renovation – Free and Fearless

Faith, Fitness

Daily Dig: 4/13/20

April 13, 2020February 24, 2021 Free and Fearless

Scripture: Psalm 4

“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

You have given me relief when I was in distress.

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?

How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah

3 But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;

the LORD hears when I call to him.

4 Be angry, and do not sin;

ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

5 Offer right sacrifices,

and put your trust in the LORD.

6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?

Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”

7 You have put more joy in my heart

than they have when their grain and wine abound.

8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

The Lord is good to us. He provides safety and comfort for us when the world seems to be crumbling around us. He gives us strength when we need it and shelter from the storms.

Kind of related to this, but also a side note touching back on what this blog was about at the beginning, we (as in my husband alone with some sporadic help from his children and friends) have finished another renovation on our property!

Mom and Dad were living on our land in an RV. They planned to build a mother-in-law suite, but then Dad had to have quadruple bypass surgery and a new heart valve. They would need a place bigger than their RV to come home to for recovery, so IV began his “mission from God”.

He turned this rundown shed that had been a recording studio from the 70’s into a living space for my parents.

Before:

After:

And it was a mission from God. He got all this done in less than three months with minimal help and still working his full time job. (He did take a few days off at the peak.)

Thankful that Mom and Dad have a place to “dwell in safety.”

And this is it on the outside:

Journal: Write a prayer thanking God that you can dwell in safety no matter where you are.

Move: This is not a tabata video but it’s a workout that’s good for tight hips and hamstrings. If you’re a runner, or if you sit at a desk all day, you need this:

Glute/hip workout. Go.

Praise the Lord, and just show up.

Faith

Just Show Up.

March 15, 2018March 15, 2018 Free and Fearless

This isn’t about the house.

I’m kind of tired of talking about the house.

Now that we have the major renovations complete and we’re down to things like:

1. Grouting the tile I plastered on the kitchen wall. (Putting that one off for as long as possible.)

Nope..not doing that today.

2. A rail for the the stairway. (IV had an afternoon to work on this the other day BUT…)

No rail…a place for random kid artwork though.

3. A shelving unit to hold my laundry baskets. (Ditto…IV used that afternoon to build King a bed…I mean a second bed…I’m not even sure he knows why he did this.)

At least I (finally) finished the tile in the laundry room so there’s plenty of nice flooring for baskets and other mess.

Anyway, both of us have gotten to the point where if we don’t WANT to do something it fumbles down the list and the more pressing (or fun) things keep us busy enough.

With this being said my “mantra” lately has been, “Just show up.”

I’ve said it to almost all of my personal training clients at the gym, and I’ve said it to myself before some hard running efforts.

The idea is that half the work many times in life is JUST SHOWING UP…

The rest usually flows from there.

However, sometimes it works in reverse. My personal training business is booming at the YMCA, and I’ve had offers to work more outside the home in other ways.

BUT…my kids.

I want to keep homeschooling… (or actually, I believe I’m CALLED to keep homeschooling) so I’ve had to block out the time to “just show up” at home. It hasn’t been easy and still some weeks I’m overwhelmed but making that conscience decision to prioritize my home life has given me peace that I didn’t have before.

It probably looks different for you. It depends on your goals and purposes.

My training clients have hired me because they have fitness goals. For them, “just show up” means just that…put it in your calendar, put your tennis shoes on, and be here. I’ll convince you to do the workout after that, and I’ll encourage you to keep it up when we’re not together. Then you’ll have to show up for yourself.

It’s about commitment and consistency to me. I believe that’s where growth comes from in many areas of life.

…Including spiritually.

Luke 14:15-24

When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'”

Jesus has invited us all to eat at His banquet. He offers us the free gift of salvation. He gives us that stirring in our spirit and that longing for something to fill us. He is the Bread that satisfies and the Water that quenches and the Light that lets us see clearly.

All we have to do is show up.

We have to say, “yes,” to Jesus and He takes care of the rest.

…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

-Romans 10:9

And beyond that if you’ve already been saved you just have to keep showing up…keep saying yes to Jesus and His mission for you everyday.

We all have goals, we all have purposes for our lives. Let’s make sure we have our priorities straight and we’re at peace with the Lord, and then just keep showing up.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? -Luke 9:24-25

Love God, love others, and keep showing up…if not for your own sake then for the sake of someone else.

What do you need to show up to today?

Uncategorized

Whisked Away by Wind and Work.

September 17, 2017 Free and Fearless

You know what renovation work we got done this week?

None.

We had just enough time to make a mess in the new kitchen before we headed for the hills of Tennessee in front of that nasty storm.

I did have plenty of time to think and plan how I want things to go in that room though.

One thing I nailed down (not literally) was my layout for the cast iron pieces I want to hang on the wall.

These items will also be heavily used so it’ll be nice to have them within reach.

My mom collected these at yard sales over time ($5 for a big Lodge skillet!!!) and I LOVE them! I bought the leafy spoon rests from one of my favorite stores on the Covington square, Revolution.

I’m going to sand and poly these boards (below) and put some hooks on them to hang my display. It’s going to go in that big blank space on the wall shown in the top picture of this post.

I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Also, while I was in Tennessee I remembered that I had bought the top of a hutch (or is that the hutch itself? I dunno.) at a yard sale for $10 a long time ago and I didn’t know where it was. Duke assured me it was in the studio, aka “bro cave”.

I really want to use it in the kitchen but I have to wait for IV to be around so we can get the countertop situated to see if it will work.

Other than that I did some storm damage assessment around the house and everything was okay.

IV’s makeshift tool shed took the worst hit but that wasn’t surprising:

I did love that these flowers had bloomed while I was gone:

I had to look them up, but it’s called a Spider Lily or sometimes Hurricane Lily. I thought the second name was more appropriate. A nice little bright spot after a very dark week.

Praise the Lord.