We’re forever rolling with the punches, adjusting our plans, and (mostly) enjoying this life God has given us.
A few weeks ago, we shared our entrepreneurial, God-given story on the EntreFamily Podcast. It was the first time we’d ever shared our story out loud all at one time, and it was … well, it was really nerve-racking. Quitting your job over and over with nothing else lined up is just weird. Right?
What’s funny is that after that podcast, my husband and I mused together that this is the longest we’ve ever been in one spot before. We love the feeling of being settled. Of being in one spot. Of having routines that work. Of having everything in its place.
Of course, we should have known that our ponderings were merely a foreshadowing of what the Lord had in store. We should have known that any time we say the word “comfortable” the Lord is about to make us really uncomfortable.
We are currently in the process of packing up our lives yet again and moving across the country yet again to set roots down beside my husband’s family. We’re trading our snow boots in for fashionable boots and flip flops (so glad to get those back!).
I’m pretty excited to tell you the truth! I love adventure. It’s in my bones. Deep in them. I like routine until I get bored with that and then I need adventure until I get flustered with that and I need my routines back. I’m a walking oxymoron.
So, if you’re like us and feel like life is just a little bit crazy. If you’re like us and just want to know how to make it through the chaos. If you’re like us and just want to feel calm in the storm. Then, here’s the three best tips I have for when life gets crazy.
We’ve lived through a lot of crazy these last several years. Sometimes I feel more comfortable in the chaos than I do in the normal routine.
1. Purge your heart
This one is tough. When life gets crazy, I like to start working out my calling in my own strength with my own ideas. I become Drill Sergeant Mama with a plan and a strategy and everyone needs to just get on board.
Not a good idea.
We need Jesus everyday in every moment of every second. There is nothing we can do in our own strength that will bring glory to Him.
So when life gets chaotic, purge your heart. Take your cares and burdens to the throne of grace and receive mercy. This is where my prayer notebook comes in handy. It’s a tangible reminder to sit down, slow down, and kneel before God.
2. Purge you schedule
You might think that you can keep your normal pace during times of chaos, but you can’t. You have to start saying, “No” and saying it a lot!
This is hard for my family. When we made the decision to move and then soon after lost our baby, we thought we’d continue our weekly Friday Night Meatballs with our friends until the week we loaded the moving truck with our belongings. This turned out to be completely unrealistic.
Therefore, we took a hard look at our schedules and demands of our family and made some hard decisions. We had to purge our schedules for this season of change.
3. Purge your home
Clutter. Shudder.
I hate clutter. I really hate it when life gets chaotic. Now is the time to purge, purge, purge.
Purge your home of anything that is unnecessary or weighing you down. If you don’t love it, need it, use it, then toss it. Get rid of it.
When life gets crazy, nothing makes me crazier than clutter. I’ve found that it is in chaos that I’m less prone to keeping things I don’t need. Even though you feel like you don’t have time to do a decluttering job, trust me, you’ll feel better for making time.
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Something that really helped is through our five years of craziness was to remember to keep our husband/wife relationship going strong. I think all the challenges we endured early in our marriage really served to strengthen our relationship. It’s amazing what you can get through if you tackle it as a team. Although sometimes it makes me just a little nervous what Gos may be preparing us for in the future! Haha 🙂
These are definitely the first things I do when I start feeling overwhelmed too. And even though sometimes the do-er in me feels like the second two are easier, I know that the first one is the most important. Another thing that I do during busy or stressful seasons is to give myself more grace when it comes to food choices. I usually make a lot of our kitchen staples and almost all of our meals, but it frees up a lot of pressure/time/energy to go ahead and buy a few convenience items and plan for simpler meals. This also helps me not to feel burnt out in the kitchen and means that when the season is over, I’m more ready to jump back in.
It sounds like stopping your weekly dinner with friends is a wise (though probably hard) thing to do. I’ve been wanting to start ours but haven’t been able to yet due to the busyness of this particular season. I’m hoping things will slow down soon so we can start something similar soon.
I resonate so much with the constant seasons of transitions. In fact the last few years have been nothing but major life transitions, some easier than others. Currently we are approaching another transition yet we don’t know where, what or how, we just know it’s coming. Other seasons like this I’ve approached it with a sense of adventure, struggling with this one though. Thanks for the tips! Purging stuff is something God had been telling me too work on for a while and I’ve started this week.