Guided By Grace Life Coaching

The wheels have fallen off my weight loss wagon. I mean - there is not one part of one single wheel still there. It's time to re-build the wheels and get this wagon moving in the right direction again. But I seem to have lost site of the road map. Plus there appears to be a very large boulder right in my path - a mini mountain even. I know there is open road ahead. I just can't seem to get this wagon back on the move. I'm stuck. Completely. Sigh. After losing 60 pounds in 2011 - I sit here today with 30 of them shamefully put back on. I'm back to the bad tapes running in my head. I'm back to despising every ounce I see (and feel). I'm in a bad, bad place. It's time to reach out for some moral support from others who can relate. Honestly, I know exactly what did me in. This last school year was THE most un-enjoyable school year we've had in this house. My emotional eating kicked back into gear maybe only two months into the school year. Then - you a...

It's one of those rare moments where I have the house entirely to myself and nothing pressing that I have to be doing. Oh, of course there's an ongoing list of things I COULD be doing. But you know how that goes. So, I thought I'd take a few moments to write a new post: Are you a worrier? Apparently, I am. I say apparently because it really does come as a shock to me that I'm a worrier. I would never have described myself that way. I'm pretty laid back. A bit of a planner. But definitely not a Type A personality or anything. I feel like a glass half full kind of girl. I just wouldn't say I'm a worrier. But God is changing my mind on that one. You see, as the kids grow and life's demands increase (or just change) - it seems that I always have something that is nagging on my mind. Something I'm "mulling over" or "processing." I've also noticed that - along with my mulling and processing - there seems to be this constant nerv...

I have always LOVED New Year's Day. I think it's because of the idea of fresh beginnings. A clean slate. Something about New Years Day just feels so...free! Probably just a sign of my massive need for forgiveness each year: promises broken (to myself more than to anyone else), lacking in the fruits of the Spirit in more ways than I can keep track, bad homeschooling habits, poor time management...you know. The type of stuff we all disappoint ourselves in throughout the previous twelve months. There's just something refreshing about putting it all behind you and starting anew on January 1st. That's why I love this day. I love planning. Dreaming. Writing down goals. I love reflecting. Journaling. Remembering all my blessings. Today I'm carving out a good chunk of time to do all of the above. You see, it's Rose Bowl Game day. Our family are Spartan fans. I too sport the green & white regularly. Why not? No sense going against the grain. But see...it real...

Living in the midst of tremendous blessings...yet still occasionally struggling with jealousy? Yep. I go there sometimes. It's almost comical to me that - at age 42 - I can still struggle with many of the same insecurities that plagued me as a child. You know that feeling? The frustrating part of it all is that I don't ever want to be ungrateful for the MANY blessings in my life. Yet sometimes...even though I'm loving being a homeschool Mom and having my days filled with all that entails - I still have those brief moments of wondering "When do I get to pursue MY dreams?". Yuck. That sounds so immature. I suppose this is what many of us feel when we get to be in our 40's. We remember all those dreams we had as a child and begin to feel badly for those left unfulfilled.  Here were my biggest childhood dreams:  Become a wife/mom (check!) Be famous :-) You'll notice that my "be famous" part was pretty non-specific. The mode to that ...

I'm feeling left out. Surprisingly, what I'm "left out" of is a huge church split. Just why I'm feeling left out doesn't make total sense to me - but I think I'm figuring it out. Let me share my heart... Three years ago, after God opened our eyes to many things (primarily the warning signs of a manipulative/controlling pastor) we left our church home of nearly 9 years. It was a hard decision. One that we've shed many tears over. In fact - one that my heart still isn't totally healed from. It hurt on many levels - not the least of which was the ostracizing we felt from the people we used to call friends. The way we were treated was nearly identical to every other member who had chosen to leave before us - as well as nearly everyone who has chosen to leave since.The long and short of it was that if you chose to leave the church body, you were no longer allowed to be friends with anyone who was still at the church (per the pastor). None of our chu...

"Extra! Extra! Hear all about it!" This feels like one of those kinds of moments. Partially because my posts on here have become so infrequent. And, partially because this might just be something you want to know too! Ready for it? (I'm sure you are waiting in eager anticipation.) Here it is: Our imperfect, stress-filled lives are what life's all about - and they're the perfect time to praise God to the utmost! Confused as to why I've just now come to this conclusion? Allow me to explain. I've been waking up every day with this foreboding feeling in the pit of my stomach. Nothing huge is causing it - just a whole bunch of smaller things (all adding up to one big mole-ish mountain). Well, I've been mistaking this feeling for something that I need to devote energy to "overcoming." Something that I needed to ponder over, pray over, allow my mood to become sullen over - you get the idea. All in all, it's been adding up to me being i...

I can't believe it's been this long since I've written on here! Well, really I can. I was waiting for life to slow down &/or for me to have something to say. Life has slowed down just enough this week that I can feel it's OK to take a few minutes to write. And God has been laying a few things on my heart lately that I wanted to share - with all 3 of you who actually read this blog! So here goes... I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about following our passions in life. I'm actually reading a new book by Jon Acuff called Start. . It's about: punching fear in the face, escaping average, and doing work that matters. He probably didn't expect a stay-at-home homeschooling Mom to be reading it, but I'm here to say it's a great read. It's about going from "average" to "awesome". About living your life with such passion, that you don't look back in a few years and wonder what ever happened to your dreams. It's ...