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So over the last week I have been trying to decide what exactly it is that God wants me to share about my time at the Relevant Conference I went to this weekend. In my walk this morning, after an hour of going through it all with God, He just kept impressing on me…
Have Joy.
Be thankful.
Enjoy all I have given you and be thankful.
You see, I have been struggling with having joy. I love my life, I am so thankful for my amazing husband, my precious children and all the other gifts the Lord has blessed us with, namely this ministry of Faithful Provisions. He has given us an amazing platform to share His Glory through us. But it never feels like enough.
I tend to be the type of person that focuses on what I need to do. The “To-Do” list, the dishes that aren’t done, the laundry sitting in the floor, the dirty bathroom…you get my drift.
Can you relate?
I have a really hard time being happy and joyful — most of the time. It is a constant struggle.
I am scared to death that my children will see my lack of joy and embrace my stress and anxiousness. I am gripped by that fear because it is very apparent. It is a discussion my husband and I have often. He is so gentle with me in pointing out my inability to be joyful to try and turn my thoughts elsewhere.
This weekend I had a revelation. In order for me to be truly thankful and live in that, I needed to be joyful. To fully enjoy the life God has called me to. To embrace it and find the joy in it all. Not to focus on the negative, but look heavenward. You see, I learned that the first step to being truly thankful, and living a life that reflects my thankfulness, I needed to learn to express joy, to live it.
It smacked me on the on the forehead when our Seeds song of the week yesterday was “Do Not Be Anxious — Philippians 4: 6-7“. That is the first verse I memorized as an adult, and honestly it is the only one I can consistently pull up from my memory.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:6-7
God in his great sovereignty and wisdom had a plan for me in tucking it into my heart. He wanted to empress upon me how important it is to give it all up. That broke my heart. That I am so unjoyful and can’t embrace true thankfulness because I was allowing my anxiousness to eat up my joy.
(left to right: Emily, Angie, me, Jen, Jessica, Sami)
So, back to the Relevant Conference.
(Sally Clarkson and me)
As I sat and listened to amazing speakers like Ann Voscamp and her vivid words about The Upside Kingdom, Crystal’s raw confessions on putting “First Things First”, Angie’s heart-wrenching journey and Sally’s encouraging words for moms; I get a text from my husband.
It is a picture of my daughter having lost her first tooth. Iwas not there, I was here.
Why am I here?
Was it all worth it?
Did I make a mistake coming?
The answer was no. Because God in His infinite wisdom, removed the static and walked me through joy and thankfulness. But this time my eyes were opened. And it has been life-changing.
Spending quality time with my Lord is never a mistake. This time away allowed me time to refresh, reset my priorities and be…
full of joy
and
always thankful.
Thank you God Almighty for my joy!!
I really enjoyed visiting with you… and learning from you! Thank you so much for sharing all that you did.
And thanks for this excellent reminder to not be anxious but to grab and embrace that joy offered to each of us!
Amy – I so enjoyed getting to spend time with you. Hopefully again soon…
Amen, my sweet friend…it was an amazing reminder and the kick in the pants that I needed. Being MORE to my family this week, and LESS about me, the blog, the computer time, the “to do” list has been a refreshing reminder of His goodness. I haven’t missed those extra hours AT ALL. Maybe my pocket book suffered a bit, but nothing that wasn’t completely worth it.
See you soon! xoxox
Oh, it was such a sweet time with you, can’t wait to see you again soon.
Amen Kelly! Thank you for sharing. I agree with you when you said we can lose our joy while focusing on the “to do list” and other duties. After a long time of feeling this way, I felt God telling me to quit work and change your focus. I am now a stay at home mom and my life has changed. I have so much more joy and thankfulness in me now and I want to give it away to others! I thank God for this renewing of my spirit and for every blessing in my life.
Tracy
i can honestly say that i understand exactly what you mean about leaving joy out. i have never heard you speak before, Kelly, but for some reason, God has put you in my path for encouragement I think…..i made the decision to stay home this summer and then i met you in an article. it is so hard financially….it just doesnt make sense, but so far, it has been an awesome journey with God! thanks for your insight on JOY!!! we all need to be reminded………
Hello Kelly, I just wanted to let you know how much enjoyed reading this! I can definately relate. I have been struggling lately with my day to day task and have not been able to enjoy the life our GOOD Lord has given me! Thank you so much for sharing this tidbit with all of us! Keep up the good work of the Lord!
Oh that was beautiful. As the twitter Relevant stream was flowing through during Crystal’s session my husband tweeted me a private message…”don’t let that get to you. No condemnation. You are there doing exactly what God wants you to do and what our business needs you to do. You’re there for the blogosphere” Since I was introducing Pix-O-Sphere to the ladies through Relevant, I was doing what my family needed me to do. And since I came out of a very condemning church he wanted me to know that although the tips for keeping family balanced was not meant to harm, but to encourage..he wanted me to enjoy the conference. To enjoy all of you. Every session was amazing and had lots to glean from and I felt that overall..it was the most uplifting woman’s conference I had ever been to. I cried tears of relief and joy..never over condemnation..never over not measuring up. If we feel like we can never get away to be refreshed, then our family would become a bondage.
How refreshing. Amazing how God continues to remind & refresh us! Your site is wonderful – really. I’m thankful that He led me to it.
Those verses in Philippians are my favorite verses and you could say my life verses. God is so good to us and many times we do not even realize it. Thank-you for sharing what you learned. I am praying, asking God to use my meager blog for His glory! I want to be a blessing to Him and to share His plan of salvation! I’m also praying there will be a Relevant conference next year that I may attend and learn more about glorifying Him through my blog.
Finally, a problem that I am passionate about. I have looked for information of this caliber for that very last various hours. Your website is tremendously appreciated.