My book for April was something I discovered by reading the fabulous (in)Courage blog, which is a home for the hearts of women of faith. Some lovely ladies teamed up with Dayspring (which is the Christian division of Hallmark) to build an online community that offered encouragement, connection, events, and a book club for women.
At the end of March, the had a special book club feature and video series for You’re Already Amazing: Embracing Who You Are, Becoming All God Created You to Be (Amazon), so I decided to make that my book. I’ve been so busy doing so much self-discovery, soul searching, journaling, courses, and more that this felt like a perfect way to check back in with God’s plans for my life and be filled with some biblical affirmations. Back in April, things were hectic, so my reading schedule wasn’t able to stay with the online videos, but I caught up when I could & really enjoyed watching the women discuss each chapter. The book is very interactive, in that it asks you to d answer questions, identify things, fill in the blanks, and generally reflect on who you are.
Some of the book focused on things like identify strengths & skills that God gave you, which is similar to what I’ve done recently in a a few other places. I enjoyed the part that addressed how perfectionism is a barrier to growth, and to focus on moving forward and progress more than accomplishments or end goals. The next chapters focused on the importance of emotions and feelings, how to hear them but not be controlled by them but instead learn what God is saying through our emotions and circumstances. The book then pivoted to the strategy of life- where I am going, who is going with me, how do I relate to others, and what is God’s plan for my life. These are all great questions and allowed me to delve into these big issues with a spiritual, godly frame of reference. The acronym for L.I.F.E is Love is Faith expressed, and challenged me to examine what am I doing with the life God gave me to express my faith. My biggesst takeaway from the book is the “Do what you can plan” that Holly shared about it being OK to let go a little and allow myself some grace if I don’t feel like doing something, but to still encourage myself to do just a little something. If I don’t feel like running my 3 miles, I’ll just hop on the treadmill and do 2 instead. If I don’t have 30 minutes to read, I won’t blow it off totally and just accept that it’s OK to only read for 15 minutes. It’s OK for a blog post (or two) to be a day late, but I’ll still get them done.
Overall, an extremely helpful, practical, book from an amazing women. It was so good for me to have this spiritual balance in my life and return my focus to my faith while still exploring and examining my own life and goals.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Had a fabulous Saturday filled with a new yoga class, a massage, a friend’s graduation party and a late night dinner party with friends.
