what He called you

photo from Lara Casey 

Last week I was at an amazing conference, Making Things Happen. It was intense and life giving and also incredibly eye opening in a lot of areas for me. There were moments when we had to stand up in front of the whole crowd and bravely name our fears. Another time, we did an exercise where we took areas where we felt weak and spoke life and truth into them. We rewrote our negative feelings or our thoughts. It seems simple, but it was powerful and you could see the palpable shift in women as they named themselves blessed in the very things they felt weak in. 

Some things I felt compelled to rewrite? 
I AM a humble and unshakeable leader. 
I DO love my people fiercely. 
I WILL BE equipped for all He has called me to and He has not made a mistake in placing me with this family, this community, and these businesses/ministries. 

I don't feel those things to be true, but I know God's grace and goodness to be true so I can claim that Christ in me can make them happen. I can't do any of them in my own strength for even a moment, but He can and will be faithful to produce the fruit needed in the things He's called me to. 

Why say all of this? Y'all - I didn't write about Wild and Free because I felt it. I haven't been talking about it with Hayley for months because it was so strong for me. My heart has been here and my words have been here because I see in the eyes of the women in front me, they don't feel it either. We've forgotten that He made us to be wild, like an animal in it's purest environment, to not second guess who we are or what we were called to do. We've forgotten that we're free. Freed from our past and set free in the future. The cages we imagine around us are actually nonexistent. 

I know you don't feel wild and free, but you are. 
He made you that way and He says you can go back there. 
But do you say it? Have you said it to yourself? 
What are you waiting for? 
Rewrite those feelings and get a little weird and talk to yourself. Scrawl it on your bathroom mirror in lipstick. Have coffee with your best friend and get a little daring with your words. Better yet, grab your Bible, hit the floor and cry out to your Abba Father. He will say it back to you. 

I am Wild. 
I am Free. 

Woosh! I did it. I took The Nester's Challenge and blogged 

for 31 days about Wild and Free. You can see all posts here. 

the fruit found

It's been almost 31 days of blogging through the idea of Wild and Free and here are some pieces of fruit that I've found. 

- I've found that the Lord has given me more freedom in areas that I didn't see possible but that I'm also really bound by things I never saw coming. 

- I think the more I've tasted freedom and longed to be back in a wild place before the Lord (the way He created me to be), the better I'm able to identify what I'm really afraid of. 

- I've learned that for me, being wild means being an amazing listener. I have not done it well most my life, but I believe I was created to listen well and care for my people. 

- I can wear ankle booties. I just haven't found the right pair for me yet. 

- Cutting my hair was an amazing idea. 

- Everything is better in community. 

How about you? What kind of fruit have you seen this month? 

It can be wild and free, your own endeavor, 

or something the Lord did when you weren't even watching. 

In a few hours, I'll be popping in to let you guys know that our 2013 Advent Calendar is ready and in the shop to be purchased! There will be some special deals for those who buy it first so stay tuned! 

kill the green room

Last month we had our second annual Influence Conference and man, it was so fun. The Lord showed up, our girls were amazing, relationships were built, and in general - it was just one of my favorite weekends of the whole year. But I noticed something interesting, for the second year in a row. Our green room? It stunk. 

If you're not aware, at conferences, the green room is the plush suite somewhere off to the side where speakers and VIPs and sponsors and hosts can eat and relax and be set apart and have a safe spot. This was the second year where we genuinely put it on our to-do lists "get some good stuff for the green room" and it was the second year that we just didn't get to it. There were boxes scattered around from when we packed up the gift bags for our attendees and there were shoes that one of us had thrown off in haste the first night when they got too uncomfortable. Occasionally you'd find a core team husband in there shushing a baby or one of our amazing team members type type typing away at a last minute spreadsheet. But our speakers? For the most part, they weren't there. Most of them were sitting in sessions and taking notes. They were hugging and praying with women. They were busy not being famous and they were busy being caring. They were killing our green room. 

As I've mulled on this wild and free thought, it's taken lots of different forms in my head. For a few days, I sort of inwardly (and occasionally outwardly) ranted about Christian Culture celebrities and why do we put them on a pedestal and why do they want one? Why is there a magic curtain and why are there these strange hierarchies of famous bloggers or famous pastors or famous Christians even? Why do we pay speakers and teachers of the gospel thousands and thousands of dollars to speak the gospel truth they should be THRILLED to share? Do the famed want to be there or do we put them there because we want someone to revere? Is it both? Do they need protection or do they need humility? Do we need them to be separate so we can respect them more or do we need to see them in the flesh so we can realize they're just like us, humans who need the gospel? 

And I thought about Paul. 
Who was the chief of all sinners turned the man who contributed over half of the New Testament. What would he say about the green room? 

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

It seems like Paul didn't come for the money. 

It seems like Paul didn't come to be known as something good. 

It seems like Paul didn't want to be famous. 

It seems like He wanted to tell people about THE famous One. 

And the more I let this scripture rattle around in my heart, the more I felt the Lord convicting me and asking me what I thought about the green room. Do I want to be known as anything but someone proclaiming Christ and Him crucified? Do I want to be set apart as special or is Him calling me chosen and holy and His special enough? Am I working for money or profit or gain that will only rot? Or am I working for eternal reward alone, motivated by grace and the strength I find in Him when I let my weakness show? On the flip side, do I put people in the greenroom? Do I read their tweets or their books or their blogs and assume they most be somehow less human and more revered? Do I give people authority and opinion and voice over my Heavenly Father? 

My ranting is over and my eyes are on the Lord. 

I am starting with me and asking Him to change my heart. 

To return my identity to the wild and to set free me from wrong desires and allegiances. 

I am applying grace to the famous and fame-makers and praying for the return of the fame of Jesus alone in our hearts, mine particularly. 

I am killing the green room.

...............................................

I'm at the tail end of writing for 31 days about being Wild and Free. 

You can read the rest of the posts here, but in all honesty - 

none of them scared me as much as this one. 

transparency + vulnerability

In my life, vulnerability has been the difference between friendship and community. You can be transparent with your friends. You can let them see your mess, you can be honest and you can be free. But it becomes community when you open yourself up and invite them in. Now, its not just your mess, it’s their mess too. - Jessi Cross, Suzie Studios

This quote by Jessi Cross has been on my heart for weeks, especially as it pertains to community and loving my people. It's made me dig deep, deep, deeper into my heart and see what I'm really lacking in my relationships. Have you heard the whole high walls/low walls deal? The idea is that everyone has a combination of two different "walls". High walls + High walls people are typically not as vulnerable in large groups and not as vulnerable in small groups either. People with High walls + Low walls might not be so comfortable sharing in large groups, but when they're one on one - they're an open book. You can kind of play around with all the combinations and see who you are and see how you relate to people. 

I think my "walls" type is a little dangerous because I'm incredibly low walls at first, and incredibly high walls after that. Upon first meeting (or reading my blog), you might think I'm just letting it all hang out. I'll tell you what's going on in my heart and my dreams and my fears. I'll tell you funny stories and I don't keep things too buttoned up or stuffy. I've learned that people are disarmed by that sort of behavior and it helps them let their guard down, but I often forget (and forget to tell others), I have a whole large wall after that. 

And behind that wall is vulnerability. It's letting people see the hurts and scars and joys that feel tender and letting them speak into them, shift them with the way they love me and do life with me. I am finding that behind that second high wall is wild freedom in community. It is honesty and quietness and reconciliation and life. What about you? What are your walls like? Who are you letting in? 

We are free to collaborate.

How do you relate with the women you create with? Is there a lady that you work with in the women's ministry that consistently takes your ideas as her own? Maybe you're feeling drained because you never feel heard or valued in your workplace. Maybe the way your mom entertains at the holidays steals the joy from your own celebration. Can you imagine being wild and free in the way you relate and work and collaborate with other women? Not afraid of who would get the attention, because He would ultimately be getting the Glory? Being unabashedly for the women you know, because their success makes your heart happy? Being happy to co-create because you know that they sharpen you, make your ideas better?

It's interesting. I'm an idea person, and sometimes I feel like my ideas and my words are all I have. There have been instances when my words have been co-opted and my ideas lifted. It's difficult to call the police to report a stolen idea, that ephemeral magic that sometimes even I have a hard time trapping. I start to feel miserly with my words and I tamp down on my ideas. I store them up for myself and wait until I hit publish and I can prove that I did it first, should it ever come to that. But, that leaves me stuck in my own head, missing out on creative community that pushes me to be better. Have you ever felt wild and free in working with someone else? Completely free to collaborate because you know your ideas are safe. Safe from being stomped on and overspoken, and also safe from being snatched and stamped with a name other than yours? This safety? It's borne out of love. It's born out of a knowledge that His love feeds our love and that our ideas are His anyway.

 

Female relationships can be so hard, and creating together can highlight all of those flaws. But, what if we began to work in a way that really cheered other women on? What if we were so sure in our own identity and standing with the Lord that we didn't compare our good qualities with the good qualities of others? Could you, would you love differently? Would you be compelled to work differently? That freedom can come when we start to set each other free. When we live out freedom and walk in expectation that our friends will be free, too. If I am free, maybe my wildness will look lovely and exciting to you. Maybe you'll be compelled to walk out of captivity and into the goodness and fullness of freedom. The vast creativity that can come from free women working together for the good of others and for the glory of God is something fearsome to behold.

The other day on instagram, Hayley and I got bold and shared a sneak peek of our newest collaboration. 
You can see her picture here and mine here. 
And if we're not following one another on instagram, let's correct that! 

I wish I could pull that off.

via

"I so wish I could pull that off" the saying that has stepped on my toes ever since I was the 9th grader with pink eye shadow and converse high tops before they were cool.  Sure, it's a compliment, and one that I greatly appreciate but still, the saying has never settled well with me.  Besides, I probably looked crazy half the time anyway. Why can't you pull 'that' off?

Why can't you wear those shoes that the most stylish girl at work is wearing?
Why can't you cut your hair into that cute cut that you have wanted for two years?
Why can't you wear whatever you want to wear or be whatever you want to be?
What's holding you back?

The only difference in that girl wearing the trendy dress that you could never pull off and yourself is she's not afraid.

STOP LIVING IN FEAR. What if you quieted the voice inside that tells you why you shouldn't and began to listen to the voice that tells you why you should. Have fun! Try on whatever you want to try on. Shop at that store you're afraid to go into. Dye your hair that color you've been drooling over. Shave your head if you want to! Okay...too far maybe, or maybe not.

Take risks, make mistakes! Who cares if at first you don't get it exactly right. It takes time.  Soon enough you'll find your own style, one that's totally wild, completely free, and most of all yours.

Open Hands

Today's Wild and Free post is a treat from a dear, new friend of mine, member of my collective, the amazing photographer - Caroline Ro. These are all her beautiful images in this post. - Jess 

The idea of open hands has been a theme for the past few weeks of my life. I’ve seen them in YouTube videos, in blogposts, in speakers’ messages and in photos. It wasn’t until this past week that those hands became clear and turned into truth.

Mary Marantz, one half of the husband and wife wedding photography team, Justin & Mary, was a speaker at a photography and creative conference I attended last week. I’ve heard Mary speak before and her words have always resonated with me but what she spoke about last week seemed to ring even more true.

“Stop clenching your fists so tightly leaving no room for God to move.”

It’s so easy to think we’re living in faith with God, that we’re trusting and following in His will when things are going well, when a plan is in place, when the next sixteen weeks are planned out down to the tivoed shows and coffee dates with friends.

But how much of our lives do we actually hand over to God and let His will be done? How often do we find ourselves abandoning our plans-our rigid, outlined, down to the detail-plans, for what we believe God has called us to?

Faith cannot exist within closed fists.

I have held so tightly onto everything within my business that I haven’t letting God in. I assumed that if I was operating out of a place of having faith in other areas of my life that it would automatically translate over to my business.

Not the case.

So my business became rigid, uptight and I became worried and anxious on a daily basis when things didn’t go how I had mapped them out to, how I had planned them to fall into place.

So then we sit. Numb and like a broken record with closed, clenched fists asking and begging for God to hand us more, to give us new and exciting opportunities, blessings we couldn’t imagine and things we know only He could do.

It’s hard to ask for a gift from the Lord when your hands aren’t open to receive it.

The truth is that our faith was not built to happen in controlled circumstances.

If every detail is planned out, the list of what is and isn’t an option is set in stone and the way you love others (and who you pour into) is anything but flexible…God can’t hand you opportunities beyond what you could have asked or imagined.

So relax your grip.

Create room for God to move.

Give way for those moments to be wild and free.

Because unless I’m way off, I’m pretty sure freedom, faith and trust don’t exist within confined borders. Open your hands for God to move in your life-He wants to place something great into them.

scripture to set you wild & free

Posts from this week:
Getting wild with Design + Christmas Cards
Halfway There
Wild & Free in the kitchen
It can't be all about you
I want to be a Wild Mom  
Videos to set you Wild & Free 

I want to be a wild mom.

It will probably forever and always be the thing I talk about least on this blog. 
It's the most private and tender part of my life. 
It feels like my biggest weakness and strength all rolled up in one ball. 
Mothering. 

When I think through my greatest fears, the idea of missing treasure sticks out. And motherhood is a day in and day out treasure hunt where you have to constantly refresh and repreach and reprimand yourself about what the treasure is. 

The treasure is not a well run home. 
The treasure is not mini-pharisses who look just like Jesus and never know they need Him. 
The treasure is not quiet. The treasure is not even peace. 
The treasure is not just getting through the next few years. 
It's not even break-through where they finally understand you. 

The treasure is always, always, always Christ. 
Even in motherhood. 
And I get Christ, today in my brokenness, and they can have Christ today, in their kidness. 
The treasure can never be the good picture or the fruit of what we product, but it is always the One who chooses to produce fruit in us. 

And so today after I chased them and cleaned up after them and lost my cool and yelled across the park and washed their uniforms and asked them to be quiet and chased my own messed up treasure, I was putting them to bed. Maybe you know what happened, if you're a mom. I had that wild moment, just before I was walking out of their room, and I saw them for who they really are.

My six year old was looking straight into my eyes, reaching through the rails on his bunk bed, and he said, "maybe we should pray together?". Grace swept over me and all my false-treasure-hunting and I weaved my arms back through his bed rails to grab his face. And the wild freedom was there. This. This. This. Is motherhood. Seeing the fullness of who Christ made them to be, even just for a split second and knowing I will absolutely never be able to steward it right and yet there is grace. 

To me wild motherhood is right where I'm at. 
Going to bed tonight knowing that tomorrow I MUST cluck them around the house in the morning getting them dressed and I must make dinner and I must change diapers, but that none of that is the treasure of motherhood. The treasure, for me, is the split second glimpses where I see them as amazing and hope-filled image bearers of Christ that are absolutely going to be used by Him for His glory. 
And I get to watch. 
And tuck them in at night. 

it can't be all about you.

As I'm on this little wild and free trek, I'm finding so much fruit around every corner. I'm seeing ways I've lived and done life scared, bound by lies, and believing that I was too much and never enough all at once. But I've also been hearing something else from the Lord. 

This wild  and free? Is not all about you. 

If i just rolled forward, fast and with abandon, tumbling and free falling and running towards freedom for myself, without considering those around me - I've missed the point. Because the quest for all of this actually can't be about my good and my wholeness anyhow - it's about Him and letting Him have more access to everything in my life. Here, Lord - you can have my art - make it wild and free. You can have my story - I want to be out from under the chains that tell me it's too dramatic. You can have my cooking and my wardrobe - I'd love for you to unleash something there that is inspiring and points other people back to You and not me. You can have my trust - I don't want to hold on to all the trappings of this world and the parts of You that I can grab hold of. But what about my people?

wild and free in the kitchen.

One of my fave food bloggers is coming in for the day to speak to an area where I need help myself! Enjoy Heather and her amazing recipe! - Jessi 
..........................................

When it comes to the work I do I have to admit that baking is my love song. Cooking a massive amount of fresh pasta is a close second, but nothing quite beats the extraordinary way that baking just completely overwhelms every sense. It's not just a treat for the person eating the final product, but the process and the action and the precision are all such acts of love and patience; I cannot imagine a sweeter gift than something that comes from the heart and hearth of a sweet friend's home.

I have been cooking and blogging for so long that it can be hard for me to allow a wild and free mentality to take root. My first priority when it comes to cooking or baking is to nourish my family well, and because I let my imagination run rampant for my job it typically means that we stick to a pretty basic diet for our regular non-blog meals. It also means that when I get on a baking kick (like I have lately) I give a lot of food away so that I don't end up outgrowing my yoga pants. It's hard to do, but I've come close a few times before. Just sayin'.

So what does it look like to be wild and free in the kitchen for me? Right now it means allowing this amazing creativity that the Lord has given me to take over. It's letting go of the recipe card, adding and subtracting ingredients, and boldly pouring my heart and soul into that loaf pan right before it gets shoved in the fiery oven, a recipe to be tested by the heat and pressure within. Will my recipe, will my heart, withstand the heat? Will it be molded and melted and ultimately created by it? Or will it fall flat, a failure by most standards, although still beautiful nonetheless.

I suppose I should be clear here: I don't recommend just mixing ingredients together haphazardly and hoping for the best because in my experience it rarely works out. Like that time my parents wanted to encourage my little sister to cook and she microwaved saltines, sugar, milk and eggs together until it resembled dried Elmer's glue? Admittedly I still shudder when I think about that one. But as Jessi said "obedience is wild and there is freedom in submission," which is as true in baking as it is in life. So I know I can make zucchini bread wild by adding a trillion different ingredients like chopped truffles or caramel swirls and the like, but there is freedom in creating a recipe with simple ingredients that make our bodies and our souls feel good afterward.

Y'all enjoy!

Zucchini Blueberry Bread

Makes 1 9- x 5-inch loaf

• 2 large zucchini, washed and grated
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 cups flour, divided
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 9- x 5-inch loaf pan generously with nonstick spray. In a large bowl whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, yogurt and eggs until smooth and creamy. Sift in 1-3/4 cups of the flour, the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir until just combined. Add the grated zucchini and stir until just combined. Finally, toss the blueberries in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, then gently fold into the batter until evenly distributed. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake at 375 for 55-75 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.

For a reduced sugar version substitute the 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 cup of a stevia baking blend. 

For a vegan option substitute the Greek yogurt for a coconut or soy yogurt. Substitute the eggs for a flax alternative: combine 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed with 6 tablespoons of warm water. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes to thicken, then add to the batter as the directions call for the chicken eggs.

we're halfway there, but are we?

I'm half way through a month long commitment to blog every day, 31 days straight, for the month of October with all posts revolving around the idea of Wild and Free. 

Here's a quick recap of what I've covered so far. 

Day 1: Why Wild and Free
Day 2: Walking Wild + Free // An Influence Conference Recap 
Day 3: What's not Wild
Day 4: Wild + Free design
Day 5: To set you Wild + Free
Day 6: wild and free print
Day 7: A testimony
Day 8: the collective
Day 9:  Free to Rest
Day 10: Wild & Free in the wardrobe
Day 11: Let's Dream for a Minute
Day 12: Scripture to Set You Wild and Free
Day 13: Worship to Set you Wild and Free
Day 14: It's Getting Wild // Christmas Cards

We've talked about heavy stuff, light stuff, community, and worship. 

And I feel like the Lord is doing good work in my heart and I'm genuinely loving blogging every day. But I wanted to be really honest and open about a few things. 

It's not always that tidy up in my heart. 

A few days back, I'm not even sure on what post - a blog reader lovingly said something along the lines of, "this wild and free idea is good, but you know it takes longer than 30 days, right?". When I first read the comment, truthfully I was a little bummed. I actually wasn't keeping that in mind. I was really sensing the ability for wild freedom and wanting to rush right to it and right through it. But maybe you can't rush it. 

So we're halfway through and I'd like to say, in all honesty, we may be halfway through with the month, but this will be a long road for me. There are many places in my life and whole sections of my heart where I have lived for so long, so scared and so convoluted, that feel really far from wild and free. I can picture it. I can write about it. I can speak it to others. But when it comes down to it, for me, it takes day after day after day of putting my eyes back on Jesus and asking Him to heal the broken bits. In His mercy and by His grace and for His glory. 

So here's to moving forward. Another day. Another step. 

Here's to wild and free. 

Christmas Cards + It's getting wild.

Photos for cards by Carolina Ro Photography, Hannah Arnold at Visions Photography and provided by
Kat Lee, Rebecca Smith, Ellen Parker, Rachael Kincaid, & Kara Kae James

Today is officially the first day of the Naptime Diaries Holiday season. We start today with our customizable Christmas Cards, next week we move on to our advent calendar, and the so on and so forth. If you're following along with our 31 Days of Wild & Free, you might be wondering how that fits in with design. 

A few months ago, I will be honest and tell you I was DISCOURAGED about our print shop. Things weren't going bad by any means, but I lacked fresh vision and excitement and inspiration from the Lord. I think however, as I've let the Lord mess up some of my root heart issues and the ways I tend to live small and scared, my design work has become worshipful and free and fun. And I'm so glad to say these are my favorite 15 cards ever. We hope you love them too! 

All the directions for purchase on on the website! Even if you don't have a picture for a Christmas Card yet, please feel free to snag your spot in line! 

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! 

Worship to set you Wild & Free

This is my absolute favorite worship song right now. Praying it blesses you and sets something wild and free inside of you today. 

scripture to set you wild + free

Read Romans Eight Thirty One good and slow. 

How does that shift your day? 

Let's dream for a minute.

What if we were weren't known as a generation asserting our independence, but we were known as the people who found freedom in declaring their dependence on the Lord? 

What if we were able to remember, collectively, that perfect love casts out fear? And that while humans fear one another, God doesn't fear us or how we're going to screw it all up. 

What if we threw off, piece by piece and bit by bit, the lies that we have spoken as women to one another and ourselves about our place in culture and our place in His Kingdom? 

What if we stood together and applied truth, straight from His wild and wonderful Word, to one another in attempt to bring healing and restoration to the women around us? 

What if things got better? If we became more overwhelmed by the power of God within His church, within us as His daughters, than we are with our own power and productivity? What if we linked arms in His name to do Isaiah 61 type ministry in our homes, in our neighborhood, in our nation, in this world? 

What if we shook our heads hard enough to get out of laptop living and were wild and free this weekend? What does that even mean for you and I? 

Can this be a safe place? Can we talk about it? 
Can we dream for a minute? 

I'm blogging for 31 days through a Wild and Free Intensive. 

You can see all other posts here. 

wild & free in the wardrobe

Fashion blogger, I am not. But I do know this...

When you start getting Wild & Free in your life, it starts to get kind of fun in your closet too. You just can't unleash passionate and exciting things in your heart and then feel too meh to even get dressed. At least not every day, right? 

For me, getting dressed for The Influence Conference took a lot of Wild and Free. I really thought after a few days of having to GET DRESSED, I'd be craving yoga pants like whoa, but truly I think it jump started something in me. 

(clockwise from top left) leather peplum + my fave StitchFix top so far,
 my BetterLifeBags bag + fave StitchFix jeans, me and the girls in a maxi + studded jacket

I was a leeeetle nervous before the conference about what I'd wear, but one box from StitchFix and a quick session at Forever 21 and I was good to go. If you're not familiar with StitchFix, I honestly can't rave enough about them. They were a major presence at the conference this year and we were so grateful to have them. 

For me, paying the $25 styling fee is totally worth it to have someone do the digging, find the fun stuff, and push me a little in my wardrobe. Plus the gals there are just super wise and super kind. They will absolutely work with your budget, your wardrobe desires, and your body sensitivities. Just such a fan of StitchFix. 

Here are some things I'm loving for the fall that make me straight up excited to get dressed. I'm not trying to get too crazy or buy a million things, just add a few key pieces that bring the spice and the wild and free. 

Wine Colored Fedora // Studded Jacket // chunky bracelets // Mary jane flats

and my favorite new beauty c/o Better Life Bags 

What about you? 

Anything fun cropping up in your closet these days? 

I'd love to hear! 

we are free to rest

A million people have talked about rest and women and how we're not always that amazing at it. I feel like I've talked about it many different ways here.

swinging into rest // and end of summer benediction // rejoicing about rest

Today I thought we'd just look straight at lies women believe about rest and look straight at what God's Word says about those lies. I casually asked something on twitter about lies and rest and the response was overwhelming. Here are some of the things we seem to be hearing and here are some Biblical truths that I am trying to apply as I struggle right alongside you. 

We believe that rest is not productive or helpful or moving forward. 
If our Heavenly Father and Jesus both rested in the midst of their ministry, can't we put this to bed? Even in nature we see that pruning is a part of growing things. It takes pruning, watering, and waiting. Rest grows things in us. We wouldn't expect our kids to grow well physically if they weren't nurtured or rested, why do we expect the same of ourselves?

We believe that rest equates laziness. 
Genesis 2 tells us that rest is good and Holy because God not only invented it, but did it Himself. 

We hear that we should find rest in Jesus and we are lazy if we need physical rest. 
I have learned throughout the years that I can try to have my heart in the right place, but if I've gotten no sleep or no introvert time or no time to be recreated by the Lord - I will still seem straight up crazy. I'll do the crazy crying or the crazy yelling and it won't matter how many quiet times I've had. 

We believe that rest is deserved only in proportion to how crazy full our life is. 
Rest is grace and a gift. If we only got rest in proportion to how much we need it, our Father wouldn't have needed any. He was and is the source of all life forever and ever. Rest is a graceful gift and that means we can't (and shouldn't try to) earn it. 

That rest is impossible if we have young children. 
As important as physical rest is, as a former three-under-three mama, I know sometimes it just isn't there. But I do think Jesus meets us in the crazy times and makes Matthew 11 become real to us. I also think that as women we have a hard time making time for physical rest and there would be times when I'd truly deny physical rest because I couldn't accept grace from the Lord. My husband offers me time to nap around once a week and I think I've taken him up on it twice in our entire marriage. Why? Because of pride and a lack of wanting to accept grace. 

If you feel like physical rest isn't available to you, be sure you're not denying it. 
But if it truly isn't available on some days or in some seasons, walk in the full knowledge that you know the God who created rest and He can give it miraculously where needed. 

We might believe that rest is only found on the beach with an alcoholic beverage and no children around. I think any believer who has sought rest on a deserted beach with an alcoholic beverage and NOT invited the Lord into their rest can tell you - even that is not restful. Rest for us is simply letting the Lord restore and recreate us - physically, emotionally, mentally. I personally think there's nothing wrong with a beach and the occasional margarita, if it's done in a worshipful way (1 Timothy 4:4-5). Likewise, sometimes the most restful days for me are sitting on the couch and engaging with my kids or going to the pumpkin patch with them. 

Sometimes I find rest in reading and writing with the Lord and sometimes I find it in corporate worship with other believers. The key is to remember He says "come to ME" for rest. We've got to stop seeing rest as reclusion from everything and everyone (including the Lord). Sometimes rest will be in the community of other believers and it should always be as we're in communion with the Lord. 

That rest is "me time". 
Being recreated and rejuvenated by the Lord who gives us rest isn't indulgent no matter how it looks. Likewise, being indulgent with selfish motivation isn't true rest with the Lord. Don't judge your rest by it's appearance, judge it by your heart. 

We think that rest is selfish. 
I think that as women, rest can be one of the most selfless things we do. In my own strength, I want to keep going and going and going. And yet, when I want best for others - for those that I'm loving and serving, I know it works best when it's done from a place of rest before work where my strength, gifts, joy, and work are all coming from Him. 

To cap it all off, I'll tell you this. 
Last night I was in a yoga-type class and the super wise Nancy from N:Motion said this, "Women typically go one direction - fast and forward. And yet the Lord made us to go in so many different speeds and directions." Could it be that we're not walking in the fullness of relationship with Him because we're not exploring other speeds and directions? 

What would it look like for you to get wild and free in your rest today? 
Would He meet you there? Might there be more of Him and His goodness for you that you've resisted because you've refused His rest? 
Let's talk about it. 

  

the collective

all photos by the talented Caroline Ro 

Caroline is a photographer. 
I'm a blogger, designer, whatever I am. 
Lacy is a hair stylist. 
April is an artist. 
Together we're the wild and free collective. 

It was honestly all Lacy's idea. She texted me one day and said she'd love to get us all in the same place to see if we could collaborate on some ideas. It might seem like all our of things are unrelated, but she had a hope that we could bless one another and spur each other on. 

Lacy doing her thing // my hair half cut off

Our first meeting was for breakfast and coffee and we were in the restaurant till it was almost lunch time. I bounced Cannon up and down in the sweet little vegan cafe in our neighborhood and we drank coffee and shared our hearts and our desires for our respective businesses. We made lists of ways we could pray for one another and we decided on our first big collaborative effort. A haircut. A photoshoot. A declaration. I've talked a little about my decision to chop of my hair, but these were the women behind that sweet free day. The wild and free collective, all endeavoring to walk with one another as we let the Lord push us forward in our things. 

These photos are just a sneak peak (by the lovely Caroline Ro), but the full story (with MANY more photos) will be available in the next Influence magazine. I do have a point in this teaser though. 

Do you have women to walk with that speak to the wild and free soul within you? Do you have women that remind you you are a part of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people of his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into the marvelous light? Ideally, we'd all have a few. A sister here, a church friend there, a neighbor that you stand with at the bus stop and feel a connection with. I'm so blessed to tell you - I have those women. I have my sister, and Hayley, and the Influence team. I have the gals I do life with in our church and the women I've done life with in other cities. The speak into me and call me out of dark places. They hold my hand when I cut my hair and they hug me after I ugly cry. 

April the amazing

But here is the most important question, and the one the Lord is burning into my brain lately: Are YOU speaking wild and free into the women around you? Am I? Are you holding back a mirror to them of God's great grace in their heart and lives? Are you speaking truth to them? Are you pushing them to leave behind scared, small, timid living? Sometimes we just gotta be Lacy. We have to stop looking for people to speak into us and speak into others first. Sometimes we need other people to tell us - you have the power and ability and influence to shift the lives and hearts of the women around you by pointing them to Jesus and breaking the chains of how women typically do relationships. a

And I'm telling you that now. You can be wild and free. You can be a wild encourager and you have the freedom to love other women without concern for yourself first. 
You can start your own collective. 
You can speak life.