We Can Do Better

This morning I engaged in a discussion on FB about working moms vs. stay-at-home moms and the effects on children. This is such a loaded topic with many layers and variables. What hit me the strongest was the way we, as women, criticize,  minimize, compete with, and judge each other. Once a family is in trouble, it is a hey day for the forces of discouragement, isolation, anger, and hurt.

Girlfriends, we can and must do better. We have to stand WITH and FOR each other. There is a place and time set aside for you to get quiet, breathe, rest, and talk about the topics on your heart - to get some clarity about the things that are feeling a little fuzzy.

The EXHALE Retreat is for you if:   
 *  You would like to gain insight into the restlessness you are feeling
*  You are living with negative emotions such as Depression, Fear, Anxiety, Stress, etc.
*  You are experiencing challenges and heart break in your relationships
*  Your past is showing up in your present in challenging ways
*  You feel as if you don’t really know yourself anymore 
*  You would like to deepen your spirituality and your relationship with God

Join us September 26-29 for a private lake retreat in Cassopolis, MI
http://www.exhaleretreat.org

EXHALE ...

God's breath creates, gives life and fills us up

This retreat is done in the spirit of biblical principles.  It is important to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to have a desire to grow your faith.  If you would like to know more about His deep love for you, go to www.needhim.org

Th

Be Still

I was hiking in the McDowell mountains with my friend Jan and the concept and challenge of achieving stillness occupied much of our trek. I remembered a time several years ago when a huge disappointment in my life compelled me to stop, be still, observe, and listen. I would have told you that I WAS still, because I am a quiet person and I confused the two. My heart and spirit within me were restless and fluttering. Stillness evaded me and the more I tried to find it, the more elusive it became. That is the thing about stillness; striving and struggling to find it push it further out of reach. You have to acknowledge the desire for it, set aside the time to get quiet and listen, then just let it happen. It requires a letting go, an attitude shift, and absolutely no expectations about how it will show up or the way it will manifest in your life.

Think for a moment of the calm and stillness before a storm, before the first rumbles of thunder and the first crack of lightning. Consider a wheel turning at high speeds. When you look at the center where it is anchored to the axle, there is no movement at all. When life moves at a furious pace are you able to remain anchored? Can you find your center and be still? Can your children find safe mooring with a mom who is firmly anchored?

            "Life from the Center is a life of unhurried peace and power.

              It is simple. It is serene. It is amazing. It is triumphant. It is

              radiant. It takes no time, but occupies all our time. And it

              makes all our life programs new and overcoming."

- Thomas Kelly -

Life is moving at mach speed. I know you have many demands on your time and energy. I know that sometimes obligation and schedules are at odds with values and priorities. In these next few weeks, in the midst of all the activity, commit to step into your beauty and power and allow stillness to settle into you. Let your heart rest. I read Captivating years after I learned to be still. These words resonate with me now as they did then.

"Beauty invites. Beauty nourishes. Beauty comforts. Beauty inspires. Beauty is transcendent. Beauty is core to a woman - who she is and what she longs to be. Beauty indwells every woman and flows from a heart at rest. When we allow our defenses to come down beauty emerges as if from behind a veil. When we choose to set aside our normal means of survival and just let our heart show up, beauty comes with it. Beauty comes from the inner part of us. Our hearts. A heart at rest. Not a heart that is striving and restless. 

A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy or enough. She knows in her quiet center that God finds her beautiful, that she is worthy, and she is enough. In fact, the only thing getting in the way of our being fully captivating and enjoyed is our striving. A woman of true beauty offers others the grace to be and the room to become.

A woman whose heart is at rest invites others to rest. We are invited to be ourselves. You  find room for your soul. It expands. You can breathe again. You can rest. It is good. You are free to be you. It is one of life's greatest gifts."

                                                From Captivating  by John and Stasi Eldredge

Come get still, rest, find your center. Recapture your beauty.  September 26-29.

www.exhaleretreat.org

Why in the World Did I Do That?

Have you ever reacted to a situation in a way that surprised or embarrassed you? Have you stood looking in the mirror at the end of the day while you brushed your teeth and wondered how in the world this day went to the places it did? Have you been in an interaction with someone else who responded with completely inappropriate, over the top, words and behaviors? Have you ever stopped to wonder why these things happen?

When we are wounded, abused, treated unjustly, or have trauma, our minds and bodies respond by creating a piece that holds those strong, negative emotions for us. This can happen from our earliest days; in fact, most of those strong responses were created by childhood issues that we didn’t have the emotional, psychological, or spiritual ability to cope with. As we grow older we certainly learn to cope in more appropriate and healthy ways – but sometimes an old, STRONG emotion comes up and we are triggered to react exactly the way we first responded. Hence, the immaturity and overreaction of  childhood.

I am a therapist and life coach. I have studied and used all the modern psychological methods to heal these wounds – and many of them have some good effects. NONE actually heal. Only God can heal. Only the truth of God can break the lies we have come to believe about ourselves and the world around us. When we ask Christ to speak into the situation and take the emotion that is an obstacle to us, He comes and grants our request.

The EXHALE retreat www.exhaleretreat.org has this inner work as a core tenet. We will show you how to heal trauma and old wounds and will walk you through a personal experience of healing with God.

If you would like to break the spirit of fear, anger, humiliation, unworthiness, or any others that are keeping you from the life you are meant to be living – join us Sept. 26-29 on a journey of healing, restoration, and excitement. Laus Deo!