Be Anxious for NOTHING

I woke up this morning with something heavy on my heart.  I debated about writing about it on my blog.  I thought for a minute about how this has nothing to do with sewing or my business, but then again it really does.  This issue trickles in to every aspect of your life, and then somehow overtakes it all.  There is no way to dress it up. It is ugly and very controlling.  You can try to run away from it, but it always seems to find you.  Some days you feel like you have "defeated it", only to have it resurface with a vengeance. What I am talking about?  ANXIETY!  Worry is a "less harsh" word we sometimes use to make ourselves feel better.  "I'm just worried about so-and-so" or "I just worry something bad might happen".  There is nothing pretty about worry.  I know.  I've been worrying about something my whole life.  I've been using the excuse that I can't help it because "it runs in my family".  I've spend almost 30 years trying to figure out how to get over my worry and to not be anxious about everything.  I've "given it to God" about 2 million times. I've even taken medication for it at one point in my life. I've prayed and cried and prayed some more that God would "deliver" me from anxiety.  I couldn't figure out why it never really worked.  I might feel better for a few days, and then just like that I would be right back into a panic over something.  My husband even started commenting about how he had to "talk me down off the ledge" so much.  I felt like I was getting worse with age.  God finally got my attention with my sweet little girl.  I had been noticing for a while about what an obsessive planner she had become.  Every night she would ask me about our plans for every single day for at least a week out.  EVERY NIGHT.  It started to drive me crazy.  I finally got to the point that I told her we would only talk about 2 days at a time and she didn't need to worry so much.   If any plans ever changed she would be stressed.  She started worrying about her brother and her daddy and his job.  I started worrying about her.  I saw myself in her and I didn't want her to fight this all of her life.  I started praying about what I could do to help her and it was like a light bulb finally went off!  Worry is nothing but a lack of faith!  I knew a lot of things in my mind but I didn't BELIEVE them! I worried about money.  I knew God could provide for us, but in honesty, I didn't really believe that He would.  I thought I did, but I was worried.  And what is worry?  A lack of faith!  Faith is believing that God will do what He says.  He says He will provide for all of our needs.  (But my God will supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:19) I worried that something might happen to my kids or my husband.   Lack of faith again!  God loves my children and my husband even more than I do.  If I pray for God's protection over them, then I have to believe that He will protect them.  They belong to Him and anything that happens to any of us has come through His hand first.  That doesn't mean that nothing bad will ever happen, but that God is always good and He will always be with me and work everything for good in my life.  I have to BELIEVE His word!  For me, it finally came down to what I was teaching my child.  Was I teaching her to trust God? No, I was really teaching her that God can't handle anything so we need to worry what the outcome will be and try to fix it as best we can.  That is NOT what I want to teach my kids!  My attitude about worry has changed.  Yes, I still do find myself worrying.  The difference now is that when I see it creeping up, I start reminding myself of God's promises and thinking about all the ways I have seen His faithfulness in my life already.  Do you know what that is?  It's the shield of faith from Ephesians 6:16.  "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."  Those fiery darts in my life were worry and anxiety.  My shield of faith is what keeps them from wounding me!  My sweet girl may be tempted to worry and be anxious just like her mother, but the best thing I can teach her is that faith is her shield.  Faith is what will keep her from living 30 years of frustration like her mother did. 

Christmas is coming!!!!

Here we are at my favorite time of the year!  I love Thanksgiving and Christmas! Thanksgiving means lots of good food and family time.  For those of you who hate Black Friday, skip over these next few sentences. I LOVE Black Friday!  Its all about sister time for me. With two little ones, I rarely get the chance to have a shopping trip out alone, so I take full advantage on Black Friday.  I have 7 sisters. Most of them are shoppers so we stay up most of the night laughing, freezing to death in long lines, getting great deals, and enjoying time together.  This year I am thinking of having my own little Thanksgiving sale....but it's going to be on Small Business Saturday.  Stay tuned for more info on that. :) 

I know Christmas is a busy season for everyone. Parties, shopping, decorating, more parties, more shopping, family time.....and just like that, family time sometimes gets a little lost in everything.  Mine did last year.  Last fall was when my business started to get really busy. During December I was swamped.  I was so excited at the growth of my business that I didn't say no to ANYONE, even those who ordered 5 days before Christmas!  My goal this year is to not let myself do that again. I LOVE sewing for you all and making cute things for your babies to wear, but my kids need me too.  So here is the plan; December 7th will be my LAST DAY of the YEAR to take any orders.  This means you need to plan head. :)  Go to my etsy shop and look at the darling princess dresses, check out the cute Christmas dress, and maybe even pick up a monogrammed camera strap cover for a gift....but HURRY!  You only have 24 days left! 

If you have already ordered any of the dresses from the Everyday Princess Collection, I'm working on them all and plan to have them all shipped by Thanksgiving.  :)  If you haven't ordered,  don't miss out on these for an awesome Christmas gift for your little girl.  They are SO CUTE! 

Off to get my day started......the little ones are up! 


Elizabeth