S8 E2: Choosing To Celebrate
Hey hey!! I am so glad you are here
Can you hear the excitement in my voice?!? I’m a hugger and I’m feeling some major hugger energy right now so if we were actually in person and you are a hugger then you would be feeling pretty uncomfortable right now haha but for real I am so excited to be back here on the pod and starting season 8!!! Can you believe it ya’ll?!? So exciting!!! So I am sending some major feel and big hugs your way today!!!
I think I’ve mentioned this before either here on the podcast or in an email (if aren’t receiving emails from me and would like to be the first to hear from me about anything new or what is on my heart then email at susan@susanbeth.com and we will get you added it to the fun) and I’ll add that in the show notes too so you don’t have to hold that info in your brain the whole episode haha
Back to what I said I’ve mentioned somewhere recently haha
I’ve really tried to personally take in and celebrate that we are starting the 8th year and season here in the She Is podcast! You might not think that I’m that way since I have a podcast and share things online and on social media but I’m a down player. Meaning I’m a hype girl for you but not so much for myself. I think who we are and what we do can feel so normal and part of our everyday lives that we don’t look at it from an outside view. We don’t tend to celebrate ‘normal” thus the downplaying. But normal and real life should be celebrated. I remember when I would be out and about with my kids or someone would just be asking how many kids I had and when I would say 5 I could see their look change to like “Did you mean to have 5?!” some would ask or assume we were a blended family because it was so not normal to them. When it was my normal. I came from a family with 5 siblings and so did my husband.
But I did find myself downplaying it and sometimes even avoiding the questions to avoid the gasps from some and the awe from others.
But I’ve been growing up through the years haha and learning to acknowledge and celebrate personal things which has been wonderful and needed.
This brings me to the main thing I want to celebrate and share with you today and that is that the She is Awakening Autumn Journal will be available to order on the 10th of this month!!!
Ya’ll I have been so delighted and thrilled this past year with each seasonal journal release. But you guys!!! Fall has always been my favorite season (until Spring rolls around haha) and I am so excited about the art the colors the words and the journal prompts…all of it!!
And I want you to have it in your hands as you walk through this season of Autumn!
And yes I want you to have it because of all the things I just mentioned and I love it. But most of all I want you to have it because of why I made it for you.
I made it because I truly believe it can make a difference in how you live because it did and continues to for me.
We all have this core need to belong and to be loved unconditionally.
We long for it.
We live the moments of our days reaching out trying to grasp it pull it in and experience it
To fill this desire that we so desperately have.
You’re not unique in this…
We all have it.
This need and desire appear and play out differently for each of us
But it’s the same for us all.
And when we feel empty we turn to something…
Or someone…
It makes me think of how my eating has changed over the past several years. My whole life I’ve eaten healthy food but along with the food that was good for me I also ate unhealthy processed foods.
I realized one day that I am never satisfied…I can keep trying different foods to fill me up and I might experience fullness temporarily but it soon fades and I’m craving something else.
So I’ve switched that up and the majority of what I take in food-wise is whole food…meaning real food nothing added to it to make it last on a shelf for a few years but simple and plain and delicious whole foods.
And guess what I found out….these real whole foods fill me up.
They satiate my appetite and make it hard to overeat them because they are so satisfying.
I share this example because I have had the same experience with God.
I have felt hungry to feel his presence and hear his voice.
I sang all the songs and attended all the services
And felt full…until I didn’t…
And friend I don’t really believe that’s the kind of relationship and wholeness that God our creator had in mind for us.
He never intended this sacred/secular divide in our lives.
Culture and modern-day life have created that.
God hasn’t changed…we have.
We have allowed ourselves to become so distracted with the views and voices of others and we can’t hear the voice of God within us.
On the first page of each journal, you will find the scripture from Psalm 46:10 that says “Be still and know that I am God”
That’s the starting point and the ending point with the intention of this tool.
This journal is not another thing to be added to an already overloaded to-do list.
It’s not something that is to be seen or applauded by others and actually I view it as a starting point…
There’s nothing magical about this seasonal journal…
The gift is that it hopefully is a starting point in us posturing our hearts to get still and recognize that he is God in our lives.
He is God in each and every season.
The beautiful ones the hard ones
Which is usually all of them with both the beautiful and hard mixed all together.
And there we see him right there in the middle of it all walking us through
Our God. our king, our savior.
I’m not sure when you will be listening to this so check the show notes and we will add ordering info when it becomes available.
But I invite you to check out the journal and walk through this season intentionally.
It’s been beautiful to receive feedback from many of you who have been using the journal this past year and how you feel it has opened your heart to experiencing and seeing God working in your seasons more clearly.
You are so loved friend and I’m already celebrating and looking forward to walking through this season with so many of you.
Love you guys!
Talk soon!
