March Madness

I am peppy. I am positive. I love fun, and I have a good time everywhere I go, but…

There are a few questions I seem to ask myself every March:

1. Can I really survive winter (and the rain here in NC)?

2. Is it over yet?

3. Am I really still eating cupcakes?

If you have been following me since I launched, hopefully you know that I strive to be a very positive person! I love to encourage others and I love to set goals and make lists!

Just last week I found myself having a pep talk with my husband saying that we had to stop the madness! No more junk in the house, including this amazing popcorn he has been making after purchasing one of the old popcorn pots. And for the love of my thighs – no more sweets! No more cupcakes!

I promise you that my life isn’t always about food, but I do feel like living in the South just makes this madness worse. We have the best food. My co-workers and I are striving to be healthier and we are walking more throughout the day - and then someone delivers cookies, cakes or pies as a way to say “thank you.” Someone gets sick and we make them dinner. Someone has a birthday and there’s cake.

Madness.

Now, I know people who love to eat but they also love to exercise. I so want to be like those people, I really do! But every single day it seems 5pm comes and I am nowhere near ready to leave work. Then 6pm…7pm…and finally I have to call it quits. By the time I get home I am too exhausted to cook and honestly just want to binge on Friends and try to unplug (the curse of being an empty nester).

I have lived in the mountains of North Carolina my entire life. But honestly, I never remember life and my motivation affected by winter. Until now. I know others of you relate because almost every single post you read on Facebook or Instagram is pertaining to the weather!

How can we stay motivated and survive winter?

How can we stay motivated with every good holiday being in the winter?

Okay, I said I was a positive person. I think I just needed to vent a little – well maybe confess a little (and yes, there is a cupcake in my house…darn it) – but I really want this madness to stop! I need sunshine and fun that doesn’t involve sugary calories - I need fun that burns them! I need to remember to show myself the GRACE that I love to show others and that I love to write about!

I just sent a text to a friend and told her that if I didn’t have Jesus, my husband (who we always can find fun together), laughter, and those crazy moments where I turn up the music and just dance around the house – I think that I would not be able to survive!

I know for many of us, winter is hard. Life is filled with so many hurts, disappointments, brokenness, sickness, sadness. Its only March and so far, my very best friend has been diagnosed with cancer, my grandmother’s house burned to the ground (she lost everything), and something else very near and dear to my heart has been torn apart by the enemy!

As I type this, I can’t help but shed tears of sadness, hurt, and disappointment. My heart is so heavy and life is so hard! I don’t feel as if I responded at all last week with grace or kindness - but I was tired, frustrated and impatient. Sometimes, it’s just hard to breathe, much less respond to life with joy.

Here’s what keeps me going: I have to hold on to God’s promises! I have to ask to myself, “do I believe God’s truths?” and “can I trust Him?”. The answer is always yes! I do believe God’s truths and I do trust Him! Over and over God has been faithful. He has always worked everything for His good. He cares about every single detail, every hurt and disappointment I experience. He cares! He loves me and there is nothing I can do to change that!

So, whatever you are facing today; whatever struggle you are dealing with or brokenness you are facing – know that God cares! He loves you you can TRUST Him with all of it!

God even cares that we hate winter and that we get frustrated when it keeps raining! And God cares that I want desperately to be motivated to exercise vs binge on Netflix and eat cupcakes.

When I am honest with myself and with God –

• I have to ask, ‘Have I even prayed about any of this? Have I asked Him to help me?’

• Have I asked God to give me the strength and energy to just start with a walk? Or maybe even a dance (that definitely burns calories)?

• Have I even admitted my struggles to a friend so they can pray for me?

It is so easy to get caught up in the adult to-do life - go to work, come home, cook dinner, do some laundry, read a devotion, etc. and wake up the next day and do it all over again!

Jesus did not come to just give us life – but He came to give us a FULL life – a JOY-filled life!

I love John 10:10…

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Oh, how I love that word…abundantly!!!

Here is how I am surviving winter:

1. GRACE! GRACE! GRACE!!! Don’t forget it!

2. Going to lunch with a friend; just pouring out my heart and asking for prayer!

3. Inviting the person to lunch that made me get so frustrated and almost come unglued. Saying ‘I‘m sorry’ and extending GRACE! I promise you, it changes everything when we admit that we are wrong.

4. Enjoying the extra daylight.

5. Doing what I love – planning a party with friends. St. Patrick’s Day weekend is the perfect opportunity!

6. Creating a fun party theme with items that I already have so I can stick to my budget.

7. Decorating (my favorite hobby) a fun dinner table for my guests (the best part – the items I did need, I found at Dollar Tree)!

8. Laughing with my co-workers (by sending funny videos to our sick college Pastor - it was way overdue to get him back for the snake prank and I think we accomplished it)!

9. Dance! Dance! Dance! In the car! In your house! With your spouse! Burn those calories and release those endorphins!

10. Remember John 10:10!