We have a release date! Wahoo! I am SO excited to share this study with God's ladies. Oh my goodness. I can't wait to know that these lessons are going out into God's kingdom. I don't even care that it's my name on it, just SO happy that women of God are going to be getting to learn these lessons with me and am SO prayerful that they will make all the difference in their feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. 

One my favorite things about this study is that I wrote it while I took the journey. I didn't write it looking back, I didn't write it having arrived. I wrote it as I walked it. I learned, then I wrote. I wrote as I learned it. I figured stuff out, then shared with the ladies who will read it soon. I felt like God showed me things, then said ..."now tell them!". 

I will tell you something awesome. I worked on the study for a couple of years, taking notes and redoing stuff. There was a lot of lessons still to write, when this amazing thing happened. I started going nuts with need to get the words out. I was in the middle of raising three boys, homeshooling them, being a wife and trying to stay afloat. I told God if he needed me to write stuff down he had to give me some time to do it. So, he woke me up at 5am for WEEKS! I would wake up early just brimming with words. I would write until the kids got up, then somehow functioned throughout the day. I would wake up ready to go over and over again. That has never happened before.

I know that was God, because try as I may, I haven't been able to do it consistently since I finished writing! I know that that time was God's alarm clock guiding me to doing this good work. And now, in just a few days I get to share it with you!

I am so excited to be part of the message delivery! ..just a few more days!  The release date for the Everything You Need study is.....October 1st, 2014. Can't wait! 

What would you say is the most frustrating part about feeling overwhelmed? Or rather, what is it about having a million things going on that makes us feel overwhelmed? Think of a time when you felt that way (for me, 10 minutes ago. Yes, that memory will do nicely).

Were you feeling perhaps ineffective at everything? Was frustration mounting because for some reason you were feeling unproductive? Amazing how our feeling that way in a given situation can drive us to insanity some times, or even worse make us feel like we are chasing our tails and never catching up.

The answer to our feeling this way is found in 2 Peter 1:8, or at least the part we can relate to is. Read a little bit before that for the answer to how we can avoid feeling that way.

Oh, is that all? Oh, okay. Well, then I got this [insert sarcasm].

It may be tempting to look at that glorious to-do list with a sense of defeat. I know it sounds an awful lot like more than I can handle right now. Adding all that to what I already need to do... sheesh.

But, I have good news, sis: This long list comes after our very great and precious promise.

Back in 1:3, we read this:  "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life {a.k.a., all that stuff I am about to list in a couple of verses} through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises..." 

The promise comes before the to-do list. The order is key. Don't miss it. He promises us that we have everything we need to add to our knowledge, and our goodness, our self-control, etc.; thus, we have everything we need to be effective and productive.

We already have it. Not that we have to work harder, we do not need to be more organized or thinner or a better example or anything like that. None of that stuff gives you what you need to be effective and productive.

His divine power gives you everything you need.

Incidentally, take a quick reminder peek at Galatians 5:22. We typically call that list the "fruits of the Holy Spirit". Or, another way to look at it is how his divine nature manifests itself in our life. Take a look at that list, note anything in common between these things and the things on our divine to-do list:

Cool huh? Because our His divine nature is in us, we have everything we need and we have everything we need to be effective and productive. Again, it requires that we learn how to use what that nature has given us. We have to learn how not to misuse it. We have some learning to do, but we have it. We need not be overwhelmed with what we aren't getting done, we just need to learn to rely on His divine nature and not our own.

Deep breath. His divine nature is in you. You have everything you need, sweet sister.

Over the last several years my heart has really been shifting to desire a life that allows for dependence on God's everything. It can sometimes be harder than it sounds, because we have so many things around us all the time that try to convince us that we need them to be complete. If we listen to the voices around us, we may think that we need things that we don't, thus hindering us from believing that God can supply everything. Truly.

We may be tempted to believe that we need to be a certain weight, look a certain way, have a certain kind of house, achieve a certain status, that our kids behave a certain way, that we make a certain amount of money, or that we fit some standard the world creates for us. We can convince ourselves that we need things that really, we don't.

We can strive for things that take resources away from our true purpose, in pursuit of things that are far from what we were created for. We can waste the resources we have for the things we were made for, in effort to pursue the things that we just aren't. Sad thing is, is that once we use these resources they are gone. Once we waste them on things that we don't really need then we don't have them for the things we do need. The things that really fulfill our hearts are left undone, the real needs are left unmet.

The wonderful thing, however, is when we use what we have the way we it was created and meant to be used, we have exactly what we need. His everything is enough. When we use resources God's way we find that we have our true desires met, we have our real needs fulfilled. Practically speaking, when we reserve our times for things that matter, we have to give up things that don't. If we want physical energy to take care of our bodies, or share them with our spouses, then we can't use (or misuse) our physical energy on things that don't benefit either. If we need emotional energy to be there for our children or a god-given friend, then we can't give it to people or things that aren't worthy of that limited resource.

Letting God's everything be enough is a big part of it. We don't need more, we need to use what we have well. 

We can learn together what that looks like practically. If you want to reserve energy for your family, how do you do that? If you want to make sure you have time to be there for a friend who needs you, what are you supposed to say no to? If you are to have the resources to keep your home as much as you need to make it a resource for your family, what does that look like? If God's everything is going to be enough then we have to be clear about our what we need to be using it on, from his perspective.

We will learn together :)

What needs to you think you may try to fill that may not be fulfilled, or intended to be filled by God's everything in your life?