Another Area That I Look Forward to God Growing Me

Yesterday I was so proud of myself for completing my to-do list. A friend of mine asked how I did that? Easy, I am very realistic about what I can accomplish in a day.

I used to pressure myself and think that everyday my whole house had to be clean, all the laundry had to be cleaned and put away, dishes done, a five course dinner made, kids taken care of, family hung out with, and, if I'm lucky, some alone time for myself. Well, the truth is is that's not realistic for me. Now some of you out there may be thinking "that sounds  a typical, normal day for me". Well my life is not typical or normal, and if I tried to accomplish that all in one day my body would rebel and I'd probably be spending the next two days in bed recovering.

So, my to-do lists get accomplished because there is not that much on them to begin with. I only put on there what I realistically know I can get done in that day. And sometimes that doesn't even get done (because of a flare or some other unexpected complication), and I've had to learn to be ok with that. I used to wrestle with a lot of guilt and stress when I couldn't accomplish what I had set out to do that day. As a Christian wife and mom one of the role models we have is the Proverbs 31 woman. It seems like if we can accomplish everything she did then we will be the epitome of the perfect woman. But you know what? SHE HAD HELP! You read that right. She had servants. Let that sink in for a little bit. ..........................................................................................  My friend told me this one day and it completely changed my whole point of view. Why has nobody every emphasized that to me before? No, they list all of these things that she was so diligent about doing, and how her family loved her for it. But it is generally glazed over that she had servants. It might as well be one of those little facts that you find out if you bother to flip to the back of the book to see what the asterisk is hiding.

What do I do instead? I have a little bottle next to my bed where each night I draw out a piece of paper where I wrote out thirty one things that I found from that chapter, or else I know I need to work on. The next day I focus specifically on doing that one thing well. My hope is that in a few years (because, let's face it Rome wasn't built in a day) that those 31 things will have become a habit in my life so I won't have to focus so much on getting them done and the to-do list will not be such a heavy weight on my shoulders.

I think it is good to make to-do list. I personally love lists. They help me stay on task, and make me feel accomplished when I get to cross something off. ✓ But they shouldn't rule our lives. Take a look at your list, and then take a realistic look at your day. Maybe right out how much time each task takes to complete. I think once these things are all done, and we start compiling our lists as not what we could get done in a perfect world with no interruptions, but in a world where there are errands to be run, kids to be fed and people to chat on the phone with then the lists will start decreasing and therefore will start losing there power over us. Why let a little piece of paper make you that insane? Let's be realistic. Chores are very patient and understanding. They will always be there for you the next day.

Encouraging and Encouragement

Since arriving in California I have had several people tell me that reading my blog was encouraging to them. So I'm going to start writing in this again as long as I feel like I can be glorifying to God and encouraging to you all. I hope that this blog will will help you see how God can use even some of your darkest time to bring people closer to Him.

 I've had a couple of really bad flares here  (like at 10 for 30 minutes) meaning that I have to lay in bed with a heating pad on. I almost went to the hospital for 1 because I wasn't expecting it come on I had been sticking strictly to my IC diet. I went to the bathroom because we were heading out the door to go to Best Buy. As soon as I was done this hot, stabbing pain shot up through my body. Everybody was already out in the car and I literally had to crawl to the door and knock on the window. Christopher came in and helped me walk up the stairs to my bed. Christopher asked me if I wanted I wanted to go the the ER, and I seriously considered it just so that I could get some stronger medicine. But after considering, how much it would cost and that I would be sitting in an uncomfortable chair in pain just didn't sound appealing. So, we decided to wait a while to see if I could get the pain down at home. After 30 minutes of alternating between the heating pad, shower and back to heating pad I finally got the pain down to an 8. I just tried to rest the rest of the night and the next day and tried to keep my stomach relaxed.

Thankfully the California weather seems to really help me not be stressed out a lot I and help keep my stomach relaxed. We'll see how that is when the mid-west is having their winter and we're having our "winter" out here.