With ground breaking on our beach property and a new year to plan for my writing goals, I have so much on my mind. It becomes difficult for me to push past the overwhelm and decide on a direction to progress in.

When I sat down to put down on paper what my vision and my goals were for the year, I couldn’t even think about writing or getting my book published. I have furniture to paint and 30 years of stuff to sort through before the house gets finished.

So when I got to the question about my why, I knew my heart had changed. I had been spending all my time and energy trying to perform. To get to the goal. This is what I wrote in my planner:

From dreams to reality, I want to enjoy the process and inspire others along the way. The end is not the dream – the journey is.

Ah! That was my problem. I was forgetting to enjoy my life. I was so busy trying to figure out how to get to my perfect life. A life I most likely will never see. I had actually made a list. “What my life is like, What I want it to be like, and What does God want me to do.” It probably won’t surprise you when the theme in God’s list was time together. LOL.

My focus now is on relaxing and enjoying the moving process, which involves a lot of purging. I’m looking forward to simplifying and organizing things. My novel will get put on the back of the conveyor belt as my friend, Shelly, advised. As I take care of the more pressing things. It will get brought back at the proper time. In the meantime, I will continue my Friday blog posts.

Today was funny. As I looked to find inspiration for this blog post, I thought about what brings me joy. I get excited about God’s word. Especially when it fits the moment or jumps off the page. I opened my bible up to the last place I had read and this is what came up:

My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can!

James 1-2 – (TPT)

Now that’s a challenge to say the least! But doesn’t that just fit into my why? I don’t want difficulties to prevent me from having joy or keep me from reaching for my dreams.

Now if I can remember this lesson, stop overthinking every task and challenge, and remember God is with me. That he is shaping me, refining me like gold into his precious and beautiful creation. Then I can truly find joy in his delight. I can imagine myself twirling around, laughing in the sunshine of his beaming presence.

I pray you will find yourself dancing with joy as you remember he loves you, too!

Grace and peace,

Sandy

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay