-Trip P. 1-

These few quotes have blessed me SO much lately:

-Sorry about the tiny print! My computer isn't working properly!-

“you can’t live your life based just on what everyone else thinks”“you cannot fulfill all the expectations of everyone you know, so you might as well go ahead and disappoint them and get it over with.” (yikes!)“don’t depend on other people as the source of your happiness and for approval.”“meekness is not weakness, it is strength under control” – I love this quote!!! and“we are not free until we no longer have anything to prove and we are not living to impress people.”

 God has been trying to get me to step out & trust him in certain areas for so long! Why is it so scary?  I struggle with worrying about what other people (especially Christians) will think. The only one I need to be concerned with is what God thinks of me.  I’ve always been a “people pleaser”. I don’t know why I let other people’s thoughts/words get to me. Many people haven’t taken being a Pastor's wife/mother as a serious job in my life… but that is where my heart is. I feel God blesses us all with special talents and we should be using them. There would be such a loss if we didn’t. It’s only when I’m listening to Him that I become aware of what fears exist and that’s when He moves in and shows me the better way. It’s on ongoing process, I think, but so worth stepping out when He leads you. Faith triumphs over fear, every time. It has only been this past year that I have been walking out the fear that I held onto for so long in the past, and I am still walking out the mentality of pleasing people and wanting to be accepted by others. That’s one thing I struggle with most, wanting approval from others. bleh, makes me crinkle my nose just typing that out. I’ve been catching myself comparing myself to other bloggers and how much ‘better’ they are than me and it does want to make me freeze in my tracks, but God really called me to be more than just a bump on a log wishing I was someone else. He made me who I am with confidence, so why wouldn’t I look confidently to Him for that faith and not fear!? I’m almost certain that every woman deals with fear at some point. God wants me  to “Go forth” with His unpopular plan for my life. Being obedient to God produces more fruit than we often realize. That is what the second part of the trip helped me realize.