Are you doing what {you think you’re} supposed to be doing?

For some reason, I’ve had the pleasure of running into a good number of readers and podcast/radio listeners lately around town. It’s been unexpected, fun, and incredibly affirming that people are actually reading and listening to all of this!

{Shout outs to Jenna, Katherine, Louise, Donna, Catherine, Shannon, Rebecca and Susan! And Jenna, sorry about that temper tantrum from Faith that made our conversation super-short}

Several of the sweet readers I’ve met up with recently mentioned how “normal” I was in real life. I never know quite what to say when people tell me that. I always feel like I want people to know that I don’t have it all together. Maybe it’s because I myself have been turned off before to bloggers who seem a little too perfect.

One concern I’ve had for a while now with blogging and podcasting more professionally is that people would be turned off by the fact that I’m trying now. I worry that my “fancy” head shot (taken by my husband after church in our front yard, by the way, with some edits in PicMonkey), or my beautiful new website (thank you for all your help, Gretchen), or the fact that I’ve got my own podcast (it’s all Staci’s fault!) will make my message less real and relatable.

That’s one challenge with blogs and podcasts: as readers and listeners, we are tempted to compare our own outtakes to the highlight reels we listen to or read about. Even the fact that somebody is blogging or podcasting at all can tempt us to feel like they are somehow a lot more put together than we are.

God has seen fit to give me the opportunities, the people, the place, the time, and the material provision to do what I’m doing right now. But I’m right in the middle of figuring out (by failing often) how to make it all work well with all the other parts of my life. It’s an ongoing discernment (including lots of couple dialogue with Michael) to do what God has called me to in my particular life. I worry, a lot, in all honesty.

But I’m trying to learn how to rest.

Because at some point, if we are living to the best of our discernment how we think God wants us to live right now, then we must to learn to rest in that. 

My hope is that this post will help you to rest in where God has you today. Give Him any anxiety, jealousy, or insecurity that may be troubling your heart. Lay it before Him and ask Him to help you trust. What a pleasing prayer that is to Him.

So, this is what I’m working on today. Please pray for me, and know as you are reading this that I’ve already prayed for you.

See, I don’t always wear cute clothes and makeup and have my hair all done like all the pictures on my About page.:) In all honesty, the night I snapped this selfie, I had left the kids in Crazy Town mode with their tired daddy so that I could go record a podcast interview…and enjoy a grande caramel Mochasippi. Oh, the guilt. To top it all off, Michael and the kids had to scrounge for leftovers for dinner because I forgot to put something in the crock pot. He earned some solid saint points that night. It’s really never easy for Michael to take care of everything on the home front while I’m off doing my thing for the radio show, blog or podcast. We have both grown a lot in patience, charity, and understanding as we’ve navigated me working from home (and being away from home) more this year.Check out about a week’s worth of laundry I had procrastinated about folding. We live with my parents right now, and my Mom is so awesome not to complain at all when I fail at keeping up with house chores. She’s a gem, and I’ll miss her so much when we move.

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