Sometimes you flourish, but it seems like many more times, you just flop. Too many times in life we become discouraged in the flops. Nothing seems to work out like it's supposed to.

No matter how hard you try to pay off that bill, another unexpected bill will inevitably make its way to your mailbox. You've told your children repeatedly to not color the furniture with nail polish, and the nail polish calls their name, begging to be opened and poured out...anywhere.

You struggle to keep your head above water by cleaning, cleaning and cleaning your house, but you always lose the battle as soon as everyone gets home from school and work.

     There are some days when I feel like all I do is live one big flop. And I don't just flop with crafts, and small problems. Often times I've flopped as a mother and wife, causing damage to my family. Other times, I flop in my friendships, hurting the ones I wish to keep closest. 

      But the most damaging flop is when I ignore the One whom I am supposed to love the most.

It's funny, but in ministry is the one place you would think you can never forget God. He is the one your whole job is based around! But it's easy to get caught up in the doing, and forget who we are doing it for!

     I challenge you to take time to remember Him this week. Remember all that He's done, remember where He's brought you from and where you'd be without his grace!

     Sometimes it helps us to know that we're not the only ones who fail at this.

Here are a few flops to make you feel better and to remind you that we all flop. Just don't forget to get back up and try again!

Setting up for the big project...

Have you seen all those awesome washer necklace tutorials on Pinterest?
Me, too. Except I didn't read the tutorials. I just tried to wing it.
So I started with some small washers.

I laid them on a sheet of cardstock and painted them with various nail polish colors. I tried scooting them as they dried, but they only ended up stuck to the paper. Total flop. I ended up chucking them all. Here's a link to how to do it right.       
Nail Polish Washers

My biggest problem when crafting is that I neglect to make sure I have all the supplies needed before I begin. This project started out really cool. A whole mess of safety pins, and a stash of various beads. This was going to be an awesome bracelet... Except I only had enough stretchy wire to go through one side...and I ran out of safety pins.

So I thought I'd add some beads to the one stretchy wire to make the bracelet. But the safety pins were so heavy, it just didn't work.

I hated to waste all that time, so I threaded the pins through a small plastic headband. Which turned out cute...see below.

Here's the floppy, the headband was now so heavy that it all pulls to the side, and continually pushes my hair forward. The headband then ends up on my forehead.

Want to make the bracelet right? Click Here for instructions for the bracelet above.

Well, you win some, you lose some. Hopefully these flops give you some inspirations for what not to do! You can't flourish until you've hit a few flops, so count them as an accomplishment.
What flops have you accomplished lately?

Ciao!

Today's post is a recycled post I wrote a few years ago, but I know there are many out there who can relate to the subject of feeling inadequate. Sometimes I look at other mothers and compare myself to them. All the other moms seem to have it all together. I visited a mom-friend of mine a few weeks ago. She has two children. A son who is twelve and a daughter who is eight. Her house was immaculate! There was no clutter anywhere. The wood floors were freshly polished, the stainless steel countertops sparkled, everything was in its place. Martha Stewart had nothing on these people! We walked into her daughter's room. There would be a mess in there for sure. (My daughter is six and I know how messy her room gets. Trust me, I clean it most of the time because she gets overwhelmed by the mountainous piles of clutter and clothes.) There was no mess in her daughter's room. The bed was made, the toys were neatly stacked in small bins, the carpet had no bits of paper... Now my house is not a filthy pig pen. But it is not immaculate either. We have clutter. There are a few towels on my bathroom floor as we speak. Last night's pizza boxes still reside on the kitchen counter and my refrigerator probably holds at least one science experiment waiting to happen. Standing in this woman's beautiful house started to make me self-conscious. "Note to self, do not invite this woman to our home until I have a de-cluttering garage sale." I began to feel ashamed. My furniture was not as nice, my house was not as clean, my children rarely make their beds. I compared and compared. I kept coming up short. I'm sure I'm not the only mom who compares herself to others. There's always that perfect mom out there that is nothing like us. I work a few hours a week in a health club daycare. Many of the moms who drop off their children are there to exercise several times a week. They wear size two designer sweat pants and have year round tans. They are the total opposite of me. Most of them had children and then seemed to drop all of the weight overnight. I had children and have steadily gained weight after they were born. I looked at a slice of cake the other day and twenty pounds jumped off the cake and attached itself to my backside. When these moms drop off their children, I greet the children and quickly compare myself. It's crazy how quickly I can compare and how routine that can become. So routine at times that we don't even realize how much we do this! One quick glance and I've already compared and told myself that I don't measure up. I'm not good enough. I'm not pretty enough. I don't have what she has. My thighs look nothing like that! I could spend hours primping and not look as good as her after she sweated it out in a kickboxing session! We look at their surface and assume their lives are perfect. It's crazy, but I've even had women try and compare themselves to me. One afternoon I spoke at a women's ministry meeting. One of the women approached me when I was finished. "How do you do it?" She asked. "You just seem to have it all together." I'll admit, I laughed so hard, I snorted like a pig. Why in the world would this woman assume I had it all together? Did she see me? Hadn't she just heard me stutter while I spoke? Had she not caught all of the mistakes I had just made? No. She was too busy comparing her own outfit, her own abilities, her own life... to mine. The truth is, she was just like me. She was another one of those non-perfect women that God created. Look around you. The world is full of non-perfects. We look at those around us and see their surface. We assume that their surface is a portrayal of what is inside. But when we look inside, we sometimes see a different story. I know a woman whose surface is beautiful. She is one of the happiest and prettiest people I've ever known. She has a contagious smile, she is very pretty. Everyone loves her. She is on staff at a big church, she sings beautifully... For years I thought, "Wow, she must have had the perfect life. She really seems to have it all." But that was the surface that we all see. The reality was, she'd been divorced for years. Her husband had had an affair and it had nearly destroyed her. She was a non-perfect, just like the rest of us. But she relied on God for strength and God had brought her through. She didn't let her circumstances shape who she was. She let her Heavenly Father shape her future. That is where her joy came from. We are all non-perfects on the inside. Everyone has a story. God does not want us to compare ourselves to other women. All we end up comparing is the surface. We don't know what circumstances or trials most people have been through. The only person who knows every one of my hurts and pains is Jesus. We don't let everyone know what burdens us, what are fears are, what keeps us up at night worrying. Colossians 3: 1-4 "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory." Your real life is who Christ says you are! Isn't that wonderful? Don't look at others, but set your sights on the realities of heaven. Only through Christ can we find true joy and contentment with our lives. You're a non-perfect. So am I. Maybe your children have colored on your walls. Maybe your husband leaves his dirty socks on the floor. Maybe you feel like you don't have time to diet and McDonald is a much easier option. Join the club of non-perfects and thank God that our real life is hidden with Christ in God! May you flourish in the life God has given you. Ciao! PS, Don't forget to join the blog hop on August 13th! Visit my blog that day for a link to other blogs and a chance to win a Kindle Fire. Instructions will be posted!

Writing is something I've done since I was very young. I still have a few copies of novels I began when I was about 11 years old.
At that age, my stories were always about a girl who moves to a new house. I think that was because we had never moved. I lived for 19 years in the same house. Since I've been married and in ministry that same amount of time, (13 years) we've now moved at least a dozen times. I'm not entirely sure. I've lost count. But I digress.
I've written story after story, piece after piece. But my favorite piece was one I'd written about my Grandma a few weeks after she passed away. I never wrote more than this first draft. I don't have the heart to polish it up.

Grandma's hands looked bare without all of the rings she usually wore. Her hands were too swollen from the medication to be able to wear them.

I held her right hand in mine. Her skin completely pale against the stark white of the hospital bed sheets. I gently rubbed the wrinkled hand with my thumb.

My memory took me back to a place in time when those hands were much different.

I remembered not too long ago on a trip to visit with Grandma. She hugged me and placed that same right hand on one of my cheeks as she kissed the other. "I love you, Sweetheart." She had smiled and patted my cheek ever so gently. Then she squeezed my hand before I walked out the door.

As I sat at her bedside, I was joined by my mom and younger sister. Tears rolled down all of our cheeks as we faced an unwelcome reality; Grandma wouldn't be with us much longer.

The three of us held onto a part of Grandma's hand. They were hands that had brought so much comfort through the years. Her hands had made necklaces for Christmas gifts. They had smacked teasingly at ours when jokes were made. Most importantly, her hands had folded in prayer time after time for all of her children and grandchildren.

I think it was my sister that spoke up as we sat holding Grandma's hand.

"Did you ever realize how much all of our hands look alike?" I studied the four hands clasped together. My younger sister's hands were soft, dainty and smooth. Mine looked like a slightly older version of hers. Mom's hands were beginning to look more and more like Grandma's.

My aunt, who was across the room came to stand by us, her cell phone in hand. "Put your hands next to each other." She motioned with one hand. "I'll take a picture with my cell phone."

We arranged one of each of our hands around Grandma's. Grandma slept peacefully as that phone captured our memory. A memory that will live on forever in our hearts.

That was the last picture taken with the four of us.

Grandma passed away two days later. I will forever cherish that picture. The picture that will always remind me of the loving times spent holding Grandma's hand.
Don't forget to hang on to the time you have with your loved ones. Sure, flourishing is sometimes accomplished in your "me" time. But don't forget to include those closest to you. You never know how long you will get with your loved ones. Cherish the small moments.
Ciao!

Lately I've been thinking about society's idea of tolerance. Everywhere you look, the idea of tolerance is not only presented, but pushed. It's a word that carries controversy all on its own.
As a Christian woman, when I hear this word, it's usually in reference to issues such as homosexuality or alternative lifestyles. And usually it comes with a great deal of anger pointed at the Christian community for not agreeing with these types of living.  Christians are often called intolerant, hateful, and unaccepting for their non-agreement.
Case in point, the Chick-Fil-A controversy.

We are taught by society that we all must be tolerant. But what does that really mean? Does tolerance mean you can disagree with someone, but still love and accept them? If that is the meaning, I can deal with that. Most times, though, the only acceptable versions of "tolerance" are  agreeing, don't say anything negative about the issue, even promote the issue positively at times.
What is the real meaning, and where should a true Christian fall on the spectrum of tolerance?
And are Christians the only ones in this battle, or do those living in their chosen lifestyles need to be tolerant of Christians and their views?
In other words, is tolerance only one-sided?
What's your view, as a Christian? How should a Christian respond to Chick-Fil-A's statements recently? How should we respond to the world around us when they come against those views?
Let me know what you think.