Currently Singing | Joshua Micah - Who Says?

Do you ever wake up singing a song and it sticks in your head for a few days. Maybe it's just a catchy tune but I always think it's a message from God. A little note He tucked inside your mind, kinda like that little note your mom may have tucked inside your lunch box as a kid.

The last few days I have been singing the song linked below, the line that's been running through my mind is "who says you have to have it all figured out". Oh my goodness, I am always trying to figure things out and make plans so far in advance. Gods in control, His plan is the best and often it's different than what I had planned.

I'm currently rocking out to this song (dance party) throwing my hands up to God and enjoying all the gifts He has in store for me today.

Joshua Micah - Who Says?

xoxo

Audrey

Trusting God Even When It Doesn't Feel Good

I have been trying to teach Luke not to be afraid of washing his hair, he hates to get soap in his eyes. He gets soap in his eyes because when I tell him its time to rinse, he tenses up and tips his head forward in hopes of protecting his face but actually ends up making it so much worse. He does what he thinks “feels” right instead of trusting me and listening to what I say.

I was in the shower with Luke the other day and as I was going through this situation with him once again, I realized I do this so often with God.

I have been praying so much for guidance lately in so many areas of my life. I know God sometimes calls me in a direction that doesn’t "feel" right and I do something else, leaning on my own understanding not on Gods and end up just making things worse.

Proverbs 3:5-6 King James Version
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

It can sometimes be hard to decipher the voice of God in our lives or feel his guidance in a specific direction. We can trust God's word though, even if its advice does not match that of our world or that of our feelings.

I am still in the very young stages of truly stepping out into deep water and trusting God but I can tell you, in the times I have done this, I have been blessed and God has shown up in big ways. I am honestly writing this so much for my own benefit but if anyone else is in the same boat, it's here for you too.

Xoxo
Audrey

Pray

When a tragedy occurs in our world what do you do? My first instinct is fear and now that I am a mother I wonder what the heck I am doing bringing more life into this scary world with so much uncertainty. The devil wins when I let fear stop me from moving my life forward.

I believe in God and I know the devil is real. Just as I see God fill people in my life and move them to do amazing work that brings hope to others, the devil gets a hold of people too. 

I am learning that instead of being still, afraid, silent and helpless in times where our world faces terror, I can pray. I believe in the power of prayer, I believe God hears every prayer and I believe prayer brings us closer to God. We need more God! 

I will pray for the victims, suffering, loved ones of victims, rescue workers, organizations raising funds, leaders in communities effected by terror, our militaries and the leaders of our nations. I can do something, we can do something, we can pray and lay our fears at the Lords feet, knowing He is the only one who can solve the problems and knowing that we live in a fallen world, an imperfect world and that this is not meant to be our place of dwelling for eternity.

I will also pray that in the face of fear the good always outweighs the bad.

Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is with us, who can be against us? 

I Am Second - My Time With God

Volume Three

The last few weeks have been busy. I have not been making enough time for myself to hit my yoga mat to stretch, pray and reflect. As a result I have not been sleeping great and worrying more. Due to my lack of sleep I have been napping when Luke naps, which is when I normally do yoga, you can see the unhealthy cycle that is beginning.

My time on my yoga mat is my time with God in prayer and reflection. I have The Bible App by YouVersion which sends me a bible verse to read each day (If you follow me on Instagram you know I like to share some of the verses that I have been meditating on) and then during my yoga practice, I meditate on that message. Sometimes it doesn't speak to me but most of the time I learn something. I walk away from my mat feeling lighter, happier and closer to God.

Yoga is what works for me when it comes to prayer, maybe its because I love to move. For others it might just be reading the bible while drinking your morning coffee. Whatever it is, in my experience, this time with God is invaluable to my ability to live a life of purpose, moving in the direction God wants me to go.

And so I circle back to the beginning of my story when I mentioned my busyness. I believe in God and I believe in the enemy (the devil). The enemy knows that when I spend time with God, I become more powerful against his temptation so he wants to do anything he can to take that time away from me. In my situation I believe the devil has been trying to fill me with fear in the early morning hours, robbing me of sleep and as a result, robbing me of my time with God on my yoga mat.

Taking proper care of myself impacts those I care for. I am leading a family and I can not do it without God. It may sound extreme but its also a reminder that I really do need to put God first before anything else in my life. This could mean making time for Him before my family but I know I will be better for everyone in my life because of it.

xoxo
Audrey

My Christmas Story

Empathy - The intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts or attitudes of another.

The Lord has given me an empathetic heart, I believe it is one of my unique gifts.  My ability to consider what it would be like to be in someone else's situation, causes me to make some good choices when I listen to my gut, provides me with various perspectives and also gives me a thought process that allows me to tell stories.

Last weekend we attended The Nightingale Christmas show, it's an annual holiday tradition for us to attend the show as a family.  The music is beautiful and we always leave feeling Christmassy.  This year I paid extra close attention to the songs about Baby Jesus.  I am not sure if there were more than usual this year, or if I am just extra tuned into the Christmas story, but I couldn't help wondering what Mary really felt like knowing her Son was the Son of God and that He had come to save the entire world. 

I have known the Christmas story my whole life, as I get older I do my best to focus on the true meaning of Christmas each year.  This year, the Christmas story was so easy to keep in my heart, I think because I am a new mom.  I have spent so much more time contemplating our Saviour coming to us as a child and what would have been going through Mary's mind as she held her baby boy on the first Christmas Eve. 

If I were Mary I would have been so scared at first, instantly loving this little boy so much and scared of what His big life may hold.

I have also been thinking about how much God loved us all, to have given his only Son to the earth to save us.  Now that I know the love of a parent, I can begin to somewhat understand the love God has for me.  A love I try to accept and feel worthy of, a love we are all worthy of and a love I hope to share with others so they can know the peace and joy I continue to learn more and more about.

I am grateful for this new level of understanding I have for the Christmas story, this year is the first year that it is really filling me with joy.  As I celebrate another Christmas, Luke's first Christmas, I pray to hold the Christmas story in my heart all year and really spread the love of Christmas everyday.  I am grateful for the Christmas story and the hope and peace it brings each year.

Merry Christmas!

John 3:17
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. 

Working The Night Shift

One of the anxieties I experienced while I was pregnant, was the fear that something bad would happen to Tyler or our marriage and I would have to be a parent on my own.  I was so excited to be a family and share all of the parenting adventures with Tyler, it was paralyzing to think about having to be a single parent.

While I was pregnant I prayed a lot about how to overcome this fear and I asked God to help me trust Him.  God promises us that he will never give us anything in life that we don't have the skills and ability to handle.  He also asks us to trust Him.  

In addition to studying the Bible, I also study the practice of yoga and non attachment is something I have read a lot about.  Yoga teaches that being attached to things and people can have a negative effect on our lives in different ways.  For me, being extremely attached to Tyler caused me anxiety and fear. Instead of worrying about what negative things could happen in the future, I need to be present and enjoy what is happening right now. 

When Tyler, Luke and I returned home from the hospital I was confronted head on with my fear, Tyler was going to be going on nights and I would be alone with Luke through the evenings.  I was exhausted and emotional and sad that I would be alone at night but I knew that it was the best thing for our family at that time so I started to pray.  I asked for courage and peacefulness and for my sadness and loneliness in the evenings to disappear.  

Through my prayers, I learned that I need to rely on God first before anyone else and that I am capable of handelling the situations I once feared.  The more I talked to God, the less alone I felt.  I was filled with a calm and the strength to go through my motherly tasks enjoying the special time with my son despite being tired.  God answered my prayers for comfort in the form of my family and friends, I had lots of visitors during the evenings so I was rarely alone all night. 

With God on my side I can handle anything and I am grateful for the lessons I learned through this challenging time. 

God doesn't always give us what we want in the form we think it should be delivered and sometimes we need to go through a challenge to truly grow.  

Thanks be to God!