When Jealousy Gets in the Way of Your Dreams

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Kristin

I grew up feeling like I was never good enough. It wasn’t something that anyone told me, I was raised in a loving, supportive family. I just knew I didn’t fit in.

I was a little bit nerdy (ok a LOT), I took my schoolwork seriously and wasn’t good at sports. I desperately wanted to be a cheerleader but I had these awful short hamstrings that prevented me from doing any sort of toe touching! Oh and I was painfully shy. A complete and total package!

In fact, just in case you don’t believe me….drink it in ladies, drink it in!

I spent a lot of years wishing I was something more. Wanting to have the voice of the “popular Kristin” so that I could be in the school musical. Wanting to have the athletic ability of “Holley” so I could play on the basketball team, or the beautiful, long hair of “Alanna”, instead of my rocking mullet. Can you blame me?? Did you see the picture above?!

It didn’t matter what I DID have, I wanted what someone else had because I believed it to be better…..

I am sharing the rest of this story over at the God-sized Dreams site today – I would love for you to join me there!

You’re Going to Be Okay

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Kristin

Oh friends do I have a treat for you!! It is a special week because my dear friend, Holley Gerth’s, newest book is finally available to purchase!

I was blessed by an advance copy and it is so good! I will admit I haven’t gotten through the whole thing yet but it is because I am reading it slowly and underlining in so many places it is taking me some time to get through! 🙂

Holley is a natural encourager. She has a gift of using her words…God’s words, to touch the hearts of women.

She is no stranger to difficulties either. She writes with the understanding of a close friend. She has walked through dark times, and seen God’s goodness during and after. Those are the words that you will find in this book.

Words of encouragement, affirmation and support.

Just starting the book she talks about God’s purpose for our lives. Do you know that I lived a long time believing that I had messed up God’s plan for me? Mistakes, problems, and difficulties in my family had me feeling like I couldn’t ever get “back on track”.

And then I read this in Holley’s book….

“When life comes along and slaps us silly, it can feel as if God’s purpose for us has now been cancelled. But nothing can stop His purposes for us!”

And this…

“God’s purpose for you will prevail. In all of history, no person has ever been able to thwart Go’s ultimate plan. He isn’t shocked by the brokenness of this world or even our personal failures. He can redeem and reroute as much as is needed to get us to the destination he has in mind.”

All this time I had never considered that. You know the idea that the all powerful God of the Universe may just have a little more control than little ol’ me and I am unable to mess up His ultimate plan?! Seriously! 😉 But really – I believed God couldn’t redeem my mess!

And finally before I share too many of the amazing nuggets that this book has, there was this….

“In other words, the very places and times when you feel God can use you the least are when he may actually shine through you most.” (<==== Click to Tweet)

My failures seem overwhelming at times. I blog about my faith and I mess up with my family daily. Who do I think that I am trying to set myself apart as a Christian here? I am likely one of the worst examples of “good Christian” there is…

But Holley reminded me that he uses my weakness to make me strong.

So I press on, and share my mess-ups and then share about the continued redemptive work of God in my life because without Him NONE of this is possible!!

I KNOW that this book is going to be a blessing to so many and I just can’t keep the joy all to myself! So I am giving away a few copies today! Yay and fun right?!

Just leave a comment why you would like a copy and I will pick the winners on Monday and have Amazon deliver a copy to you. Open to US and Canada residents only please! 🙂

For an additional entry tweet the link below and come back to let me know you’ve done it!

Enter for a chance to win @HolleyGerth’s new book You’re Going to Be Ok at the @richesofhislove’s blog. @RevellBooks(<===Click to Tweet)

**Update! Giveaway is now closed. I have decided that I couldn’t randomly pick a few winners because I believe in this new book so much so everyone that commented will be getting their own copy! 🙂 I have emailed each of you and once you have sent me your address I will have Amazon ship a copy to you! ** YAY! 🙂

Having a Hard Day?

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Kristin

Oh there are days like this aren’t there?

Days when you want to curl up and forget about the world around you!

Life has been hectic, to say the least, around here recently. God is so good and has blessed our business, but we are crazy busy.

There are days when I walk away from the office wondering how we will get it all done…..and yet somehow we do.

Today I looked at our calendar for the next two weeks and just shook my head…there will not be enough hours in the day.

And my instinct can be to get stressed and throw up my hands.

Instead today I just said a simple prayer.

That God would give us the wisdom, strength and time we need to do a good job for all of our clients.

And while the prayer doesn’t immediately change the number of meetings or deadlines we have, it does give me a right perspective.

Each day we are given an opportunity and we have a choice at how we are going to respond to it. (<==== Click to Tweet)

We can look at a hard day, or a busy day as negative or we can seek to find the blessings, even if they are small.

Yes our calendar is full and there is so much work to be done…..but thank God that the calendar is full and we have so much work to do!

It is all about perspective!

On those difficult days, pray that you would have a right perspective. Pray that God would show you the blessings if you are having a hard time seeing them.

Give the impossible to Him and watch and see how He makes it possible. (<==== Click to Tweet)

And remember that this too shall pass….

Praying for your friends, in this difficult season of life you may find yourself in, please know that God is with you!

On a side note, how incredible was it that there was so much buzz online yesterday around Holley’s newest book that is available for purchase?! “You’re Going to Be Okay” is a wonderful book and I will be posting even more about tomorrow…and there may just be a fun giveaway involved too!! Come back on tomorrow for all the details!

Joining Holley Gerth for a weekly dose of encouragement in 2014! Want to join in the fun and be encouraged as well? Find some amazing posts here!

Photo Credit: zevaeros

Letting Go of the Past

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Kristin

I apologize if I have shared this here before, it is a big part of my “story” and really shaped parts of my teenage life and has had an impact on my adulthood as well.

It was the 6th grade and I was awkward to say the least.

I grew up in a neighborhood with several kids my age and we were all friends. Several of those girls had older siblings in high school…so they kind of had an “in” to the cool scene.

I never had an “in”….I was always the girl who was friends with the girl who was friends with the popular people. Did you follow that?! 🙂

The point was that I remained on the outside, alone on that proverbial island, for a lot of years. And I desperately wanted to be invited “in”.

There was this girl…we will call her MW (that may or may not be her actual initials – and she may or may not have tattled on me in 1st grade when I was blown over by a winter wind into a metal bike rack, hitting my eye, causing a MASSIVE black eye that caused me to cry in class…but that is whole story for another time…ahem.) MW was having this party. A boy-girl party and it was a BIG deal.

ALL of the popular kids were invited…including my friends that were friends with those popular people.

I was not on the list. And it hurt.

My neighborhood friends were so sweet – they wanted to try and help me impress MW enough so that she would invite me to her party.

They helped me pick out the best outfit I had, and the plan was that I would wear this outfit to the next Friday’s High School Football game. Because that is where all the popular 6th graders went on a Friday night.

Oh, and somehow I thought it would be a good idea to not wear a coat, you know to keep from covering the awesomeness that my outfit held.

It was October, in South Dakota, at night….and it was COLD.

I froze that night, I shivered and shook and smiled my best crooked smile. And I hoped with all hope that I would finally get my invite.

My “best” wasn’t good enough. MW didn’t invite me to that party and I was crushed. I knew that I wouldn’t ever fit in and the next Friday night when everyone who was anyone was at the big party – I was at home – alone on my island once again.

Times like this can shape us can’t they?

As much as I’d like to say that it didn’t bother me or I got over it right away, here I am 30 years later and THAT is one of my most vivid memories from that time period.

Isn’t that sad?

It is one of the reasons that I have such a heart for kids at this age/phase. I KNOW how it feels to not be “good enough” by the world’s standards. And while I had a belief in God during that time, I didn’t have a personal relationship with Him that covered those hurts in my heart.

God was always there – but I hadn’t let Him be enough in my life. (< ==== Click to Tweet)

For years I struggled with the idea that I didn’t measure up.

It led me to believe as an adult that I wasn’t good-enough for God-sized dreaming because that kind of stuff is for the strong and talented.

In her devotional Holley says “God-sized dreaming isn’t for wimps. But at the same time it’s really only for wimps. Because we are all exactly that. We’re weak and broken and afraid. And we’re also strong and whole and filled with the resurrection power of Christ.”

Today I am a different woman.

While I still struggle with my image at times….I wish I were more fit, or had better hair, or knew how to parent with patience….God is showing me that I am “enough” because of Him! (<==== Click to Tweet)

There comes a point that we need to let go of the hurts of the past and move forward. We need to stop believing the lies that we won’t measure up and start holding on to the Truth that through Christ we will ALL measure up.

On my own I can’t do this “life”…but with Christ guiding me, I am confident and strong in His plan for me.

What in your past is holding you back from chasing your God-sized Dream?

Today is an extra special day because Holley’s newest book is available for purchase. “You’re Going to Be Okay” is a wonderful book and I will be posting even more about it in a few days…and there may just be a fun giveaway involved too!! Come back on Thursday for all the details! 😉

Linking up with my God-sized Dream sisters today continuing this discussion- will you join us here?

Photo Credit: gnuckx

New Life

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Kristin

On Thursday I turned 39.

In less than 365 days I will be 40. When I was 20, 40 seemed SOOO old! 😉 Today I would tell you that 40 is vibrant and young and wonderful….we will see how I feel about it when it actually comes though!

I have shared about my friend Karlena here before. She was my best friend and her loss in 2010 was and has been so difficult for me. Her death left a friendship void that was heavy on my heart.

Then last year I became a part of the God-sized Dream Team. I thought I was joining a group of bloggers to help launch a book for an author I respected.

What I didn’t expect was the community that would be formed and the friendships that would flourish because of it.

There is a group of us that stay connected through FB and Voxer – Voxer is such an amazing little app – it is basically a voice messaging system…you vox a recorded message to a person or group without having to call their #. Oh if we had only had Voxer when Karlena was alive….I would have loved that!

Two women in particular and I have formed, what is, a blessing of a friendship in my life. One of daily encouragement and prayer. Christine and Gindi are both amazing, Godly, women and I can’t imagine my life without them in it.

They are a gift to me every day.

And for my birthday they sent me these beautiful flowers.

While Karlena will never be “replaced”, God has filled that void in my heart for relationship with encouraging women.

The flowers that they sent to me represent new life.

The beauty Christine and Gindi both bring to my life, the color and laughter, encouragement and prayer….I just can’t say enough how blessed I am.

While we live all over the country and can’t have “coffee” together – we share life, every day.

Today I am experiencing new life, and it is beautiful – just like those flowers are.

Gindi and Christine, You ladies are a constant blessing to me. It is a honor to pray for you and do life together. Thank you not only for the flowers, but for the gift you give me each day. I thank God for you both!