Jessica Turner is the author of Stretched Too Thin: How Working Moms Can Lose the Guilt, Work Smarter and Thrive, and blogs on The Mom Creative. Every day is a juggling act as she balances working full-time, making memories with her family, photographing the every day and trying to be...
Just as all the other chapters, these also made a huge impact and made me think.
It was so freeing to read “We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do certain things a certain way and/or to do it all. But God doesn’t put those standards on us.”
I also found it eye-opening with the neat statistic on page 147 – “…85 percent of what we do, anyone can do…Another 10 percent could be done by someone if we trained them. The last 5 percent is what only we can do…Your choice of what is most important will shape your soul. We won’t be accountable for how much we have done but for how much we have done of what he asked us to do.”
The “Do what you can plan” is great. This brings a great way to look at things…one drop at a time…
I found that I definitely have the “Princess of Planning” approach to life. I remember in 9th grade, my Latin teacher would give us a “Latin first name to describe us” and our last name to use to label our Latin Club group picture in the yearbook. He labeled me as “Conscientious”. I remember having to pull out a dictionary to determine what that meant and how much it had fit me to a “T”. He passed about halfway through the school year totally unexpectedly but in that short time, he recognized that part of me. However, I was looking up this word again in dictionary.com and saw the following:
con·sci·en·tious [kon-shee-en-shuhs, kon-see-]
adjective
1.controlled by or done according to conscience; scrupulous: a conscientious judge.
2.meticulous; careful; painstaking; particular: conscientious application to the work at hand.
Did you notice that definition “Painstaking”? There are times that I feel this myself. The way I do have to have things planned/ordered, etc. it makes life very hard. I find myself being VERY hard on myself (and sometimes others as well)…
Regarding Chapter 10, I fall into the trap of “Receiving feels undeserved”. “We treat receiving as a reward. But God clearly tells us that receiving is always about grace. That’s true for the spiritual aspect of our lives and every other areas too…You can receive now because you are God’s child, dearly loved, redeemed, chosen, and cherished. You can receive not because of what you do but because of who you are in him”. I constantly resist compliments and try to “push them off”. I’ve learned to say “Thank You” but often add something to it to make it less of a compliment toward me.
It was great to work on creating a personal investment plan. I think I need to pay more attention to my “internal bank” and work on more deposits so that I’m not burnt out when it is time to give.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Beverly!
Kaelynn Juddsays
I think out of these two chapters, I found number nine to be my favorite. Life can be utterly exhausting. Between my job, school, and my constant attempts to please people I feel like I am really being hindered from what God wants me to do. Then when I add the sin that entangles me to the list it just gets downright depressing. This chapter was eye opening as it forced me to stop and think about what is holding me back.
I am definitely the kind of girl that loves order and structure. Which is so weird because I used to be the most unorganized girl on the planet, but the older I get the more this becomes true of me. I love to plan my day and events with a list and I use a calendar very religiously. If I don’t get things done, then I can’t shut off my mind at night because it is too busy worrying and trying to plan the next day!
I think my favorite part about this chapter was the encouragement to set aside time this week to create a concrete strategy for change. I really feel like God has been asking me to host a girl’s bible study at my house. I’ve been feeling this calling for a long time now, but I’ve kind of just let it get pushed aside with my long to-do list. So I think I’m going to spend time writing out what I want to accomplish and the steps I need to take in order to make this Bible study happen! Also, I’m going to start scheduling prayer and devotional time into each day so I can keep God at the center of everything! That is something I’ve been needing to do for awhile.
Thanks for the wonderful chapters! I’m learning so much about myself!
This Chapter was the “meat and potatoes” of the book for me – where the rubber meets the road!
Practical advice that everyone needs to hear (but somehow we BELIEVE it, coming from YOU Holley!!) and scriptures to back it up. Love the hindering/entangling part, and receiving to invest…so important to keep it all in balance!!
And yes, who couldn’t use a cupcake and a nap just about any time, any day!! 🙂 (to re-energize and give back to community, of course!!) 🙂
Thanks ladies!!
Another great chapter that helped put it altogether for me. I was able to take a step back & really reflect on what is hindering me which is leading me to be “entangled”. Now I’m trying to put that into practice during the day, as Holley says, a step at a time! 🙂 This book is truly wonderful! I am getting so much out of it & I know I will continue to refer to it during those times when I feel like I’m “messing up”.
I am starting to feel a little sad that we are almost done! 🙂
Holley: I love how you contrasted “investing” with “indulging.” That was eye opening for me. These 2 chapters really help “take the load off” and give us tools to help make life more manageable and enjoyable. Thanks!
Investing in order to love well! hmmmmmm, that’s good. Maybe I wouldn’t have kicked in a wall this weekend if I’d taken care of myself a little better 🙂
Well, wall-kicking can be therapeutic–just also expensive. Better than kicking a person! 🙂
Megan Hendersonsays
I really enjoyed reading about why we don’t receive. I find that I push others away so I can “prove” that I don’t need help. Since having my second son, I have tried to give others the freedom to bless me with meals, encouraging words, etc. I still have a long way to go, but my desire to “do it all” is slowly changing into a view that others want to help, pray, bless, etc. and I need to let them do that.
I think part of the reason many find it hard to receive, is because the seed of reasoning begins with self-worth. Many of us just don’t see our true worth because all the little things we do, we think anybody can do them. But what we don’t realize is, no one can do it exactly like us. I’m still working on realizing and valuing my true worth.
I’m a little behind with the videos/chapters, but God knows when I need to read certain things at certain times!
While chapter nine was a great read, chapter ten is what really got me! Yesterday I was feeling so EXHAUSTED! I never really thought of looking at my life as having an emotional energy account. The chart on the top of page 165 really spoke to me and helped me see things in perspective. I’m hoping that I will keep the concept of my emotional energy account in my mind so that I may properly deposit when needed, and be prepared for times when there will be numerous withdrawals.
Just as all the other chapters, these also made a huge impact and made me think.
It was so freeing to read “We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do certain things a certain way and/or to do it all. But God doesn’t put those standards on us.”
I also found it eye-opening with the neat statistic on page 147 – “…85 percent of what we do, anyone can do…Another 10 percent could be done by someone if we trained them. The last 5 percent is what only we can do…Your choice of what is most important will shape your soul. We won’t be accountable for how much we have done but for how much we have done of what he asked us to do.”
The “Do what you can plan” is great. This brings a great way to look at things…one drop at a time…
I found that I definitely have the “Princess of Planning” approach to life. I remember in 9th grade, my Latin teacher would give us a “Latin first name to describe us” and our last name to use to label our Latin Club group picture in the yearbook. He labeled me as “Conscientious”. I remember having to pull out a dictionary to determine what that meant and how much it had fit me to a “T”. He passed about halfway through the school year totally unexpectedly but in that short time, he recognized that part of me. However, I was looking up this word again in dictionary.com and saw the following:
con·sci·en·tious [kon-shee-en-shuhs, kon-see-]
adjective
1.controlled by or done according to conscience; scrupulous: a conscientious judge.
2.meticulous; careful; painstaking; particular: conscientious application to the work at hand.
Did you notice that definition “Painstaking”? There are times that I feel this myself. The way I do have to have things planned/ordered, etc. it makes life very hard. I find myself being VERY hard on myself (and sometimes others as well)…
Regarding Chapter 10, I fall into the trap of “Receiving feels undeserved”. “We treat receiving as a reward. But God clearly tells us that receiving is always about grace. That’s true for the spiritual aspect of our lives and every other areas too…You can receive now because you are God’s child, dearly loved, redeemed, chosen, and cherished. You can receive not because of what you do but because of who you are in him”. I constantly resist compliments and try to “push them off”. I’ve learned to say “Thank You” but often add something to it to make it less of a compliment toward me.
It was great to work on creating a personal investment plan. I think I need to pay more attention to my “internal bank” and work on more deposits so that I’m not burnt out when it is time to give.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Beverly!
I think out of these two chapters, I found number nine to be my favorite. Life can be utterly exhausting. Between my job, school, and my constant attempts to please people I feel like I am really being hindered from what God wants me to do. Then when I add the sin that entangles me to the list it just gets downright depressing. This chapter was eye opening as it forced me to stop and think about what is holding me back.
I am definitely the kind of girl that loves order and structure. Which is so weird because I used to be the most unorganized girl on the planet, but the older I get the more this becomes true of me. I love to plan my day and events with a list and I use a calendar very religiously. If I don’t get things done, then I can’t shut off my mind at night because it is too busy worrying and trying to plan the next day!
I think my favorite part about this chapter was the encouragement to set aside time this week to create a concrete strategy for change. I really feel like God has been asking me to host a girl’s bible study at my house. I’ve been feeling this calling for a long time now, but I’ve kind of just let it get pushed aside with my long to-do list. So I think I’m going to spend time writing out what I want to accomplish and the steps I need to take in order to make this Bible study happen! Also, I’m going to start scheduling prayer and devotional time into each day so I can keep God at the center of everything! That is something I’ve been needing to do for awhile.
Thanks for the wonderful chapters! I’m learning so much about myself!
Love that you are going to host a girl’s Bible study at your house! So wonderful.
This Chapter was the “meat and potatoes” of the book for me – where the rubber meets the road!
Practical advice that everyone needs to hear (but somehow we BELIEVE it, coming from YOU Holley!!) and scriptures to back it up. Love the hindering/entangling part, and receiving to invest…so important to keep it all in balance!!
And yes, who couldn’t use a cupcake and a nap just about any time, any day!! 🙂 (to re-energize and give back to community, of course!!) 🙂
Thanks ladies!!
Aw, you are sweet, Marina! Thank you!!
Another great chapter that helped put it altogether for me. I was able to take a step back & really reflect on what is hindering me which is leading me to be “entangled”. Now I’m trying to put that into practice during the day, as Holley says, a step at a time! 🙂 This book is truly wonderful! I am getting so much out of it & I know I will continue to refer to it during those times when I feel like I’m “messing up”.
I am starting to feel a little sad that we are almost done! 🙂
I know! I’m sad we’re almost done too. It has been a joy to share this journey with you!
Holley: I love how you contrasted “investing” with “indulging.” That was eye opening for me. These 2 chapters really help “take the load off” and give us tools to help make life more manageable and enjoyable. Thanks!
So glad, Lyli. Whew. We all need a little more grace, don’t we?
Investing in order to love well! hmmmmmm, that’s good. Maybe I wouldn’t have kicked in a wall this weekend if I’d taken care of myself a little better 🙂
Love, Traci http://www.ordinaryinspirations.blogspot.com
Investing in order to love well! I love that… maybe I wouldn’t have kicked in a wall this weekend if I’d taken better care of myself! lol Traci
Well, wall-kicking can be therapeutic–just also expensive. Better than kicking a person! 🙂
I really enjoyed reading about why we don’t receive. I find that I push others away so I can “prove” that I don’t need help. Since having my second son, I have tried to give others the freedom to bless me with meals, encouraging words, etc. I still have a long way to go, but my desire to “do it all” is slowly changing into a view that others want to help, pray, bless, etc. and I need to let them do that.
Yes, yes, Megan, I am with you on the proving and finding it hard to receive. I’m still learning that lesson!
I think part of the reason many find it hard to receive, is because the seed of reasoning begins with self-worth. Many of us just don’t see our true worth because all the little things we do, we think anybody can do them. But what we don’t realize is, no one can do it exactly like us. I’m still working on realizing and valuing my true worth.
I’m a little behind with the videos/chapters, but God knows when I need to read certain things at certain times!
While chapter nine was a great read, chapter ten is what really got me! Yesterday I was feeling so EXHAUSTED! I never really thought of looking at my life as having an emotional energy account. The chart on the top of page 165 really spoke to me and helped me see things in perspective. I’m hoping that I will keep the concept of my emotional energy account in my mind so that I may properly deposit when needed, and be prepared for times when there will be numerous withdrawals.