Before I begin the article here is a little intro to my readers about why I’ve been MIA and what the future of this ministry, A Lovely Calling will look like =)

Lately I’ve been thinking bout this blog. I really love it. I love the girls who follow this blog and have stayed more devoted to it than I have. I want you to know that I’ve changed quite a bit in the last year. I got married and since then I’ve felt like I don’t have much at all to contribute to the younger girls who I so connected with when I was single. It’s been almost a year and a half since I’ve felt like I could write again. Now I am coming out with it. What I may write about now may be different from what I was used to writing.

When I was single I wrote about being single and about how to be content with life and how to choose a life devoted to God rather than to other miniature gods of the world while you were young. Now I feel like I lead a different life completely.

I hope it’s ok with you all that I revamp things a little. (Also, a new website is coming!)

Now when I write about relationships and guys it will be from a married view-point and from my own personal experience. When I write about home it will be about what I am experiencing in our own little home here in Montana ect. I don’t want to write based on a whim of what I think is right and what I think should be said. I want to write from the heart and from real experiences and from what the Lord has laid on my heart to say.

I don’t want to say all the right things all the time because I don’t know how to be perfect and I don’t always know exactly what to say. I do know that I love the Lord and I have a desire to share that love with others through this blog, through encouragement and through sharing the truth about myself and about real life.

Hopefully what I write now can reach not only young women but also women in all different seasons of life. 

From now on I will try to write more about homemaking, married life, what godly dating and engagement looked like for Dylan and I, leading a healthy lifestyle, kids and decision making. I hope you all will join me and stick with me through this. Change is hard but I am excited! I want you all to know that I value you all immensely. You’re my friends! Lets make A Lovely Calling a lovely community of like-minded women seeking the truth about their calling from the Lord Jesus in this day and age where everything else is bombarded with lies from our modern culture. Will you join me? 

 With all that being said, here is something I’ve been dealing with lately, feeling stuck.

Have you ever felt like no matter what you do, everything in your life seems to be at a halt? Health, finances, finding a job, relationship issues, even your walk with the Lord? I’ve been feeling so stuck lately it’s crazy! I feel like I try so hard to make a change in my life whether it has to do with my health or this blog or my relationships with friends, progress with working on our house and nothing changes.

To be honest, when I sat down to try to read my Bible very morning, I would read and think to myself, “I’ve read this passage a million times!” I wasn’t getting any Word from the Lord. I felt like my Spiritual life was at a standstill. Nothing was sticking out to me. This went on for a few months. I was more than discouraged, I was frustrated. Then, like a strike of lightening, God revealed two things to me. I couldn’t wait to share them with you! Hopefully, whatever chapter of life you are in, this to will encourage you, dear friends.

1. Everything you think is yours-is NOT yours. 

Everything that I was trying to change or see progress in is not mine to change. My health is not my own. My home is not my own. My family is not my own. Our finances are not our own. My friends are not m own. My walk with the Lord is not my own. Everything belongs to the Lord. He is sovereign and in complete control of my whole life and my whole circumstance, whatever it may be.

I had to learn the hard and long way to surrender these things that I thought were mine into Jesus’ loving hands. Only He has the power to do what you want done in your life. P.S. we can’t pick and choose what we what the Lord to change in our lives, He gets to choose what needs to be worked on, what areas you need to grow in and when it will be done.

Your relationship status is not your own, it’s not for you, it’s for God’s glory. Your house is not your own, the mess that continues to bug you and cause you anxiety is not even yours to worry about-maybe you caused the mess but it’s not your identity! 😉 That achievement that you are striving for, that guy you are trying to get attention from, the body you want to have, none of it is yours. You need to give all these things over to the Lord.

Accept that fact that nothing is in your control to change then ask God to cover you with His peace, His patience and His dreams and desires for your life to become your new identity.

Once you surrender all of the things you love the most you don’t have to worry about them anymore. Think about it. If you give the Lord your day you don’t have to worry about what will happen or all the things you need to get done-the Lord will lead you and guide you. If you give over your husband to the Lord you don’t have to worry about always finding your security and love solely from him. You don’t have to worry about him at work-you know the Lord is with him.

The more we let go, the more we realize how much we get back in return. Peace. Joy. Contentment. Satisfaction. Energy. Purpose. Security. Love. These are only a handful of the gifts we receive from Jesus after surrendering our will, our desire for change and our needs to Him.

2. God is always working even if we don’t notice it.

Even in the dullest of times in our life when everything seems stuck or the same God is busy. He will never leave you in one place for too long. He is in the intricate, quiet parts of your life and He is always bringing about the plans that He has for you. And yes, He has some amazing plans for your life. Even though it may not feel like your life is super amazing right now don’t ever doubt that God has some pretty special things in store for you.

Who can know the mighty, glorious plans of the Lord aside from the Almighty Himself? We cannot claim to know or think we know what we will be doing a year from know or even a week from now. Only Jesus knows. He probably smiles down on us when we say “Oh, I’ll do this with my life”, or “I’ll go here today and there tomorrow”. God alone knows what will happen in your lifetime. There will be slow days, there will be rainy days, there will be fun and sunny days, days filled with night-time and sorrow and days filled with confidence and beauty. But Jesus will be by your side through it all.

He will never leave you or forsake you. You won’t be left alone to plan things or change things. He is working all things together for good for you. Even in the moments and days and months when you feel stuck and discouraged-He is there working in the silence.

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9

When you feel like your Bible study is always the same and that Jesus isn’t speaking to you, that’s ok. Keep seeking Him. Keep reading. The principles of the Word will still affect you and will be even more instilled in you through out the day. Just because there’s no Shekinah Glory falling on you after you read a Psalms doesn’t mean that God isn’t speaking to you.

Have faith-that’s what our walk with the Lord is based on after all.

So remember to surrender and trust that Jesus is doing a work in you even if you can’t feel it. Don’t be like the rest of the world and live your life based on feelings. Feelings do not produce the righteousness of God-faith does.

I hope you found this encouraging. Have a beautiful day!

-Lisa

P.S. further readings Galatians 6:7-10 (I read it in the NLT-it was pretty cool) 

“Let us hold resolutely to the hope we confess, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23