Writing AND...

Anyone else struggle with where you writing fits in your life?

I'm a stay-at-home-mom, a "job" I never knew I would love so much. Seriously. It cracks me up some days how much I enjoy everything about it. But what this means is that people assume I don't work, and when I do tell them about my writing, or when people who know about it bring it up, what I usually hear is "I don't know how you do it" or "where do you find time?" or "I could never do that!"

I know everyone means for these things to be encouraging. (Haha, so if you've said those things to me, don't get angry! I know what you mean. =) ) But weirdly enough, sometimes they get to me. Sometimes my insecure brain twists things around and instead I hear...

You can't possibly be doing both well.

Good moms don't have time for that.

A good mom would give up writing and take care of her kids.

Life is about balance. And as I recently read somewhere...I think Tricia Goyer's book about being a work-at-home-mom, that kind of balance doesn't mean everything is balanced perfectly. It means our top priorities stay the same:

1. God
2. Family

And the rest of them shift. Friendships will shift around at different seasons. Sometimes the laundry is less critical than others. Sometimes we can justify another trip through the Chick-fil-A drive through and sometimes you just need to cook...

But it's a constant process. Whether you're a mom, or a wife (or both) or a student, or devoted to your day job, it's hard sometimes to think about doing that and being a writer. Do you know what that means? I means it's hard. Haha. That's all it means! It doesn't mean you're wrong to pursue both. Do you know what that doesn't mean, friends?

It means that unless God whispers to your heart that you need to lay your writing down for a season (and I know He sometimes does), then you do not.

Sometimes what God has called us to do doesn't make sense to other people.

Sometimes it doesn't make sense to our calendars. Haha. But I really am learning that if we rely on God's guidance to show us what is important when, then we can write and do real life well too.

Is God telling you to write and something else is telling you that doesn't make sense right now? Listen to Him. And share with us so the rest of us (like me!) who sometimes feel that way know we aren't alone.