what is the best version of you & how can we get her back?!?!

The year was 2005 and I was burning the candle at all ends.  But not in a good way.  I was practicing medicine, trying to keep up with the Joneses, shopping too much and spending more than I made, missing out on creating a family culture I loved, and living from a very superficial version of myself.  I had not yet come back to the faith and was pretty miserable on the inside, despite the lovely veneer of a [not so] perfect house, marriage, and lifestyle.

Today, I’m still burning the candle at both ends [I think it’s how He made me:)))] but I’m living much more from a place of love and service instead of from a place of competition and performance.

I’m finally living from the best version of me—a way less glamorous version for sure (just check out my instastories from yesterday) but the version that He created, the version that lives from His fullness and abundance and seeks to be an agent for healing and light and life for others.

You may find yourself in a bad spot in life right now and there’s no shame in that.  We are all the same and life can make it hard to keep ourselves above water, let alone thriving.

Honestly, we find a million ways to deal with this dilemma.  We  numb, distract, run, hide, pretend,  and find ourselves stuck in patterns we hate.

And that life leads to misery—for us and the people who love us.  We stay in those patterns because at first it’s easier— easier to numb, to live from ego, from a false version of ourselves, a version that’s safer for sure, but a version that is not life-giving.  And as women if we are created for anything, we are born to give life—sometimes to our own children but always to God’s children.

And when we shirk our God-given calling, when we live small and from a place of comparison and judgement and negativity and pettiness and pretension, we lose the privilege of seeing grace and love born in those around us.  We have not yet learned to allow HER to do what she was created to do and so we settle for living from ego, from the smallest, most fragile version of who we are.

We are afraid that SHE is too much, too little, too wild, too boring, too strong, too weak.

But let me give you one good reason why you should keep fighting for her.

Because we need her.  I need her.  Your husband needs her, your children need her, and your next door neighbor needs her.

You know who I’m talking about.  The you is that is wide awake.  The you whose belly is full of fire and passion.  The you that is playful and lighthearted.  The YOU that cries and laughs easily, that is strong and tender,  the you that is living her life fully from a place of authenticity and vulnerability and love.  The you who so nurtures and mothers others that she is constantly calling forth life from dry and desolate places.

That’s the YOU we are craving, the YOU the world needs.   That’s the you that God created.

So, if she’s lost today, if she’s hiding and pretending, if she’s exhausted and emotionally bankrupt—we are calling for her.  WE are cheering for her.  We are fighting for her.

………………

Here are a few ways I found HER again in my own life.

—I told the truth about myself and began to live from my weakness instead of my pretend, made up strength.  My whole life I assumed that people loved me for what I was good at, so I tried to be good at everything.  It sent me into a tailspin of emotional and physical collapse.  I finally found healing when I stopped performing and started BEING who I really am.  I stopped running from my past and slowed down enough to let God heal me.  I confessed and He forgave and that cycle of daily repentance is what we are made for.  I don’t have to pretend I’m something I’m not.  I just confess that I’m NOT and He forgives.

And now I can spend my time and my days giving myself away to others instead of performing for them.

—I found a bridge to true wellness that helped me feel better enough that I finally had the power to change the things in my life that were making me sick, that were keeping me stuck. I couldn’t be the BEST version of me because I was falling apart physically and emotionally.

I can’t tell you how amazing God is at creating things that were meant to work in our bodies. Everything in my life turned around when I stopped filling my body with fake, toxic things and started filling it with what it needs.

Everybody knows WHAT they should do but sometimes when you’re stuck, it feels like you don’t have the power to do it.  I promise you there’s hope— natural substances from plants that are designed to  give us what we need and can use—things our body won’t reject, substances our bodies can easily assimilate and metabolize.  My journey to WHOLE has been a long one, but it’s been a fight worth fighting.  If you are stuck in a pattern of poor health, I would love to help you get started on a path to holistic healing.  It’s way easier than you think.  You will only regret that you waited.

I finally feel good enough that I can stop worrying about me and focus on others. It’s so very freeing.

—I created a community of like-minded women so I wouldn’t have to go it alone.  We need each other.  We were made for each other.  And the fact that our world is designed to keep us apart and to keep us at odds doesn’t help us.  Join me on Tuesdays for livestream at NOON (eastern) as we grow and learn together to be who we were created to be. WE are inspiring each other and holding each other accountable.  And if you decide to join us for the health & wellness part, we have private FB groups that will become your favorite place to hang out on the internet.  You need community.  Don’t go it alone.

p.s.  Want a fast track to getting unstuck, sign up for my Overflow Life cheat sheet and get a one time offer for my Overflow course for less than you can take a friend out to lunch!