Emotional Well-Being | Peace Found in Perspective

We were winding our way up and over the mountain and back down to the west side of the island, which we are currently calling home. My husband and I were engaging in a gratitude conversation, sharing how blessed we feel. Life could have easily taken a different turn at many points in our journeys, both together and as we were growing up. Why were we spared from a more tragic experience? Why did God guide us and bless us? Who are we to be so fortunate, with so much suffering in this world?

One answer is that we will never know and our goal is to follow God’s guidance so that He can use our journey in intentional ways that we may never understand.

Another answer is perspective. I’m sure there are many out there that would not look at our journey as incredibly fortunate. While you can’t deny the great privilege we have with access to clean water, loving friends and family and so much opportunity, we have had our fair share of struggle.

As we made our way back to a comfortable home where our three healthy and incredibly capable children waited, I realized my perspective could be different.

Now I was pondering this; why am I so blessed to be able to feel blessed in moments of struggle? Even through seasons of sadness, stress, frustration and desperation, somehow we continue to feel so incredibly blessed.

I know that depression has visited so many different walks of life and the specific situation we are in doesn’t always dictate how we feel about ourselves, our current state and the world around us. Sometimes when light is shining right on us, we feel darkness. Sometimes when friends are reaching out, we feel alone.

So all I can really share, in hopes that it will help those struggling emotionally, is what has helped me: Being grounded in faith, surrender and gratitude.

• Stay grounded in the Lord through prayer

• Surrender yourself, your world, your relationships and especially worldly things

• Rejoice that God has a plan and each step has a purpose

• Serve others and pray for them

• Take action - small and easy steps forward build momentum

• Find things to be grateful for - simple and small can build momentum here as well

“I continue to be grateful and always aware that I am in charge of my faith and my perspective,
but not my life.”

In today’s “you can have it all” culture, this belief may not be popular, but I believe in putting God’s plan before any worldly desires. In fact, I aim to cut out worldly desires and let go of dependency on my own dreams to embrace the journey set in front of me. This has filled me with gratitude and joy, even through hard times. Be careful not to just pretend, but to really dig deep and decide what desires can be released and what to pull into focus. In Ephesians chapter 4, starting at verse 17, Paul “insists” we no longer live as Gentiles “darkened in understanding and separated from the life of God” (Ephesians 4:18). Our hope and joy and gratitude comes from our connection to our God.

Ephesians 4:21-24
“Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in the true righteousness and holiness”

This isn’t at all to say we are sad because we’re not living for God. Rather, through sadness we can remain or at least regain our sense of gratitude and joy through a shift “in the attitude of your minds” and rejoice in the truth that we were “created to be like God in the true righteousness and holiness” and that God is in control of the this beautiful creation around us. I surrender my own worldly desires to an all powerful and loving God who created the incredible life that surrounds us, for which I am so grateful.

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About the Author

Leona is a wife, mother and traveler who is intrigued by how different people live. Her latest project is exploring ways that different walks of life can simplify, in order to live a fulfilling journey.

The Advent of Revolution | Grandeur in The Little Things

“When I look at the clues that indicate the nature of Jesus – born in a barn, questionable parents, spotty ancestry, common name, misdirected announcement, unattractive looks, reared in a bad neighborhood, owning nothing, surrounding himself with unattractive co-workers, and dying a shameful death – I find his whole approach unable to fit into the methods that automatically come to mind when I think about “winning the world.” His whole approach could easily be described as nonthreatening or nonmanipulative. He seemed to lead with weakness in each step of life. He had nothing in the world and everything in God and the Spirit.”

― Gayle D. Erwin, The Jesus Style

In 2010, my husband and I decided we were going to leave Oregon and spend a month and a half in Costa Rica. We felt like it was a God-guided choice and we would find wonderful things awaiting us: a mission and place to serve, a community to be connected, a growing and developing faith and relationship with the Lord. At least that’s how I imagined it. Our church community prayed for us, God opened opportunity and gave us visions and certainty, and soon we set off to find whatever it was that God had waiting for us.

We arrived and one of the first people I met and connected with happen to be the local pastor’s wife. Hallelujah! God had great things for us! My mind started spinning and I asked her about her church, searching for God’s place for me in it. The big magic would seem to end there. My husband was hesitant to jump into anything. He was even hesitant to attend church. In my fervor to grow in my faith, I honored my husband as best I could with as little arguing as I could and focused on prayer and the Word. Fast forward a year and I was attending church once in a while, mostly just with the kids. But I was helping the pastor’s wife build a preschool/kinder as a teacher's assistant. This wasn’t the big fireworks project either. It ended after one year, but it was a year that I embraced God’s guidance. I was reading my bible nightly and my coworkers (2 ladies) were a light in my life. We would meet to discuss school and take 30 minutes of each meeting to study the Word together. It sounds simple and “regular.” Isn’t that just what all “good Christians” do? But it was wonderful and together with the quiet time at night where I was reading the Word on my own, it was a season of deep and personal connection to the Lord that guides my path to this day.

A friend came down to Costa Rica with her family for a while during this time and joined us in a book club, reading David Platt’s book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. How fitting. We were rebelling against the American Dream just by being in Costa Rica and living in a different culture. My husband and I had moved out of our apartment and arrived in Costa Rica with only what could fit in our suitcases. Over a year later we still needed nothing more and I began to realize the big fancy mission project or Mother Teresa worthy life wasn’t necessary either. I was building my personal relationship with the Lord in a way I never would have, had I depended on a community of people, other people to give me answers, showy events or acts to brag about. God was telling me WAIT in such a powerful whisper that it slowed me down and opened my ears and my heart to listen. God was saying SURRENDER to what is - don’t chase after the picture I painted in my head, however righteous that picture was. God was saying LOVE in a way that is difficult and only feels good when you’re through it. God said GRACE, for experiences and people that I longed to live up to the greatness I envisioned. God moved my heart ever so slightly in the smallest and most powerful ways, highlighting the little things that make all the difference. And He still does. And I still only need what can fit in a few suitcases… what matters is what I carry in my heart.

I came across the book The Jesus Style by Gayle D. Erwin. I carried it with me. I sort of read it a few times, or more. I’ve slowly been getting back through the chapters and it challenges me in such simple, deep, and at times difficult ways. I continue to struggle with my desire for greatness (lingering remnants of the American Dream) when I think about my goals and my vision for my life. But if it is to follow Jesus, I must wait, surrender, love and have grace, over and over and over again. These are daily reminders I need for the little things, the choices we make regularly. One of my coworkers in that school and a bible study friend shared with us one day how she prays about everything. A casual disclosure in a short chat over snack time with the kids that stuck with me for all these years. When she makes her grocery list and again when she is walking around the store, she prays about what to buy, that it’s the right choice financially and for the health and well being of her family. Small prayers and small actions that are God-focused are truly the grandest of all things. A quote on my desk right now shares this sentiment:

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world” ― Anne Frank

This reminds me that even to make a big difference, small prayers and small actions that are God focused are truly the grandest of all things. How wonderful that small choices bring us closer to God and our waiting on the Lord can be a simple act of remaining connected and realigning when we stumble. In November, it is a great thing to remember to be grateful. Then comes December and what a great thing to celebrate Jesus. But let’s not make it a “season.” And let’s not get lost in the lights, but turn deep into our hearts as we wait on the Lord, drawing closer to Him in patient, loving and graceful surrender. His arrival is not our party to plan for, but our gift to be ready to receive.

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About the Author

Leona is a wife, mother and traveler who is intrigued by how different people live. Her latest project is exploring ways that different walks of life can simplify, in order to live a fulfilling journey.

Salt and Light | God is the Chef, We are the Salt

How are we to be in this world? What does it mean to be “salt of the Earth”?

Acts 9:15
“But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake."

When we think of salt-seasoning, we often think of cooking and getting the salt quantity correct. But being salt of the Earth doesn’t work quite the same.

Acts 9:3-4
“Suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice…”

When God came to Saul, he appeared suddenly, unexpectedly. God told Saul:

Acts 9:6
“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

When Saul got up he didn’t find lighted arrows in front of him, leading his way with a map and a guide book in his hand. Instead “when he opened his eyes he could see nothing.” Acts 9:8

When you were baptized, did you come out of the water with clear instructions? Did God provide a recipe book or text book on how to be the perfectly balanced instrument? To have the perfect flavoring of salt-seasoning? I often find myself looking for that manual, forgetting that God is leading us, one step at a time and often blind. God is the chef, we are the salt.

In Acts 9:10-15, God calls to His disciple telling him to go and heal Saul, a man who has come to “arrest all that call on (God’s) name”. Would this make sense to any of us? Heal those who persecute you, help those who do you harm? Help those who do harm unto others? Yet this disciple went and healed Saul, both vessels of God’s work, moved by God’s guidance,

Acts 9:20
“At once he (Saul) began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.”

God is the chef, we are the salt.

Some days I feel lost, disconnected, but today I felt like “salt-seasoning” and it lit up my heart.

I aspire to be good, kind, courageous and a positive influence on those around me. While I have many failings, consistent realignment is where I am winning. I often surrender it all to the Lord; all I have and all my hopes and dreams. At the same time I give thanks for all the blessings He has bestowed upon me and all the blessings to come.

I want the Lord to be the architect of my life.

“I continue to be grateful and always aware that I am in charge of my faith and my perspective, but not my life.”

I wrote this in my last post and have carried it with me. I posted it in front of me at work. Today it adjusted my attitude and I found myself, without effort, more positive and hopeful. A coworker thanked me for my words and I realized I had brought peace to her heart in the midst of a chaotic moment. Because I was aligned with the Lord in my heart, He was able to use my calm and surrender to bless others around me. The perfect salt-seasoning to flavor their lives with His love and bring light to both of us. And the only direction I had was to let go and not be in control; blind faith.

I had been thinking and writing down different ways we can be salt today and the Lord laid out a very simple, yet effective and beautiful way to flavor the world: let His light shine through us.

Matthew 5:16
“You are to let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father . . ."

I’m far from a chemist, but metaphorically it makes sense as a writer and a creative that letting light shine through us can bring about the perfect balance of “salt” or flavoring in our words and actions. It makes sense as a lover of metaphor, that likewise, the perfect balance of “salt” sprinkled in our daily lives can make His light shine all around; a cycle I welcome in my life!

Ideally, we hold a beautiful balance of strong faith (be the salt) and amazing wonder (shine His light); an experience to both strive for and consistently come back to.

We are not here to design our own destiny and determine our own “work” and so I will continue to surrender and give thanks that God is in control if we choose to let Him.

“I continue to be grateful and aware that I am in control of my perspective and my faith, but not my life.”

Lord, let me be your salt seasoning. I surrender and open my heart to your light.

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About the Author

Leona is a wife, mother and traveler who is intrigued by how different people live. Her latest project is exploring ways that different walks of life can simplify, in order to live a fulfilling journey.

Adventuring with God | Adventuring with God is Surrendering to God

In my third year of college, I began to get anxious. I couldn’t envision what my time at University was preparing me for and even though I was 100% confident in my choice of major, I had no idea what my future would look like nor did I have much guidance or goals. I knew I wanted to travel and as my grades started to dip, I decided to take a break from school and “get out.” I started by going to live with my sister and we ended up with a plan; we would fly to Costa Rica and travel around, with our only goal being to find a deserted beach and camp there. It was going to be an adventure:

1. an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks

2. an exciting or remarkable experience

Well, it was an exciting and remarkable experience. Our deserted beach campout never happened, but God had so much more in store for us. While we were there trying to make choices on where to go and what to do, I wrote a lot in my journal and felt an overwhelming feeling of “readiness”. I had no idea what for, but I was okay with that now. I was experiencing the “real world” and discovering that not knowing was okay. Then God showed up in the most amazing ways.

Thank you God that you are in control.

In my last post, I challenged myself to push my limits of gratitude.

Quoting myself from the last post, “I am so grateful for the journey itself and that it is an adventure.”

Adventure brings us opportunities to choose, the choice to choose Him.

My husband and I recently celebrated our 13 year wedding anniversary. It was only about 6 years in when we thought that God had given us such an adventure that we could write a book. I now realize we all have great stories, but I did go as far as to map out the timeline of our adventure and it clearly falls into “chapters”.

Each chapter marks a phase of our lives where things happened around us and impacted where we lived, who became our community and the experience our kids have had growing up. When I step back and look at it, what really stands out to me is how we surrendered the outcome to God and followed our hearts.

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

It has been 14 years of trusting God and following His light as best we can (while sometimes failing) at every intersection we come across, and I now understand that “adventuring with God” really means “surrendering to God”.

I continue to be grateful and always aware that I am in charge of my faith and my perspective, but not my life.

Whether it’s troubled times or joyful times, thank you God that you are in control.

Josh Garrels Train Song:
Shame on you, shame on me
Lord he took all our shame and pain, and set men free
And I've got that fire on the mountain
Fire in my soul
It's been a long time coming, long time
And ready to go
I'm stepping out the door
Doing what feels right
Following my Lord, through the darkest night
And when the path gets narrow
I'll follow him
And when the world comes down, around
I'll follow him
He said, sing it on the mountain
Or in the valley low
He’s my God, and he never lets me go
He said, sing it on the mountain
Or fight in valley low
Every mans going to see, and everyone will know
That peace runs deep in him
I said peace runs deep in him
Peace runs deep in him.

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About the Author

Leona is a wife, mother and traveler who is intrigued by how different people live. Her latest project is exploring ways that different walks of life can simplify, in order to live a fulfilling journey.

Adventuring with God | Adventuring with God is Surrendering to God

In my third year of college, I began to get anxious. I couldn’t envision what my time at University was preparing me for and even though I was 100% confident in my choice of major, I had no idea what my future would look like nor did I have much guidance or goals. I knew I wanted to travel and as my grades started to dip, I decided to take a break from school and “get out.” I started by going to live with my sister and we ended up with a plan; we would fly to Costa Rica and travel around, with our only goal being to find a deserted beach and camp there. It was going to be an adventure:

1. an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks

2. an exciting or remarkable experience

Well, it was an exciting and remarkable experience. Our deserted beach campout never happened, but God had so much more in store for us. While we were there trying to make choices on where to go and what to do, I wrote a lot in my journal and felt an overwhelming feeling of “readiness”. I had no idea what for, but I was okay with that now. I was experiencing the “real world” and discovering that not knowing was okay. Then God showed up in the most amazing ways.

Thank you God that you are in control.

In my last post, I challenged myself to push my limits of gratitude.

Quoting myself from the last post, “I am so grateful for the journey itself and that it is an adventure.”

Adventure brings us opportunities to choose, the choice to choose Him.

My husband and I recently celebrated our 13 year wedding anniversary. It was only about 6 years in when we thought that God had given us such an adventure that we could write a book. I now realize we all have great stories, but I did go as far as to map out the timeline of our adventure and it clearly falls into “chapters”.

Each chapter marks a phase of our lives where things happened around us and impacted where we lived, who became our community and the experience our kids have had growing up. When I step back and look at it, what really stands out to me is how we surrendered the outcome to God and followed our hearts.

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

It has been 14 years of trusting God and following His light as best we can (while sometimes failing) at every intersection we come across, and I now understand that “adventuring with God” really means “surrendering to God”.

I continue to be grateful and always aware that I am in charge of my faith and my perspective, but not my life.

Whether it’s troubled times or joyful times, thank you God that you are in control.

Josh Garrels Train Song:
Shame on you, shame on me
Lord he took all our shame and pain, and set men free
And I've got that fire on the mountain
Fire in my soul
It's been a long time coming, long time
And ready to go
I'm stepping out the door
Doing what feels right
Following my Lord, through the darkest night
And when the path gets narrow
I'll follow him
And when the world comes down, around
I'll follow him
He said, sing it on the mountain
Or in the valley low
He’s my God, and he never lets me go
He said, sing it on the mountain
Or fight in valley low
Every mans going to see, and everyone will know
That peace runs deep in him
I said peace runs deep in him
Peace runs deep in him.

---

About the Author

Leona is a wife, mother and traveler who is intrigued by how different people live. Her latest project is exploring ways that different walks of life can simplify, in order to live a fulfilling journey.