A word from God

Hey y’all!

If you’re anything like me, you probably feel like you run around, taxiing from here to there, barely on time between drop offs, cooking dinner, homework, bath time, and book time. Throw in work, laundry, and sick days and it can become a hot mess within a matter of minutes. Balance is tough! I saw that a women’s conference event would be held at Cornerstone Church in Athens, Ga. (Side Note: My brother and I went to daycare here and this was my mom’s church home. It is a WONDERFUL place if you are in the area and need a church to go to!). My mom and I were able to go together and it was such a blessing.

The title of the conference was BREATHE and who doesn’t feel like they need a moment from time to time (especially as women) to take a moment and breathe. Prior to the conference, my mom and I had checked into our hotel and we were talking about the year and I mentioned my vision board (that I had not completed yet – ha just BREATHE!) and my mom asked if I had a word for the year. She proceeded to tell me that her word was “JOY”. She wanted to find joy in the big things and the little things. Instantly, the word SURVIVE popped in my head. To be honest, it made me cringe and I was not going to dare say it aloud. On the way out of our room, my mom looked at me and said, “Is it survive?”. I hadn’t told her that was my first thought and with a shocked look I said, “yes”. And I immediately thought – I don’t like it. Why do I feel like I have to survive? I am NOT going to claim that word.

We went to the conference and it was awesome. I saw several friends and I was looking forward to hearing the speakers. During the beginning of praise and worship, I heard God say, “Brooke, I do not want you to merely survive, but I want you to THRIVE.”  I could feel the tears beginning to run down my face. You see, the week before Thanksgiving up until last week, my children have been swapping sickness for what seemed like months. High fevers, runny noses, sore throats – from the Flu, RSV, to Strep it has gone through this house. Throw in being a good wife, a good mama, helping my husband at his office, spending time in the word, cooking, cleaning, and generally not trying to lose my mind – life easily became chaos! Just when I thought we would have a healthy spell, sickness came right back. I had to laugh at the fact that Ace (my two year old) knew exactly what to do for the nurse when she needed his vital signs. And if it wasn’t Ace, it was Cash (my six year old) that was down for the count.

After the conference, I told my mom what the Lord told me. God doesn’t want any of us feeling like we just have to survive. When I looked up the definition for thrive I read that it means to grow, to prosper, to progress towards reaching a goal. God wants us all to THRIVE. To thrive in his word and our relationship with him, in our marriages, in our families, and in our communities. He wants us growing with him. It was a word that I knew I needed to hear. I don’t want to rush through life feeling like I have to just survive and get by. God wants us to live life abundantly and to thrive. I am so grateful that we get to do life WITH Jesus. It’s a solid reminder that God wants us to flourish with him.

“The righteous will thrive like a green leaf.” Proverbs 11:28