If each new day is a blessing, then there is also a lesson. It doesn’t have to be big and dramatic and there is so much to learn in the small things.

It was my birthday yesterday and I had some time to reflect. Reflect on the past year, and how far I have come.

It is a reminder to us that in those times and seasons especially when we are close to giving up we should pause and ask ourselves to seek God’s perspective like Saul’s servant said, and maybe, just maybe we will get direction for the road unplanned. In these types of seasons, we get to know a side of God.

You see I really love concerts, I love the gathering of people together and I love the sound of corporate worship. Maybe a part of it is that in some way it is a slight reflection of what heaven will be like where we will all gather in one voice, all colors in the presence of our maker. I love the collective chants, the singing off-key, the wild moments of intense joy…..

Let us choose to be people that show love and extend kindness to others. Let us choose to be people that sprinkle joy around where ever we go and lift people up instead of tearing them down. Let us be people that make others feel better about themselves and give people a reason to smile. Weight gain during and after pregnancy is such a sensitive topic …

Thankful for another opportunity to love, thankful for another opportunity to live, thankful for another opportunity to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones, thankful for another opportunity to become who God has purposed for me to be.

Love your body at every stage. There is the notion that if you are trying to work on yourself to be better, then you must not like who you are now. But two things can exist at the same time. You can love yourself and your body and yet challenge it to be a version of what you see. Let’s look at it this way, you can love your significant other but that doesn’t mean there are no changes and improvements you want to see in them as they progress in the relationship. This is the same for your body.

There are days when I sit and wonder who is this girl

I used to be that girl who never prioritized rest

I used to be that girl who didn’t know how to be still

The girl who considered the art of continuously being busy a lifestyle.

I liked occupying my time with things, every minute planned

After having a baby, you look at the belly and wonder will this bulge ever go away? I know this seems impossible but the short answer to this is yes, there are ways you can do this. There are a series of programs I will recommend that I have come across and some tried that I think will really help you.

When we are unsure we can ask God for confirmation because we are in a relationship with him and so there is nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, it is also true that his needing so many confirmations were from a place of unbelief which he had reason to be skeptical. All that being said, one thing that stands out to me from all this is how God meets us where we are. We don’t have to try to be someone else. He loves us as we are, values us as we are, and cares for us as we are, he can use us where we are and meets us as we are.