Boundaries... not so scary after all!

Boundaries.... not such a scary thing after all!
As a long time people pleaser I used to get pretty squeamish about the word boundaries..... It made me pretty nervous. I mean, boundaries are restrictions right?? They are meant to put up a wall betwween you and another person and that means your being unreasonable and mean... right??
Recently I'm learning this is not true at all. I am falling in love with boundaries and the life and  freedom God intends for us when we install healthy boundaries in our lives.God did not intend for us to live our lives at the whim and ever changing feelings of those around us. He meant us for so much more. If we are constantly worried and stressed about the people in our lives and what they might think of what we are doing, we leave no room for a Heavenly Father who is all knowing and loving. Living how others think you should is never easy or fun, and actually impossible. There are many people in our lives, if we try to please all of them we run in circles like a dog chaisng it's tail but never really getting there.
I choose to live within healthy boundaries. I fail sometimes but more and more I am making better choices. I choose to listen to my Heavenly Father over any other voices. I choose to hope. Hope is a wonderful thing. On your darkest days hope is a choice to see a better tomorrow. Hope is the choice to trust the promises of God and not listen to the lies of the Great Deceiver. God gives us hope, thru his Son. We need to choose that hope.

Do what you can with what you have

As I am sitting here drinking my morning coffee, I have been thinking about this verse. Given my current situation with my eyesight I have the temptation to be depressed and negative about all the things that I can't do, instead of looking at the things I can do.

If we focus on all the things we are not capable of doing at any particular moment then the Devil wins, he gets the satisfaction of a Christian who is complacent and not moving. When we are focused on what we cannot do, we are not doing what we can.

I'm thinking this is not what God has planned for the people He loves and died for. I know that God has a plan and  purpose for each of our lives. That means nothing is a surprise to HIm and nothing is beyond His control or reach. I take comfort in this today. I know God has things for me to do today. All I am to do is do the next thing in front of me.

I pray that God will continue to lead me to what He has for me to do. All any of us can do is do what we can with what we have. God gives us everything we need for each day and each task in front of us. We need to rely on God, HIs power and His strength to work through us as we move forward each day!

We can choose to hope, to move forward, and to live in the joy and grace of God. Our heavenly Father is full of love for us we need to accept the gift and do what we can with what He has given us!

Today I am holding on to this verse with all that I have.  This seems to be my life verse and what more could you ask for? That God has it covered. He knows what will happen and not only does He know, He loves us enough to care taht we have a hope and a future. I am resting in this today.
I went back to the eye doctor last week, after not going in almost a year. The news was not great and I was caught off guard. I am not able to drive anymore and also I am only one letter away from being completely legally blind. Thankfully God already knew what the news was and He has a plan
I'm not sure what the future holds but I am working on just trusting. The last week has been rough, I've been very depressed and only focusing on the negative. Today I choose hope, I choose joy and I choose God's plan over my own. I let go of control, sometimes minute by minute and I choose to rest in the love of my Heavenly Father.

Fight for you

Exodus 14:14- my thoughts

I love this verse so much. How many of us in the deepest part of our hearts want someone to FIGHT for us! To have someone be on your side, to stand up for you when you can't defend yourself? Imagine that the God of the universe is right there waiting to fight for you! He loves us so much, but more than that He knows what's best for us. All we have to do is..... be still. Hmm... seems like God is trying to tell me something lately. BE STILL. Ok so that means giving up whatever idea I have that I am in control, in charge, or know what's best for my life or my familys. Which of course I'm not and don't know but  more often than not  I think I am. Which of course makes it hard for someone to fight for me when I'm always fighting for me. I think though that it would be a whole lot easier to just let God do the fighting for me. I am awed and amazed that He would want to  but I am grateful. So I am choosing to be still today. What about you?,

Book Review- Living with Less: An unexpected key to happiness

Book Review:
Just finished reading this book that is coming out today. To say I loved it would be an understatement. For someone like me, who tends to be scattered and stressed on a regular basis this book was a huge breath of fresh air and an new outlook on my life and my family.
The author, had such a simple but profound truth to share with readers. Living with Less is a book about just that living with less. In our culture today it seems like this would not be a very popular message but it should be. The author brings the focus back onto the life we all would want. One where you can focus on the things most important to you. When asking yourself what's the most important thing to me, the answer isn't usually my piles of clothes or my skis. It's usually family, faith, love. Not materialsitc things.
Simply put this book changed my life and outlook. I highly recommend that you read it and see what it has to offer. It will free you to  live the way God had in mind. As the author points out Jesus Chist is the perfect example of livng with less and serving others. This lifestyle will free you to do the things most important  and closest to your heart. You'll spend less time maintaining your stuff and more time with the things that make you live vibrantly!

Here's where you can find out more, Joshua Becker's website; http://becomingminimalist.com/living-with-less

The Kindle version is available here: http://amzn.to/OVJwBy
The paperback version is available here: http://amzn.to/PjjJpf 

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone and I hope you do as well. Also I have found the Becoming Minnimalist website extremely inspiring and helpful!

God Bless! <3 Marissa

Stessed... me?? No way :)

So this morning I was sitting down to check my e-mail and “get organized”, which for me usually means seeing how many appointments I missed yesterday. Lol I was thinking about how there is only 3 weeks until we leave for vacation and then when we get back all 3 kids start school,….. And… and… ugh. To say I started feeling a little stressed is probably an understatement. I started jumping ten zillion steps ahead of myself. I’m surprised I wasn’t crying about how the kids are going to be graduating soon. (12 years until that happens for the first time lol) So then I hear the still, small voice telling me “Be still and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10. So I took a deep breath and thought about that for a minute. Thinking back over the last few years of my life how God has shown up in some amazing and big ways. Why wouldn’t the God who has done all this help me through the next month? God loves us so much and cares about the little things just as much as the big things. He cares about us. I just get a little worked up and lose sight of that sometimes. So if you ever feel this way just remember to be still and know God’s got you in His mighty hands. He will be there through all things, even the things you might think He would be too busy for or things that are not big enough for Him. God loves us and cares about what we care about. We just need to remember to turn to Him in our moments of confusion, hurt or yes even when we are having a mini panic attack!!

Looking forward

So it's been a very interesting day. Just found out that one of my boys is allergic to tumeric. Had to rush him to the walkin earlier the poor guy had hives all over his body but praise the Lord he is much better now and resting peacefully so I decided to take a minute to update my blog. I am super excited to be working on my first book review!! Reading about cutting down on clutter and focusing on Christ. Love this concept. It's quickly changing my whole outlook on things. But I will save the rest for later! :) Make sure you keep checking the review will be coming soon! Just wanted to encourage you all to keep looking ahead.I was reminded earlier today that I can focus on the past and the negative or I can focus on Crhsit and what He has in store for me today and tomorrow. I am choosing to look forward and see possibility because of Christ and His love. He is always fairthful and I am very tahnkful for that. Keep hoping for more out of life, God has an abundant life for us, it will probabluy look much different than WE plan but it will look just right when seeing our lives through His eyes!