Month: May 2020

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30 Things I Have Learned in 30 Years

I have always been a fan of birthdays. And the older I get, the more I appreciate celebrating another year God gave me or my loved ones. Last year I read Emily P. Freeman’s book The Next Right Thing and a practice I learned from her has been reflecting on the season that just ended before starting a new one. 

As I turn 31 this week, I decided to name 30 things I’ve learned. I set a timer for 20 minutes so I wouldn’t overthink it. So these are in no order of importance and I’m sure I could change up the list a million times if I sat with it long enough. But I hope you enjoy and can maybe grab at least one nugget from the list to encourage you. I would love to hear things that you have learned during your life that have stuck with you in the comments section below. 

Some of it 
you learn the hard way
Some of it 
you read on a page
Some of it
 comes from heartbreak
Most of it 
comes with age
And none of it 
ever comes easy
A bunch of it 
you maybe can't use
I know I don't probably know 
what I think I do
But there's somethin' to 
some of it.

30 Things I Have Learned in 30 Years

  • Mama ain’t a shrink, Daddy ain’t a bank, and God ain’t a wishin’ well – Eric Church
  • Rest is not a luxury in life. Rest is a requirement.
  • Being a mom means drinking your coffee cold and your beer hot. 
  • Men need to feel respected and women need to feel loved.
  • Jesus still heals. 
  • God is real. 
  • The Holy Spirit gives us discernment & abundant peace.
  • The more stuff you have, the more stuff you need.
  • I love to write and it has become my daily therapy. 
  • The Bible is actually the most exciting, scandalous, life-giving book I have ever read. 
  • Infrared saunas provide amazing pain relief for most all body ailments. 
  • Yoga triggers the parasympathetic nervous system forcing our bodies into a healing state. (click here to order a yoga mat!)
  • The power of praying with my husband. 
  • A person is what he or she thinks about all day. 
  • Reflecting on our most recent season is healthy and productive before moving forward. 
  • Faith is only a muscle that can be strengthen and flexed in the unknown. 
  • It should be mandatory that all yoga pants have pockets. Click here for another pair I have and love!
  • God can speak to us through our dreams. 
  • You’ll never find an abundant life trying to meet everyone else’s expectations of you.
  • History is awesome. I especially love learning about civil war and WWII and I love researching family history.
  • Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose. – Viktor Frankl
  • Sometimes, we need to stop talking and just listen. 
  • In order to lead, we must first follow. 
  • We grow when we are planted close to those who nurture us through the sunshine and rain.
  • My favorite place in the world is at the end of a dirt road. 
  • Life isn’t fair but tomorrow always has hope. 
  • A loyal and loving dog can change your life. [Dog spelled backwards spells God. Just sayin… 🙂 ]
  • Babies remind you how quickly time goes by and how important sleep is. 
  • At the end of the day, your children just need to feel loved. Everything else doesn’t matter. 
  • It is never too late be whoever you want to be.
  • I can survive as long as I have my family, my bible, and a Dollar General.

And here is a blessing I am praying over the people in my life as I move into this new season. It is from Numbers 6 if you would like to look it up. Talk soon! 

The Lord bless you
And keep you
Make His face shine upon you
And be gracious to you
The Lord turn His
Face toward you
And give you peace.
 
May His favor be upon you
And a thousand generations
And your family and your children
And their children, and their children.

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Far from the Shallow

SD

As I picked a song to re-enter the blogging world,  I decided on Shallow from the most recent remake of the movie A Star is Born. It’s a song Chase and I have belted at the tops of our lungs in the car. It’s a song that has gave me chills and made me ugly cry because the lyrics hit me right in the feels.

Since my cancer diagnosis almost 3 years ago, I’ve had an overwhelming awareness of time and its fleetingness. I can’t bear the thought of wasting another moment God gives me on this earth. I don’t want to settle for “just ok.” I want to be the mom, wife, daughter, sister, and friend that God created me to be. 

And after a much needed anniversary vaycay last May, Chase and I started asking each other hard questions… and answering honestly. 

Tell me somethin', girl
Are you happy in this 
modern world?
Or do you need more?
Is there somethin' else 
you're searchin' for?
I'm falling
In all the good times 
I find myself
Longin' for change
And in the bad times 
I fear myself.


Tell me something, boy
Aren't you tired 
tryin' to fill that void?
Or do you need more?
Ain't it hard 
keeping it so hardcore?
I'm falling
In all the good times 
I find myself
Longing for a change
And in the bad times 
I fear myself.

In August, I was knocked to my knees when I was told my cancer was back. After lots of praying and feeling that God was calling me to rest, I requested a leave of absence from my employer and they graciously approved me for 3 months leave.

I had my most recent neck ultrasound on February 14, 2020. The spot that was there in August was actually a little smaller and the was no new growths. For the first time, I truly began believing and receiving that I am healed and the cancer is gone, in Jesus Name. I have never felt more mentally free since that moment I decided that I will not let the enemy have a hold on my health another day. With that freedom also came clarity and courage to start taking the steps to create the life I wanted for myself and my family.

The weeks following February 14th have been a whirlwind. 

I respectfully turned in my resignation to a company and manager and industry that have been so good to me for 8+ years. (I’ll talk more on that in a future post.) My husband is staying at his current job that he loves so much but also pursuing his dream of starting up his own business on the side.

And though we deeply love our friends and community in Mississippi, both of us have longed to raise our children in Alabama closer to our families. 

So we stood at the edge of the unknown and together, we jumped. 

I'm off the deep end, 
watch as I dive in
I'll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface, 
where they can't hurt us
We're far 
from the shallow now.

We put our house up for sale and then on March 14th, Two Men and a Truck were in our little drive way loading up our entire life in a matter of a couple of hours… from our apple juice stained couch to all the random pictures on the walls that held our most precious memories. After many tears and lots of long hugs, we said goodbye and headed North East on I-59 exactly 101 miles to our new home in rural Alabama. 

Another curve ball came when the first morning we woke up in our new home, the COVID-19 quarantine began… did anyone else feel like Frozen II‘s theme song became the theme song for the world? Or maybe its just me because we’ve sang “Into the Unknown” 10,000 times in our house, lol. We found ourselves in a worldwide pandemic still with a mortgage due on our old house that had not sold yet, rent to pay on the new house, and transitioning to a one income family for the first time in our marriage.

So here we are… starting our new life in a time that we’re faced with so many unknowns. But so are most people, right? Though there are moments of doubt, it feels so good to let go of what I’ve thought life should look like. But let’s be real again. When did your life quit looking like you thought it would? For me, it stopped looking like I thought it should as soon as the doctor told my sheltered, 27 year old self, “Well Mrs. Elmore, the biopsy confirmed what we were afraid of… it is cancer.”

So whether you just received a hard diagnosis, are grieving the loss of a loved one, or are just trying to survive our world’s latest changes and quarantine life — Life just got real for us all. 

And in a time where so much is out of our control, you do get to choose what happens next in your own world. Do you let the fear of the unknown overtake you?  Or do you treat this as a time for rest, renewal and new beginnings? Let us make it a time to prioritize the things that bring us joy. A time to explore that thing we can’t quit thinking about.

And more than anything, I pray this is time for us all to lean into God’s word for direction and purpose. And when we are faced with an opportunity to make a change or start something new, lets skip the shallow end all together. May we all jump straight into the deep end, full of hope and faith.

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