They Say Ash

God has to educate you before He can elevate you. I don’t know who needs to read (or hear) this message, but the wilderness season was never a waste of time!!!

The lessons the Israelites learned in the wilderness prepared them to prosper in the promised land. So if you find yourself in a wilderness season and you’re wondering what is taking you so long to elevate to a new dimension of success, just know that you need to learn the lessons God is trying to teach you right now. The faster you learn those lessons and develop the skills He is trying to teach you, the faster you will exit the wilderness and enter your promised land.

If you want to enter a new dimension of success, you have to be disciplined enough to gain the knowledge and develop the skills that will sustain you and allow you to flourish during your season of success. So if you are working towards something and wondering why it’s taking so long to happen, look around and within. Be open and disciplined enough to master the skills necessary to thrive. I promise you none of this will be in vain.

Dress-Target x Jenee Naylor for Future Collective

Photographer-Kofi James, taken at the Jersey Shore

Do you use seasons of waiting to learn and sharpen your skills?

Hey friends! It's hard to believe it's been over two years since I published a blog post. The last time we spoke on here, I was pregnant and fresh off my Saint Martin Baby moon/family vacation/anniversary trip. Now I'm a mom of two amazing little boys, and my youngest is two years old! I never knew my time and capacity would shift the way it did as I became of mom of two, but that is my reality as I dove deeper into motherhood and learned to navigate the waters with two sons with varying sets of needs. I have tried to come here and write a few times over the past two years, but life offline is so consuming, and it’s so much easier and faster to write an Instagram caption.

Juggling the demands of motherhood, being a present wife, a demanding career, going to the gym (more on that later), working nights, and barely getting 3-4 hours of sleep on work nights has been consuming so I want to share a message to moms and anyone else who finds themselves in an incredibly demanding season of life: You are doing a good job! The days are long and the nights are short. Sometimes you feel like you’re running on empty, but God gives you just enough grace and momentum to keep going. Like me, you may have had to press pause on some dreams and goals as the demands in your life intensified. There simply doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do and yet, you are accomplishing so much by meeting the needs of your priorities. Remember that you are a priority, too. Add taking care of yourself and doing things that bring you joy to your to-do list. Even if all you have is 15, 30, or 60 minutes to devote each day. The time you spend pouring into yourself is a worthy investment in your joy and overall well-being. Pick and choose your battles, and always remember that your joy and peace are of the utmost importance and worth fighting for.