My friend Tiffany is someone I look up to in so many ways. I met her as a first year student at UNC-Chapel Hill when I joined a sorority and found myself lucky enough to call her a sister. Even back then, she was so wise, intentional, and thoughtful. She’s also sassy and spunky and an all-around fun personality to be around. So, you can imagine how flattered I was when she asked me to guest post on her blog yesterday!
Quite a few months ago, I read this post by Laura over at A Beautiful Plate and thought it was such a cute idea! I’ve created my own spin on it by doing 11 superlatives for 2016. It was an amazing year!
1. Biggest Milestone: Changing jobs! Back in July, I started a new job in the nonprofit world. It is the best thing ever, and I pinch myself every day!
2. Hardest Challenge: I am extremely grateful that 2016 was a year of few challenges for me. I am still dealing with some residual health issues from a terrible infection I had back in 2014/2015. Aside from that, I have few complaints!
3. Most Memorable Trip: Wes and I went to St. Thomas with my family back in March, and it was so wonderful! It was true relaxation to just lay on a beach all day. The sunsets were gorgeous, and I got to ride a horse in the surf. Bliss!
Lately, I’ve been realizing how important it is to find joy and gratitude in the normal, everyday-type days of our lives. You won’t have a joyful life if you sit around waiting for big, momentous occasions to be joyful. I always love reading the “Small Joys” posts by Cristina over at Grace Like Rain–they inspire me to think about those little, everyday joys that I often overlook in my own life. I am so excited that Cristina (whose engagement photos were featured on the blog awhile back, by the way!) is letting me take a page out of her own book by starting my own “Small Joys” posts. Welcome to volume 1! I hope that these posts will inspire you to find gratitude for the small things. Here are the little joys in my life as of late: Read More
Adult coloring has become all the rage lately, and there are psychological theories and research to support it as a relaxation technique. One of my mom’s cousins gave me a mandala coloring book last year, and I’ve enjoyed dabbling with it ever since. However, I’ve put a new spiritual spin on it lately!
I was recently working through the Art of Adventure Journal, which challenged me to think up creative new ways to “hang out” with God, so to speak. I am not naturally good at slowing down and doing things like meditation, prayer, and other quiet activities, but I have been learning recently how life-giving and restorative such practices are when I force myself to do them. As I was brainstorming ways to spend time with God, my coloring book caught my eye, and a light bulb popped up over my head. What if I used my coloring time as an opportunity to sit down and connect with God?
Hey friends. Any of you feeling lost or uncertain today? Passionless? Restless for a new adventure? Today I’m sharing a little bit about how I have addressed those same feelings in my own life recently, and I’m also going to tell you about a fun journal that is launching today that helps you discover what it’s like to live a life of spiritually-driven adventure (full disclosure: I received a free copy of the journal to take a peek at. I also have a discount code for y’all in case you want to snag one yourself!).
First, a little bit of back story on the adventure I’ve been on for the past year or so. My life doesn’t look like it has changed all that much on the outside, but since December 2014, I have been on a soul-searching adventure for passion, health, and Truth. After becoming incredibly sick with an unknown illness and finding little cure or relief despite countless visits to my family doctor, acupuncturists, and several specialists, I felt like my world was crashing down around me. I felt too sick to go to work, but I desperately needed health insurance, so I got by as best I could. I slept 10 hours a night but woke up exhausted and in pain each morning. Eating was difficult, and I quickly became pale and gaunt. With my social life at a screeching halt and my health failing, I became anxious and sad.
The core of my self image had always been my high achieving, go-getter personality. Suddenly, with my health in shambles, I felt like I wasn’t able to achieve anything. I could barely get out of bed in the morning, and I felt anything but successful. At the time, “adventure” was the last word I would have used to describe where I was in life.
But here’s where things got good. Because there were few things I was physically up to doing, I was forced to turn inward and reflect. I didn’t particularly like what I found. I felt like I had been floating in the wind for several years and had no idea how I had ended up where I was. I didn’t want to live like that anymore. I was ready for purpose and guidance. My faith, which has always been important to me, became my refuge.
I began praying and seeking spiritual truth like never before. I began reading about purposeful living through books like Make It Happen and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. My illness was the wake up call I needed to make some big changes on how I was living my life.
I am now much healthier, both physically, spiritually, and emotionally. To most people, my life probably doesn’t look that much different on the outside. I didn’t quit my job, move to a foreign country, or sell everything I had to start my dream business. But my life is a world of difference on the inside. I’m living on purpose and passion.
Monday was one of those mornings. I hadn’t gotten home from Thanksgiving vacation until 10:30 p.m. the night before, I was pawing through my unpacked bags for my toothbrush while scrambling to get myself out the door for work, and on top of that, I was rushing to 10 different websites to snag Cyber Monday deals before they disappeared. My to do list was so long, I couldn’t cram it all into the allotted “Monday” space in my weekly agenda, so I filled up “Tuesday,” too. I was really, really stressed just looking at it, and I didn’t think I would ever be able to catch up. I was starting off my week totally exhausted. Read More
There have been moments lately when I’ve found myself feeling discouraged. Discouraged by the dire circumstances many of my patients are in. Discouraged by my own shortcomings as a human being and my failure to achieve a personal goal. Most acutely this past week, I felt discouraged by divisions within communities of faith. The particulars aren’t important, but I became so sad considering how humanity will always be divided by differences of opinions. It pained me to think about the anger, strife, and disappointment that surrounds these fissures, however large or small. And as I sat there feeling more and more hopeless, it hit me like a cool ocean wave on a hot summer day: God is bigger than all of this.
God is bigger than the petty things that members of faith communities squabble about. Bigger than my own failures. Bigger than the most dire of circumstances, from famine to mass genocide to horrible natural disasters.
My heart felt suddenly lighter. And dare I say….joyful? It’s not up to me to figure it all out.
