31 Days | Day 3: 1 Corinthians 16:18 || + my Influence link up!

{A little note if you are new here...I am joining up with The Nester  for a 31 Day blogging series.  

To start back at the beginning or find previous days, click here}

(Disclaimer for this series:  I want to start off by making the promise that although I will use language like "mom, toddler, home, young, etc...I don't want anyone to feel like this isn't applicable to them at any stage in life.  Maybe you are a dad or an aunt or an older sibling with the hard reality of taking care of your youngers.  Maybe you have a newborn babe and just can't seem to get through the days without crying.  Maybe your kids have all left the house.  Maybe you go to work all day and come home and feel like you should relish in all the good things, but find yourself getting just as frustrated with your kids as if you had been home with them all day long. This is for you, too.  I only use the language I do because of the personal situation I am in.  I am a stay at home mom with a toddler and a new baby on the way.  If you would, please don't get hung up on that language.  Some days may be harder to apply than others, but there is truth in God's promises that can meet each of you where you are.  Thanks. Enjoy, xo.)

I spent this past weekend in Indianapolis at the Influence Conference.  For those of you unfamiliar, it is a Christian women's blogging conference.  That's a mouthful, I know.  It's simply a place where women can come and learn about what to do with their online influence.  And it was great.  Check it out...or even better, come with me next year!  :)

I left for the conference with so many different ideas of what it was going to be like and what it would do for me and my business, that I didn't really give thought to what it was really going to do for my spirit.  I also left looking forward to a weekend without mom duties.  

I'll be honest.  I wasn't too worried with leaving behind my husband and son.  I know a lot of moms struggle with that, but I'm not one.  That's not good or bad, that's just me.  I was looking forward to the break.  I mean come on.  Not having to change diapers for 3 days?  Pure. Bliss.  

Anyways, I think the reason I was so ready to go was because lately I've been exhausted.  I'm growing a human being and trying to keep another one alive all day.  I, along with my road-runner son, move at 100mph at all times.  I don't slow down.  I work my online business, I sign up for too many things (like 31 days of blogging),  I start DIY projects that never get finished, I work really hard at maintaining a healthy marriage, along with 50 other things that I just can't think of right now because of the fact that my brain is on overdrive.  All to say, I do so much that I don't slow down and it makes me weary.

What's even worse is I don't usually realize the weariness until I see it's fruits.  I see the beyond messy house.  I see my son eating macaroni and cheese for the second night in a row.  I see the tears streaming down my face after my husband just looks at me the wrong way.  I see the same sweatpants I've been wearing for 3 days.  I see the look on Ellis' face when his mom loses her cool over something not worth it.  I see friends and family who I haven't called or checked in on in weeks. 

We all need rest.  We were made to rest.  God, our perfect creator, needed rest.  and He designed us to need it, too.  And when we rest, we start to see the good fruits. 

So, as I've been trying to figure out the best way to recap my weekend, I came across this verse.  and I think it's perfect.  In this letter to the Corinthians, Paul is thanking his friends for the rest they provided him.  For the small break from all his laboring.  Paul truly understood the need for rest in order to continue on doing the good work.  And I truly needed the rest this weekend.

But I did it wrong.  Going to a conference once a year in hopes to be refreshed is silly.  As moms, we need to work on ways to input rest into our daily lives.  We need to find the things that make us happy and carve out time for them.   We need permission to go on those coffee dates.  We need to sign up for that bible study.  We need to call that friend that been offering to take our kids and take them up on it.  We need to make it a priority to find a little bit of quiet in our days.  It will make all the difference. 

And friends, God tells us to do it. Plain and simple.  

To the ladies ultimately responsible this weekend: Jessi, Haley, and Ashley (and many new friends, I won't even try and name you all, but you know who you are)  You all gave me rest and refreshed my spirit...please know you are deeply appreciated and fully recognized for all you did this weekend.