Dear friend,

Do you ever feel like your life is a little hodgepodge, a little busy and crazy and a little bit of all kinds of things going on at once? Well, I've been feeling like that for the last couple months.

Nothing too crazy going on, just working a "real job" and running my art business, painting, helping my Grammy get ready to move closer to us, and normal life things... like finding time to workout and wash laundry....

But it's felt a little chaotic.

And to be honest, sometimes in that chaos my mind has the most doubts and anxiety... am I just wasting my time? Are my dreams and goals ever going to be reached? What if I've already failed and I'm just in denial? Can I actually build a meaningful life that honors the Lord?

Maybe you can relate. Insecurities start to creep in stronger, doubts get bigger, and emotions get a bit more on edge. And I think that's the point when its easier to say its better to sleep in longer than for me to get up and do my quiet time or move my body before the day gets started.

That's when its easiest to say its better to do a quick devotional reading and not really ask the Lord what needs to change in my life. That's when its easier to forget truth... and get that's when we tend to gravitate away from it the most.

Really, in a lot of ways I think we're kind of a backwards people. When we get to the limits of ourselves sometimes we think it means we just need a vacation (which, honestly, sometimes we do), or we need a new/different job, or we need a different stage, or we need a new thing to make it more convenient....

and we never stop to think maybe we need more of the Lord in our lives instead.

We think maybe if we organize our time better we can handle it all on our own. Maybe if we get the same planner someone else uses, or maybe if we take a sick day and do nothing...

I'm all for being more efficient and use our time better don't get me wrong. It's just a problem when we keep trying to be Lord of our own lives and depend only on ourselves.

See there's something beautiful that happens we reach the end of ourselves.

We realize our limits. We can't do more. It's like we've reached the end of a road that ends in a cliff... and we can go no farther. And it's impossibly hard because we feel like we should be able to go farther. Sometimes we back up on the road and come at the cliff again, maybe we can jump down and keep going...

But we hit a dead end.

And that's right when we begin to learn something we realize we should have known all along. We aren't God. We can't do all the things, carry all the things, manage all the things, fix all the things... none of it, really.

We just somehow convince ourselves that maybe we can control it and make it come out right. Until we reach the cliff and are face to face with our limitations and flaws and lacking.

But that's the beautiful moment because when we turn from there to look at the Lord, we see a God who holds planets in place with a word. We see a God who is righteous and holy and is love Himself... we see a God who has no limitations and we see a God who's been waiting for us to realize we need to stop following our own way and start following His.

There's a quote from A.W. Tozer that says "How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none."

And so next time you reach the end of yourself, at the end of your rope, your last straw, and all things seem to be horrible and impossible... let that remind you to lean on the Lord.

There's a richness when we are forced by life's hardships to desperately lean on and cling to the Lord. We'd never learn to run to Him if we didn't have those times of being at the end of ourselves.

And maybe someday, as we grow in maturity in our faith... maybe just maybe we'll stop taking the wheel and stop trying to force our own way... and we'll be a faithful follower of Christ.

So if life's crazy right now and your cup is empty and drained... remember the Lord. He can sustain. He loves you. He knows what your heart feels. And He wants you to trust Him more. He is worthy of our trust.

Happy Friday!

~Isabel Grace

P.S. The Starlight Print Club is open again! If you want to know more about this print club, or join us, you can check it out HERE. Feel free to reply to this email if you need help!