COUNTDOWN TO 30 DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS!

My favorite season of the year is Spring! To celebrate the fact that is coming.....(I just know it is!)
I am hosting a Spring giveaway!
Thirty winners will be chosen
and will each receive a gift from Hope-Filled Living!

Prizes may be small or large....

hint...hint....we hope you will be inspired!

To enter, you must leave a comment on this post and post my tag on your blog!

Winners will be randomly selected by my assistant, Ashley on the first day of Spring, March 20, 2012!

(Don't mind the mess in our office! It really IS a great space.)

For Sandy

My heart goes out to Sandy at My Shabby Streamside Studio. I have been praying that God will restore her hope and give her a new dream. Please visit her site here and leave her a cheerful message. I can fully relate to losing my dream in the blink of an instant--and beginning the process of grief and finding myself again. When we are suddenly removed from what seems to be the center of God's perfect will--a place where we feel at home, happy and fulfilled, it can be earth shattering.

Faith/ February 7, 2011

Spring is Coming

I planted a dozen baby pine trees around the property at my cottage last fall. We have had a rough winter with very cold temperatures and lots of snow, and as I look around the property, rather than seeing the full baby tree, I can see only tiny shoots here and there poking out from the banks and drifts of snow. I have hoped and wondered throughout this season whether they were going to make it through, and I wondered whether I would be able to have the joy of watching them shoot up like pine trees do in the spring.

This reminds me that sometimes during the winter of our lives we tend to live in survival mode. We do what we can to stay strong under the pressures of our heavy burdens. Sometimes our own sorrows inhibit us from healthy growth. The burdens of our heart and spirit pile upon us, blanketing us, and we wonder if we are strong enough to withstand the weight.

I have had seasons like this in my life, times that I call winter. Sometimes it feels like it goes on and on, and we grow weary. We long for the light, but we are not quite prepared for it to come just yet. Maybe you need to remain just a little longer in survival mode. Perhaps you are not emotionally or spiritually ready to come out of hibernation.

I know that if my tender baby trees can make it through their first winter, their roots will grow strong enough to withstand the many winters that lay ahead. I guess this is true for people too. If we grow our roots during good times–establishing our faith, our belief system, our “God confidence”– then we will be able to withstand some of the seasons of hardship that will inevitably touch us in our lifetime.

This is the one thing that is for certain:  Spring is coming! It happens every year. I will look out my window one morning to find hundreds of yellow day lilies blooming. I will hear the sound of mama robin chatting away in the trees. Then as the sun grows closer to us, we experience the big thaw. The ice begins to melt, waters start to flow, and we see new buds on the trees. The plants in the garden begin to spring up from the ground as if they too are emerging from hibernation and are now strong enough to see the light of day. They built their roots during hibernation and are bigger, stronger, and more colorful each spring.

If you have been going through some difficult times and feel like the burdens on your heart and soul will never ease, remember that the coming of spring is always certain. This season of hibernation that you are going through will only last until you are spiritually and emotionally ready to move on. We grow during the winters of our lives, establishing our root system. During these times, we can choose to insulate ourselves in darkness or we can choose to poke our heads out above it to see the light.

After surviving a season of hibernation, young plants are starving. They spread out their

roots and absorb every nutrient that the ground in which they are planted has to offer. They are growing strong again, getting ready for new growth. I suppose it is that way for hurting people too. Once we survive hibernation, we are eager to grasp new life, a new way of thinking, a new way of seeing and a new way doing things. We embrace the light, spreading our wings, taking chances and absorbing all that our Creator has for us to learn and see and do. We are hungry. We have a new richness about us. We show buds of new growth in our actions and attitudes and flowering in our heart. The winter that had frozen our soul has now been touched by spring, by new life, and we are ready to embrace the light.

If you are in the winter of your life one thing is certain: Spring is coming! Your soul is preparing for it in the silence.

copyright 2011/Mary Clewley/All Rights Reserved

Upcoming February Classes

If you have ever wanted to make a fancy, personalized Prayer Notebook....I will be holding

classes each Wednesday in February. Make sure to sign up for e-mail updates on my sidebar!

I am leaving for Mayo Clinic with our daughter, Ashley next week, so my first post will be about the materials you need to gather to create a beautiful notebook.

Can't wait to see how many of you sign up!

Extreme Self-Care Workshop Final Week

Doing Something Well

Do you remember the old adage, "practice makes perfect"? 

I heard that alot growing up during my music lessons! My music teacher somehow always knew how much I had practiced during the week...





In order to do something well, we must practice, practice, practice. Learning to care better for ourselves is like that too. It requires practice.






It is far easier to give up when we do not attain the skill level we aspire than it is to discipline ourselves to practice daily. An excuse often used is that we are pulled in too many different directions and lack time. Isn't it funny to think that we often say that we do not have the time to care for ourselves or our own needs--physically, emotionally or spiritually?

Do you have a skill waiting by the wayside, buried beneath the weight of your daily schedule? Perhaps you want to learn

something new, take some classes, spend time in prayer...

Make a list.
Write a goal.
Pencil in (Personal Development) time on your weekly calendar to practice, practice, and practice!

But I don't know my purpose.....

10 Important Things About Finding Your Purpose

1.        As Mother Teresa so aptly put it, “we can do no great things, only small things with great love.” We were each created with different and unique abilities and capabilities. There is purpose in doing those things we do well with great love.

2.        Some of us are born with quieter dispositions and happily do things behind the scenes, while others have a greater understanding of leadership at the front and center. Neither of the two personality types is right or wrong. “For we have many parts in one body, but these parts do not all have the same function.” Romans 12:4 We are all created for a different function.

3.        Regardless of our physical, intellectual, emotional or socio-economic standing, each of us is equal to the other in the eyes of God. It does not matter if we are a movie star or a homeless man—the eyes of God see purpose in each of us.

4.        Growth means evolving, changing and moving in new directions. Our purpose may change during our lifetime. God put us on the earth to be the best we can be and our purpose must be flexible enough to hear and obey whatever it is he is asking us to do now.

5.        When we are still and focus on the beauty of the everyday moments in our lives and give thanks we are more likely to find purpose, rather than searching for it and becoming discontented. The discontented places in our hearts are not from lack of purpose, but rather a lack of understanding that we are truly loved just as we are.

6.        Your purpose correlates with what you hold dear in your heart. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” Luke 6:45. Of what things do you speak?       It is normal to feel lost, lonely, isolated and confused from time to time. 

8.       Spiritual health helps us gain a sense of acceptance, both inward and outward and will supply us with the resource of inner peace and an understanding that God doesn’t judge us by performance, He looks at our heart.  "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” Luke 10:27 When we put God first and give him everything that we are, he will show us our purpose. Understand that your purpose may change….it is not a life sentence.

9.        Being purpose driven may cause a sense of shame, guilt and rejection if the great light bulb doesn’t light up and show you what you have been created for, when in reality, the bible tells us, “you were created for such a time as this” Esther 4:14, meaning that each day holds purpose. Our purpose is driven by our daily choices.

10.    It is healthy to aspire to do great things, but important to be happy with yourself just as you are and know that you are loved and valued and don’t have to be anyone other than who you are to be acceptable in the eyes of God.
 

Do you have any life goals that you would like to work toward and/or achieve in the next twelve months?

Some areas you may want to consider are family, church, work, personal life, education, etc.  When you set a goal, it is good to write a statement reflecting the goal. Your goal statement should be specific, achievable and measurable. A goal is something you work to accomplish. You do activities and ACCOMPLISH goals.

A good idea or example is to write three goals in the following categories. Remember to make your goal statements bite size enough that you can achieve them, yet big enough that you have to work toward accomplishing them!

Family Goals:
1.
2.
3.
(Good concrete examples are: Spend 30 minutes per day quality time with each person. Schedule a 7-day vacation. Etc.)

Educational Goals:
1.
2.
3.

Work/Career Goals:
1.
2.
3.

Personal Goals:
1.
2.
3.

List the goals above in order of priority by assigning them to either A (high priority) or B (low priority). Do the same for the category B priorities!

I realize that most of us set goals at the beginning of each New Year. Some of us just mull them over in our head while others list them out.  By June or July, you may have put aside some of those goals or decided that they are not achievable and have given up on the idea of accomplishing them. Mid-year is a good time to reflect upon our priorities, look at our goals, and perhaps break them down into smaller bites so that we can accomplish them, even if it requires taking baby steps.

 

Precious Promises

"Come unto me, all ye that labor 

and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest." 

Matthew 11:28

 Sometimes when our hearts feel heavy and our souls are weary, we need to find

a place to curl up and get away from the rest of the world. It is good during times

like this that we take some time to retreat. 

Our society tells us that we are only accomplishing something when we are busy,

moving, doing. We have not been taught the practice of solitude and the importance

of self-care from a spiritual perspective. Taking time out to retreat and be still,

be one with God or your personal belief system is an important aspect of wellness.

Where is your ideal place to retreat?

Do you have a sacred place?

Here are some things to think about if you plan to get away by yourself for some rest, renewal and retreat:

The night before you plan to do your retreat think about these things:

1. What time will I start?

2. Think about what you hope to gain from this time with God.

3. Where will I hold my retreat?

4. Will I fast during the retreat?

5. What will I bring?

6. How will I remember my day?

7. Pray that God will give you clarity and understanding.

Part of making a retreat work is telling your story. Do not be afraid to journal. This time is between you and God.

8. Make the retreat a priority and plan to avoid conflicts with your schedule and activities.

9. Work hard and bring forth the energy necessary to derive personal achievement from this experience. Dong a retreat half-hearted is a waste of time and will undermine the goals you have set for yourself.

10. Engage yourself in the materials—journal truths. It is only when you are truthful with yourself and God that you can come to new truths during this time.

11. Do not stop the process once the retreat is over or when you have completed your materials. Continue in the days ahead with the momentum that you started.

12. Commit to a continual prayer and meditation time in your life.

13. Write a letter to God before the retreat is completed.

14. Praying means talking to God, whereas meditation means listening to God. Make sure to do both before and after your retreat!

15. Afterward, think about how this retreat brought you closer to God. Write a letter to yourself about how this has and will affect you personally.

Think about the things you tolerate that actually prohibit you from living your life to the fullest….tolerations can be as small as a constant sink full of dirty dishes, lack of help with household chores, doing without a personal assistant when you need one, cooking dinner for your family every night when you don't want to, a blog or website that isn't up to your standards or project the image you want to project, floors that need refinishing, leaky faucets…Just start a list…add to it as you think of things that you are tolerating. By becoming aware of these things in your life, you are bringing attention to them and the fact that they need resolved.

·        Honor your values and build a life that expresses those values.

·        Simplify everything.

·        Delegate.

·        Experiment continuously. Learn what works for you.

·        Make hardships work for you. They help you evolve.

·        You do not have to become anyone….just be yourself.

·        Your worldview is only as big as those with whom you associate. Grow.

·        Learn about your personal core needs and work at making certain they are fulfilled.

·        Build something rather than randomly creating.

Please remember that my work is copyright protected/Mary Clewley/2012/ All Rights Reserved. Do not copy without permission.