Fruits of the Spirit

Lately, I have been feeling overwhelmed and stressed out...mostly about life in general,

I think sometimes we all need a little reminder that we don't have to do it all

and that we certainly, don't have to do it all on our own.

As moms, we are always trying to do too much and most of it is just not necessary.

we strive to be our best with such super high expectations of ourselves that when we 

fail (and let's face it, we all fail, no one is perfect)....we feel defeated.

we feel like we've let someone down, be it our children, our spouses, ourselves.

Recently, when I was feeling stressed and beating myself up about 

not accomplishing all my goals for the week and for overeating due to the stress, which followed by self loathing,...which led to me yelling at everyone for my lack of control and patience....which then led to a little scolding from my hubby for being so unkind to not only our kids, but to him as well.

I said a little prayer asking for grace and grabbed my Bible.

I placed it on the table and let the pages fall where they may, 

hoping for some Godly sign to bring me peace of mind.

this is the verse that popped up....

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

 - Galatians 5:22-23

Wow, God really has a way of hitting home, doesn't He?

I realized that while I was yelling at my husband because I felt so out of control, that God was working through him to show me just what I needed to see....

Instead of blowing up at me for yelling at him, my husband spoke to me with a kindness and understanding patience.  He didn't lose self control and blow up at me for blowing up at him.

He showed me compassion and love and gentleness and patience and goodness and kindness.

As I was reading the verse in the Bible and praying, I thanked God for showing me mercy through my husband.

I knew I needed to take a break from the stress, the homework, the need to "do it all" and just relax.

I went to the art closet and gathered some supplies and just let the creativity flow.

painting is so relaxing...

I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to paint, but God did....

I painted a tree and then took an apple and stamped it on the tree.

Next, I printed out all the words of the fruits of the spirit and glued them to the apples.

I hung my painting on the fridge, as a virtual reminder for when I'm feeling overwhelmed or stressed

and lacking self control.

God speaks to us all the time, we just need to open our hearts and listen.

need to please disease

Do you suffer from the "need to please" disease?

Lord knows, I sure do.

I say yes to almost everything and I almost always end up feeling overwhelmed

and stressed and emotionally drained trying to "do it all."

And on those {very} rare occasions that I do stick to my guns and say no, 

I feel sick to my stomach and incredibly guilty.  The guilt almost consumes me.  

It eats away at my soul and my spirit fills with dread.

The other day, I took Nicholas shoe shopping at the mall.

After we purchased his new shoes, 

we walked past the bookstore and the lure of the bargain bin had me hooked.

The next thing I know a half hour had passed.

Not that I had enjoyed the time as Nick was looming over me the whole time.

He insisted on standing next to me like an overbearing shadow all the while asking me if he could borrow three dollars for a deck of cards from the card shop.

I kept telling him no, not today.

he kept asking....begging

and saying he would pay me back as soon as we got home.

It wasn't the money I was worried about

I simply just had no desire to stop there.

I really just didn't "feel" like it.

I didn't even want to go shoe shopping, but the boy needed them so we had to go.

As we were passing the card shop on the way out

Nick proceeded to beg and plead some more.

I refused and as we walked to the car, that overwhelming cloud of doom grew bigger and bigger.

I could feel my heart racing, my anxiety level rising and my "mom guilt" kick in.

I didn't give in to him....

but, I sure wanted to.

The rest of the day, I felt horrible.

his endless pleas of 

it's only $3 mom

and

it will only take me five minutes to run in and back out.

kept playing in my head like a broken record.

I was consumed with dread, sick to my stomach with an empty void where my heart should have been, for not pleasing my child's desire to just "grab one deck of cards."

Even though that day I said no,

I often find myself saying yes.

yes, to so many things

things I have no desire to do

and no time to fulfill

often those things go undone

(which leads to even bigger issues).

but I can't help myself, 

it's almost ingrained in my mind to say yes.

I somehow feel obligated to say it.

Why do we let ourselves feel so consumed by this need to please and let it overwhelm our souls to the point of physically and emotionally destroying our well beings. 

It's such a sickening disease - this need to please.

That's why when I saw Lysa Terkeurst's new book "The Best Yes" I just knew I had to read it.

Do you suffer from the "need to please" disease?

You can join Lysa and her team in an online Bible study group.

it's free, you only need the book, a Bible, a highlighter or pencil, tablet and a desire to seek a "cure."

find out more here....

*Disclosure: I am not being paid for this post....I'm just sharing, because I felt led to do so.

tie dye fun...

one of our activities this summer was tie dyeing t'shirts.

the kids have been asking to tie dye for....forever, so i bought a kit and we went to work.

actually, sarah did all the work, we just decided what pattern we wanted and wrapped the rubber bands around the shirts and sarah did the rest.

there are a ton of ways to make your own diy tie dye, 

but we chose to go the easy route and use the kit.

probably less mess too ;)

not that i'm afraid of a mess when it comes to art,

however dye is another story....

we are currently drying ourselves after showers with tie dye towels, btw - ha!

later on during the summer,

actually it was the first day of school, i think

we made a tie dye rainbow cake.

*it was my intention to post this during the summer for club mom activities, but i was super busy all summer and barely had time to keep up with my life, let alone this blog.

but i will post it on the club mom page now, in case anyone is looking for fun ideas.

a girl walks into a thrift store....