Blog: Overcoming Struggles
Posted: March 26, 2011
We are obsessed with knowledge. Then why, to recapture an old phrase, are we “going to hell in a hand basket?” I won’t list all the statistics and atrocities; but you know from your own area of influence what I’m talking about. We seem to be getting smarter but yet insensible. The answer is really quite simple. Knowledge without action = zero. When we come to an intersection in life that begs action, simply knowing the right answer but not doing anything about it perpetuates more pain, rejection, disappointment, anger, and resentment. As Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” You can talk about writing a book year after year, but if you don’t hit the SEND button on your computer, you will never know if you will be a published author. You can speak endlessly about being a better mother,…
Posted in: Beauty through Boldness, Encouragement, Fear, Finding Truth, Forgiveness, Friendship, Hope, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles, Resentment
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Posted: March 16, 2011
Many of my readers know that I have shown up at work wearing two different shoes. Obviously I was still sleepwalking. I had a boss that constantly reminded me, “The best way to succeed is to PAY ATTENTION to the details.” That expression resonated in my brain and to this day I focus on having a curious perspective on life. Try to focus in on details when you are on an airplane flying at 30,000 feet. All you can see is blotches, lines and squares. Travelling on a hi-speed bullet train in France allows you to see clearer outlines and pictures but no details. Driving slower in a car; is better. Walking is good. Stopping is vital. We have to remember that to succeed, emerge and blossom in our spiritual journey we have to pay attention and “taste and see that the Lord is good…” (Psalm 34:8 NIV). SEE AND…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Beauty Unleashed, Encouragement, Expectations, Finding Truth, Freedom from Busyness, Hope, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles
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Posted: February 25, 2011
These words made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Loneliness is ignorance. What an irreverent and accusing comment about one of the most painful and heart wrenching human conditions. This citation (which came out of a commentary) had such a huge impact on me that I chose to study it in greater depth to try to understand the author’s point of view. It has been a startling revelation. Loneliness is in fact ignorance. We were created to be connected to our Heavenly Father and to other people; that is the only way we can function in this world if we want to live fulfilling, joyful lives. Nature abhors a vacuum and will do anything to fill it. Water flows into any empty crevice. Fires explode with a vengeance when it has produced a vacuum. When you and I are hungry we need food. When our souls…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Beauty through Boldness, Encouragement, Finding Truth, Friendship, Hope, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Fear, Overcoming Struggles, Resentment, Uncategorized
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Posted: February 18, 2011
January is an insane month in the gym; people are falling all over each other in the cycling classes, racquet ball court, on the cardio machines and pumping iron. There is a tension and a determined resolution to get in shape and become a “new you” after the Christmas over-indulgence. I can only surmise that many of those people looked in the mirror on January 2nd and were horrified at what they saw. With their new runners and their fancy new Adidas bag, they are off to the gym to make that much needed dramatic change. It is only February 18th and right now you can shoot a canon in the gym and you wouldn’t hurt anyone. What happened to all the enthusiastic people who wanted their new bodies? I can just imagine the language in their head, “I had no idea it would be such hard work; I’m too…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Beauty through Boldness, Encouragement, False Belief Systems, Finding Truth, Friendship, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles
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Posted: January 29, 2011
The feeling of being barefoot and squishing sand between my toes evokes a giddiness of freedom. If I nudge near the ocean just near enough to get the occasional splash of gorgeous, turquoise sea water, and the sun warming my cheeks; I feel like a child again. Free to frolic, run, laugh and giggle. Being barefoot in the sand unleashes a brazen abandon that I find in no other place. I cannot get this freedom when I wear shoes. It is blatantly unrealistic of me to think that I can frolic in the sand and not expect to get sand in my shoes. Those irritating grains of sand that will find that little crevice and rub away at me until I either take off my shoes or leave the beach. Annoying, hurtful and disappointing! An unrealistic expectation is like an irritating grain of sand-a silent thief that will rob us…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Beauty through Boldness, Expectations, False Belief Systems, Finding Truth, Hope, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles, Resentment
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Posted: December 11, 2010
On of our favorite activities is whitewater rafting on the Flathead River, Montana, in June when the water level is high from the snow run off. After slipping on our wet suits and unsightly water shoes, we all grin at each other as we sit and wait for the guides to finish giving us our instructions. “Beware”, they say, “of a sucking, swirling mass of water that churns like a rotary beater. Especially be aware of the eddy called Could be Trouble.” As we start out, I make sure my feet are tucked tightly under the ropes as we all begin to paddle furiously to guide the raft through the boiling water and away from the swirling eddies. Then I see it and my heart starts to palpitate. Black, angry water that is swirling, boiling and the roar is deafening. I know we have encountered the most dangerous of…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Beauty through Boldness, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Fear, Overcoming Struggles
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Posted: December 3, 2010
The Christmas Season has many women struggling with a love/hate relationship. The first Christmas carols playing in the shopping mall get their hearts pounding, they break out in a sweat and their minds unravel like an out of control scotch-tape dispenser. The next minute they see a new purse or pair of earrings and they find themselves humming to “Deck the halls…” It’s strange and yet I know. Christmas is filled with tension. Will we have enough money to make it through the season? How will our marriage survive the holidays? There is no way we can fit all these activities into 23 days-absolutely not. I hate wrapping. All these expectations are killing me. I have nothing new to wear. Do we have the family gift exchange-give individual presents and to whom? It’s all too much I can’t handle it. I know that you and I do not want…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Encouragement, Expectations, Freedom from Busyness, Friendship, Hope, Overcoming Struggles, Uncategorized
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Posted: November 19, 2010
Heartbreak seems to come in clusters. When one door is slammed shut, I courageously get over it, get on with life because I know there is something better up ahead. The eternal optimist and believer of good things-that’s me. But when I continually encounter lost dreams, divorce and sickness in the family, an ailing mother, shut down plans and the occasional vertigo; the energy and zest starts to evaporate. I need something powerful to hang on to. This last Labour Day weekend (2010), as I was walking through the vineyards with my son, we encountered the most gorgeous, unusual hidden treasure. Tucked away in one of the rows of grapes was a banquet table; complete with fine china, wine glasses, fresh fruit, gorgeous colored napkins and table runners and beautiful orange shawls thrown over the backs of the chairs. I blinked twice to grasp the enormity of this picturesque…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Encouragement, Expectations, Finding Truth, Hope, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles
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Posted: November 6, 2010
I am excited and getting ready for two of our daughters coming home this weekend. Their purpose is to be by my side during my husband’s surgery. But, in spite of all our questions and the “unknowns” of what the Doctors will find on Monday, I am focusing on what I know at this moment; our FAVORITE THINGS. Right now I am in the kitchen baking the famous blueberry lemon muffins that I have been making for the last twenty-five years, cranberry biscotti and butternut squash soup. The kitchen is filled with aromas of nutme, roasting butternut squash and walnuts. The fireplace is throwing off its glorious colors and autumn hued candles are flickering and sharing their pumpkin and apple fragrances. Gentle, inspiring worship music is playing softly in the background and my husband is sitting at the kitchen counter sampling the baking as it comes out of the oven. All I…
Posted in: Beauty Unleashed, Encouragement, Expectations, Friendship, Hope, Overcoming Struggles
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Posted: October 30, 2010
“Did it feel like you were being squeezed?” These were the sassy, profound words of my eighty-five year old mother after I shared some intimate details of my unusual, overwhelming struggle. I stopped, gulped and smiled. Yes, that’s exactly how I felt, I thought, and I wonder what makes me feel that way? I pondered over this the next few days looking for discernment and insight into my squeezing. I recognized it in two areas of my life. When I feel overwhelmed with too many demands and don’t have the time to find defining answers and God’s truth. When my life is cluttered with too much “stuff.” Both of these points clutter up my life, my brain, my thoughts and my search for God’s truth and discernment for clarify. I recall Thanksgiving weekend when I needed my favorite potato peeler, but couldn’t find it anywhere….
Posted in: Beauty Unleashed, Encouragement, Finding Truth, Freedom from Busyness, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles
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