Are you looking for new ways to renew your soul? Sometimes we can get in a rut and spiritual practices that have worked so well for us in the past don't seem to be as helpful. In order to be healthy pastors and leaders as well as women living in the freedom of Christ, we should be growing closer to the Lord each and every day. While there is nothing "magical" about a spiritual practice per se, trying a new spiritual discipline, even one that may be a bit uncomfortable, is a great way to stay connected with Jesus and learn to hear Him and See Him in fresh new ways.

In this episode, I share 4 spiritual disciplines you can use to help you renew your soul and grow closer to God. Here are the spiritual disciplines we cover:

EXAMEN

SILENCE AND SOLITUDE

MEMORIZING SCRIPTURE

PRAYING A PSALM IN NATURE

Questions to Consider for EXAMEN

• Where did you sense God and His presence?
• How were you loved by God today?
• Where did you not feel God present?
• In what part of your day was...

Let me ask you…Are you an automatic YES person? Do you always say yes when someone asks you to do something? Is that your default answer? Or, what about this one…Maybe you’d like to say no but you don’t know how to break that cycle. Or maybe you don’t even know what answer to give, is this something you SHOULD do or not…or perhaps you wonder…do I have a choice?? In today’s episode I am going to share with you some tips on how you can discover and learn whether you should say yes or whether you should say no…and we’ll also chat about HOW to communicate your decision.

3 Tips to Help You Discern Whether to Say YES or NO

Don't Give An Answer Right Away. Create space between the ask and the answer. Say something like, "let me check on a few things and get back to you." There is power in pausing. This helps use be thoughtful

Ask God. We tend to only ask God about the "big" things. But every yes adds up. God...

Do you feel like you’ve tried to make margin but nothing seems to work? Are you getting frustrated and want to throw in the towel? Before you think that healthy rhythms and boundaries are simply not possible for you, let me share with you 4 common mistakes that people make when it comes to creating the space they need. 

Common Mistakes We Make

1. You aren't sure what you want.

Are you clear on the margin you need to make? Do you know what it would look like? Do you have a plan. The more specific you get the more progress you'll make!

2. You are trying to do it all.

Doing a few thing well will help you make the most progress. Resist the temptation to change everything at once. What will help you make the most progress? What will be the most helpful? What would make everything else easier? Start there.

3. You give up too soon.

Let's face it, we usually expect instant results. But here's the reality...this is a life-long journey. You don't...

You know you want to create margin and integrate healthy rhythms into your life and leadership but where do you start? What are some ideas of practical things you can put into place. In this episode I’m going to share with you some ideas for margin to help you get started.

I was leading a workshop on making margin at a women's clergy conference and someone raised their hand and said...I know that this is going to be different for each of us, but what are some practical examples of what margin could look like in our lives? Where do we start?

I loved this question! Yes, the type of margin we need will be different for each of us. In fact, it will shift and change in our own lives as we live and lead through different seasons. But there are some ways you can begin. And in this episode I share how you can get started.

Ideas for Making Margin in Life and Leadership

• Sabbath
• Starts and Finishes
• Movement and Meals
• Add in Fun

Need More Help?

Grab the...

Is the way you’re living and leading making you more than just tired? As you think about your weariness, does it feel like you are carrying the weight of so many expectations? Are you faced with following the rules for life and leadership that someone else has set for you?

If you are, you are not alone. Jesus has an invitation just for you and I have a question I want you to ask you to consider. I’ve got to warn you…it may be a bit uncomfortable. But in your wrestling, I believe God will reveal the truth…and as Jesus says, the truth will set you free.

You Are Invited

Jesus offers us a wonderful invitation in Matthew 11:28-30. He says:

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

Many of us wonder...

...Could...

Have you lost your energy? Is it harder to get things done? Do you struggle focusing on others and showing empathy? We all go through seasons of pouring ourselves out, but how do you know when you’ve more than just tired? In this episode, I am going to unpack my working definition of burnout and share a few signs that might indicate there’s more going on than just you being tired.

Working Definition of Burnout

"Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest and motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.”

Here are some signs that you are more than tired:

• Anger
• Bitterness, resentment
• Blaming everyone else for why you’re struggling
• Don’t really care about the outcomes…(different than caring but...

How can you actually make margin in your life and leadership? What’s the actual process? How do you figure out what you need and what should you do once you have the vision? In this episode I share with you the margin maker framework to take the guesswork out of it.

The Margin Maker Framework

Caring for your SOUL: Ruth Haley Barton describes the soul as the truest part of you. Your relationship with God, your understanding of your whole self, and focusing on who you are becoming are all aspects of the soul and help you define your priorities. 

Reconnecting with your CALLING: Your God-given passions and desires help shape the role you play in the body of Christ. Reconnecting to the call God has placed on your life helps you rediscover your priorities.

Shifting your MINDSET: We make decisions based on what we believe. Oftentimes we are stuck because of fears, lies, and limiting beliefs. When we go beneath the surface we can see that there are...

Robert Swenson defines margin as, "the space between our load and our limits." The problem is...we are constantly pushing our limits and it eventually takes a toll on our soul, our family, and the people and places we lead.

5 Guiding Principles to Making Margin

• You are loved by God without limits or conditions (not based on what you do).
• Jesus came so that you can have life and life to the fullest (you are not the exception).
• You were made for margin.
• Who you are becoming matters more than what you are doing.
• The degree of your intentionality and how purposeful you are in your decision-making will determine the degree of margin you will have.
  

More Things We Covered

• The epidemic of busyness.
• The role of the pandemic.
• What we have in common with rubber bands.
• The margin in the life of Jesus

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Welcome to the first episode of the Margin Maker podcast!

The intention of these first few episodes is to give you a vision for what you can expect on this journey. If you like what you hear, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you will get notified each time a new episode goes live.

Who is this show for and what is it designed to do?

This show is specifically designed to help Christian women leaders slow down the pace and create healthy boundaries so that you can have time for what matters most in both your personal life and your leadership. The fact is many of us don’t think much about making margin until we start to feel like things are going off the rails a bit. And thankfully God gives us plenty of warning signs that we are extending ourselves beyond our limits and not living and leading as the women He has created us to be. 

Red Flags That You Need Margin

• You are worn out from trying to do it all. 
• You feel the fatigue of the relentless pace.
• You find...

Introducing the Margin Maker podcast. Here is a glimpse of what the podcast is about. Subscribe now on your favorite platform so you won't miss when the first episode drops in March!