Hello and welcome to another “Bloggers Who Have Inspired Me” link up, the first one of 2015 to be exact. I am SO EXCITED to bring this link up back that I could throw a party. Bring on the cake, confetti and of course all of yourselves as the guests of honor. I could go for some brownies at just about now thinking about parties. Anyhow enough dreaming of brownies and a party event; I just want to say that I am glad to be back to blogging from here on out after taking a break in January to do other things beside spending a lot of time on this space. I thank many of you for your e-mails, tweets, facebook messages or comments with wishing me well, letting me know you missed me. I missed you guys as well.
The truth of it is this post was suppose to go live last Monday (my first Monday back to blogging) but there was a switch up at the last moment and I ended up co-hosting Mix It Monday with Lauren of @fizzandfrosting, here. So bare with me as I describe a MAJOR reason for my break and please leave any thoughts and link up as you wish.
In January I took the month off from blogging because I was on a fast for the month to just grow in my relationship with the Lord, spend more time with Him and or in prayer while growing in my relationship with my husband and kids.
My fast included staying away from blogging and Instagram as these have been a stronghold on my relationship with God and others this past year. I enjoy these forms of social media but sometimes God wants more of us, and I couldn’t give Him all of me with blogging and instagram constantly tugging me to the responsibilities required.
Sure my blog and Instagram have grown tremendously in a year but I found that I was putting my self-worth into how many followers I had, or lost, on how my content read, pictures looked, promoting, etc, that I knew from prayer that these were areas I needed to step away from for a bit. Let me tell you it was hard on some days. But now I am back and I have some good and not so good stuff to share with you below on the results of the fast or break and some pictures of my sweet kids and I.
The good results of the fast:
1). I began to pray and feel value in myself, not what others thought of me. Sometimes this is a hard area for me as there are always people with opinions about me or about our family. When I found myself doubting who I am as a person, mom or wife it was neat to have God remind me of who I am in Him, that I am valued and doing the best I can.
2).My hubby and I choose to fast sweets, breads and meats as well and therefore sometimes we had to get creative with what we ate.
Lentil tacos- recipe here, fruits, vegtables, noodles, rice, nuts were all a part of our diet. Giving up sweets (especially brownies and cookies were the hardest). Now we didn’t fast to loose weight, but we did loose a few inches.
3). I am a HUGE advocate for the power of confession. For awhile now my hubby and I had some issues in our marriage that we were scared to talk about but God brought the opportune time in church one day and we talked about things and prayed at the alter about it. There is just a closeness and peace in our marriage now that only God could have restored that day, as we gave up our past hurts and forgave each other, God brought us closer.
4). We saw God provide financial blessings when we needed it.
5). I had been praying for order in the home. My wonderful hubby came up with a typed out list of rules for the household a few days ago and so far we have seen improvement with our kids and with remaining consistent. The rules are on the fridge now for the kids (mainly our 5 year old) to see as a daily reminder of “this needs to be done” or “here are the select times for this,” etc.
6). There were some family issues beyond our family unit that God allowed me to talk about with the other family members.
7). As silly as it sounds I prayed for 100 followers on my blog facebook page after starting with 92 before the fast and in one day I reached my 100 just by tweeting, promoting it, inviting more friends. Happy Dance! Thank you, thank you!
8). Going to church on Sundays have been so hard and stressful for months now. I was going to church, of course, but my attitude was not in check. I was grouchy and stressed before church and I felt that this wasn’t the attitude I needed as I needed to go to church to worship God and grow in fellowship and in His word. I finally confessed my struggles to a life group and the matter was prayed over and yesterday was the second Sunday this past month that I felt “peace” “joy” and just a renewal to be in God’s house and in His presence with other believers.
9). I got to enjoy my children without the need to constantly check “e-mails, instagram, bloglovin, etc.”
There are many more things I could tell you, but with fasting and prayer there also comes attacks from the enemy.
-We had our clothes dryer heating element switch stop working- but God brought us a wonderful family who gave us a used dryer for FREE.
-My laptop contracted a virus or something else that several scans could not fix, hence going to a repair shop (I type this on my hubbies laptop).
– my hubby got in a car wreck leaving our second van wrecked and so we are working out the details and praying for a cheap fix or new vehicle.
Another blessing or biggie is celebrating my pastor’s wife Susan as she finally launched her blog that she had been praying to start for 10 years. If you would give her blog a visit and leave her a note of encouragement or welcome into the blog world, I am sure she would deeply appreciate it. She writes about spiritual, physical and emotional wellness. If you are a health guru or even need just a little bit more of encouragement, prayer or refreshment in God’s word from another perspective then visit Susan’s blog here. Knowing her personally, she is always checking up on others, sweet and very thoughtful. I hope you will feel the same about her as you meet her. Thanks friends!
I am glad the good outweighed the bad while I was gone. I cannot wait to check out your blogs again. I have missed you all.
What have you been up to? Have you ever fasted anything?
Now the rules and link up:
1). Please link up recent posts and include the link up button or post this URL link back on your blog. The posts can be about fashion, DIY projects, recipes, inspiration, tips, etc. *If you link up other link ups or giveaways please be sure you share this link up on your link up post to share the blog love and I will be sure to link up to yours. Also please follow me in the below social medias and let me know how you are following and I will follow back. Thank you!
2). Please follow your host Rachel of Garay Treasures either by Bloglovin, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter or all.
Comment below and let me know how you are following so I can follow back.
3). Stop by and check out the other bloggers who have linked up and be inspired.
4).Depending on how many link up I will feature 5 bloggers and their posts for my next “Bloggers Who Have Inspired Me” link-up or series.
5). Have fun! Comment below if you have any questions! Thanks for linking up!
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Linking up with:
Liz and Leanne
Garay Treasures 