Leap Fearlessly
Love with abandon
Surrender your fear
What is calling you?
Hold onto your hope
Teach kindness
Feel the possibilities
I saw this little journal on Friday.
It was the day after Thursday which
follows Wednesday.
You didn’t know you were going to get a calendar
lesson did you?
Wednesday I felt disillusioned
and discouraged.
A bit of history is in order.
After a year of keeping a big fear at
arms length, I made a change.
I hadn’t wanted to change.
The familiar was comfortable.
Yet one day in January, without
warning or fanfare, I felt like God
said that it was time to say yes.
When fear is involved, saying no is always easier.
Saying yes is risky and messier and issues an invitation to sleepless nights.
After the yes, doubts inhabit the mind and emotions.
Allowing those words to escape may feel like a weak moment
or a wrong turn.
God wants to carry and use us when we are the most feeble.
I kept holding His hand.
I asked for prayer…tons of it.
I stayed close to His Word.
I decided to work as a physical therapist after 10 years
of laying that profession aside.
It has been scary as it has been TEN. YEARS.
The hardest part has been that saying yes felt like saying goodbye
to a dream.
God whispered that I was already a writer and that He would
mark my path to do both.
I have the tendency to think in extremes, an either/or existence in living.
God likes to use the word “and”.
Which leads back to Wednesday and my discouragement.
The phone remained silent in regards to work.
I continued to wait for what seemed like the elusive first day of work.
I looked at this blog and I started to wonder what was the point.
Perhaps I should “close up shop”.
I received a text from a friend reminding me that she was thinking of me.
That helped.
I retreated to my bedroom and prayed the hours and prayed for others and
prayed for myself.
I asked God all the why questions.
I got up.
I felt better.
I posted this leading to this because He had reminded me.
God was assembling a cheering section.
A text message, a couple of emails, my parents visiting and cheering,
my husband praying for and entering the struggle with me, the Word
and His presence, rescued me on Wednesday.
In the course of a few hours, confirmation of the solidity
of this blog was loud and clear and I was booked for my first day of work.
Thursday brought steps into a former world.
A day that demanded extra-strength antiperspirants.
There will be a learning curve but I know that God doesn’t grade me.
He just loves me.
He delights that I let Him be strong.
At the end of that day, I taped in my journal, little slips of paper that
spurred me forward…
a thank you from a reader,
a couple of new subscribers,
a thank you from a patient’s family member.
God’s tender touch to remind me,
all because of Him,
I can do this and that.
Friday I read the words on the journal above and had it been
Wednesday, the words would not have felt so true,
so rich,
and so full of peace.
I needed Wednesday to get to Friday.
Tell me which line of the journal cover resonates with you and I will draw one comment and send you this journal, perfect to stick in your purse and be reminded of all the "and's" of God. I will draw a winner on Monday evening.
Oh gosh…love this. Mixed media art is my hobby these days. (rather than blogging!). I love the line about holding on to hope. Seems I need to remind myself of that often.
Great posts…and you are on a roll!
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How gracious of God to allow us to be there on your first day in this new journey. I love the line “Surender your fears.” I struggle with that every day.
You are definitely a writer!
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I’m SO EXCITED for you, Helen!! You are so talented and real, and I love hearing how you’re allowing God to lead you into the scary unknown! Lately I have been feeling a bit “at loose ends,” like I need something “significant” to do but I’m afraid to ask the Lord WHAT!! What is calling me??
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Thank you for sharing the power that God has to honor all the times we choose to say “Yes”, rather than “No”. There are so many “ands” in my life – many directions to use the gifts He gave me, many areas to serve and love others – every time I add another “and” He is faithful to provide the inspiration and encouragement needed. I’m glad you’re back in the PT world, Helen, being God’s hands to hurting people.
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Oh – I forgot to say my favorite line on the journal cover – as a teacher whose personalized license plate reads “B KIND” – it has to be “Teach Kindness.” 🙂
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Praying for you! Thanks for sharing your heart to encourage all of us…
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Oh, and “love with abandon”.
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To leap fearlessly…seems I spend my whole life trying to not do that! Fear binds us up and prevents us from doing so much even for those who knows they have God’s assurance that we can do all things through HIm. Head knowledge is not the same as heart knowledge.
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Congratulations Helen, I know you will be a blessing to all the people you work with! All the lines are great, the one that caught me first is “surrender your fear.” Too many times I dismiss things because “it’s too scarey.”
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Thank you, Helen, for being a Cheerleader in my life! Your writing skills are definitely a gift from God…and a blessing to me.
“Hold onto your hope”…speaks to me. At the beginning of this year the word HOPE really stood out…and I memorized the verse – Rejoice in HOPE, be patient in affliction, be persistent in prayer. Romans 12:12
Congrats on your being a PT again!
Love, Lisa
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