Tag: devotions for busy women

Why My New Year’s Resolutions Often Fail

Lisa Preuett

A brand new year! Time to come up with some New Year’s resolutions. Time to make a list of things we want to accomplish in the coming year. It’s the perfect time to try new things. Make some goals to be reached. Right?

While there’s nothing wrong with any of these, there’s still something that nags at my soul when my calendar starts to fill up. We can mindlessly come up with some resolutions that sound really good. We can fill our time with a lot of good things.

Good things for ourselves.

Good things for our kids.

Good things for our family.

But I’ve often found myself doing so many good things that I don’t do anything well. I come up short. I spread myself so thin that I’m no good to anyone.

Maybe I’m qualified to do five things really well, yet when I try to cram them all into a short window of time, those five things crumble, making me feel as if I’m barely treading water.

But shouldn’t we say yes to every good thing that comes our way?

Meeting  friends for lunch? That’s good!

Exercising to stay in shape? That’s good!

Volunteering at your child’s school? That’s good!

Leading a Bible study? That’s good!

Working part-time to earn a little extra money? That’s good!

Signing your child up for their favorite sport? That’s good!

Yes. Each and every one of these are good things. Nobody would argue that they aren’t.

But if you say yes to every single good thing that comes your way, at some point it will leave you feeling frustrated. Overwhelmed. Frazzled. Stressed to the max.

And before you know it, your resolutions and good intentions turn into disappointments and failures.

When we run from one good thing to the next at a break-neck speed, we often miss out on the rest God longs for us to embrace. 

Resting in his presence. Resting in his peace. Resting in his purpose.

Instead of saying yes to everything, we could stop and pray before we answer. Asking God for wisdom and discernment.

Maybe this good thing would be better if I embraced it later, instead of now.

Maybe I should say no to this good thing so that someone else will have the opportunity to say yes.

Maybe this good thing is really my plan instead of God’s. 

Sometimes I’m so busy saying yes to the good things that I don’t make time to pray and ask God what is best.

As this new year begins, here’s a challenge:

Instead of asking God to bless a long list of our hopeful accomplishments, let’s stop and humbly approach Him.

Instead of resolutions, let’s humbly ask Him what is His best for us.

God, what is your plan for me this year? Are there things I need to let go of? What new steps do you want me to take? Help me rest in your presence, so I can know what’s best. Your best.

I pray you will embrace this new year with a sense of peace and purpose.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

New-Years-Resolutions_2

 

 

Blessings to you, dear friends!

Lisa Preuett

 

Check out my devotional book, Embracing The Race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why My New Year’s Resolutions Often Fail

Lisa Preuett

A brand new year! Time to come up with some New Year’s resolutions. Time to make a list of things we want to accomplish in the coming year. It’s the perfect time to try new things. Make some goals to be reached. Right?

While there’s nothing wrong with any of these, there’s still something that nags at my soul when my calendar starts to fill up. We can mindlessly come up with some resolutions that sound really good. We can fill our time with a lot of good things.

Good things for ourselves.

Good things for our kids.

Good things for our family.

But I’ve often found myself doing so many good things that I don’t do anything well. I come up short. I spread myself so thin that I’m no good to anyone.

Maybe I’m qualified to do five things really well, yet when I try to cram them all into a short window of time, those five things crumble, making me feel as if I’m barely treading water.

But shouldn’t we say yes to every good thing that comes our way?

Meeting  friends for lunch? That’s good!

Exercising to stay in shape? That’s good!

Volunteering at your child’s school? That’s good!

Leading a Bible study? That’s good!

Working part-time to earn a little extra money? That’s good!

Signing your child up for their favorite sport? That’s good!

Yes. Each and every one of these are good things. Nobody would argue that they aren’t.

But if you say yes to every single good thing that comes your way, at some point it will leave you feeling frustrated. Overwhelmed. Frazzled. Stressed to the max.

And before you know it, your resolutions and good intentions turn into disappointments and failures.

When we run from one good thing to the next at a break-neck speed, we often miss out on the rest God longs for us to embrace. 

Resting in his presence. Resting in his peace. Resting in his purpose.

Instead of saying yes to everything, we could stop and pray before we answer. Asking God for wisdom and discernment.

Maybe this good thing would be better if I embraced it later, instead of now.

Maybe I should say no to this good thing so that someone else will have the opportunity to say yes.

Maybe this good thing is really my plan instead of God’s. 

Sometimes I’m so busy saying yes to the good things that I don’t make time to pray and ask God what is best.

As this new year begins, here’s a challenge:

Instead of asking God to bless a long list of our hopeful accomplishments, let’s stop and humbly approach Him.

Instead of resolutions, let’s humbly ask Him what is His best for us.

God, what is your plan for me this year? Are there things I need to let go of? What new steps do you want me to take? Help me rest in your presence, so I can know what’s best. Your best.

I pray you will embrace this new year with a sense of peace and purpose.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

New-Years-Resolutions_2

 

 

Blessings to you, dear friends!

Lisa Preuett

 

Check out my devotional book, Embracing The Race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God’s Delight?

Lisa Preuett

The Lord will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17 NIV)

Years ago, while reading the above scripture, I struggled with understanding how exactly God delighted in me. I mean, really? The God of the universe taking delight. In me?

I asked him to help me wrap my head around this truth. If he truly delighted in me, then I wanted to understand it. Feel it. Experience it!

Just days later I was going about my day and in a rush, pulled into the school carpool line to pick up my then 6-year old daughter from kindergarten.
Idling in the carpool line I looked up. The kids sat outside, huddled together on the grass.

As I rounded the corner, I spotted Breanna. I could tell she’d been watching for me.

When her eyes found mine, I gazed at her face. It lit up as her tiny grin turned into a huge smile. She squealed with delight, proclaiming loudly to her friend next to her,

“There’s MY mommy right there!”

She waved at me excitedly and didn’t take her eyes off me. My heart soared with sheer joy, happy tears filling my eyes. What a blessing to have my child rejoicing in my mere presence. I took great delight in that moment.

I heard God whisper to me, “Lisa, the delight you feel about Breanna is exactly how I feel about you. I delight in you when you’re looking for me and when you tell someone else about me. I delight in you simply because you’re my child.”

I’d almost forgotten about the prayer I’d prayed days earlier when I’d questioned God about his delight in me. But God had not forgotten! He often uses ordinary, daily illustrations to speak loud and clear to me. I praised him for giving me a glimpse of how he sees me.

If you’re feeling down or discouraged today, I want to encourage you with the truth that God delights in you! He sees you. He knows everything about you. He loves you. He takes great DELIGHT in you!

gods delight

Blessings to you!

Lisa Preuett

Check out my book, Embracing The Race: 40 Devotions for the Runner’s Soul

Where’s Your Water Stops?

Lisa Preuett

Psalm 42:1 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul thirsts for you, my God.”

Mile marker one. Mile marker three. Mile marker five. These are etched in your mind. Why? These are the official water stops for the race you’re training for. You know exactly where they are. For most races you can locate these specific locations online. They’re crucial. You wouldn’t survive without them. They aren’t just randomly placed without thought along the course. They are intentional. Purposeful. Strategically positioned exactly where they need to be. On race day, you breathe a sigh of relief as the first water stop comes into your view. Race volunteers line the road, each one holding out plastic cups of water. Grabbing the cup, you gulp down every last drop. Your thirst is immediately quenched. Feeling refreshed, you continue on with confidence, knowing there’s another water stop up ahead in a few more miles.

You would easily become dehydrated without your water stops. No matter how fast-paced you are, without water stops you would crash and burn. You know about how far you can run before your body needs water. Continue past that point and you start to wear down. Even when you’re training, you plan out when and where you’ll get water. Running around the block, maybe you put a bottle of water by your mailbox as you circle around a familiar path. Running with friends, perhaps you run a certain circuit and return to your cars for a fill-up. Sometimes organized groups set up tables for runners. Whatever the case may be, you strategically plan for water when you need to be refreshed.

Do we have the same urgency on our journey of faith? Do we intentionally plan spiritual water stops to quench the thirst of our weary souls? Refreshment is vital for the long road ahead.

What exactly does a water stop look like on one’s faith journey?

It could be worship services on the weekend. Perhaps it’s a weekly Bible study or an accountability group. Praying regularly with a small group. Meeting a fellow believer for coffee or calling a trusted friend. Each of these is purposeful—giving refreshment when we’re weary. They are like a pit stop on the journey of faith.

But waiting until things fall apart before seeking out these water stops would be like running aimlessly without any thought of where your water is going to come from! Just as the water stops on a race course are strategically positioned, we too as Christ followers must be intentional when it comes to discipleship and staying strong in our faith.

We get weary. Life happens. Sometimes it feels like a drought! We must be purposeful in planning out where we will stop to be renewed, refreshed and refueled!

READY? Can you identify specific water stops in your faith journey? Are you stopping often enough or do you need to add some more to your course? How does having water stops affect the level of peace and hope you have when things get tough? If you don’t have any water stops, pray and ask God to show you who, where and when they might be.

GET SET. 1 John 1:7  “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

GO! Heavenly Father, I praise you for being my ultimate water stop on my path of life. Help me to humbly embrace the water stops you’ve put into my life. Help me reach out to others when I’m feeling weary. Thank you for refreshing my soul with the power of your word. Amen!

water stops

Blessings to you!

Lisa Preuett

 

Leave Room for Cream!

Lisa Preuett

If you’re a lover of coffee swirled with oodles of cream, then you understand how crucial it is when you order coffee at a restaurant.

Please leave room for cream! 

Or maybe you’re at a friend’s house and when she gently pours fresh brewed coffee into your mug, you politely stop her from filling it up too far:

Remember…I like lots of cream!

Some of you would even go so far as to say you like a little bit of coffee with your cream! In that case, you are really careful about not filling your cup up too much.

But then it happens. Your server completely forgets you need room for cream, pouring freshly brewed coffee all the way to the brim of your cup. It’s so full, some of it even splashes out, making a nice little puddle right smack in front of you. Ughh! What a mess!

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What a powerful picture of what our lives can be like! When we don’t leave room for any margin– cramming our schedules to the brim–everything splashes out and before we realize it, we have a huge mess right smack in front of us. 

We keep filling our lives up with more and more. We say yes to every request without thinking it through. We scurry around with a sense of urgency, afraid we’re going to miss out on something. And just like that server who thinks we like black coffee, we keep on pouring until there’s no room left.

But instead of coffee creamer, in that moment we realize we have no room left.

No room to just rest. No room to sit still and read a book. No room to have even a five-minute conversation with our spouse. No room to let the kids just play outside. No room to listen to our teen unload about their bad day. No room to be refreshed. No room to be still in the presence of God.

It’s especially easy to find ourselves in this overflowing mess during the Christmas season. We say we want to leave room for cream, yet we keep on filling the cups of our souls to the brim.

Gotta send out those 100 Christmas cards!

We already have three parties scheduled, but I think we can fit this one in too.

We’ve already reached our limit of spending, but a little more won’t hurt.

I wasn’t going to buy anything for that friend, but now that they’ve given me something I need to get them something in return.

I wanted to have a simple Christmas at home, but they’re expecting us to be there!

We really want to go to the Christmas Eve service, but we have so much to do. 

My house isn’t decorated like hers, so I’ve got to go out and buy some more stuff to keep up.

And the list goes on. What’s the one thing that causes your schedule to overflow? Have you left room for anything else?

The thing about a cup of black coffee filled up to the brim is that there are only two ways to make room for any cream.

You can either drink the black coffee until you have enough room, or you can pour it out. Either way, it’s going to be inconvenient. If you’re used to sweet cream, the black coffee can be bitter to the taste. And if it’s really hot, you can’t quickly drink it down to where you want it without burning your mouth.

If you attempt to pour it out, you’re most likely going to make a mess as it drips down the side of your cup. Believe me, I’ve tried this many times!

If the cup of your soul is filled to the brim, and it’s too crowded for the peace of Jesus to flow through, what can you do? Sometimes we may have to drink the bitter cup we’ve poured. It’s not pleasant. Maybe we get burned and experience grueling pain. But going forward, we’ll know better. We’ll know next time not to make a rash decision. We’ll know next time to think through a situation, asking God for wisdom. Even when we make a mess of things, God’s grace is always available. We humbly learn that the next time we will leave room for cream.

What about you, dear friend? Are you leaving room for His peace and rest this Christmas season? Are you intentionally slowing down and keeping your focus on Him? Or do you already feel your cup getting too full? Are you allowing others to fill your cup to the brim without saying stop?

Relax with your family. Celebrate your friendships. Rest in His presence. Enjoy your cup of coffee, but whatever you do…….leave room for some cream.

Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”

creamers