Obedience October

I have something to share. We have finished 9 months into the year, a year we themed Unstoppable, and I am personally making my way out of a pit.

When I came up with the theme Unstoppable for 2022, I was riding a high. I’d been on a new food plan for over 100 days, no sugar and no flour, and I was indeed feeling unstoppable and brand new.

Little did I know less that 60 days later how I would be hit with an old illness and spend the next several months working to get back my health. My digestive system is one of those that does not like too many seeds, raw fruits and veggies. You think you’re working to feeding yourself all the good stuff, and then the body reacts. Not cool!

At the same time, I was finishing up a book and toward the end of the editing process. This was grueling work for me, and I’ve got to be honest, I had to let it go. I was also working to scale and expand my coaching business at the same time and just as we were about to launch a new online course, I again experienced some setbacks and roadblocks.

Meanwhile our second son in two years was graduating high school and getting launched into college! After all of the senior year and graduation activities of the last two years, all of the fun seemed to stop. Over the summer was a wave of grief that hit both my husband and me as we navigated the waters of this new season in our marriage and our family.

Needless to say, the stress and weight of all of that nearly stopped me. Still going through the daily motions, after all we still have two kids at home, ages 15 and 8, a new school year was then upon us and of course I have a host of incredible coaching clients I wanted to show up for every day. I couldn’t let them see me quit, but I sure wanted to!

I took the month of September to slow down my commitments, clients and even social time with friends to give myself space to just be. Naming it Simply September was so great for me…I was simply in the moment and allowing myself to absorb all that has happened this year and even the past few years.

I feel like God was asking me to step back a bit and just BE in his presence. To keep life simple, not take on too much, to absorb his peace and absorb his coming new season.

In Dallas we have been in a drought and one of the things I’ve read about droughts is that many times they create such a hard ground that when the rain does come, the ground cannot absorb it but only repels it.

So often we are hardened by life’s droughts and dryness that we can become like that hardened ground and not allow the rains of refreshing to penetrate us. When they do come, we are hardened ground that needs to become softened so the rain can be absorbed.

Spiritually speaking I believe that softening can only come through presence with our maker, the one true God who has weaved us together since the very beginning of time. In our surrender to him as Sovereign we can begin to trust again, to pull out any roots of bitterness and disappointment, to overcome the effects of trauma, to reinvigorate our physical health and emotional health too, and to rise above what has been trying to push us down. And to keep moving through what has tried to stop us.

I hope you were able to find some space for that in September. If you weren’t, I encourage you to do so now. It’s not too late!

We are living in a special time in history. The Jewish new year and holy season are upon us. While I don’t want to get into the significance of ALL of this in these articles, (you can read more about it here and here), I so want to encourage you to set aside time now to absorb his presence and see him face to face. Don’t become too busy that you don’t have time to absorb his presence, repent, ask for and receive forgiveness for offenses against God and fellow man. Take this time to penetrate our hardened hearts, to soften us now so we can be ready to receive the rain of refreshing this fall.

As the autumn leaves turn color, allow yourself to let go of the things that aren’t working. This can be scary because we’ve been doing it the same way for so long. But as you press into the Father, you will sense what he is asking you to do.

You might have to give up an assignment that is good but isn’t best. This might require you to move, so you can be positioned for the next thing. It might mean some relationships need to be adjusted and boundaries set. Perhaps there are adjustments in your finances so you can live free.

If you watch the news, you know inflation is high, costs are going up, business could be slowing down, but in the kingdom of God we do not work by the systems of this world. As a child of the king, you will shine brighter as the world gets darker.

The key right now: get connected and get to know your king, so you can fall in line with the precepts of the kingdom.

And this is why I’ve named October “Obedience October.” There are going to be some leaps you will have to take this month that don’t make sense in the natural realm, but that you sense God is asking you to do. Receive his presence and gain security in his leading as you walk hand in hand, step in step with him.

I’m going to be honest, when November comes, I don’t know what it’s going to look like. I don’t yet know what the cute little theme will be. But one thing I do know, when we are obedient, we are in the perfect will of our Father and that’s where we want to be.

Study this out with me in your own life and if you need a partner, our coaches are here for you. We don’t proclaim to have it all together. But what we do have is a process for encouragement and accountability that gets results like no other. Time and time again our clients walk away with a new level of clarity, peace and joy in their lives. That’s our ultimate goal.

So, I will fight through for you, my friends. My life and walk surely aren’t perfect, but I continue to lay down my life in surrender, obeying my Sovereign King as we coach YOU to success (the maximum utilization of the talent you’ve been given).

Don’t stay stopped. Spend October listening and obeying to the still small voice. Go out and crash through some roadblocks in your mind and dream again! Praise God and Sing a new song!! The 4th Quarter is here, and it is all coming together for a snowball of momentum!

The best is yet to come!

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