Hello Mornings book
This week I’ve been reading the amazing book Hello Mornings: How To Build A Grace-Filled, Life-Giving Morning Routine by Kat Lee, which you can find at Amazon here.
It’s about a simple, three-minute morning routine to help you build a daily, life-long, Jesus-centered habit to anchor you for every season of your life.
Now if you’re like me, you are so not a morning person, and you don’t exactly jump out of bed in the morning with glee.
fall tree’s glorious orange leaves
Good morning (or afternoon, or night, depending on where you are right now!). Today I’ve been awake since 3 a.m. Insomnia is no stranger to me; I’ve been battling it occasionally for several years now.
Melatonin helps. Melatonin is a natural hormone made by your body’s pineal gland, a pea-size gland located just above the middle of your brain. When the sun goes down and light turns to darkness, the pineal is “turned on” and your body produces melatonin, released into the blood. This usually happens around 9 p.m. and you start feeling less alert and sleepy.Ā
Sleepy man.
Source: platinumtraininginstitute.com
Melatonin levels stay elevated about 12 hours through the night. After sunrise, they fall back to low daytime levels by about 9 a.m. Some people don’t produce enough Melatonin.
Taking Melatonin works sometimes to help me fall and/or stay asleep. You can get the capsules at Walmart or on Amazon. Taking Melatonin doesn’t work for everyone. It even gives my friend Stephanie nightmares! But you can try it to see if it helps you sleep. (DISCLAIMER: Check with your doctor first if you have any health issues or you’re on any medication!)
I didn’t take any last night. I fell asleep and when I awoke at 3 a.m., I tried what I usually do when I have insomnia: pray. I did this for about an hour. I prayed for my family and myself.Ā
Asian woman praying
Praying is at least doing something good and useful if you have insomnia. Sometimes I hate nighttime, because if you do wake up, there’s not a lot to do and I really dislike being unproductive (and laying there, staring at the ceiling!). Restaurants and stores are closed, too. It’s boring!
When I still couldn’t sleep after that and felt “bright eyed and bushy-tailed“, I decided to get up, dress (meaning throwing a comfy sweat shirt over my black yoga pants and putting on sneakers), and drove to get a cuppa’ caffeine. Usually that is my morning coffee, but today a cold Dr. Pepper (with chocolate doughnuts) just sounded good!
Dr. Pepper and doughnuts
It’s rare that I drink a soda any more (I quit drinking Coke years ago), but not as rare for me to eat doughnuts. I’m working on conquering sugar, just not this morning! Not the breakfast of champions and so not how I want to set the tone for the new year. Please pray for my self-discipline, would you? I know I have to make the choice, daily!
Yesterday I worked on my 2020 Vision and my Personal and Business Goals for 2020. I got this workbook in Diane Cunningham’s free webinar, promoting her Life Change Club. Have you started writing down your vision and goals for the coming year?
Vision 2020
90 Day Business Goals
I’m so happy that I completed Diane’s workbook and set my 2020 Vision and Goals. One of my personal goals is about praying for our grown children and our grandchildren, but learning to let go. To trust God. God loves our kids even more than I do!
Ray and I with our 3 beautiful daughters, Heather, Leah, & Eden
I’m a recovering control freak, and I’ve been working on this one, letting go and letting God, for literally years. It’s so hard. But if I don’t let our kids go, they’ll never mature and grow. They’ll never learn to fly, and to soar.
eagle soaring
A great verse to pray over your children and grandchildren is Isaiah 40:31.
Our beautiful, precious granddaughters Violet & Annabelle
Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
I love this quote about Autumn. It is so timely and appropriate right now with me facing empty nest, learning to let my grown kids go, and fall’s gloriously colored leaves here in Missouri. “Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.”
Autumn
tree with yellow leaves
red, yellow, & orange leaf
To cope with empty nest (I really love and miss my kids!), I’m focusing on cleaning, organizing, decluttering, and purging. Also for 2020, I’m concentrating on my health (despite this morning’s junk food breakfast!) and on my business and personal goals, such as writing my first children’s book. It is about my and our daughter Leah’s black cats Natalya and Jax becoming “friends.”
Jax and Natalya
I just hired the illustrator for this book to draw the pictures inside the book this week and I’m so excited and happy! She does beautiful work!
To be first to hear about my children’s book’s release as an eBook on Amazon, be sure to sign up as a subscriber to my newsletter (ezine) at the top of the page on the right hand side.
freedom
What do you need to let go of this coming new year 2020?
Several years ago I stopped making New Year resolutions, because, let’s face it, they were broken the first month (sometimes the first week!)–like walking again or eating healthier! I heard about instead, creating a #oneword and a Scripture verse(s) to go along with it.
When I began to do this, I no longer felt condemnation that I was breaking my New Year resolutions so quickly. I also discovered that as I earnestly prayed to God about this matter, the #oneword always turned out to be a prophetic theme for the entire year.
Red cardinals joy decoration
For example, my #oneword in 2018 was JOY. At times, last year was anything but joyful! There were many hard times. I have cried a lot the last several years, more than I ever have in my entire life.
pensive woman
We all have stress and battle worries–relationship problems. Business or ministry challenges. Health issues. Financial struggles. But joy is a choice. You can be joyful even in adversity or a major crisis! Joy is not the same as happiness.
Smiling child
God wants us happy, just as we do our own children. But joy, like faith, isn’t based on circumstances. The joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) We must choose faith, and we must choose joy.
Compass pointing north
Image source: Google
Usually, the last week of December of each year, I pray about the coming new year, for God to protect and bless me and my family and friends, for His guidance and presence with us, and for a #oneword and Scripture(s) for the coming year.
I ask Him to be mine and my family’s compass, our “true north.” (This expression comes from the great chick flick movie, Message In A Bottle, with Kevin Costner!)
Message in a Bottle movie
God speaks in a myriad of ways to His children:
Just prior to January 2019 beginning, I noticed the words “humble” and “humility” in a couple of different places. First, the wordsĀ StayĀ HUMBLE wereĀ inscribed on chapstick that I’d received in a gift box.
Stay humble chapstick gift
That’s interesting, I thought. The words “humble”Ā and “humility” started popping up like Orville Redenbacher’s Movie Theater Butter popcorn on Facebook posts.
popcorn popping;
Image source: Google
Then I started seeing the words a LOT! A recurrent theme.
Oh no, I thought in dread. Uh oh—wait a minute!Ā That’s my one word for 2019, isn’t it, God?
I knew what that meant (God was going to smash my PRIDE), and heck no, I did NOT want that word! Which is probably exactly why He is giving it to me!
Why couldn’t I get a nicer, easier, funner word like adventures? Or dream bigger? Or overflow, especially in our bank account? Or laughter?
But no. My words are humble and humility! Yes, I know humility is a beautiful, Christ-like virtue and God is doing this for my own good.
You and I know there is just no use fighting God. In the end, He’s going to get His way. Because He’s God!
Jacob wrestling with God
Image source: Google
We can wrestle with Him until daybreak like Jacob did (Genesis 32:22-32), but we’ll walk away with a painful limp. God is bigger and more powerful than you and me, so we might as well submit and obey!
So I started researching the definition of humility to begin preparing spiritually for 2019. (Here goes nothing!)
Synonyms for humility include:
You know, traits that are so unlike me! People who know me well would NOT describe me as demure–reserved, bashful, shrinking. Instead, my sister Maria describes my approach in life more like “a bull in a china shop.”Ā
Antonyms (the opposite) of humility are even more revealing–and alarming!
STOP! Is anyone else getting uncomfortable here?! Well, I sure am. But then it’s my #oneword, not yours–unless God says so!
Remember that pride, and then rebellion, was Satan’s sin. We don’t want to be like the devil, do we? I don’t!
Humility and gratitude
Mother Teresa said, “If you are humble, then nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.”
No doubt that I have some family members, or even friends, who will remind me throughout this year of my #oneword humilityĀ and how I am being so NOT humble!
Maybe humility isn’t your strong suit, either. I have good news, dear friend. When we stumble and fall, as we surely will, we can get back up.
That is why Jesus died for you and me; nobody is perfect but Him. He’s teaching us to be more like Him each moment.
You and I can breathe again, and be thankful that God’s mercies are new every beautiful morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Humility book
This week, I ordered a used copy of Andrew Murray’s book Humility from Amazon to start off the year right and plan to do other studies on this topic as well.
My Scripture verses for 2019, based on these words humble and humility are:
“The fear of theĀ LordĀ is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.” (Proverbs 15:33, ESV)
“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:Ā āGod resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.ā (James 4:6, NKJV. The NLT translation says, “And He gives grace generously.”)
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,Ā casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. BeĀ sober, beĀ vigilant;Ā because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:6-7, NKJV)
This last Scripture shows me that I need to be alert in Spirit this year. Satan wants to cause destruction in mine and my family’s life, to devour and kill us. I thank God that Jesus Christ is more powerful and the battle belongs to the Lord, who has the victory already!
The great news in all this? If we humble ourselves before God and cultivate a lifestyle of humility, depending on and trusting solely in Him, the Bible says God will give us HONOR and EXALT us! (Good surprises for us, for HIS glory!) Isn’t that exciting?Ā
Do you have a #oneword, Scripture verse(s), and/or theme for the new year 2019? Please share it below with me! And let’s pray for each other this year to walk it out with God’s grace and help!