Challenge Yourself To Be Wholly You

What WILL you do today to improve yourself?

Uncertain Or Difficult Times

Dealing with difficult or uncertain times? 

"A surgery may fail, but God’s compassions will not. A treatment may fail, but God’s compassions will not. A relationship may fail, but God’s compassions will not. A dream may fail, but God’s compassions will not. My friend, no matter what you’re facing, God cares for you and will carry you. It may not be OK, but, because of the Lord’s great love, you will be OK..." - Jennifer Rothschild


Great blog to read:  

You Will Be Ok 

Challenge yourself to learn or try something new or different each month.

Grab a book you would never normally read. 

Go somewhere new. 

Sign up for a class. 

Try a new hobby. 

Taste a new food.

Get out of your comfort zone and live your life.

Trying 12 new things a year challenges you in new and fun ways. 

It is not difficult to do and the commitment will make you feel more accomplished.

100 Days To A Better Life

What if you took the next 100 days to make some changes, even one change, in your life?  What would you work on?  

It doesn't have to be life shattering, just take some small steps to make a better you.  

In the next few days, I will post some ideas.  Please post some of yours, as well. 

30 Day Challenge

As I finish up the 30 days of thanks, having missed a couple days because I have been spending the time with family, I want to challenge each one reading this to live a life of gratitude and thanks each day.  Look for the gifts around you, and be thankful.  A life of gratitude makes the heart be filled with joy.  It puts our focus on the good in life, not the bad.    I am not saying to live in a false reality and pretend  tough times aren't happening when they do.  I am just challenging each one of us to find a daily gift, a small joy, to see the blessings in life despite the difficulties we all face.  

Choosing The Right Path

Are you struggling right now to know which path to take? Trust that God knows and directs your steps before you take them.

Wednesday Challenge

Challenge for Wednesday...

Are you willing to give it a try?  

3 Gifts

For October 3rd, I am doing a gifts challenge again. 

Find 3 things in your day, or that are present in your life. 

3 gifts of hope

True hope for me lies in the fact that God is in control, and because of trust in Jesus, I have hope that lasts for ever. 

I hope for health and healing for my loved ones facing life altering diseases. 

Sunsets fill me with hope and peace.

Word Challenge, Overcome

The first word I am going to use in this new challenge is OVERCOME. Share with me what this word means to you, how you have overcome, whatever comes to your mind when you see this word. 

At the beginning of the year, I took a challenge of 'pick a word for the year that you want to be your theme,' and I picked overcome.  It has definitely been a theme for me, and I have overcome quite a few fears, challenges, attitudes that held me back.  I still have things to overcome, which has become very obvious the past few days, such as anxiety over unknowns or what if's, but I have overcome a lot in the past few months that used to hold me back.  

Here are three examples of things I have overcome this past year.  There are many more, but these are the big ones:

I started to work out, something I hadn't done at this level in years!  I had walked, done some hiking and bike riding, but I am actually going to the gym 3-4 days a week. The walking and hiking we do have become much easier and much more enjoyable.

There have been some past hurts that I have overcome, and by doing that, I have been more open to letting new people in my life, made new friends, and torn down walls around my heart.  I have become more outgoing, speak up more, and have been blessed with some wonderful new friendships because I overcame the past hurts and scars others left on my heart.  

On my birthday, I went across a narrow, swinging bride that ascends from rock to rock over the Kootenai River in Montana.  Fear had kept me from taking more than two steps on this bridge before.  I don't like heights, although that fear is going away, but heights over moving water, on a narrow, moving bridge was not my idea of fun.  I climbed the steps, determined to overcome this fear, took the first few steps, which are high up, but I was over rocks, not water.  I took a few more steps, slowly, clinging to the cable as tight as possible, and fear swept over me.  My husband and niece were part way across, cheering me on and waiting for me.  I froze for a bit, and just stood there.  I looked up at my niece, who is 8, and did not want her to think it's ok to quit something because of fear, so I took a few more steps.  At this point, one of the three boards under my feet moved, escalating my fear, but kept me moving forward!  When I got about half way across, the fear left, and I enjoyed each step of the journey across that bridge.  It was beautiful.  I felt very accomplished when I hit the stairs on the other side.  I felt free from the fear that had held me back so many other times before.  The trip back across was now easy.  I had overcome by putting fear behind me, and taking a risk to move forward.  With each step moving forward, the fear grew smaller and the confidence grew more and more, and I overcame a barrier that held me back for so many years. 

This only shows about 2/3 of the bridge, it is a long one!  

Walk Through It

Do you need this today?  I think most of us do at some level.  

Weekend Challenge

My challenge to you this weekend: 

Unplug. 

Turn the phone, iPads, tablets, computers off. 

Plug into real relationships, fact to face, real conversations. 

Go for a walk, a bike ride, sit by the water, and while doing those things, listen to the sounds of nature. 

Enjoy Summer, enjoy people, enjoy creation.