This quote challenges me BIG! What is it that you’re called to do?

 

Today is day 19 of 31 days to Living Bravely. Check out the other posts here.

 

I’ve read many times that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Some habits are easier to form than others. Like my red licorice habit. That was instant really. I’m enjoying a few pieces even as I write this post.

But then there are habits that, well, have taken me years to work on. I call those the habits of surrender.

Surrender is defined as to yield, to relinquish in favor of another.

That kind of yielding is daily for me. That’s where the habit comes in. It’s a daily choosing of laying down what feels safe and comfortable. On the other side of laying down is choosing to rise up and do the thing being asked of me.

In this season of my life that thing is writing. Writing is hard for me. Hard! I didn’t grow up longing to be a writer. I don’t have notebooks full of journal entries filled with thousands upon thousands of words. Yes, l love to read, but writing…not so much.

When God birthed faithWalk, Ministries, I didn’t think I wanted to be a speaker either. That was another habit of surrender to be learned. But now I’m passionate about encouraging women in their walk with Jesus. I can’t imagine doing anything else. Each time I said no to fear and yes to getting behind that podium, God grew confidence and bravery in me.

It was three years ago when I felt the God nudge to start writing. Three years. Some habits of surrender are a down right battle. Today it continues to be a daily surrender for me to lay down my fear of writing and write. Some days I don’t write. Some days fear wins.

This quote on the Allume blog hit me deep and gave me great clarity in my call to write. Maybe it will for you, too.

When you’re called to write out of obedience rather than a love for the craft.

The bottom line of surrender is obedience to the One who has called me, has called you. Comparing myself to how others write and the reasons they write, is basically a huge waste of time. The time I’ve been spent doing just that keeps me in a stuck place where fear wreaks havoc on my soul. And I’ve let it.

These days that’s happening less and less. Praise God! Oh, I have my moments, but I’m grateful for every baby step of surrender that leads to obedience. This 31 days blog series is what a habit of surrender looks like.

Are you working on a habit of surrender? Let’s do this together.

 

This is day 18 of 31 days to Living Bravely. You can check out the series here.

 

October is a sweet month for me. I love fall. Love, love, love it. My wedding anniversary is this month (I wrote about that gift right here). And October is the month I celebrate living because five years ago I was fighting for life and God saved me.

It was 16 years ago that I was diagnosed with a chronic illness. Up until five years ago I called it my pain the backside disease. Most couldn’t tell anything was wrong. The dailyness of the disease was fought in the privacy of my own heart and home. (My friend, Melissa Smallwood, has a great 31 days series on living with chronic illness. It’s definitely worth your time.)

It’s amazing how a simple cold could put me in ICU fighting for my life, but it did. The five day IV protocol wasn’t working. You would think at $10,000 a bag, something would be happening. But it wasn’t. I remember the neurologist telling me I wasn’t responding to treatment. I remember him explaining the intubation process. I remember him telling me now was the time to say goodbye to my husband. I remember my guy kissing my cheek and holding my hand.

And then a few days later, I remember a nurse telling me to cough. I didn’t know it was a few days later. My only thought was this cannot be heaven! (big smile) The ICU doc came him, sat down, and told me they did not save me. Oh, they tried everything, but everything didn’t work. He said, “Deb, God and God alone saved you.”

I’m still battling this illness. I still have an occasional hospital stay – but not as scary as five years ago. I’m still learning how to honor God and live with this disease well. God saved me. He saved me for something. I want to do that something well.

I’m more grateful for the daily things of life. Yes, even the laundry. My list of “have to’s” now fall into the category of “am able to’s.” And that switch makes all the difference in the world.

Living life after you’ve been told to say good bye to it is a sweet, sweet gift. I’m so grateful.

What are you grateful for today? Let’s celebrate it!

 

It’s day 17 of 31 days of Living Bravely, but posted on day 18 because I’m behind! To read the series, please click here.

Let me just say this…I love MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). I needed MOPS desperately when my girls were little. Those bi-weekly meetings filled me up and kept me doing the mom thing until the next MOPS meeting. And now I have the privilege of speaking to many MOPS groups in my corner of the world.

MOPS chooses a theme each year to help guide the teaching, the meetings, the crafts, etc. This year’s theme is Beautiful Mess: Embrace Your Story.

 

I’m not sure there has been a theme that has resonated more with me than this one. We all have a story. But are we willing to share it. We’re all a bit messy. Are we willing to embrace it.

As I’ve given this talk to groups this fall, I hear this over and over.

Deb, I don’t have a story.
My story is boring.
My story is too hard to share.
There’s nothing about my story that could benefit anyone (this is a huge and repeated often).
I’m afraid.

I nod knowingly because I’ve said the same things about my own story. It can be a challenge to see the beautiful in the daily mess we call living.

The word embrace means to receive gladly, to accept willingly. To embrace our story requires much bravery. From the embrace we may see our story differently. Choosing a brave embrace gives us hope.

Hope knowing we’re not alone.
Hope building others up.
Hope trusting that we can walk through this.
Hope believing beautiful can come from us.

 I walked away from today’ MOPS meeting with lots of hugs, many stories, a few tears, and a boat load of hope. Thank you moms for receiving my story with such grace and entrusting me with yours. Brave and messy are a combo deal. You are some brave, brave women!

 

This is day 15 of 31 Days of Living Bravely. To check out the series, just click here.