My first child was 6 months old when I returned to church after three years of trying the “I don’t need to church to stay focused on God” journey. My life was messy. My self-esteem – small. My marriage and my lifestyle habits flip-flopped from good and respectable to risky and ridiculous.
As I watched the Praise Team sing their worship songs, I wanted to join them. They even had extended an invitation to me shortly after I arrived. I had prayed for God to lead me to a church where the arts were valued and music opportunities abounded, and here I was! But that little voice inside me said, “Really? You would stand up there and lead this congregation now? You think you’re living a good enough life for that?”
When I spoke with the pastor about this, he said something to me that has stuck with me ever since; something I have shared with others over the decades to come: just start from where you are. This simple sentence struck me as brilliant: just start from where you are. Of course!
My friends, you have no choice but to start exactly where you are today. So the obvious questions becomes….
Where are you?
JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT 1.1: Fill in the blanks below. When you are done, look back over your answers: Do any make you smile? make you cry? get you thinking? spur you to action? Record your answers and your thoughts.
- My most recent accomplishment is:
- My best current relationship is:
- What I most enjoy doing on a day off is:
- I appreciate when:
- Something I’d like to change in my life is:
- I could use help with:
- I’m really looking forward to:
- What I like best about myself is:
- My physical health is:
- If I had no restrictions, I would:
Remember, this is just a start! Also, please feel free to share your responses here. We walk farther and stronger when we walk together!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please guide every person who is embarking on this journal challenge. Help them to be open to what you would have them discover over the next 10 weeks. Keep them safe and bring them joy. In love and Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
VERSE OF THE DAY: But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Psalm 5:11
Growing Your Beautiful Life 
Thank you Connie for setting this up. These initial questions are already inspiring me to evaluate priorities and goals. It is harder to look at the facts on paper than it is to have them rolling around in my head! It is hard to acknowledge that I don’t have the capacity to be the caring person I like to be or to develop My Family Too. I have not been taking enough quiet time “creating” to recharge and my current overwhelming schedule has too many variables out of my control. It is time for me to stop talking about fixing my schedule and get it done!
Pamela, I know what you mean. We will be walking through action steps as well during this process. So if you stay with this day by day, my hope is that you will find yourself making changes in a way that works. A little at a time. But rest definitely is important. We’ll come back to that throughout. Love you.
This was a fairly gentle start, Connie, which I was grateful for! But it definitely touched on several things that got me to thinking. It was exciting to find that when I thought of various recent accomplishments, they did not have to do with my job (like would have been the case just a few weeks ago before I resigned my consuming job!). They had to do with personal life goals and my household and family, and that was a really good feeling. I guess the one thing that weighed my heart down a bit was my answer to #6 – I could use help learning to step out and connect more intimately with friends and others again after being so consumed with my job for the past 10 years that I sort of formed a pattern of being reclusive with the small amount of free time I had. I need to risk getting out there again, rekindling old friendships that I let fade away and forming new ones. I know God will give me the courage to take these steps.
Thanks!
Vicki
Dearest Vicki, I’m glad you found this first step to be a gentle one – and that it led you to some insight as well. Please make a special note for yourself about wanting to grow in the area of friendships. There will be opportunities for you to take some action steps in that direction as we move forward. I love your openness and honesty in this process. Thank you for participating!