Taking a leaf from my own journey, I hit the pause button for the month of August. In this episode from my tranquil greenhouse, I share the insights and lessons I'm learning from my decision to prioritize my mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing.
It's the end of season two, but it's also the beginning of a new, exciting chapter.
I've discovered the power of saying 'no', and how scaling back isn't a sign of weakness, but an open door to more.
Navigating the labyrinth of toxic stress and the pressures of productivity, I open up about the importance of not letting the need to 'produce' define our self-worth. You'll get a glimpse into my email newsletters that narrate my ongoing journey of emotional health and my relationship with the Lord. Even though I'm taking a step back, I'll continue to be a part of the Kingdom Mothers Rise Up community, always ready to lend my support. As we wrap up this chapter and gear up for the next, I'm eager to see what the Lord has in store for us when I return for season three.
Discipling mothers to disciple generations
Kingdom Mothers Rise Up is here for you. There is encouragement and practical steps to improve your relationship with yourself, God, and your child.
Hello Kingdom Mothers. Welcome to another episode of the Kingdom Mothers Rise Up podcast. Today I am recording in my greenhouse again, so I think you can hear the water dripping. The last episode that aired on July 28th was the one-year anniversary of the Kingdom Mothers Rise Up podcast and I had shared that I would do a celebration of the 100th episode, which was saying would be hardly be sometime in mid-September. And then, as I continued to sit with the Lord about what he's been speaking to me and about just resting and trusting and really making myself and my health mentally, emotionally, physically a priority, that I felt like, yeah, the 100th episode is probably gonna be in October because I'm gonna take the month of August off.
Speaker 1:
Alaskan summers are way too busy and I am still in the process of learning to not should on myself of all these things that I should do and I am much better at being accountable to someone else, like telling myself that you are listening to the podcast and you're expecting another episode because that's what I said I was gonna do. I can easily let take priority over other things that the Lord is saying to do, like rest or write or making getting my house in order more of a priority. I've been working on all of those things, but not giving them the attention and the priority that I feel like he's actually telling me to. So, in obedience, I'm taking a break for August. I'm also very excited to see what the Lord will bring in this time, as I have so many things that he's already shown me that I want to talk to about and that I want to share. I just haven't been making the time to get them recorded and to be able to share them. So I'm actually anticipating being able to record, but I'm not putting on the pressure of needing to record and needing to get things posted for August. There are lots of great episodes to go back and listen to, so I'm gonna share a part of my email from Friday. So if you're on my email list, you may have read it already or this is the heads up to go read it and if you're not on my email list, you can go to macovejohnsoncom and sign up, where, when you sign up, you have access to a heart doodling with Jesus workshop called Emotions Shouldn't Drive, but they do get a seat in the car, and that will also put you on my email list, where I send out a weekly email, typically with podcast links. I'm not sure what I will do in August. It might just be a, a brief note or just whatever the Lord puts on my heart. So my email list gets a weekly email of what's going on with me, things I feel the Lord wants me to share, and then, if I have a class starting or run a special or anything like that, you get some extra emails so that you know what's going on in my world in those areas. So here's what I wanted to read from my email.
Speaker 1:
In spite of all I've learned about emotional health, it seems I haven't learned enough to stop the impact of toxic stress. Living with messages of needing to earn acceptance, to be producing something to have value, and not knowing how to stand up for myself have taken a toll. Thankfully, the Lord is bringing me through them and I will be stronger on the other side. I am already so much stronger in my spirit. As a step of faith and obedience, I am scaling back on what I am doing.
Speaker 1:
For the month of August, the Lord has been calling me to focus on my relationship with Him, on resting and alignment. I've been making steps, but holding on to my list of business tasks. He's told me again and again that the choice is mine. He's not making me pause. He's inviting me to something deeper, to make room for more. That make room for more. That'll be a whole other podcast, but sometimes it's hard to see the scaling back or saying no can feel guilty or like we're missing out on something or like I just should be able to handle this. But often it's an invitation to more. There's more and it takes pruning and releasing and letting go for that more.
Speaker 1:
This episode will be the end of season two, anticipate starting season three in September.
Speaker 1:
If you have questions you want answered or topics you want me to discuss, just let me know. I will be checking in on the Kingdom Mothers Rise Up community at least once a week and I'll post there if I'm inspired to. I'm there to support you and I know it isn't always through me posting more things for you to read or respond to and I'm praying for you and I'm here to answer your questions so you can join the group and post there as well. I post on my personal Facebook as I'm inspired. Also, you can follow me or send me a friend request if you want to see right now my flowers, my harvesting my doodles. I also randomly share on a Marco Polo sharecast called Diamonds and Pearls. It's sort of like a podcast, but shorter and completely off the cuff, and then it's fun because you can send me short responses directly from the sharecast. So that's my update for August and I'm taking this break and definitely praying for you and excited for what the Lord will have when I come back.