Mother Love

It was another great weekend spent with the people I love most! I hope yours was just as great.

Saturday:: We spent the morning at home…having breakfast, playing with Ayla, and then spent some time talking with Ben’s mom on Skype. She lives in Thailand so we don’t see her often, and it was so cute to watch Ayla looking at her and even give her a few smiles during the conversation. Ben did some work outside for a few hours, and I was inside doing house work and laundry. A few guys were getting together at Ben’s brother’s house to play Spikeball in the afternoon, so we went over so he could join in the games. It’s such a fun game to watch and even though it looks pretty easy, I think it’s probably harder than it looks. We were there for about an hour before dashing off to our next weekend plans…the Gaylord Opryland Hotel! Ben came home from his conference last weekend and said he made plans for a night away this weekend, and booked us into the Opryland! It was such a fun surprise. We wanted to watch the Clemson football game, so we checked in as early as we could at three o’clock and settled in our hotel room for the afternoon. The Opryland is as beautiful and ornate as I’ve always heard it to be, and definitely worth a visit if you are ever in Nashville. We went out into town for dinner at Avo, and then came back and walked around the different atriums at the hotel before calling it a night.

Sunday:: Ayla let us sleep in until about seven o’clock, and after morning snuggles, we got dressed and packed up to head out for breakfast. We thought about eating at the hotel, but the one restaurant open for breakfast was pretty pricey and we decided we’d rather get out and explore a different spot while we were in the city anyway. Barista Parlor is a really popular spot, and it definitely did not disappoint! We drank tasty pour-over coffees and split a Five Daughters Bakery donut (amazing, btw) and enjoyed a delicious breakfast of a brioche egg sandwich and spiced apple oatmeal with streusel topping. We spent the rest of the day at home, taking Ayla out for a walk, working on our monthly budget, and relishing the cozy fall day. We went to church in the afternoon, back home for soup and toast, and a quiet Sunday evening for reading and relaxing. Such a perfect way to start a new week.

Here are five things I love:
– tempted to do this
– this clever cleaning tip
– this tart recipe
– this sermon (seriously so good!!!)
– this pretty blog

Have a great week, dears!

I feel like I’ve been getting hammered lately.

IN THE BEST WAY.

I feel like I’m in a season where so many things in my heart are being exposed and peeled away and transformed and changed. And truthfully? I like it. There are so many things in my heart that need to be exposed, peeled away, transformed, changed. I would say I’m aware of about maybe half of the those things…and the other half are stored away deep inside in complacent oblivion, carefully covered over with the belief that “it’s just normal to feel/act/believe this way.” But Jesus knows…He sees all the hidden things, and He so gently and carefully and sometimes forcefully shines His beautiful light into those dark places to bring a new life and light to the broken spots.

It feels good to feel yourself being changed, right? It feels good to encounter a situation or internal thought process that has always had a certain outcome and to realize that hey! something feels different here! i’m thinking different, acting different, believing different! *insert party emoji*

Three things that I’ve been hammered with lately:: shame, fear, identity. I can’t even say how many different ways God has worked on me in these three areas in the past few weeks. There have been so many sermons, songs, books, random quotes from social media, or quiet revelations that have blown these three things wide open in my heart, and it’s been like this constant stream of seeing how shame, fear, and lack of confident identity have been blocking me from the life that I want. But along with the revelations came hope and excitement, because it meant I could change. Seeing our issues and brokenness is the first step towards walking in a better way.

I was in town earlier this week stocking up on groceries, and the grocery store was in a little shopping plaza with some restaurants and retail stores, all of which were mostly high end shops. I drove by them all on my way to the parking garage without much of a second glance, because honestly, high end shops intimidate me like crazy. I don’t go into them, ever.

But for some reason that day, I just wanted to walk into the Anthropologie that was in the shopping plaza. It was a strange fancy, because honestly, most of their styles aren’t things I would really choose to wear. I’ve actually only been into this store a handful of times, because every single time I walk through the doors of a store like Anthro, I just felt like an imposter. Like there was this proverbial sign on my forehead signaling to the sales clerks and other shoppers that she doesn’t belong here. I would scurry around for a little, pretending to be seriously considering different items while surreptitiously looking for the price tag and trying to keep from visibly reacting to the numbers attached to a simple top or sweater. We all have our priorities, right? Mine simply isn’t spending a big amount of money on a single item of clothing. But the imposter feeling wasn’t because of the price tags…it was because of my heart that felt unworthy of the kind of things that Anthropologie sold. Who am I to think I’m good enough to set foot inside of these kind of places?

As I got in my car and started to pull away from the grocery store on Tuesday, I suddenly just wanted to walk into Anthropologie. Like I said, it was weird. I re-parked my car, strapped Ayla into the Ergo, and dashed through the rain into the store. As I walked through the door, a gorgeous, perfectly-styled sales clerk smiled at me and said hello…and in that moment, I realized something was different. I didn’t feel like an imposter in Anthropologie. I was dressed in jeans, a Target sweatshirt, and my hair was wet and ratty…and it didn’t matter. I felt worthy of being there. I browsed the racks and even picked out a few things to try on, and the whole time I was there, I never once felt intimidated or embarrassed of my very un-Anthro outfit or ratty hair or just of myself. I just had a fun time walking around the store…no shame, no unworthiness, no stupid lies telling me I was an idiot for even being there. It was awesome!

I didn’t buy anything that day, and honestly, probably never will. But my stepping into Anthropologie on that rainy morning wasn’t about that…it was about realizing that somehow my heart is changing to believe and know and feel the worthiness given to me by Jesus. It was about realizing that I don’t have to hang my head in shame when I walk into a store full of designer clothes and beautiful women. It was about realizing that I’m being set free in glorious new ways to be who I am, freely and fully.

And that, my friends, is something to be excited about.
And that is something I hope He is doing within your own heart as well.

What about you: do you find yourself feeling unworthy to do certain things or be in a certain place that seems “above” you

I’d love to hear your thoughts!