Where’s The Fire, Man?

I made good choices this week with food and movement. Not as good as previous weeks because the current weight loss challenge I run for people ended and I always participate alongside the people taking part in them. But, another challenge starts tomorrow and I am ready for it!

I wanted to start off this week by thanking everyone who reads and has subscribed to my blog. So many of you have reached out to me either through text, messenger, or even commenting on the blog itself or the facebook posts when it publishes. I have even received a few phone calls. Many of you are wanting to encourage me and thank me for the blog. The majority of supporters, however, are telling me how much the blog that particular week has spoken to them or touched them in some way. I am honored to be able to share with you all. And I am honored that God has added this blog to my life and ministry in a way I never thought possible. I believe we all have a ministry. And this is something that I never saw coming but I have been so blessed by it. Along with that I want to thank you for letting me share my “epiphanies” with you each week. I am sure that most of you reading what are “enlightening moments” for me have experienced them or something similar long before I came to the knowledge of them. I am appreciative of your patience with me and my ramblings from week to week! Thank you for your support . . . in whatever way you have supported me in the past . . . and there are MANY ways that support has come to me!

This week has been a fun week for our family. Franklin (Tank, as we call him) is driving on his own now as he obtained his license on Tuesday. *insert gasps for dramatic effect here*  It’s been interesting. Wade was giving me a hard time (something he does often and well) about my own driving. Wade will tell you that I am not the greatest driver on the planet. He would also say that I am also not the worst. In MY mind, I am pretty darn good, though. Haha. Well, according to Dad, Tank has learned a lot of “bad habits” from Mom. Hard/late braking being one example. Wade was lecturing him about braking better as he was discussing the need to put new brake pads on the truck that Tank will be driving. Anyway, Tank doesn’t drive too fast for me when I am in the car with him. I don’t know about how Dad would interpret the same. But as we were going to Akron this week to get his license I told Tank that I really need him to understand that arriving at his destination is far more important to me than how quickly he can get there. Tank is SO laid-back. Just an easy-going kid. He said, “Right? Like where’s the fire, man?” I said, “Yeah. That.” I told him that, as with many things in life, slowing down and appreciating the drive (the journey and the process) is much more important than how fast you get to where you’re going. This is totally backwards from how the world seems to be anymore. And I want to share a few thoughts on that this week.

One thing has repeatedly come to mind this week as I have been painting and creating more pieces of art so I can start sharing them with people. I am loving what I am doing. But I was sitting at my table, pouring the acrylic paint using one of the techniques I have learned, and I thought to myself that “this” was “it” . . . “This” was the part I enjoyed . . . the process. I have watched a LOT of videos on several different pouring techniques to learn and now have started using those techniques to create some really cool effects on canvas. But I am enjoying the process of creating just as much as I am loving the dried result.

Everything in life is attached to a process. From beginning to end. From making sourdough bread to tying your shoes to learning to drive or paint. Everything has a process that makes things easier and certain . . . for the most part. There are processes in life that are more difficult to navigate than others. Sometimes we find ourselves not understanding the process and we need help getting through. But the good news is that in everything, there is a “professional” you can turn to in order to get help to get through the steps of that process. Churches have Pastors; courts have Lawyers; schools have Teachers and Administration; hospitals have Doctors. There are Realtors and Insurance Agents and all kinds of other professionals to help guide you through the processes of all the things we have to handle in life. Sometimes those “professionals” are just people who have more experience than most and don’t necessarily have a title. But they have been where you are now long before you ever knew you’d need someone to help you with whatever it is you’re facing. One thing I fully believe is this: you don’t have to understand everything to appreciate the process. And there’s no rush. Life happens at a steady clip and that steady clip seems to quicken with each day. Don’t push for a faster process. It’s like wishing Monday through Friday away so we can get to the weekend. We lose a lot of precious time and blessings in days we won’t ever get back by not enjoying the moment and the stage of the process we are in. Some processes are simple. Some are more complicated. Some will allow you to skip a couple steps and still come out okay on the other side. Others, you have to walk through every single step just to make it through. 

I started this blog to talk about some of the things I have gained as I have lost weight. Speaking of that, weight loss itself has a process. And it seems to be different for everyone. It’s really not a fun process. But then again, there are many processes in life that aren’t fun, per se. Necessary, but not fun. There are a couple areas that are a constant process on this journey of mine and I am gaining strides in them daily, I believe. Healing and grief seem to be the two areas of life we all deal with and that has been so true for me during the last two years. Healing has a process . . . whether we are healing physically, mentally/emotionally, spiritually . . . there is a process. Grief has a process. You can grieve loss or change or hurt or friendships that have ended or even what seems a world gone mad. I found myself in a state of grief when I left my job last May. Not that I didn’t truly believe it was what I needed to do in order to take care of my family, grow my business, and follow the call of God on my life, but because it was scary and different and things had to change. I was caught off guard by it. But I had to walk through the process of that grief before I could fully start living the life I am living now. I missed a lot of things about my job . . . the patients, the people, the “busy-ness” . . . and all that was normal. I gave the change and the grief that came with it the space it needed and moved through it. There are many things you can grieve. But healing and grief have their own processes attached to them to help get you to the other side.

What I have to remember is that my process is different from your process; and our processes are different from others around us. Don’t let the fear of the process keep you from healing, or changing, or growing. Whatever it is you’re dealing with or working through . . . whatever process you’re in the middle of . . . appreciate it, let it have it’s way and then move on. If you find that you are stuck at a particular stage in whatever process you are in, take a step back and move in a different direction. Make a different decision. Again, there are many ways to move through something. Sometimes, we have to get a little creative. But whatever you do, don’t give up. Don’t abandon the process. I’d even say trust the process. Be grateful you are here, right now, to navigate it. Be grateful you are able to move through it. And whatever you do, don’t forget that you are worth whatever it takes to make it to the other side. 

#loveyourjourney #youreworthit #bettermewithNewYouCBD #Endo30 #itsuptoyou