Five Minute Friday: Grasp

Today I am participating in my first ever Five MinuteFriday. I have been wanting to do it for a while, and decided today was just as good as any to dive in. Five Minute Friday is an exercise to write on a prompt for 5 minutes straight. Just write. No editing. No polishing. Just writing. I link up what I write up with an awesome community (At Liso-Jo Baker’s place) and visit at least the person in line before me. Want to be a part of a cool community? Want to hone your writing craft? JOIN! :)

Today’s prompt: Grasp.

Go

Grasp. Holding hands open and then closed around something—tight. I think of holding my toddler’s hand before we cross the street. I grasp it. Hold it tight. He might try to pull away, all boy and ready to explore. But I am mom, the safety enforcer, and I grasp something so dear and important.

I think of an idea or a concept. I open my mind to try to understand it, and then close around it once I understand it. I grasp it. And if it’s good, I hold it tight. It might try to get away from me, so I ask questions, ponder it, grasp it, run it around in my hands like I did when I got that container of gak as a child. I explore its properties, wonder about it, it tries to leave my fingers, so I involve my other hand in the exploration. 

I think of the way God’s grasp is with me. The way I get all wormy squirmy in the palm of his hands.  I get restless and try to handle—grasp at—my own life and plans and future. But God’s grasp is often loose and gentle and allows me to leave,  sometimes it’s firm and secure and warns me of danger (like I do with my children) it really is where I want to be though my human-gak-like self wants to escape through the fingers of where I am safest—restless. Comfort: God is always grasping for me and my affections. He wants me and to hold me in His grasp. 

He always reaches for me.

STOP

Okay. That was HARD and actually more like 10 minutes. But I love what got squeezed out of my brain through my fingertips on the keys. God is always grasping for me and my affections. So grateful for that. 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend. 

xo

Amanda

TWR: A Conclusion

In sixth grade, a group of boys huddle around a table uttering low whispers and scoffing snickers. They were making a list of all the girls in the class, from biggest boobs to smallest boobs. And I was a girl with a training bra and nothing to train.

Flat. As. A. Board.

I wanted to melt into my blue plastic chair. Please God don’t let them put me last on that list.

A few agonizing minutes later, the boys began to disperse. The list was complete. My 6^th-grade-fate had been decided. My worth had been determined. I walked over to take a peek at the list. I started at the top and scanned down. Please not the last name. Please not the last name.

And I wasn’t there. I didn’t make the list. My worst nightmare had been being last, deemed the girl with the smallest boobs. A far worse reality took shape. I didn’t even make the list. I wasn’t worth mentioning. I was completely unnoticed.

I bought into the age old lie—the same one Eve bought into when the serpent told her that God had withheld knowledge from her, that the fruit would make her like God—you are not enough.

I spent my teenage years listening to that lie. You are not enough. You are not smart enough, pretty enough… you will never amount to anything. You will never accomplish anything. I listened to that lie and with it came a striving heart. I tried so hard to be something special, important, beautiful, wanted—someone no one would overlook. Someone who would make the top of any list some boys would make. I shoved the things about myself that I thought held me back into a dark corner and pretended to be someone else. And while God has dealt with much of this in my adult years, all this striving, trying to be something, is why I find waiting so hard. If I am waiting… if I wear no ministry title, if I am not a big name in the blogging world, if I have nothing published with my name on it… if all I am is a 10-year-old-sedan driving mom of 2 who can barely keep her house clean,then maybe it’s true… maybe I’m not enough.

I want to be noticed. I want accomplishments. I don’t want to bury my dreams in soil and wait. No one will see me here. I will never be enough. I will never be worth anything.

We believe that “Faith without works is dead,” but I think there is a dangerous lie the enemy would like to sell us by twisting that truth in our minds. I hear it constantly (I say it and pray it constantly), “I just want to be used by God.” And sure, this can be a noble plight, but somewhere in this is the lie that we are not enough and in order to be enough we must DO something. Striving. We say it’s for God’s glory, but the fact of the matter is that we fight the age old battle on the fields of our heart: to bring God glory or to bring our own self glory.

Our glory is achieved by DOING—striving.

God’s glory is achieved by bowing low—allowing Him to DO all the DOING.

In waiting, God breaks down the lie that you aren’t enough because He loves you just as you are and you don’t have to do anything to earn that love. In waiting, God also breaks down the lie that you are enough because apart from Him you can’t do anything. It’s just striving. You need Him. And you need His timing. In waiting, you kneel down, bow low and succumb your lumpy-clay-self to the potter’s hands that mold and shape you.

God keeps whispering to me, “Find your place in me, Amanda.” Friends, that is the single most important thing you can do with your life: discover just how much God loves you—He loves you like I tell my kids at bedtime—“to the moon and back, with all [His] heart, no matter what”—NO. MATTER. WHAT. Whether you do great things, small things, a bunch-of-mistake things, or nothing at all—you hold Your Father’s gaze. He sees you. He loves you. You are enough. You don’t have to DO anything to earn it. You have it. Slow your strive. Rest in this.

Find your place in Him.

The other day, I came across a song on waiting. MUMFORD! (Anyone else love Mumford and Sons??) It spoke to me.

So take my flesh
And fix my eyes
That tethered mind free from the lies

But I'll kneel down
Wait for now
I'll kneel down
Know my ground

Raise my hands
Paint my spirit gold
And bow my head
Keep my heart slow

I will wait. I will wait for you.

I picked up my son, grabbed the hand of my daughter and we spun around the living room doing some kind of riverdance, two-stepping hoedown. Somehow in that, I saw it: I am here in this moment. I am mom. I am wife. I am beautiful and complete and lacking nothing. My heart is full. I can shake off the humanity that makes me strive, that can’t be content. I am doing exactly what was purposed for me to do and holding it full in my hands. He placed me amongst the sticky arms of an Addy and a Jed (and I only get to be there for so long.) My place isn’t found in titles, or here on the web. It’s in Him. It’s in Him!!! Somehow in dancing around my living room, my spirit was kneeling, surrendering, knowing it’s ground—waiting for now. And yet, fully living.

In order to live, you first must die.

I have heard this before: when you feel like no doors are open for you, praise Him in the hallway.

Praise in spite is surrender. And surrender is fully living.

Yes.

I really can wait.

I really can bury my dreams.

I am falling in love with my God. He is Good. And He is worth waiting for.

(Thank you dear friend, you know who you are, for that last beautiful sentiment :))

As this series winds down, I would love to hear YOUR conclusion. What has God taught you in this waiting room??

I can't thank you enough for being here with me. I really appreciate you, friends!!

Amanda

P.S. Did you see the post where I asked for your stories??? Consider sharing yours with us (anonymous is perfectly acceptable--you can even email me from an email account that's something like hotgirl85 or whatever so it will be anonymous to me too. Ha! Oh, and I will also have a link up for my bloggy friends that want to share their story with their readers too). See here for the heart behind it and the guidelines.
See you back here on Tuesday for the waiting room link up and maybe even some stories of YOURS! So glad to shut up and let YOU talk for a change. Ha!!

For your listening pleasure: Mumford and Sons, "I Will Wait." Grab your loved ones by the hands and crazy dance?? :)

In case you missed the other parts of the series and want to get caught up, here are the links:

• Intro: A Call to Live Fully (When You Feel Like You Are Waiting)
• Part 1: You're NOT Waiting
• Part 2: Waiting Is... Dying?!?
• Part 3: When You Feel Especially Ugly While Waiting 
• Part 4: Tied Feet 
• Part 5: When Your Dreams Feel Crushed {A Guest Post} 
• Part 6: How Waiting Can Be Strength 
• Part 7: When a Dream Sits Half-Completed

And as a reminder, I love comments (I love hearing from you!). I love getting emails too: conqueringhousewife{at}the-cadence{dot}com. 

Like what you read here? Consider subscribing to this blog's feed or subscribing by email to have my posts put nicely into your email box? Or join all the conquering housewives on facebook? linked up here: http://www.cornerstoneconfessions.com/2012/10/titus-2-tuesday-linky-party-21.html

linked up here: cornerstone confessions 
 

How to Live That Broken, But Full Life {In Which You Might Want to Share Your Story?}

I've been dragging my feet. Complaining.

Waiting is hard. And it seems in my life there have been a whole lot of things to wait on.

And then, I cried out and asked God to teach me how to fully live when I am waiting, because I 'm not. Life doesn't stop and party with you when you throw a pity party. It keeps moving forward.

And God began revealing Truth to me in His Word, and this waiting series was born.

But God didn't stop there.

In the midst of this series, I got a quiet email in my inbox from one of you. It told your own personal story of waiting. And while I cannot share the contents of that email, for it is not my story to share, it left me undone. It shook me right out of my pity party, and in the best way. And since that email, some of you have mentioned the things you are waiting on. Each time, it has left my heart feeling broken for you. I suppose we can choose to live with broken-open hearts or impenetrable, calloused-from-life hearts.

See, I am learning: God plants purpose—dreams—inside of a human, fleshy shell. Full of pride, selfishness, impatience. And the only way to extract the usable kernel of wheat is to crush the whole grain. In that crushing, the chaff separates from the wheat kernel, then the Lord of the Harvest takes that crushed grain and raises it back to life, free from its chaff exterior, ready to be used. 

Fresh Wheat Photo Credit

 

I can get stuck feeling sorry for myself, I can get stuck in my lack of trust—worried if God will ever bring about His promises. I can live so clench-fisted demanding from God. I can pull the covers over my head, refuse to be crushed, cling to my chaff—for really we only see in part and know in part this side of heaven but I refuse to trust that God sees in full and He knows what He is doing.

You see, only one person can attend a pity party. The second someone else shares their story, something magical happens--ministry. I care. You care. I am crushed and clinging to my chaff, and the second you expose your brokenness, I realize I can let go and expose myself too. And when we let go—separate, die to self—God raises back to life.

I want to live a raised-up, full life!

We all have a story. If I can say everyone waits, and God uses waiting to refine, then you all have a story of waiting to tell.

And I wonder? Would you share yours? Would you allow your story to minister?

Could that magical, we-might-be-broken-and-imperfect-and-still-working-out-our-wait-yet-so-full-of-grace ministry happen here?

Here's my thought:

Will you share your story in 200 words or less and slip it into my email box? You may choose to be anonymous or you may choose to share your name. (I will not share anything other than what you have given me permission to share.) I will put a post up, maybe a few depending on how many stories I get, sharing your stories—like 5 or so at a time.

If you are a blogger and want your own readers to hear your story too, I will provide a link up for you to use. Have your post ready next Tuesday, the link up will go live at 8am, PST (provided I encounter no technological glitches). (If you are linking up, that 200 word rule doesn't apply to you—and how many bloggers could keep it anyways?! Ha!)

• I want your imperfect stories of how you are waiting. It’s okay if you find your wait hard! It’s okay if your wait isn’t “super traumatic," and it's okay if it is too. It’s okay if your story is messy! Just tell YOUR story.

• I want your redeemed stories of a time you waited and saw God show up. Encourage us that are in the midst of our waits!

• I would even love an encouraging letter to the conquering housewives that starts something like “I want those of you who are waiting on (insert something specific like illness, infertility, wanting to be married, divorce, loss…) to know………..” and share your wisdom and heart with us.

If you have a story that simply cannot fit into 200 words or less, that's okay! Send it anyways! Just know, if for some odd reason I have a huge influx of 1000 word emails it may take me awhile to get to them all and I may not be able to put yours up.

Disclaimer: If for some reason there is a huge influx of letters, I may not be able to put them all up (I am a small blogger, I don’t think this will be a problem… but just in case) Also, I reserve the right to filter what gets placed on this blog. If I feel something is inappropriate, I may choose to not place it up here. Same thing for the link party, if a post is linked that is innaproppriate, I will remove it. I also reserve the right to do any minor editing that may be necessary (like spelling or grammar) before sharing it. (Most likely you will not need to worry about this! :)) 
Also know, when I do share your stories, should a comment appear that is judgmental, mean, or inappropriate I will remove it as soon as I am able (and you are welcome to report it as well). I care more about your hearts and this being a safe-to-be-vulnerable place than I do about "good discussion." Once again, I have never had that issue, but just in case :)

I am so excited for the way God could use this, the way God can use YOU. When we put all that stuff that has been weighing us down into the Light and ask God to use it as it is, something amazing happens. I am so full of expectancy for what God might do!!

We shall be conquering housewives indeed! 

xo
Amanda 

Email me: conqueringhousewife{at}the-cadence{dot}com


Okay so quick recap of this post:

1. Ministry happens when we share our stories with each other.
2. Write me an email telling me your waiting story? Or write a blog post and link it up here?
3. Email me your story by Tuesday, October 2, 2012. Link party will go live at 8am, PST on Tuesday, October 2.
4. Come back here to read stories of waiting. I am planning on sharing through Friday, October 5, but may go longer if necessary. 

Oh, and on a totally unrelated sidenote, I have gotten a little better at Twitter. Follow me? @conqhousewife I'll follow ya back :)

TWR: When a Dream Sits Half-Completed

I sorta have a thing for the story of Zerubbabel in the Bible. For one, it’s an amazing story of God’s redeeming power. For two, that name—Zerubbabel—what were his parents thinking?? In case you are unfamiliar with the man—Zerubbabel, and his story—let me give you a run-down (By the way, if you should want to read it for yourself it’s found in the books of Ezra, Zechariah, and Haggai). Zerubbabel was a direct descendant in the line of King David—this is important; it made him governor. He, along with Ezra and a large group of Jews, returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. Everything started off fine. They had favor. They had supplies. They had high spirits. They poured the foundation, raised the walls… they get to about the halfway point, when all of a sudden opposition arises. The temple rebuilding is ordered to be stopped. So it did. And it sat, uncompleted for 14 years. 

I imagine the way that uncompleted project must have tormented Zerubbabel. The way it must have felt like failure. This dream—this life’s call—to see the temple of the Lord rebuild, and there it sat half done.

But then, after 14 years, God spoke through the prophet Zechariah and said, “’It’s not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord God of Hosts. ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”… The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you’” (Zech. 4:6-9). Not too long after this prophecy, a new decree was issued, and the work immediately resumed. A few years later and the half-completed temple was brought to a full completion. It took 20 years from the first brick to the last one, but God finished what he started in Zerubbabel.

Photo by Microsoft. Words added.

I think sometimes we need one thousand reminders that God is Faithful, that He finishes what He starts, that even though you may have laid some dreams aside—so you could go to college, start a family, help your husband, take care of a sick relative—God will finish what He started in you. The Bible says, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). God didn’t decide to call you—put this dream in your heart and have you start working towards it—only to decide after some kid of life happened, just kidding, your done now, let’s take back those gifts. Nope! But the Bible is abundantly clear that pauses, waits, unforeseen detours are all a part of the process. And those pauses, waits, and unforeseen detours are no thing to God. The second God said that temple would be rebuilt by His power, guess what? Decree was no thing. God did it. Whether you are in a different season of your life or you are facing a roadblock, it is no thing to God.

God is abundantly able to finish that work, that hope, that dream in you. And you can strive, try your hardest to make it happen yourself, or go down feeling defeated, but the thing is, “It’s not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.” When it’s time, God will make the way. In fact, God is making the way now. God will finish what He started in you. Bottom line: You need to trust Him.  

You CAN trust Him.

I thought I would leave you with 2 more verses I have found comfort in as I wait:

Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

Photo by my super talented friend, KatieFewellPhotography. Used with Permission.

Habakkuk 2:3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay."

(I love that last verse! You?)

Tomorrow, I will be posting an announcement for something that has been on my heart. 

Thursday I will have the last post I have written for The Waiting Room ready for you. It's gonna be good. :)

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for sitting with me in The Waiting Room. Waiting is always easier in the company of friends. :)

xo

Amanda

In case you missed the other parts of the series and want to get caught up, here are the links:

• Intro: A Call to Live Fully (When You Feel Like You Are Waiting)
• Part 1: You're NOT Waiting
• Part 2: Waiting Is... Dying?!?
• Part 3: When You Feel Especially Ugly While Waiting 
• Part 4: Tied Feet 
• Part 5: When Your Dreams Feel Crushed {A Guest Post} 
• Part 6: How Waiting Can Be Strength

And as a reminder, I love comments (I love hearing from you!). I love getting emails too: conqueringhousewife{at}the-cadence{dot}com. 

Like what you read here? Consider subscribing to this blog's feed or subscribing by email to have my posts put nicely into your email box? Or join all the conquering housewives on facebook?

TWR: How Waiting Can Be Strength

I can’t even tell you how many times when I think of waiting, I think of the verse, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like an eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary" (Isaiah 40:31) In fact, because I grew up in a fairly old-fashioned (i.e. we had hymnals) Pentecostal church, I always hear this verse in song (Hymn number 145, I think?). I find waiting tiring, so this verse has baffled me. How is there strength in waiting?

I am a wrestler. Not in the sense that I put on one of those strange suits that draw far too much attention to one’s crotch (seriously though! Lol) and grapple on a mat with someone else. I wrestle God. I may sense His voice telling me to wait, but I want to try my hardest to makes things happen now. I sorta stink at waiting. 

I get restless. I don’t know how to sit still. I want living, physical, actual proof that God is working out His plans. I want to know not only what today looks like, but each day to the end of my life.

I think of when I wanted to be married, but it wasn’t time yet. Everywhere I went, every young man I came across, God would hear my squirrel-mind going something like this: “Him, God? He’s cute. What about him, God. He’s not as cute, but he’s seems really smart. No, wait, look at that one, God. Yes, I will take that one.” My hyper-active, boy-crazy mind had to drive God crazy. I depleted my strength running through future possibilities, because bottom line, I didn’t trust God enough that He would bring His promises to pass. I thought that I needed to work them out for Him. God doesn’t need our help with His promises.

Proverbs says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life” (13:12, NLT). Deferred means put-off, delayed, or postponed. And it’s true, right? Our heart feels sick when our hope, our dream, gets put-off or laid aside. When we accomplish a dream, our soul fills with the hot air that lifts us right off the ground… kind of feels like soaring… like an eagle.

So, how is it that God can say, “They that wait…strength…eagles…run…??” What am I missing about waiting?!

A couple months back my daughter got a balloon while at church. She was so excited. A pink balloon! I offered to tie the string around her wrist so she wouldn’t lose the balloon when we went outside. I tried explaining how it could fly away, and how as much as she wanted to hold it, it would still be attached to her if I tied the balloon to her wrist. She wouldn’t let me. She didn’t want to let go of the balloon. Sure enough, about five seconds after we got outside, one pink balloon went sailing for the clouds.

The word wait used in this verse is the Hebrew word qavah. This little word is actually used to describe strength. It refers to the idea of tying a rope around something and holding tightly to it. When God asks us to wait, he isn’t asking us to give up our dream. He’s asking us to let go of it, to free up our hands for what He has purposed for us to do right now. But there’s still that rope of promise, that God will be faithful to accomplish what He said He would. So, like I tried to do with my daughter’s balloon, tie that rope of God's promise around your dream. Fasten it to your wrist. And wait.

Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis, my words added :)

I think when we are asked to wait it feels a little like rejection. You aren’t good enough. You’ll never amount to anything. We want to throw the dream away entirely. Waiting isn’t rejection and it isn’t ceasing to hope. “Hope [put off] makes the heart sick.” You need to keep your hope ON. Perhaps you can’t physically work towards your dream right now, but God is surely working on you and that dream so that when it’s time to hold it your hands, you will have become the person that is able to walk in that dream. Waiting is for becoming. Keep that dream close. Tie it around your wrist and TRUST God’s faithfulness.

Trust.

Waiting is Trusting.

When you place your trust in God, when you stop striving to make the dream happen, or take off the rejection you’ve been wearing… I think you do get that renewed strength. At least I want to try this out. What if I chose to recognize that now just simply isn’t time for the dream in my heart? What if I chose to recognize that my hands need to be busy with the two little one’s that call me Momma? What if I chose to live here and now, instead of 10 years from now? What if I didn’t have to know what tomorrow looked like, I was just happy with today and hoping in tomorrow?

What if I trusted God? Really trusted Him?

Would I “mount up with wings like an eagle and soar…” even while I am waiting?

I want to find out. :)

You?

Thanks for sitting with me in The Waiting Room. Waiting is always easier in the company of friends. :)

xo

Amanda

In case you missed the other parts of the series and want to get caught up, here are the links:

• Intro: A Call to Live Fully (When You Feel Like You Are Waiting)
• Part 1: You're NOT Waiting
• Part 2: Waiting Is... Dying?!?
• Part 3: When You Feel Especially Ugly While Waiting 
• Part 4: Tied Feet 
• Part 5: When Your Dreams Feel Crushed {A Guest Post}

And as a reminder, I love comments (I love hearing from you!). I love getting emails too: conqueringhousewife{at}the-cadence{dot}com. 

Like what you read here? Consider subscribing to this blog's feed or subscribing by email to have my posts put nicely into your email box? Or join all the conquering housewives on facebook?

Sharing this here: Denise in Bloom
 

Dear 16-year-old Me,

Dear 16-year-old Amanda, 

16-year-old Amanda Fashion at it's finest. Check out the laces on those shoes. LOL

You ARE beautiful. Stop looking for someone else to tell you this. More important than someone saying it, is you believing it. Remember that guy that called you “rat girl.” He actually asks you out this year. Let go of his words. Don’t spend so much energy worried about that pointy nose of yours or what some guy says about you. 

Wear your glasses. Stop despising that late-blooming, glasses-too-big-for-her-face, socially-awkward girl from junior high. She is you. And though you try so hard to leave her behind, it really is okay that you are a bit shy, an introvert, a dork, and that you wear glasses. God manages to use all that stuff about you for His Glory. And one day, you actually like you better with glasses (and, yes, apart from the convenience of being able to see. And, yes, you like you in glasses when your coolness is at its peak in college... not just in your dorky-mom days, thank you very much).

14-year-old Me, Oh that girl and her glasses :)

You are boy crazy. Okay—no need for me to tell you this, you already know. But seriously, chill out on this. I know who you are going to marry, and he’s amazing—UH-MAY-ZING. And you won’t see it coming, and you will remain clueless until the perfect time. God surprises you. Stop trying to peek under the wrapping paper at the present He wants to give you—constantly asking if the latest cute boy in your life is “the one.” Trust me, you WILL be surprised. And trust me, you will LOVE the surprise. Truly, you don’t need to waste all your brain power right now on the male gender. Most of those boys you are fretting over are not worth it.

You have some hard days ahead. You are going to make some whopper of mistakes. You are going to feel like a failure, like life isn’t worth living, like everyone has abandoned you… even God. Cry out. And trust me, when you do, God will be right there. God will fight for you. He will even work a miracle for you. Lean into His Grace. All those stupid decisions you are about to make (the ones that are so ugly you don’t want anyone to know about), His Grace will cover them. His Love will never fail you. His Grace abounds so greatly to you--He doesn't need or want you to beat yourself up over your mistakes. Give them to Him. He uses them for His Glory.

You work so hard at being seen, noticed. You think you have to flirt and know just what to say and do for the guys to want you. Trust me, they see you. You don't have do anything for them to notice you. And really, when you do meet that hunk-of-a-man who sweeps you off your feet, you won't care how many boys you dated or how many thought you pretty. You will like yourself best when you see yourself in that one special man's eyes.

Stop trying to jam your round-peg-self into the square hole. You ARE different. And that’s okay. It’s going to take you a while to figure this out, but God’s got a plan for your life and it’s not going to look like anyone else’s. That’s okay. In fact, it’s good.

Don’t be afraid to act on the Holy Spirit’s promptings. To date, He has not failed you yet.

Don’t be so timid about your faith. A few of those people who you are so worried about what they think of you, they make some really bad decisions that cost them everything. It might be worth the risk of embarrassment to speak up. (Pay particular attention to Kevin.)

Do work on caring less what other people think of you. Truth be told, it’s not so much that people have poor opinions of you… they just don’t really think of you at all. (i.e. you are not the center of everyone’s universe).

Be nice to your mom and work on rolling your eyes less. Believe it or not, you do not know everything, she knows way more than you think, and she actually becomes your dearest friend.

Do know that your dad loves you. He may stink at words, but he kicks butt at working hard to provide. Receive that as an expression of his love.

Be nice to your sister. Let her into your life a little more. Sure she’s a bit obnoxious when you have friends over and sure she eavesdrops on your conversations and then teases you about what she finds out, but she just wants to be a part of your life. Trust me, you will wish you hadn’t been so cruel one day, and you won’t care if she “deserved” it or not.

Spend more time with your grandparents. They really don’t live forever.

Oh, and just a couple things you might like to know: Mark McGrath actually becomes an entertainment reporter (Yep. Really. Perhaps his pictures don’t deserve so much wall-space?), and people stop telling you how much you look like Leelee Sobieski (either because you stop looking like her or she becomes obscure, I'm not sure which). 

This one is important: you are going to spend the day at your best friend Stephanie’s house. The two of you are going to be goofing off. She is going to moon you, and you are going to be tempted to one-up her by flashing her. Do not do this. I repeat, do not do this. Her dad comes home from work and walks in at that exact moment. Not only will you be horrifyingly embarrassed, it’ll pretty much end your friendship. Yeah. I know, right? Never. Going. To. Do. That. Again. Oh, and while I’m on the subject of embarrassing moments, avoid bikini’s with ties. They never serve you well. Perhaps, just avoid bikinis all together. Guys have great imaginations, they don’t need to see all that skin to find you attractive.

Your best days are still to come, Amanda. Hang in there.

You are loved, cherished, and beautiful,

29-year-old Amanda

I did this post as apart of a prompt from the blog Chatting at the Sky. I am a bit late, but it just seemed like fun and like something I would like my daughter to read one day. Emily P. Freeman just released a book for teen girls called Graceful. I have not read it to give it my official endorsement, but if you have a teenage girl or will soon have a teenage girl, I think you should give it a look. :)

Link to the Dear Me Link Up should you want to do your own or read more

TWR: For When Your Dreams Feel Crushed {A Guest Post}

Since entering this blogging world and realizing what a beautiful community it can be, I have been praying for a writing/blogging/mommy friend. A couple months ago someone commented on a post I wrote, and God said, "Her." I looked at her blog and saw what a sister she was. God prompted me to email her and ask her to guest post for this series. True to classic Amanda form, I ignored that prompting because I was too freaked out. Probably just me and my silly ideas. A few weeks later she wrote a post that touched my heart and confirmed that God really had been prompting me to reach out. I emailed her and we have been friends since. Turns out, she lives close enough to meet up with... so naturally, we did meet up! I feel like I met my blogging doppleganger! She has a similar heart, is an absolute sweetheart, has two littles of her own, and is incredibly real. I know you will like what she writes!

So, I would now like to introduce you to my friend, Jacqui from Faith and Simplicity. She's got a post for The Waiting Room on crushed dreams.

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The Resurrection of Crushed Dreams

Before the sun went down, in the calm of the evening, I pulled out my pruners and went to trimming my cosmos. It’s been long overdue. And as I clipped away, praying and thinking, my mind dwelt on the Sovereignty of God.

And I thought about growth, waiting, and dreams.

Crushed dreams to be more blunt.

I have had my share of heartbreak as cancer ravaged the body of my first husband, consequently taking his life. As well as other heartaches, that have left me distraught...questioning.

And the anguish of each loss has never gotten easier.

In fact, the same temptations to abandon my trust in God’s lovingkindness arise each time as confusion swirls, anxiety clamors, and the ugly face of anger gnashes its teeth.

My heart cries...unsettled.

But the voice of wisdom whispers, “Wait. Don’t act now!”

Truthfully, I don’t do waiting well.

There comes a point when I sit fidgeting, eager for something to happen. Or I stand pacing, anxious to create some kind of movement.

But as Amanda has already said, there is a purpose for it.

Ultimately, it’s for our growth.

And growth means change.

And change doesn’t appeal to this girl who loves to get comfortable on the couch, sinking into its cushions uninterrupted. Change can’t tempt when I’m cuddled in plushness.

But when God crushes my dreams, when God calls me to wait, an internal war wages...disrupting my ease.

My heart seeks the back door.

My heart seeks something other than what I’ve been given or not given.

Romans 5:3-4 says, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

The trials we face push and pull, stretch and tighten, as faith works itself out in our souls. And if we keep our hearts moldable in the hands of the potter God, resisting the desire to lurch from His spinning wheel (simply because we trust Him), a work of beauty will shape and form.

Character produced. Hope in spite.

And we’ll find ourselves on the other side of hard. We’ll find ourselves changed.

And when we choose to focus on the blessings of the change, we’ll find the temptation of the old couch a little less desirable. Our eyes will suddenly behold the tattered fabric and the lumpy cushions.  And this new place, once masked with fear, will suddenly be good, acceptable, perfect.

We’ll have grown.

We’ll have matured.

And just like the cosmos I clipped and shaped this evening, we’ll be ready for the next bloom.

I love Paul’s heart-cry in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

Our sovereign and great God will use every last bit of our crushing. We can be confident in that as we enter into this deep, satisfying relationship that’s emptied of self! And in His perfect timing, the old dream or possibly a new one, will sprout in the fresh, rich soil of a broken heart.

Then, His voice will come softly, saying, “It’s time, child of Mine.”

And in humility, we can finally respond, “Yes, Lord, but not as I will... as You will.”

That is the purpose of crushed dreams.

That is the purpose of waiting.

And that is the beauty of a heart surrendered. 

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From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Jacqui, dear Jesus-sister. Crushed dreams is not exactly an easy topic, and you wrote about it so beautifully. You spoke right to my soul.

If you have a chance, do check out her blog: Faith and Simplicity. I know you will be encouraged and inspired by the words she writes there.

In case you missed the other parts of the series and want to get caught up, here are the links: 

• Intro: A Call to Live Fully (When You Feel Like You Are Waiting)
• Part 1: You're NOT Waiting
• Part 2: Waiting Is... Dying?!?
• Part 3: When You Feel Especially Ugly While Waiting 
• Part 4: Tied Feet

I will see you all back here on Thursday for the next post in the series.

And as a reminder, I love comments (I love hearing from you!). I love getting emails too: conqueringhousewife{at}the-cadence{dot}com. 

Like what you read here? Consider subscribing to this blog's feed or subscribing by email to have my posts put nicely into your email box? Or join all the conquering housewives on facebook?

Thank you dear friends for coming and sitting with me in The Waiting Room. It's so much easier to wait in the company of friends :)

Amanda