Beauty Through My Eyes

On His Adventure~

Pam

Beauty Beyond Being Alone

I've mentioned I am a writer. I am also an editor and proof reader by trade. Putting my journalism degree to good use has ebbed and flowed throughout the past 20 or so years as I've woven stretches of other jobs in its midst.

I freelance occasionally in the editing/publishing world and have gotten the chance to transition home to work and be better for my family. Just when I think we won't make it and figure I must be mighty creative with the last can of beans on the pantry shelf, I find a project needing to be edited. God has been faithful when I am faithless, and He routinely makes beauty out of the messes I make on my own.

Working from home has had its pluses and minuses. At different times in having the privilege of doing freelance work from my house, I have gotten very used to being inside these four walls. They can become a cocoon of sorts, but even the butterfly must eventually brave the world outside the cocoon in order to fulfill the purpose for which it was created.

The pluses to this kind of job are many. I can work in my pajamas. I can start my day pretty much whenever I want. I can take breaks or take no breaks if I choose. I have no time clock, no one looking over my shoulder, few parameters to confine me, and I get paid to point out and correct other people's mistakes.

I love my job. I still need more work to make it financially lucrative over the long haul, but I do thoroughly love what I do, and I am good at it.

The down side to doing work from the house comes when I've not left the confines of this building for days on end and find it difficult to wear anything but pajamas. Add to that the fact of homeschooling my teenagers who need to interact with someone besides their middle-aged mother, and it is a must for me to push myself out the door and into the big world outside my bedroom.

The very nature of my line of work draws the introvert, the loner, the one who flees a crowd rather than the one drawn into the middle of it all. I am all of the above. I would much rather chat with someone via instant message or text than do the tough work of mingling in person. One energizes me and brings me comfort. The other drains me, leaves me weary, and at times longing for the solitude of my bed.

Yet, though it is a struggle at times for me to push out of the safety of the home cocoon,  I press on and find God meets me in my hermit tendencies. He gives me strength. He has people cross my path that make the venturing out worth the effort. He weaves beauty into all I see outside my well-crafted and self-imposed prison of sorts.

God takes the mundane and ordinary, turning it into an adventure as I laugh with my children and enjoy the fall weather. Peeking my head out of my virtual turtle shell was a success today. I might get brave and try it again tomorrow!

If anyone else struggles with the idea of home becoming too much of a haven, let me know what your strategies are to fight the hermit in your head. I'd welcome suggestions. I don't want to miss a thing God has for me out there in that big world. Go check out some of the other posts in the Write 31 Day challenge.

As always . . .

On His Adventure~

Pam

Beauty in Spite of Fear

I am afraid.

There. I said it.

I said it specifically to counteract the quote you see here by Mr. Jones. I am braver by far in admitting to my fear. Then it has far less power over me. Fear in the dark is much bigger fear and incapable of being overcome alone.

Left to my natural state, I can spend every waking moment and many of the night time ones afraid. Without the truth of God's Word, the support of my friends and family, and victories to recall -- I am afraid.

Viewing circumstances beyond my control, putting aside bills I have no way of paying, and dealing with pain that changes each day and yet is ever present -- and I am afraid.

Yet the Lord does not leave me there, and He doesn't want you there either. He addresses the topic of fear at least 365 times in His Word, and He offers you application after application in how to overcome and find beauty in the victory over your fears.

Let me offer you one nugget today. My life verse shows up here in the  image to the right. What I find to be empowering is that I am not left alone in my fear. I have help from the One who created me. He upholds me. He gives me strength. So, Mr. Jones, while the above quote looks fabulous on my colored pencil background, your sentiment does nothing but leave me alone to fight my fear. I am sticking with the one that will carry me through the difficulty and enable me to stand at the end of it.

May the truth encourage and strengthen you today as well. The beauty in it is unmistakeable.

On His Adventure~

Pam