I had too much on my mind to record it late at night, so here are my thoughts and thanks for July 17:

 

I read the following words in the conclusion of my book and they spoke profoundly to me. I wanted to make sure and capture them, so here goes.

Your greatest source of motivation is finding untapped potential yet within you. You see, your future is not what lies ahead of you. It is what lies within you. 

Potential is everything you can be but haven’t become yet. It is everything you can do but haven’t done yet. It’s everywhere you can go but haven’t gone yet. Potential is the books you can write that you haven’t written yet. It is the life you’ve wanted to live but haven’t lived yet. It is like a huge engine–running idle. It is energy still underutilized, power yet unleashed, and strength yet unused…Potential always lies ahead of you, not behind you. It is found in what can still be done, not in what you have already done. 

As I end this great read, I am also coming to the end of my 8 day sabbatical. Time off was crucial for me in this season. I had come to a point in my personal and professional life where I didn’t “feel” that I had anything left to give. I was truly leading on empty. Simple tasks had become difficult. Creativity, out of the box thinking, and taking risks were no longer appealing. I was living each day with the goal of just making it through to the next one. Many factors, over the last year, have led to this depletion. Bottom line, I was tired and I needed rest. I needed to remove myself from all expectations outside of God, Gary, and Judah, and rediscover my potential. I needed to realize that I hadn’t used up all my potential.

Thankfully, God designed in His plan of creation a day of rest. Think about it…as humans, we can’t CREATE, but we can imitate one day of God’s amazing week and that is the seventh day… a day of REST! The sabbath is a declaration by God that His work was done and it was good. We don’t need to add to it. God’s people were instructed to keep His example by doing nothing to advance their own cause on that day. God, in all His intelligence, actually designed rest as part of His creation plan because He knew we needed it in order to remain FRUITFUL  and FAITHFUL.

Genesis 2:2-3 reads, “By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” Out of all the days of creation, He made the seventh day (rest day) a Holy day.

Often times, we say that we will rest when the work is done. But, let’s be honest, THE WORK WILL NEVER BE DONE. I am convinced that the needs in your life will always be great, people will always have an expectation of you, chores will always need to be done, decisions will always need to be made, groceries will always need to be bought, kids will always need to be shuffled to and fro, and on and on and on and on…but, you have to come to a place where you decide, you plan, you create, you determine, you schedule, and most importantly, you protect a sabbath day for you and your family.

You can’t base your life on the expectations of others…no matter who that “other” is. You have the power to control your pace. You have the power to control your rest. I believe that if you rest and pace yourself, you will always see your potential and you will always be hungry.

My 28 Thanks:

1. Your potential always lies ahead of you.

2. You can never deplete your God-given potential.

3. Even Paul, the Apostle, no longer a young lad was trapped in prison and facing the possibility of death and knew he still had potential. He writes in Phillipians 3:12, “I don’t mean to say that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.”

4. Your hunger can always be renewed.

5. The transparency of other people. Because they allow their story to be shared, people like me can learn great things of what to do and what not to do.

6. God rested.

7. God blessed the seventh day and SANCTIFIED IT!

8. Genesis 2:2-3. Pull it up right now and read it and figure out a way to practice it in your life if you are not.

9. I have the power to control my pace.

10. I have the power to call a rest.

11. Work will never be done…Job Security:)

12. Nehemiah 10.

13. Gary, Judah, and I had a family super hero dress up morning. I can’t believe I am sharing this over the World Wide Web. But, it was a ton of fun and Judah laughed a lot!

14. Gary still has his 1986 game, Mousetrap, and it is in great condition. We play it with Judah often. Judah gets sad when the mice get trapped. So sweet.

15. Gary takes care of EVERYTHING. Seriously, he still has a crayon collection from his childhood that is in mint condition. He folds his clothes in ways that preserve the quality. And, I could go on. I love this quality about him because he so cares for his family too. More than I can even express with words.

16. Gary has really funny quirks. And, I know them. I love this part of marriage. He knows mine too.

17. Gary doesn’t have a blog page to publicly declare my quirks! Ha Ha Ha.

18. I took a nap.

19. Judah had fun playing with his cousins.

20. I am already planning my next session of rest!

21. We took a walk around the neighborhood.

22. We live in a great, clean neighborhood.

23. Our neighborhood doesn’t have a ton of cars parked along both sides of the street. This is so much safer.

24. I have had some awesome changes in my health since I have been on this week of rest.

25. I have a job that allows me time off to rest.

26. Gary and I enjoyed a movie together.

27. Gary helped me do sound effects for the 3 Little Pigs. It took our bedtime story time to another level of fun. But, it didn’t help Judah settle down any at all!

28. My kidmin team is out of this world amazing. I have so many people in my life who know how to fill in gaps, make things happen, and go above and beyond in ministry. Thankful, very thankful, for teammates who I also call my family.