As I reflect on the past year, I’m filled with gratitude for the incredible journey life has presented me. A year ago, I sensed that God was leading me down a different path, gently nudging me toward a subtly altered perspective. I carried the anticipation of positive developments on the horizon. While I may not fully comprehend the entire picture yet, I can discern more now than I could a year ago.
Last year, I took the plunge into introspection, seeking balance and well-being in every facet of life. This journey led me to pen down my experiences and insights in the book, Ravenous to FULLfilled, a narrative of personal growth, resilience, and the pursuit of holistic wellness. The goal of helping others experience the freedom from shame and dieting that I have found has been the guiding light that fueled this project.
WholeHearted Wellness Alabama
WholeHearted Wellness Alabama: A Ministry of Holistic Wellness
In line with my commitment to fostering well-being, I am overjoyed to announce the launch of WholeHearted Wellness Alabama, a ministry company dedicated to supporting others on their journey to wholeness. This community is not just about physical health; it’s a space where we delve into spiritual nourishment, mental resilience, and emotional balance. Together, we strive for a holistic approach to wellness that nourishes the mind, body, and spirit.
What’s Coming in 2024?
In the spirit of continuous growth and evolution, I am excited to share a sneak peek into what’s on the horizon for WholeHearted Wellness Alabama in 2024:
Online Course: A comprehensive online course designed to guide you through your personal wellness journey, providing tools and insights for spiritual, mental, and emotional well-being.
Coaching Program: Personalized coaching sessions to support you in navigating the challenges and triumphs on your path to wholeness.
Expanded Resources: Even more resources, articles, and interactive content to empower and inspire you on your wellness journey.
Why WholeHearted Wellness Alabama?
WholeHearted Wellness Alabama is more than a company; it’s a movement. It’s about creating a community where individuals support and uplift each other on the path to wholeness. Together, we’ll explore the facets of well-being, discovering the richness that comes from embracing our whole selves.
As we step into this new chapter, I extend my deepest gratitude for your continued support. The journey to wellness is ongoing, and I am honored to have you as a part of this incredible community.
I’ve said more about the peace side of Passion and Peace than the passion side. You may even still think of them as opposites. So I’ll say again: Peacefulness does not mean inaction, and Passion does not mean endless action. They balance one another.
I came across an article that discusses Passion Burnout. We’ve all heard, “Do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Turns out that’s not true!
There’s a difference between Harmonious Passion—work we love and enjoy doing but does not consume all our energy—and Obsessive Passion—which does consume all of you.
But I want you to read the article for yourself. Click the image below to go to the article.
So love what you do but love yourself more. Don’t lose yourself in any pursuit. And if you find yourself anxious over putting down a project or endeavor for a break, you have probably crossed the line from harmonious passion to obsessive passion.
In my last blog post, I shared that 2023 would bring some changes to my website, email list, and social media. I promised to share what they would be soon. So here are the changes.
Butterfly Changes
There are two changes.
Combining Groups
First, I have two Facebook groups associated with my website and the journey I envisioned when I set it up. Pursuing Passionate Peace was created to seek out the balance between pursuing those things about which we are passionate with keeping an internal sense of peace and calm (even if the circumstances are anything but). Poring Over Scripture was created for those who wanted to dive deeper (pore over) Bible passages, and tolerate me geeking out about details that excite very few people other than me.
I need to combine these groups. One reason is because time constraints mean I can only focus on a single group effectively (except for a short term thing). The other is that I no longer have a desire to separate these two emphases.
I will invite one group to the other and the group name will be changing.
Honed Content Focus
Second, in this the upcoming year, I will focus in on balancing passion and peace. I do this from the perspective of my Christian faith. While I realize this isn’t true of everyone, this is who I am and I’m very clear on what I am called to do in this season of my life. Those who don’t appreciate the faith aspect may filter it out, but I will not be.
The Why
Why make these changes?
Because the separation of the groups and content was making a fundamental mistake in truly finding the balance of passion and peace.
We attempt to separate our bodies, our mind/will/emotions (also known as our soul) and our spirits from one another. Not only is this impossible to do but the attempt isn’t healthy.
I will be saying more about this throughout the year. For now, here’s my premise:
Each and every one of us were magnificently created as a triune being by a Triune God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).
You are a spirit that has a soul and lives in a body.
All three parts of you must function cooperatively for you to find and keep a balance of passion and peace. This is what it means to be who you were created to be. So we will be exploring these three aspects of ourselves, how they interact, and how we can fully-integrate them.
Full of challenges with some moments of joy and love thrown in?? Same.
The last few years have held some challenges for me. I started this website (and the groups that accompany it) during a time of growth and healing for myself. I had stepped aside from church-based ministry into the nonprofit world. My soul still longed for ministry and I knew others needed the lessons I had learned.
Since then, I have transitioned back to church-based ministry and had a health crisis. The new role brought some stress and our staff experienced some tragedies and trauma. Additionally, the world brought challenges we all faced, including a worldwide pandemic.
Through it all, my faith sustained me. Scripture and the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that this (how the world is) is not how it’s supposed to be. I don’t have to accept that this is as good as it gets. I’ve clung to Jesus’ promises to always be with us and to give us peace—a peace that is different from the world.
I finally feel ready to share pieces of that journey is the hope that it encourages you to be whole, healthy, and entirely devoted to God.
This means that the topics here on the website and in the groups will be shifting somewhat.
I hope you’ll stick around and go on the journey with me.
So welcome to 2023! Let this year be the one you discover your purpose, your peace, and your passion for life.
Trip is an interesting word. It can mean travel—as in a trip to the beach. it can also mean a stumble or failure—“I tripped over the towel left on the bathroom floor.” I’m using it to mean both.
Yesterday was my birthday. Having completed fifty-three trips around the sun. Along the course of those fifty-three travel trips through a year, I’ve had many, many more times I’ve tripped up, made mistakes, and experienced failure. Nothing is ever wasted if you learn and grow from it though.
Photo credit: Sherry Kughn, The Anniston Star.
I thought I might have the audacity to share five things I’ve learned and three things I still want to do.
Five things I’ve learned.
1. Love yourself. Don’t wait for someone else to do so. In fact, they won’t until you do.
2. Know your worth. God created you and redeemed you. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are worthless.
3. Don’t let others set your expectations or goals. Your failure to make them happy will rob your life of your happiness. Don’t let anyone have the keys to your joy!
4. Do something meaningful with your time here. None of us will live forever. Make a difference while you are here. You can’t take it with you but you can leave a legacy of setting a beautiful example and making the world better.
5. Relationships are better than things. Choose people over property. Do it every single time there is a choice. Life will be far richer.
Three things I still want to do.
1. Help people learn those five things above (hopefully sooner than I did).
2. Take a spiritual pilgrimage to Scotland and Ireland.
3. Be a better nurturer of the relationships in my life.
What are your trips—travel and mistakes—teaching you?
Those who hear me pray often will recognize the phrase “your mercies are new every morning.” It’s such a hopeful reminder.
These are some of my favorite verses in the Bible. Today, they were the focus in The Upper Room devotional.
No matter how many times we fail to be the people we want to be, we can always try again. God does not have this finite measure of mercy. We don’t use it all up and then find a hard, ruthless God. No, every day we get a fresh, generous measure of mercy!
Let’s define a few words right quick.
Justice is getting what is deserved. The scales are balanced.
Mercy is not getting the consequences you deserve. When justice says you deserve punishment and you do not get it, this is mercy. The scales are not balanced. The heavy weight of justice is lightened.
Grace is getting more than you deserve toward the positive. Blessings represent a form of grace.
God is a god of love. Because God loves, justice is a value. He does not desire any to suffer and be crushed or oppressed. But because God is also love, he is patient hoping we will choose to live as he instructs and consequences may be averted.
When we are trying to live as God taught us—especially as seen and heard in the life of Jesus—God’s loving nature extends to us mercy and grace for all the ways we fail to hit our target.
One of the most helpful things we can do to further our journey is to stop thinking of God as itching to punish us.
The faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease.
Goodness, friends, some days God really shows up with a comment on where we are. Have you noticed that?
I’m convinced that God always shows up for us—because God never leaves or forsakes us. I’m also convinced that there’s always encouragement and “a word” when we need it—if we are paying attention enough to notice them. (Cultivating this awareness is the key to achieving and maintaining our sense of peace no matter what is going on around us.)
A few days ago, the Verse of the Day on the YouVersion Bible App was one of those times for me. In a conversation with colleagues the evening before, I expressed this sentiment regarding one aspect of our ministry lives.
It’s okay to be tired. Or frustrated. It’s okay to question things, lots of things, everything. But don’t quit!
Try these things instead:
Take a break.
Take a nap.
Get a snack.
Go for a walk.
Call a friend.
Find an encouraging verse and meditate (breath and repeat the verse) for 5 minutes (or 3 or 1–whatever you can is better than nothing).
Here’s a breath prayer for this verse: (Inhale) Lord, I won’t give up. (Exhale) I’ll wait for your harvest.
Y’all, this woman is my hero! I don’t know her and I hope she wouldn’t be upset by me sharing her picture.
She and I were in the same breakout session at a conference. Here she sat with her tablet or iPad (whichever it may be), tearing it up taking notes.
So why is she my hero?
She coordinates the care ministry at her church and technology makes that more effective. They use online care notes from those who conduct the visits.
She could have declined to do things that way, in a new way. Notes on paper work. Files in an office work. Sharing the info over the phone works.
She doesn’t just want it to work; she wants it to be great.
For this reason, she changed the way it had always been done, learned some new skills, and transformed a ministry in her church.
More than this, she helps others figure it out. “It’s not that hard. We figure it out together.”
Lifelong Learning
Todays world requires us to be continually learning. There’s no class or program or degree that will teach us all we ever need to know. Instead, we must take in new information regularly.
New is often uncomfortable. We are awkward. It’s not familiar. We don’t want to look foolish. But we would miss some amazing things if we decided we knew all we ever needed to know.
Studies show that learning is a great way to keep our minds sharp and either delay or diminish the cognitive decline that sometimes accompanies aging.
Growing older isn’t optional. We age until we die. But we don’t have to grow out of touch, fall behind the curve, become outdated and irrelevant.
Ask yourself these questions:
Where are you resisting change? Why?
What are you learning?
How are you growing and changing with the world around you?
You have a choice! Choose to be awesome, amazing, and adaptable. . . like this beautiful woman.
Romans 12:24. What a beautiful and simple verse! But what a difficult thing to do! and how interesting that this is Verse of the Day on the YouVersion Bible App.
I start most days in that app. Before I let myself check social media, I open it and see what is the verse of the day.
Yesterday, someone mistook my passion for anger. I was making an impassioned plea for something I believe strongly. The strength of my conviction came through in my words and body language. My goal was truth and truth is good.
“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples;” John 8:31
So what do we do when we are trying to do good and it is perceived as evil?
I’ve been taught that communication is the responsibility of the one trying to communicate. In other words, we have a duty to share information in a way that it can be heard.
That seems to apply here. Am I choosing words, as well as tone and body language that conveys what I intend? If not, then I should change it.
But does this always mean that if others to not receive our communication we have not chosen appropriate means?
I don’t think it does. Effective communication requires both the communicator and receiver to be acting in good faith. Unfortunately, there are times when someone is predisposed against communication. Mischaracterizing our means allows them to deflect the content or to encourage others to do so.
The one doing so may not even realize that they are doing so. For most of us, our first instinct is to reject information which does not support our position. In other words, we resist receiving new information because change is hard and new information might require us to change.
For those of us who follow Christ, we need to examine this. The Holy Spirit is always providing us new information—insights about Scripture, their application to our life, things in our life that do not honor or glorify God. This is called sanctifying grace by those of us in the Wesleyan/Methodist stream of Christianity.
How do we know if we are overcoming evil?
We do however need to be reflective as well. We must not immediately dismiss those with whom we are not communicating as being bad actors or not acting in good faith.
However, if we examine ourselves honestly, and have done our best to communicate truthfully, the failure of the message to be received exceeds our responsibility.
So here’s my thought for today:
Perhaps evil has a vested interest in mischaracterizing truthful communication in an effort to prevent good from overcoming it.
My prayer for today: Lord, help me communicate better today. Let the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart be acceptable to you. Please teach me not to let an excess of emotion to cloud my communication. Keep me on the right side of passion and righteous indignation and not on the side of anger and bitterness. My desire is to be on the side of your good, O Lord, to participate in your will to overcome evil with good. My heart, mind, and hands are open to your guidance that I might do so. Through Christ, Amen.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalms 19:14
Proverbs 16:11 is a verse I’ve read many times over the years. A similar verse appears in Proverbs 11: “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord but an accurate weight is his delight.”
Proverbs repeats itself and contains slight variations on many of the adages. I’m convinced the book is better read one maxim at a time rather than in chapters. Because, honestly, I’ve always heard these verses as saying the same thing—that Christians, and the Jewish people to whom these Scriptures belonged first, should be honest in our business transactions. This pleases God.
Balance
But this time . . . Proverbs 16:11 hit in a new way
Balance is my word for this season. There’s a lot going on in my life and each area needs time and focus—personal relationships, personal health and well-being, vocational responsibilities, and continuing education choices. Any one of those areas could fill my time and absorb all my energy.
Anybody else feel that way? That every area of your life needs 100% and you can’t figure out how to give each one what it needs and demands? There’s not enough energy, not enough time in the day.
To focus on ONE of them would be to neglect the others. The challenge in life is to find balance.
So back to Proverbs 16:11.
Weights measure things. When the amount of weight placed on one end balances the scale, we know the measured weight of the items in the other end.
My life doesn’t feel like a simple scale. It feels like a spinning plate exhibition.
This photo is from the Wikipedia entry Plate Spinning.
Maybe you feel that way, too.
But today Proverbs 16:11 stopped me. God stilled all the plates. He took them off the sticks and stacked them neatly and unbroken at the end of the table.
Then he took out his set of scales and bag of weights. With great gentleness and a warm smile, he said to me, “We can do this. We can choose which needs the focus most and how much energy may be given to each at any given moment.”
WE
We. Did you hear that word? It’s a marvelous word! WE can do this. WE can choose.
The amazing, miraculous, wonderful thing about being a follower of Christ is that none of us must go this life alone. We get a WE.
We get the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we get a family of other believers stumbling, crawling, staggering, or sprinting through life facing many of the same challenges we face (and others we can’t imagine). We are a WE and we are not alone.
The endless, boundless, never-ending, agape love of God.
The magnificent, mind-boggling, virtually incomprehensible grace of Jesus Christ.
The fellowship, leadership, mentoring, coaching, and collaboration of the Holy Spirit.
No Skewed Scales
God’s scales are honest. He doesn’t have his food on one end, skewing them. He isn’t cheating us—either to make us feel better about how we’re doing or worse.
Some of the areas of our life will demand more than they should. Friends may complain you don’t value them when you go back to school. They may accuse you of thinking you’re better than them. Partners may grouse when you choose healthier habits. Work may grumble when you establish boundaries around effort, work load, and time off.
The world’s scales not always honest. The world will place its foot in the scale—demanding more of us, telling us we’re not giving enough and should be ashamed.
The time an area demands may not be the time the area needs or deserves.
God helps us take an honest look at the need in front of us.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” Romans 8:1-2 NRSV
The Romans verse above affirms that God doesn’t condemn our efforts. We don’t have to live under constant pressure and stress of not doing enough, of not doing it good enough, of being responsible for everything, especially anything that doesn’t turn out 100% perfectly.
God’s Bag of Weights
Not only does God bring his own scales to this meeting, he brings his own weights.
I imagine these weights are stamped with words like Peace, Worth, Truth, Grace . . .
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” John 14:27 NRSV
“Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you . . . ” Isaiah 43:4a NRSV
God doesn’t measure the same way the world measures.
The world demands we produce, even if it means working to exhaustion. God says we are to rest in a regular rhythm called sabbath.
The world says our worth is determined by what we produce or the skills we possess or the power we wield. God says that we are each created in God’s own image. We have been given the breath of life, divine breath animating us. We were created because God wanted to have a relationship with us, and we are redeemed, delivered, bought back, freed from sin and death by Jesus. Our worth is determined by our Maker. We are inherently worthy! Before we do the first thing or produce the first item.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8 NRSV
“So then, from this point on we won’t recognize people by human standards.” 2 Corinthians 5:16a CEB
Finding Our Balance
Proverb’s 16:11 reminds me—and you—to use the honest and truthful weights and grace-filled scale of God.
In collaboration with the Holy Spirit, we can give each area what it must have, and be released from guilt and condemnation when we do not give an area what it demands.
And the ongoing nature of our relationship with God will help us adjust and adapt, and manage it all better as we go.
