Wednesday, September 26, 2012

five.

"I know what it's like to praise God one minute and in the next minute yell and scream at my child." - Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst
A sentence in a book has never hit so close to home and that's only on the 3rd page of the first chapter! I can't even fathom how many times in my life, especially as a mother, that I've become unglued. I had multiple moments today when our 10 year old was acting more like the 3 old. I don't want to be an unglued mother which is why I joined the online bible study for Lysa's new book. I'm 2 chapters in and I've highlighted what seems like every other sentence. The pages of my copy are filled with highlighter yellow. I've made notes in my notebook, cried like a baby, and looked up bible versus. Knowing that I'm not alone in the way I have behaved and felt is freeing. The stories Lysa uses are stories I could have written! My heart feels a little lighter knowing I'm not alone, knowing that I'll be working on imperfect progress, and knowing I'll get to the point where I won't be an unglued mom.

"We can't always fix our circumstances, but we can fix our minds on God." 
A question from the bible study, "To run the race that God has set before us, we must also strip off the excess weight that slows us down. How can we do that?"

I plan on doing that by giving my worries to the Lord, digging deep within myself to find what my strongholds are and breaking them once and for all. I plan to make imperfect progress while reading Unglued and revel in the fact that I know I am not alone, and that God gave us emotions to feel and experience life and even to draw us closer to Him.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is --his good, pleasing, and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)
I'm going into this as a new lifestyle, like a diet. Every extra step makes a difference. This isn't something I just want, this is something I need. I've had setbacks in the past, just as any "dieter" knows, however, the deepest depths of my soul are going to change and I'll no longer be unglued. I know this. I feel this. I believe this.
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6 comments:

  1. Vanessa,
    I've been wanting to call you or reach out to see how things have been going for you guys, but as you well know, life gets "busy". I happened to open FB today and see your link to your blog so I decided to sit down with my coffee and catch up. I can not believe how overwhelmingly inspired I feel after reading on your adventures. We have been talking for months now about getting back into church, especially with the older kids here now. They have little to no knowledge of Faith and Christianity. I just want to hug you. You are so brave and so entirely inspiring. I wholeheartedly believe you are doing the right thing for your family. And it's amazing to see God's grace touching your lives. It's so easy to get caught up in life that the little important things often get overlooked. I'd love to sit with you sometime soon, chat, maybe even attend a service at your church? I have friends that have spoken of that church for years and attend regularly.

    If you ever need anything, just let me know. I'm home all day, and even though I'm not 4 houses down anymore, I'm still a quick "walk" away. :-)

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    1. Amanda,

      My heart is happy that you feel inspired after reading what's been going on with us. We certainly need to get together soon, I'd love to see the new house. Feel free to call or text anytime.

      Oh, and please, join us any time for church! I know Madison would love for Ari to go with her too.

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  2. "I plan on doing that by giving my worries to the Lord, digging deep within myself to find what my strongholds are and breaking them once and for all. I plan to make imperfect progress while reading Unglued and revel in the fact that I know I am not alone, and that God gave us emotions to feel and experience life and even to draw us closer to Him."

    I love this! And I love your blog :) Thank you so much for sharing and for doing the OBS with me! Blessings!

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  3. Thank you for sharing this. I feel just like you and I too do not want to come unglued. I love how you said you are going to dig deep and find what strongholds are holding you back. I pray the same for myself. I want to release any weight that I do not need to the LORD. Thank you so much again. Blessings

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    1. Thanks Roxanne for stopping by and prayers for you to release any excess weight that is holding you back from beginning imperfect progress :)

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