Leading up to Part 2, or a continuation of Part 1

I didn’t realize how fired up I would get you on my last post!  Thank you for all the encouragement and I can’t believe the traffic I got and how many people tweeted my blog post! 

Let me explain why I picked this verse while having such a go-getter attitude.  It’s seems a little ironic since it states to BE STILL.  I’m sure you get the deeper meaning,  but just in case….I’m an extremist/overachiever so I feel the need to explain….

I feel the Lord is calling me to BE STILL in the sense that I need to stop trying to fix our problems in worldly ways.  To stop over-commiting myself, to rest, to rest in Him.  To start saying “No” to people instead of trying to do it all.  To stop trying to think up ways I can get us out of this no job, financial mess so our life can go on like I have planned.  This verse will be a constant reminder in 2012 that He’s got this.  I don’t have to do anything but BE STILL! 

So, I prayed for a month, came to the conclusion that I need BE STILL and decided it would be a good idea to spill my guts on the in-tro-net.  What next?

I needed my first book.  Those who know me know that I’m slightly obsessed with reading spiritual, motivational books.  I love Beth Moore, Angie Smith, and the list could go on.  My sweet husband and mother-in-law got me a nook for Christmas and I could not wait to order my first book!  It had to be good.   Meaningful to my goals.  I prayed.  Then, I saw someone tweet about the book 7, by Jen Hatmaker that was to be released January 1, 2012.  I LOVE Jen Hatmaker!  The title intrigued me.  I looked it up and this is what I read….

7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.

Food. Clothes. Spending. Media. Possessions. Waste. Stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, boiling it down to the number seven. Only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits, and observe “seven sacred pauses.” So, what’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God—a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence.

Ummmm, pretty sure that’s the perfect book for someone trying to simplify in their life, stay in the small house, make it work, live within our means, yada, yada, yada.  So, naturally I preordered it on my nook.  Then, I realized it was a huge oxymoron that I just ordered a book about fighting back excess ON MY NOOK!  Then, I tried to make myself feel all “green” by justifying that it was saving trees by not using paper.  Yes, I was saving the world!  I sent a tweet to Jen Hatmaker herself (I love twitter, I feel like I’m mingling with the stars…) and asked her if that was an oxymoron.  She’s hilarious and sarcastic, so I knew she’d get it.  Her response was that she wrote the entire book on a Macbook Air, so if that wasn’t an oxymoron that what is?!  Ok, I felt better.   

So, that’s where I am now.  I have been writing our story and trying to put it in chronological order starting with January 2011.  It takes time folks.  Lots of time.  But, I’m determined.  That’s why I’m sitting here at Starbucks at 5:30 am.  I’ve adopted Jon Acuff’s “hustle” strategy.  If I’m to ever tell my story, I gotta hustle, or so he says.  And, I believe everything that every cool blogger says to be the gospel, so….

Totally kidding.  Sort-of.

Thankfully I have the kindest, most supportive husband ever!  Well, that I think he really wants me to write a book and it become a best seller so he doesn’t have to work anymore and can just do projects around the house.  First of all, I would love that and second of all, I’m never going to become a published author if I keep writing run-on sentences like that!

I hope all of you have a blessed day.  Don’t be stalkers.  Let me hear from you.  I love it!  And, I will be back soon!