Sister Up!
Hello, World!
Do you ever find yourself feeling inadequate? Overwhelmed? Anxious? Just not good enough? Or..... just plain scared? I know I do. It is unfortunately, just part of being in this broken world. Life is not easy. Especially when you throw in three kids, a husband, a dog who needs to be walked constantly, a house you have to maintain, and the list can and will go on and on. It's Life!
How do you cope during those times? I turn to God and to dance, but, I also turn to my friends. I am so blessed to have so many friends and not just acquaintances. I mean really, really good girl friends. We women need each other. We need someone who is walking in the same shoes we are in and who can say, "hey, it's ok! I have felt that way too." We need friends who we can cry with, laugh with, or just sit and say nothing with. Women need friends.
Do you have those kind of friends? If you don't may I suggest you join a church or a bible study? I promise you will be amazed at what happens and I promise they will love you right where you are. That is what happened to me.
Little story.....I was raised Catholic. Now I am not about to bash the Catholic Faith, because I was raised by very faithful parents who made sure we were part of the church, involved, and present and I always knew Jesus loved me. Matter of fact, I use to joke that my dad thought he was the pope and my mom could have been a nun. I mean very catholic! We were married in the Catholic Church, but shortly after Trey and I decided to leave the faith for a number of reasons, which was odd because when I met Trey he was contemplating the priesthood. So he too was VERY catholic. I can honestly say FOR ME, leaving the faith was hard. It was all I had ever known. It was rich in traditions and a big one for me was Catholics have communion EVERY Sunday. I liked that. But, I also knew that my husband was the head of our house and I needed to follow his lead as long as he did not take me to some Snake Charming Church! Just kidding! Kind of! I really had no idea where we were going and it was a point of contention in our marriage for a while. Believe me when I say this....if you are not on the same page with faith, marriage is at least 30 percent harder than it already is! I promise. Especially if you are both seeking and wanting faith to be a part of your family. We were. So it was a tough long process. I am happy to say we came to an agreement and we now are so happy and have found our church home, but that was just the beginning for me.
Trey was raised going to Catholic School and I was raised going to public school. Trey literally has read the Bible cover to cover at least three times...me? BIG FAT GOOSE EGG! NADA! ZERO! Still haven't and I am in it almost daily! So to join a protestant faith can be a bit intimidating! I promise you I get it! And I was raised going to church EVERY Sunday for crying out loud! So I know it has to be hard if you were not raised going to church! But, I promise you, when you find the right church you will find the friends I talked about previously.
Another little story...I was asked by my friend Alexis to come to bible study at our church for a while and I kept thinking, "No way, no how! I don't want these people to know my demons. I don't want them to know I don't know the bible. I don't want these people to know I cuss. I don't want these people know I drink! Or worse the ones who did know that about me I did not want them to judge me or talk about me!" You get the point. I did not want to join because it was too close to home and I felt inadequate. I felt like I was not good enough, and I felt like if my friends really saw me they would not like me. Well I can tell yall that is silly now, but back then it was how I felt. So what did I do? I got creative!
I joined another bible study at another church! Funny I know, but it was what I did and yall....It was and is amazing! I don't go to church there, but I do still go to bible study there and what I learned is, we are all the same! We all have STUFF! ICKY STUFF! SAD STUFF! GOOD STUFF! And if you surround yourself with women like me just trying to be better you will find they love you right where you are! They love you, they love your family, they love your stuff! It is so freeing too! You would not believe how freeing it is! And the friends you make are amazing! And I am doublely blessed (is that even a word) because I go to Church at one Church and Bible Study at another! I just can't leave either because I love them both so much!
What is my point to all this? My point is, We women need to Sister up! We need each other! And I have just the opportunity for you!
February 23-24 Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas is offering a women's retreat! I want you to join me and 200 of my friends! I want you to surround yourself like I do with woman who will build you up and women who will love you right where you are. They love me right where I am and Lord knows it can be messy at times!
If you are like me and you're in need of inspiration, rest, or spiritual renewal, this weekend is for you. We'll be focusing on the gift of sisterhood and working to strengthen our bonds with one another. After all, we are stronger together! The keynote speaker is The New York Times best-selling author, Rachel Held Evans and I promise you she will not disappoint! Promise!
If this is something you might be interested in please go to this website:
http://www.hpumc.org/event/1035435-2018-02-23-2018-womens-retreat/
I would love to see you and grow with you! I promise it will be such a great weekend and for those of you with little ones they do have affordable childcare.
Please let me know if you have any questions or if you need help getting registered. It would be such an honor to spend time with you and I promise you will walk away feeling loved, renewed, and inspired. Won't you join me?
xo,
Amy
One year! Just try it! Document the day you start and how you feel and look back in 365 days and see where you are! I dare ya!
