Replenish: Sneak the Good Stuff in Through the Back Door!

I received an advanced copy of Lisa Grace Byrne’s new book, Replenish, for reviewing purposes earlier this summer, and have been wanting to share my thoughts on it with all of you…

A few months ago, I read that the best way to add a healthy habit into your life is to stop focusing on the junk you need to take out, and focus instead on how much good you can bring in. That way, as you fill your life with goodness, the junk will gradually get squeezed out, and will happen with less pain and discomfort!

The example used was eating more vegetables, and less junk food. When we focus on the guilt of how bad we’re eating, and make strict guidelines, we’re constantly thinking about how deprived and depressed we are. Instead, we could be choosing to celebrate all those awesome, healthy choices, and feel really good about what we’re adding to life, instead of what’s being taken away.

The thought has stuck with me, and so when I started reading Lisa Byrne’s new book Replenish, I was fascinated with her use of this strategy for moms who are feeling stressed, depleted, and exhausted. She suggests the need to bring balance in “through the back door” – instead of trying to get the stress under control, let’s rather bring in tools that grow a sense of calm, balance and rest. As we do this, we’ll equip ourselves to deal with the craziness, and eventually it will start to diminish. As we take steps to bring the calm in, we will notice the stress ease without needing to fight it head-on.

She writes about small, manageable steps that are easy to take, and she makes them sound so easy, so attainable, that I found myself willing to try strange, new things I’d never considered before. Suddenly, Lisa Byrne has me breathing in lavender oil to calm myself, or trying to get to bed a little earlier each night.

She writes about seven different ways in which we can bring in more balance: a calm mind, sovereign thoughts, a nourished body, restorative rest, joyful movement, anchored quiet, and authentic connection. As she focuses on each of these topics, she provides a list of simple, helpful, practical steps which can be easily included throughout the day.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, as I’ve enjoyed Lisa Byrne’s blog and many webinars over the last few years, and I was not disappointed with Replenish. Loved it.

I would recommend it to any mom who’s feeling tired, and needing some fresh ideas for getting rested up and refreshed!

Are you a fan of Lisa Byrne? Check out her blog here if you haven’t before!

A Book Review, and a Renewed Craving to Simplify!

Once upon a time, I was eighteen years old and ready to leave home.

I didn’t go far, having chosen to attend college half an hour away from where I grew up, but I still clearly remember the day I moved out.

My belongings were all packed into my parents’ vehicle, and I headed out to make my new “home” in a college dorm.

Back in those days, I didn’t need much to make a home. Life was simple in a lot of ways – as long as I had Christmas lights to tack up around the ceiling, and pictures to cover every inch of the walls in my room, I was happy.

Those days in dorm were rich with experiences and late night talks, and we all had such a sense of new-found freedom and independence.

Many moves later, with yet another fresh start recently behind me, I have thought a lot about what it takes to make a home. I have packed and unpacked hundreds of boxes, and faced countless decisions regarding which possessions are worth keeping, and which items win a free trip to the thrift store.

Gone are the days when the possessions I “need” to survive could be packed into a mini van.

Somewhere between 18 and the present, life has changed.

The gradual accumulation of “stuff” sneaks up undetected, and seems to explode suddenly in my face when life requires the corralling of belongings.

Because Ben and I have spent the last 10 years in youth ministry, those first years away from home never feel very far behind me. I watch young adults try the world on for size, listen to them share their thoughts and experiences, and connect with them in a way which keeps the memories fresh from that stage in my own life.

I love what my life has become, but every once in a while, I think about what I would have done differently, if I could go back.

I would do it simpler.

I would focus on what matters most.

I would recognize that sometimes, some Christmas lights and a few pictures go a long way.

This is why I am a huge fan of Joshua Becker.

He writes about getting back to the basics, and finding joy in the simple things. He is passionate about getting rid of anything that clutters up life, making it difficult to clearly see what is most important to us.

I discovered his blog, Becoming Minimalist, this last year, which hit exactly the right spot as I got our family ready to move, and was desiring to lighten our load. I’ve always been a fan of purging, but reading Joshua Becker’s books has opened my eyes to how great my need is when it comes to simplifying.

His latest book, Living With Less, specifically written for students, is about choosing a simple life style before the accumulation sneaks up on you. It’s a refreshing message in a time when the pressure to pursue more, instead of learning contentment with less, is constantly bombarding all of us, perhaps youth most of all.

Reading his book made me long for this very same information….twenty years ago.

I always intended to keep life simple, but somehow, I still ended up bringing 17 boxes to the thrift store before our last move. I’m not sure if I would have fully appreciated his wise words back then, but if I had, the U-haul trailer would have been much emptier…

Although this book is youth-focused, I appreciated the topics covered, and the timeless reminder to throw off materialism, enabling us to live more fully in the joy and simplicity of this present moment.

I received a copy of Living With Less for reviewing purposes, and am happy to say, I would recommend this book to anyone, student or older!

The book launches today, and if you’d like to read it, or wish to pass it on to someone younger you know who might appreciate some insights on simplifying life, you can visit his blog here to check out his book, and enjoy some of his fantastic posts while you’re at it! The Kindle version of Living With Less is available here.

Have fun reading!

I, on the other hand, am ready to hit my closet with great purging force!

When Dreams Are Marinating

Thanks so much to everyone for your comments and thoughts on dreams this week. It seems there are two main thoughts which keep surfacing: 1) It can be difficult to determine which dreams come from God, and which ones are our own, and 2) It can be difficult to wait on God to see those dreams fulfilled.

On Wednesday, I shared a few thoughts on clarifying which dreams come from God, and today, I want to talk about the dreams that require some waiting and patience!

Reading Heather‘s book, Dream Big, has gotten me thinking a lot about the balance between actively pursuing our dreams, and staying still while prayerfully waiting for the time of completion.

Over the last few years, I’ve gone through a number of experiences which felt as though God was teaching me about the art of waiting – to stop planning, and stop pursuing, and just learning to abide in Him.

This does not come naturally for me. I am a planner, and I like to be in control of my schedule and my life. Learning to let go of “The Plan” was difficult for me, and is something I wrote about in a blog series called, “Chucking the Five Year Plan” (Part 1, 2, 3, 4)

It has been an interesting challenge for me to process Heather’s thoughts and suggestions for having a one year, and five year plan, and being intentional about pursuing dreams. As I read her book, and worked through her exercises for coming up with a plan, I realized how much I’ve allowed myself to swing to the “No Plan” side of things, as I’ve tried to leave room for God to take the lead. I admire Heather’s wisdom in allowing God to do things in His time, while actively and intentionally preparing yourself to be ready for the time when He starts to move in more noticeable ways.

She writes,

When God plants His dreams in us, we often have to wait to see them fulfilled. However, this doesn’t mean we sit around watching TV, checking Facebook, and waiting for our big dreams to come knocking. There are little opportunities every day…that God uses to prepare us for our big dreams. If only we weren’t so easily distracted.

I know how tempting it can be to try to force our dreams to happen. I know how it feels to believe in something so much, to be so sure it is from God, and to be completely confused as to His timing and what He is doing to bring it about.

Sometimes, seeing ourselves in a time of preparation is a very difficult thing. Waiting for seemingly endless amounts of time can be very hard. I have not always faced my times of waiting, the seasons of “marinating” in my life, with as much grace and patience as I wish I had.

The most difficult season of waiting I have ever experienced was before Kaylia was born.

I had two amazing experiences when I felt as though God was clearly telling me we would someday have a baby girl. In the moment, those times were powerful, but by the next morning, doubts would always set in, and it was hard to believe God had really spoken to me.

There were times when the waiting was almost unbearable, and I didn’t know how to be faithful in the waiting. I was so blinded by my desire for a baby, I couldn’t see the opportunities for growth or preparation in that time.

We were asked a number of times during those years why we didn’t just adopt a baby. Part of me wanted to pursue adoption, but part of me was held back in a way I couldn’t understand or explain.

I remember one weekend in particular, when my thoughts and feelings reached a climax. I was tired of waiting for God, and I was tired of the longing and unhappiness in my life. Would it be so wrong for us to take the situation into our own hands, and just go adopt a baby? (That makes adoption sound easy, but I realize it’s not! It just seemed much more possible than pregnancy at that point.)

The weekend of this emotional climax happened to be Family Camp at Red Rock Bible Camp, and I attended a chapel session one evening. The speaker was talking about the Bible story of Abraham and Sarah, and as he was speaking, I got caught up in the story, reading farther along. I read about how God promised them a baby, and then nothing happened – for years, and years, and years….

Because they are Bible characters, it is easy to assume they handled this well, but they really didn’t. Sarah decided to take things into her own hands, and made Abraham sleep with her maid so they could finally get that promised baby.

But it wasn’t the promised baby.

It was the maid’s baby, and as that child grew up, he caused a lot of grief for everyone involved. It was unnecessary, avoidable grief, because it was wrong for the whole situation to ever have happened. If Abraham and Sarah would just have waited with faith and trust, Isaac would eventually have come along.

As I sat there in that chapel, it suddenly struck me how tempted I was  to be a little like Sarah. I really wanted to adopt a baby, not because Ben and I felt called to adoption at that point, but because I wanted to be in control. I was tired of waiting on God, and since adoption is not a sinful thing to do, surely it would be okay to pursue.

Except that deep down in my heart, I knew God was saying “no”. We weren’t meant to adopt our “promised” baby. I still felt God had spoken to me years before, and His words had been, “Wait on me.” But in my times of doubt, it was hard to keep believing, and extremely tempting to start thinking like Sarah.

And so we waited. I have no idea what would have happened if we hadn’t, but I am so thankful and happy and blessed because of the life we have now.

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So how do you know? How do you know when it’s time to take action, and when it’s time to just sit tight, because God is up to something whether we know what it is or not?

When do we “marinate” in all that confusion and waiting, longing for these dreams we have deep in our hearts?

I am still working on the answer to those questions, because I think it’s different in each situation, but I’m starting to realize that the answer might be in the “how”.

How am I taking action?

Are my actions pure? (Sleeping with the maid…not so much!)

Do I feel peaceful about my steps forward, or am I just getting a “no” from God?

Is there a deeper reason why I might be held back from taking action?

I felt frustration whenever I was held back from actively pursuing my dreams, but looking back, I can see growth and purpose during those times of “marinating”. Sometimes we need an extended period of time to just sit, soaking it all in, learning to live in the tension.

Reading Heather’s book has enabled me to better define what I choose to do during a season of “dream marination”. 🙂

Sometimes, the pain and struggle of living in the tension IS the preparation. I don’t think I could have handled a five year plan in that season of my life.

But I’ve moved into a different season, and I can see how the dreams I have now could benefit from an intentional plan of preparation.

Just as I couldn’t force God’s timing when it came to having a baby, I cannot force God in His timing for my new dreams.

I’m starting to see the peace that can be there for us in the season of marinating.

I believe that allowing God to control the timing of our dreams is just as important as allowing Him to determine what those dreams are in the first place.

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Okay, everybody, last chance to comment, and have a chance to win Heather’s new book!

My question for today is this: How’s the marinating going? Are you able to “actively wait”, with intention, peace, and purpose, or do you struggle with impatience?

Dreaming Big: Some Love and a Giveaway!

My friend Heather wrote a book.

A few months ago, she asked me to read it, give my opinion on my blog, and then give away a free copy. I thought that sounded like a good idea, and then…I moved.

Now that all the boxes are unpacked, and I’ve settled down to read Heather’s book, I find the timing ironic. Her book is called Dreaming Big, and I’m reading it at exactly the time in my life when I’ve been having a dream make-over. In the last month, my life has changed dramatically, and it’s been a time of re-examining what we’re doing here, what we want, what we feel God is calling us to, and what we’re going to do about it.

I find that slightly uncomfortable.

There are parts of Heather’s book that make me feel slightly uncomfortable. In a good way, if you know what I mean. I don’t think following our dreams could ever come under the topic of “comfortable”, anyway.

Although the book has a bit of a youth focus, there is fantastic stuff in there for anyone. Besides the fact that the topic is hugely important, I also love it that Heather is all over the Bible in this book. I really appreciate her insights into Scripture, and love it that this isn’t just a book about succeeding and accomplishing our dreams for our own advancement. It’s about God’s dreams for us, and how we can get on board with what He’s been doing all along.

You should read it! And you could win it.

Here’s how we’re going to do this whole giveaway:

In order to enter the contest for a copy of Heather’s book, all you need to do is leave a comment on my blog, anytime this week. In honor of Dreaming Big, I’m going to be sharing my thoughts on dreams and goals and all that stuff I’ve been challenged with lately, so you have all week to jump in and share a comment, which gives you a chance to win your own copy of Dreaming Big.

To start off, I must ask…Anyone else out there who’s also struggling with clarifying some life dreams? Do you ever find it difficult to determine whether it’s God’s dream or yours?

*To find out more about Heather and her book, check out her blog here.