Details about my time away from blogging, why the name change to Project Inspire and What God is doing in my life now

Details About My Time Away from Blogging

Whoa! Well that’s a long title if I ever saw one! lol Pretty fitting I suppose since this post will probably be long too.

Okay, so in April I announced a 40 Day fast from blogging, Facebook and all social media connections. You can read more details the post “My Husband Has No Drawers in His Drawers”.  At the same time the women’s ministry at my church started Beth Moore’s new study, James: Mercy Triumphs. Just a little side note: Best. Study. Ever! I’ve done most of hers and this one, wow, just so incredible! And life changing.

So, I started doing the James bible study and each time I sat down to work on the homework I was wowed. God was confirming to me over and over again just how timely my fast was and how part of His will it was. I was getting into the Word like I hadn’t in….YEARS! I’m not going to lie and say days, weeks or months, it was literally YEARS had gone by since I had any real solid time in His Word. And boy did it show. My attitude was awful. I felt like I was barely saved most days.  I did a great job masking it but I knew I needed an encounter with Jesus. Bad. I felt like I was on the mountain top. I was excited about His Word, excited about the study, excited about what He was doing in my heart.

At one point during the study, Beth talks about something called “Between the Rains”. Basically between the rains is the period of time where you are in a valley. A dry period. You’ve experienced times where God’s mercy and grace and presence was just raining down on you and your life was bearing fruit but then there was that time in between those times, know what I mean? As my husband says, “you hear me screamin’?”. So as quickly as I had my rainy season, I had a dry season. I was missing days of my study (never missed a meeting though which is HUGE for this chick!), not feeling particularly close to God as I had in recent days and weeks. I felt like I was back to the same old me.

The study came to and end and I really did feel like it was the beginning of something that God wanted to do in me. I believe that God was using that time to give me a taste of what I had been missing. Around the same time the 40 day blogging fast came to an end and I honestly felt like 40 days was not nearly enough. I still had work in me to do. My husband still didn’t have any draws in his drawers and I was still not spending as much time with my family as I had hoped the 40 days would bring. I progressed but was not where I really wanted to be………….

Why the Name Change to Project Inspire

During this time since my fast ended I started thinking about the direction of the blog. I knew that it was not going to continue on as it had in the past. I still LOVE to create and craft but I was not sure I wanted to blog about every crafty adventure. I felt like I wanted to blog when I was inspired to do it. Not because I felt I had to do it. Another thing was that I had gotten so much positive feedback from my blog break post and my follow up post “Why I’m Tossing Blog Etiquette Out the Window” that I felt like I was given this gift to inspire others to make changes in their lives. Believe me when I say, I most certainly do not feel inspiring. lol I have such a LONG way to go but I guess putting my thoughts out there gave people someone to identify with. So, I came up with Project Inspire. I will blog when I’m inspired to do it and hopefully whatever I blog about will inspire someone else. Whether it be in their crafty adventures or their relationship with God or their family life, I don’t know but Project Inspire it is!

What God is Doing in My Life Now

One of my new favorite distractions (I’m just calling a spade a spade) is Instsgr.am. Love, love, love it! Well, one day I was scrolling through my feed (is that the right word???) and I came across a photo of a journal page from Maggie Whitley (Gussy Sews) and under her picture was the hashtag #shereadstruth. (I know I blogged a little bit about this last week but I’m going to get a little deeper so bear with me) Wondering what that was all about, I Googled “She Reads Truth” and found the website. To find out exactly what goes on over at the She Reads Truth blog, you can check out my explanation of it in this post or just stay at She Reads Truth awhile and take a look around.  Anyway, I jumped right in with the reading plan that She Reads Truth was in the middle of and it was called Living the Surrendered Life. What SRT encourages is getting into God’s Word daily. Starting your day with the Lord. All the things that I know I’ve NEEDED to do for so long but have resisted. So, I decided that as much as I hate it, I’m going to drag my sorry butt out of bed at 5am when my husband gets up and start my day with the Lord.

In the past, I’ve tried this. I’ve gotten up early, read a little in my Bible and then dozed off trying to pray. Or, I’d get into a really good time of prayer and one of the kids would wake up and totally throw everything off. Needless to say, I have not been successful at.all. with the whole wake up early thing. But, really wanting (and needing change in my life because everything seemed to be chaotic around me and out of order) to do this, I told my husband to get me up. The first morning, guess who stayed in bed and just laughed when their husband told her it was time to get up? This girl! lol Throughout that day I remembered that my reading plan was called Living the SURRENDERED LIFE and said tomorrow morning I’m doing it! Well, the next morning, guess who did NOT stay in bed? THIS GIRL! My husband was the picture of shock when I emerged all zombie like from the bedroom.  Ha!

I will be honest and say that I have not gotten up early every single day since then. But I’ve gotten up more often then not. This is only the work of God! And I’m so thankful that finally, FINALLY i feel like I’m heading in the right direction. I feel like I’m finally coming out of that “Between the Rains” season.

I’m almost done, I promise!

I still find myself pretty tired and groggy when I get up. I sit at the kitchen table and read my scriptures from the reading plan I’m working on with She Reads Truth.  Then I put my sneakers on, grab my phone and headphones and head down to the basement to do the treadmill. While I’m on the treadmill I listen to worship songs and spend time in prayer and worship. This works so well for me! It gets me moving and exercising in the morning which I’ve needed to do since i started my weight loss journey (I will blog about that eventually) and it keeps me awake enough to communicate with God. I toss in some laundry too and am showered and dressed by the time the kids get up. I am loving this! God is truly at work in my life. And I know that He wants to be at work in yours too!

Do I still walk in the flesh each day? Oh yes! Monster Mommy makes a regular appearance but now that I’m praying for my kids and praying for God to change the things that I hate about myself and my sinful nature I KNOW that God is going to change me and make me into the mother and wife that HE wants me to be and that I desire to be because I’m conscious of my horrible ways and I’m actively pursuing God(run on sentence anyone?).

So, in a GIANT nutshell, that’s what’s been happening over the last few months. You all have been SO supportive of all these changes. I read your comments and smile and feel like I want to just hunt you down and give you a giant hug. lol (Don’t worry – I’m not a pshycho and will NOT be doing that lol) Let’s walk out this Christian life together!

Know that you are not alone in your struggles as a wife, as a mother, even as a daughter of God. As long as we live in this world, it will be a daily battle to make choices that will bring Him glory. And when we mess up, MERCY TRIUMPHS!

Love you guys!!