Some days you wonder how it could be this awesome Some days you wonder how it could be this awesome and other days she keeps trying to eat rocks and you don’t brush your teeth until 3 o’clock. 

Solidarity, parents.
@themasters weekend @themasters weekend
#Repost @allthecounterthings
・・・
(cue ‘I’m So Excited’ by The Pointer Sisters)

One of my biggest giveaways to date!

I believe in @beautycounter, even to gift some GREAT things so that you’ll try them for yourself that they may serve you. 

It’s @themasters Friday, and in my city that means an exciting few days is ahead. 

May it be so with your clean beauty swapping!
(Until April 17th. 😊)

Need suggestions or a guide around the website? Message me or click the link in my bio to take a skincare quiz or to find your right foundation shade or to request samples. 

I’m here to help! And I can’t WAIT to gift someone this box of goodness. 

peep @emeraldoxco amazing coffee
What a joy to spend the morning with the beautiful What a joy to spend the morning with the beautiful @ashtonquattlebaum. 

We knew each other in middle/high school, now we’re adults and because of Beautycounter, reconnecting and working and dreaming together.

HOW. COOL. 

This is my ‘why’ with Beautycounter — the opportunity to cultivate friendships and help and love women where God has them, connected by clean beauty products.
spotting airplanes and sharing goldfish spotting airplanes and sharing goldfish
#Repost @allthecounterthings ・・・ #preachingt #Repost @allthecounterthings
・・・
#preachingtomyself

When you abide in Christ, when you open yourself to His Spirit’s leading and changing, when you trust and obey Him, your whole being can become ministry.

Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God, do it with God, do it and see people as Jesus saw them, with needs and dreams, and love them. 

I have started more endeavors and realized more dreams in the last year then I think in my entire life. Joining @beautycounter was one of them. 

So I encourage you also — 

Take yourself seriously and not too seriously. Work diligently. Dream big. Be faithful. Have fun. Rest on Jesus. Hold it all with open hands. And enjoy it.
Anna when asked if she wants blueberries or to go Anna when asked if she wants blueberries or to go outside. #Easter2021
I love what our pastor said this morning — If it I love what our pastor said this morning — If it was just the cross, we’d be a bunch of forgiven corpses. We have been saved TO something, the richest and fullest of life, in Christ, forever. 

May we be courageous people who know real hope and endurance in the sorrow of life and real gratitude and wonder in the good of it.
Anna’s first Good Friday service at Old Kiokee. Anna’s first Good Friday service at Old Kiokee. Memorable for its distractedness and gratitude over church family and mostly for its Savior. 

What is our hope in life and death?
Christ alone, Christ alone
What is our only confidence?
That our souls to him belong
Who holds our days within his hand?
What comes, apart from his command?
And what will keep us to the end?
The love of Christ, in which we stand
— Keith and Kristyn Getty
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faith · 03/24/2021

exchanging trust for control

“It’s like I’m standing on the Rock and conjuring up a storm instead of battling from a settled place.”

This mental image came to me during a conversation John and I were having a few months ago. I remember driving by a car accident and was pulling into my driveway 15 minutes later before I thought to pray for those involved. That’s when the glaring realization hit: my earnaholism is still handicapping my doing and being for God.

Before I go on, maybe you’re asking, what is earnaholism? It’s a term coined by yours truly to describe a way of life. You might be earnaholic if you spend most of your life anxiously trying to work for and earn what God has already given you in Christ Jesus. One fruit of earnaholism is the steady exchange of trust for control.

I’m an expert at wanting control, and if I trace worry, fear or discontentment back to the source it is usually an effort at control. How would you fill in the blank of these sentences:

If I do ______, I’ll be okay.

If I have ______, I’ll feel safe.

When I ‘safe’ here, I don’t simply mean safe from harm. I also mean ‘safe’ as living loved, chosen, secure, sustained and at peace.

We exchange trust for control when we fill those blanks with anything other than Jesus.

I confess my self-image, my feelings of okayness, want to be wrapped up in other people, my comfort, and in being good enough. Thus I do a lot of controlling myself and my environment as to make sure I stay safe from what I fear most, which is rejection. This way of living is like trying to stand on a bubble. It’s impossible, and a little ludicrous. The truth is my identity is in Christ. He alone is my portion and my cup, He is what I want and He is what I have. And when I live from this trust, I can spend more energy thinking about others, praying for others, serving others, because I don’t have to worry about me. I’m safe, with God.

Control feels easier, even better, most days, but the fruit is anxiety, restlessness and self-absorption. Trust takes more effort, practice and help from the Holy Spirit, but its fruit is peace, courage and generosity.

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Control has a ceiling. Its illusion of peace and steadiness can only go so far because they are dependent on me. Trust is endless. Its confidence is entirely in God.

Robert Mullholland writes, “In a world where such order and control are partial at best, anxious care can become a consuming passion that misshapes all relationships, all events and all activities of one’s life.” He concludes that anxiety-driven persons, those striving for control, “cannot be agents of God’s grace to a broken and hurting world. They are in bondage to the need to impose their order upon the world.”

You are safe in Christ, because of Christ, with Christ. It’s unshakeable, unmovable, unchanging. No rejection, no failure, no fear, no circumstance, no loss can alter that safety. But it takes trust. It’s an open-handed release of ourselves to God. It’s a consistent turning our whole being to God so His presence can be released through us.

Friend to friend, may I encourage you to sit with those sentences yourself. Would you fill those blanks with Jesus or with other things? Where are you exchanging the experience you could have of God for control? Where can you start trusting Him a little bit more?

In: faith · Tagged: trust

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I'm Chelsea... a wife, mom and friend who enjoys all things peanut butter, clean beauty, the written word, and a good sports movie. This is my place to share real life and Biblical encouragement to draw us all to deeper joy in God. Pull up your favorite internet browser and stay awhile!

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Some days you wonder how it could be this awesome Some days you wonder how it could be this awesome and other days she keeps trying to eat rocks and you don’t brush your teeth until 3 o’clock. 

Solidarity, parents.
@themasters weekend @themasters weekend
#Repost @allthecounterthings
・・・
(cue ‘I’m So Excited’ by The Pointer Sisters)

One of my biggest giveaways to date!

I believe in @beautycounter, even to gift some GREAT things so that you’ll try them for yourself that they may serve you. 

It’s @themasters Friday, and in my city that means an exciting few days is ahead. 

May it be so with your clean beauty swapping!
(Until April 17th. 😊)

Need suggestions or a guide around the website? Message me or click the link in my bio to take a skincare quiz or to find your right foundation shade or to request samples. 

I’m here to help! And I can’t WAIT to gift someone this box of goodness. 

peep @emeraldoxco amazing coffee
What a joy to spend the morning with the beautiful What a joy to spend the morning with the beautiful @ashtonquattlebaum. 

We knew each other in middle/high school, now we’re adults and because of Beautycounter, reconnecting and working and dreaming together.

HOW. COOL. 

This is my ‘why’ with Beautycounter — the opportunity to cultivate friendships and help and love women where God has them, connected by clean beauty products.
spotting airplanes and sharing goldfish spotting airplanes and sharing goldfish
#Repost @allthecounterthings ・・・ #preachingt #Repost @allthecounterthings
・・・
#preachingtomyself

When you abide in Christ, when you open yourself to His Spirit’s leading and changing, when you trust and obey Him, your whole being can become ministry.

Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God, do it with God, do it and see people as Jesus saw them, with needs and dreams, and love them. 

I have started more endeavors and realized more dreams in the last year then I think in my entire life. Joining @beautycounter was one of them. 

So I encourage you also — 

Take yourself seriously and not too seriously. Work diligently. Dream big. Be faithful. Have fun. Rest on Jesus. Hold it all with open hands. And enjoy it.
Anna when asked if she wants blueberries or to go Anna when asked if she wants blueberries or to go outside. #Easter2021
I love what our pastor said this morning — If it I love what our pastor said this morning — If it was just the cross, we’d be a bunch of forgiven corpses. We have been saved TO something, the richest and fullest of life, in Christ, forever. 

May we be courageous people who know real hope and endurance in the sorrow of life and real gratitude and wonder in the good of it.
Anna’s first Good Friday service at Old Kiokee. Anna’s first Good Friday service at Old Kiokee. Memorable for its distractedness and gratitude over church family and mostly for its Savior. 

What is our hope in life and death?
Christ alone, Christ alone
What is our only confidence?
That our souls to him belong
Who holds our days within his hand?
What comes, apart from his command?
And what will keep us to the end?
The love of Christ, in which we stand
— Keith and Kristyn Getty
“Do not be anxious about anything.” Phil 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything.” Phil 4:6

For any fellow recovering earnaholics out there, an encouragement: 

‘Anything’ doesn’t only encompass what is outside our control — the future, loss, pain, etc. 

Anything also includes things regarding our life with God. 

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed (synonyms: unsettled, disheartened), for I am your God.” Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, He is in you. And happy to be there. 
Fear not, He’s not changed His mind about you.
Fear not, you are right with Him even now because of Christ. 
Fear not, He delights in you. 
Fear not, nothing can separate you from Him. Even you.

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