Midlife Creative

I have lived most of my life trying to keep everything together and everyone around me happy. If someone asks for help, I will say yes. If there is a need, I will try to find an answer. Keeping people happy is my top priority….until I can’t.

Just before Thanksgiving this year I started thinking about life like the game of Jenga. I was trying to keep the tower from falling, but then when I least expected, it crumbled. I was trying to do too much. I was under a lot of stress and my body responded by saying “No more!” My back went out and I found myself unable to walk. Shooting pain went up and down my leg when I put pressure on it and I found myself walking with a cane.

Thankfully, with some rest and chiropractic care, I healed quickly, but it was a wake up call. I realized I was carrying responsibilities and burdens I was never meant to carry.

What can we do when we know we are doing too much? Here are some things I’m learning

Delegate/Ask for Help

Take breaks everyday and rest one day a week

Say No. Its ok. It really is.

Sometimes living by faith is like walking in the dark.  I take a small step forward, then another, and another.  I can’t even see a foot in front of me.  

Walking by faith is daily.  It’s living in hope and choosing to move in step with the Holy Spirit, over and over again, until I look back and realize I have traveled a long way.  Over a mountain, across a river, and through a dense forest.

  These obstacles in my life have appeared through losing a house, losing a job, changing churches, changing schools, relational challenges, running out of money, battling anxiety, and watching those I love hurting, 

On the flip side, sometimes living by faith is like watching a sunrise, seeing a double rainbow, or finding a four leaf clover.  Every so often, life’s treasure hunt is like finding a hidden medallion or winning the jackpot.  

Even small surprises bring joy! 

Some of the joys in my walk with Jesus during the past 42 years have been in seeing a revival on my college campus of University of MN Morris, praying for my friend (now husband) to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, traveling to the Czech Republic, joining new friends around the world in a 24-7 prayer movement, getting married and having 4 beautiful babies.   More surprises have been watching God miraculously provide for my family over and over again, seeing the ocean for the first time, realizing teaching piano lessons is what I really want to do, and finding our house and neighborhood in St Paul.  

Living by faith is walking in daily hope, even when the fog is thick and my resolve is like the dim flicker of a candle.  The flame is still burning beside me, in, and through me.  It has never gone out.  

If you are weary or walking in the dark, now is a good time to ask for prayer.   I’ve been there many times and the family of God has been instrumental in helping bring my weary bones back to life through intercession, encouragement, and practical gifts.   

2 Timothy 1:6 

“I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of hands.”