it means to be a strong woman, even though that may not always fit into the "mold" that they have formulated in their minds.

I am thankful that I am a hardworking and driven individual, so that many have felt the impact of my determination and passion for all things in my community.

I am thankful that I am a person that constantly seeks the desire to have a relationship with my Creator, so that many can see the wonderful things that can come from having a spiritual life, although not always perfect.  Which goes along with the fact that I am thankful that I am a person willing to be honest and open with others, so as to make a positive impacts in lives that I may touch in some way.

Most of all, I am thankful that I am ME. I am thankful that I can recognize the good during the bad, that I can constantly learn ways to love myself and be open to the idea that I am here for a greater purpose than just that which I feel to be true.

I am ME and just that is enough to be thankful for...

Quite a project for a "DAY OFF"!

Whew! That was quite the "day off" project!

Thanks to my wonderful hubby for putting up the closet system and then a quick trip to the store for the bins and ALOT of organizing, I think we have finally conquered the mess of my toddler's bedroom!

As you can see, her room was always usually a mess and we only really had two bins (the dark brown ones that you see) for all of her toys.

Here is a view of her closet.  What unused space!!  I would get so frustrated because I wasn't able to use the shelf at all for much and then when I asked her to go and get dressed, she couldn't reach her clothes (which is one of her daily sticker chart "responsibilities")

So my mind overflowed with ideas and I remembered that we had one of those closet systems in our old house that luckily, we saved!! 

With a couple of hours and a few additions later, here is what we came up with!

I was able to put her clothes down low, so she can get to them. The dark brown bins now hold her pajamas and her socks/underwear for easy access.  We then went to our local Target and got a bunch of fabric bins (8 to be exact), which included 2 "decorative" bins that add some character**

** These bins are nice, as they have a magnetic part where the shape is, so little hands can go right in there and get what is wanted and then it snaps shut!

She also has a surplus of stuffed animals, so I went through and picked the "nicer" ones and put them on the top shelf for when she gets older.

As you can see, she loves her new closet (as does Mommy) and she said "Ta Da" when I took the picture!! Do I sense a future "organizer"???  :)

Now, the trick is to keep it organized!!!


Note: We did already have the closet system on hand, so were able to save some money on that.  However, the bins were about $6.99-$10.00 each, so we did have to spend a little money on those.  I have been saving up and also plan on getting a Bean Bag chair but then her room will be complete and ready for playtime, FINALLY!!

Inspirationally Inspirational...

I apologize that it has taken me so long to put up another "Inspirationally Inspirational" person in our local community, but I wanted to do this correctly and wanted to make sure that I am representing those that I treasure and find to be inspirational to not only me, but many others around me.

Michael and I have been attending church for the past few years and finally found something that we think works for our family and we are so overjoyed that we are regularly surrounded with loving people, who love to speak about and worship the name of our Lord.
Although our daughter is still young and our boys never took a liking to attending church with us on a regular basis, we have come to appreciate the Youth pastor at our church and I find her to truly be an “inspirationally inspiration” person in our local community!

Her name is Elizabeth Bjorling and here is a little about her:

Elizabeth grew up in West Central Illinois on a farm. She feels that she had an amazing childhood with loving and incredibly creative parents. She was super involved in high school and went on to earn her undergraduate degree from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL.  It was during her time at Olivet that she feels that she really began to discern what God was calling her to do! She went on to do an internship with inner city kids in Battle Creek, Michigan and God changed forever changed her heart. She began full time as the Youth and Children’s Minister at Savoy United Methodist Church caring for students ages 0-18 for 2 years and then God called to her to College Church of the Nazarene. She has served at College Church for the last 9.5 years as the Preteen and Jr. High Pastor with 5-8 grade students.

Here is the best part of her job and learning what an impact she has made on local and area youth:
Some of her favorite memories have been watching the transformation in the hearts and lives of our local youth as they encounter God’s love for the very first time! Each year she looks forward to creating environments and experiences for students to invite their friends to, helping them learn how to serve others by taking students and Parents on Mission Trips, retreating to encounter God with group of spiritually hungry students, creating cardboard villages for sleeping outside to raise money for the homeless, and having milkshakes with students and parents to talk about the big and small decisions in life! She also mentored 12 university students as interns each year, which means there are so many now out in the field serving Jesus on a full time basis and all over the world!

Accomplishments as Youth Pastor:
More than 35 students accepted Jesus every year! More than 50 rededicated their lives to him each year. And over 10 of them were baptized each year. In 9.5 years, that is a lot of students and parents who have made remarkable decisions and Elizabeth is so humbled to be part of each one!

Personal Accomplishments:
Wrote and published a curriculum for Preteens/ Jr. Highers called Wired for Word Action
Graduated with my masters in religion
Was ordained as an elder in the Church of the Nazarene
Published several articles in Grace and Peace Magazine
Served undercover as a lunch monitor at Bourbonnais Upper Grade for 4 years

Future Plans:
Elizabeth will be the Executive Director and primary speaker for HagahMinistries. Hagah is an exciting new ministry that will do one day conferences around the country for students focusing on helping them get into the word of God and devour it like a hungry lion! In addition, she will also be pursuing a Ph.D.

Favorite Scripture: According to the message “ But now, God’s Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel; “Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. You are mine. When you are in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you are in rough waters, you will not go down. When you are between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end- Because I am God, your personal God, the Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in! That’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you!  I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.” Isaiah 43:1-4.

Pastor Elizabeth, we wish you the best in ALL that you do and I will forever miss her bright and warming smile around this community!

For more information on Elizabeth, CLICK HERE

A True Inspiration

 
The honors of the first person in my series- A True Inspiration goes to...

 Danielle Dugan
(who happens to also be my sister)

Over the past year, Danielle has chosen a path in life that maybe wasn't the necessarily "popular" choice among some, which included the choice to raise her son as what would be considered to be a single mother. In the midst of that, she also helped someone run for political office who she whole-heartedly believed in and was confronted with the often nasty side of politics and the behavior of many during election time (which is definitely NOT pretty). In the midst of all of that, she has decided that her health is of importance and has since lost 80lbs and continues to go to the gym throughout the week, taking time for herself and her well-being, which has not always been a priority in her life.

When asked, she said that her goals include becoming even healthier and losing more weight while continuing to be a mother who provides for her son and continues to show him that he is number one in her life.

Danielle, you are truly an inspiration!

God will provide...

"We walk by faith, not by sight.". 2 Corinthians 5:7 Why is it so hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that there is something out there that I can base my life around and that can help me through the daily trials and to recognize those things that are of great worth? As I sat through a service at church today, I was reminded that my faith is something that fluctuates WAY more than I like it to. It is something that I fit into my life when it is convenient. It is something that I struggle with due to the fact that I am a "planner" by nature and want nothing more but to see a clear picture of what it is that is planned for my life... But is this how I would like for it to truly be? Would I want to know what it looks like or would it cause me to only plan even more and drive myself crazy in the process? I was fortunate enough to listen to a story told by Brittany Leslie, a missionary alongside her husband and children in Africa and part of our church family. She talked about her childhood and how she longed for stability and then her adventure through adolescence and then college. How, at the age of 6, she was "called" by God to be a missionary and how she was relentlessly pursued by His love throughout her entire life, even when she did not see it. She went on to get married, have a child, move to Africa, have two more children and then go into a depression that she could not understand. However, she knew that her purpose in life was to walk by faith, not by sight ... If only I could learn to do the same... My goal this week is to remember that my service is for His purpose (last week's reflection) and to try and just remain quiet, walk by faith and stop trying to "see" everything that my own self wants to see, rather than what He wants me to see... "Walk by faith,not by sight.". 2 Corinthians 5:7

Sunday Spirit...

I have decided that I will start each week with a prayer/devotional that has something to do with my own struggles and possibly the struggles of others.... I am not sure if it will touch others in any way, but I do know that I would like to remind myself that God is with me each and every moment of my days and nights and that he truly does love me, even when I might not take the time to listen to or see him. The following is a prayer taken from a book that I own and sits by my bed, but rarely is read or looked at... Godliness with contentment is great gain. 1Timothy6:6 Lord, sometimes I see great gain as something to be obtained from wordly achievement. I praise my children for this rather than their faith in You. Sometimes I long to hear the praise of people for the job that I do when I should be concerned with doing what pleases You. Show me how to be a godly woman, how to have true contentment that comes from service to You. Help me to reinforce in my home the need to be satisfied with doing Your will, whatever that may be. WOW! Ain't that a kick in the pants! I greatly needed that reminder that what I am doing is in service to God. The reason I get up and go to work each morning should not be to get caught up in all of the drama or to serve those who I might be so bitter about but to serve a God that loves me and reminds me that he will never give me more than I can handle. Remind me of this God.... You would never allow me to suffer without a plan, cause I am struggling here! Remind me that I do have a purpose and You will not allow me to fail,acording to Your standards, not the standards of the world...

"You shall walk after the Lord your God and (reverently) fear Him... And obey His voice" (Deuteronomy 13:4)

Is it so easy to obey everything that God says? If we truly hear His voice, then we are told that we will live a life of abundance and fulfillment.

Does anyone else consider themselves to be "practical" and how does this balance with doing with He plans for our lives and being obedient while also being obedient to our own families?

Word for today: Listen, discern and obey boldly

How about I start with a conversation with Him-- that might help!

Source: Hearing from God each morning, Joyce Meyer