If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. 

                                     -Benjamin Franklin

If you're like me, you have a vision of what you want this summer. But here's what ends up happening...time goes by. Before you know it, the summer is over and there is so much that never happened.

Planning helps you be thoughtful and intentional about the time ahead. Planning takes your vision from an idea to reality. 

Here's How You Can Plan for the Season Ahead

Set aside 30 minutes to spend time with God. Put this commitment on your calendar and keep it as you would any other appointment.

Questions to Ask as You Plan Your Summer

• God, what is your vision for me over these next few months?
• What do you envision for my life, my family, my leadership? This can include things like your relationship with Him, your physical health, mental health, emotional...

Are you looking for new ways to renew your soul? Sometimes we can get in a rut and spiritual practices that have worked so well for us in the past don't seem to be as helpful. In order to be healthy pastors and leaders as well as women living in the freedom of Christ, we should be growing closer to the Lord each and every day. While there is nothing "magical" about a spiritual practice per se, trying a new spiritual discipline, even one that may be a bit uncomfortable, is a great way to stay connected with Jesus and learn to hear Him and See Him in fresh new ways.

In this episode, I share 4 spiritual disciplines you can use to help you renew your soul and grow closer to God. Here are the spiritual disciplines we cover:

EXAMEN

SILENCE AND SOLITUDE

MEMORIZING SCRIPTURE

PRAYING A PSALM IN NATURE

Questions to Consider for EXAMEN

• Where did you sense God and His presence?
• How were you loved by God today?
• Where did you not feel God present?
• In what part of your day was...

You know you want to create margin and integrate healthy rhythms into your life and leadership but where do you start? What are some ideas of practical things you can put into place. In this episode I’m going to share with you some ideas for margin to help you get started.

I was leading a workshop on making margin at a women's clergy conference and someone raised their hand and said...I know that this is going to be different for each of us, but what are some practical examples of what margin could look like in our lives? Where do we start?

I loved this question! Yes, the type of margin we need will be different for each of us. In fact, it will shift and change in our own lives as we live and lead through different seasons. But there are some ways you can begin. And in this episode I share how you can get started.

Ideas for Making Margin in Life and Leadership

• Sabbath
• Starts and Finishes
• Movement and Meals
• Add in Fun

Need More Help?

Grab the...

Is the way you’re living and leading making you more than just tired? As you think about your weariness, does it feel like you are carrying the weight of so many expectations? Are you faced with following the rules for life and leadership that someone else has set for you?

If you are, you are not alone. Jesus has an invitation just for you and I have a question I want you to ask you to consider. I’ve got to warn you…it may be a bit uncomfortable. But in your wrestling, I believe God will reveal the truth…and as Jesus says, the truth will set you free.

You Are Invited

Jesus offers us a wonderful invitation in Matthew 11:28-30. He says:

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

Many of us wonder...

...Could...

Have you lost your energy? Is it harder to get things done? Do you struggle focusing on others and showing empathy? We all go through seasons of pouring ourselves out, but how do you know when you’ve more than just tired? In this episode, I am going to unpack my working definition of burnout and share a few signs that might indicate there’s more going on than just you being tired.

Working Definition of Burnout

"Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest and motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.”

Here are some signs that you are more than tired:

• Anger
• Bitterness, resentment
• Blaming everyone else for why you’re struggling
• Don’t really care about the outcomes…(different than caring but...

When you were learning what it meant to follow Jesus as His disciple did anyone talk to you about the reality of burnout? Were you encouraged or taught to lead in a way that prevents burnout so you can do what you’re called to do for the long haul? Burnout is prevalent but it is also preventable.

And yet...

...this is a subject typically avoided, especially in conversations around our Christian vocation and the life of the church. In today’s episode, I am going to share with you the things no one told me about burnout so you can live and lead with a greater awareness of this all too common threat.

Definition of Burnout

"Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest and motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.”

...

 In today’s show I am interviewing my friend Jill McCormick as we talk about grace for the try-hard girl, especially when we sense we are in a season of change.

Anyone feel like a try-hard girl? You know, the one who loves Jesus and her people so she tries hard to get it all done, to not disappoint, to do everything well, to always be there, to help fix the problems and right the wrongs? That try-hard girl lives in me and I don’t know about you but the idea of living in the freedom of God’s grace is something I desperately need. And I believe you will find so many things you can personally relate to and take away from my conversation with Jill that will fill your soul with grace.

Some Things We Covered

• Who is the try-hard girl?
• Understanding how we can extend grace to ourselves.
• Accepting we are human beings, not productivity machines.
• Why it is so hard to admit that something needs to change?
• Ideas about how to create space to be with Jesus...

Are you running from one thing to the next? Has the pace of life and ministry become unsustainable?  It is so easy to constantly be on the go, to always be "on" and available and many pastors and ministry leaders are feeling the impact. Maybe you do too. Maybe you know that you are running yourself into the ground. You are keenly aware that you can’t keep it up much longer. It’s not a question of loving God or even loving what you do...it’s a matter of the relentless pace in which you are doing it.

You can be unrelenting in your love for Jesus, your commitment to sharing the gospel and serving your ministry organization without a relentless pace.

You probably know that deep inside. You know that you were not meant to go like the energizer bunny. You were not designed to keep your foot on the gas and keep going no matter what. That’s what gets celebrated in our culture...it’s what is valued and praised...it is even what gets promoted in the...

Do you feel far from God? Is it hard to hear Him? Do you struggle to see the ways He is working around you? When we feel far from God it plays a role in our soul health. And when we feel depleted, worried, even alone, it impacts the way we relate to God and others.

In this episode, I'm sharing a call that I recently had with a group of women taking the Margin Maker Workshop. We just completed the first session, "Getting Ready for Change" where we asked the question, "How's your soul?" In this conversation we talked about how we might be feeling and what assurances we can take with us on the journey to wholeness in our relationship with God and margin in life and ministry.

Scriptures Referenced

• Isaiah 53:6
• Psalm 25:8
• Psalm 23

If you'd like to join me for our next Margin Maker Workshop in a few months, you can get on the waitlist HERE. Or, if you're not quite sure what your next step should be but you know you need to make a change, let's have a discovery call....

You are loved by God. Not because you are in ministry. Not because you said yes to leadership. Not because you are compassionate. It is not because of anything you have ever done or will ever do. It is because of who God is.

As the song Jireh, says: You have never been more loved than you are right now. God loved you and chose you because it gave Him great pleasure to do it!

Many of us struggle to anchor ourselves fully in the complete love of God. We worry about disappointing Him. We want to make Him so glad that He chose us. He does choose you and He would do it over and over again because He is love. And His love and acceptance has nothing to do with your ministry.

If you struggle with the idea that you are loved by God apart from ministry, this episode is for you.

Scriptures Referenced

Ephesians 1:4-5

Ephesians 2:1-6

Romans 5:8

Romans 7:22

Isaiah 30:15-18 (verse 18 in the Amplified Version)

Isaiah 43:4

YOUR AFFIRMATION

If this was for you, let me know! Send me at...