{"id":20429,"date":"2018-10-15T10:07:09","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T14:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=20429"},"modified":"2018-10-17T06:55:43","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T10:55:43","slug":"monday-morning-moment-a-family-gathering-reminder-to-do-the-next-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=20429","title":{"rendered":"Monday Morning Moment – a Comforting Reminder When Family Gathered – “Do the Next Thing”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Francis J. Gavin, Kristian Dela Cour<\/a><\/p>\n

This morning I woke weighed down with so much undone that needing doing. A week of travel, as delightful as it was, lends itself to a deep sleep on Sunday night and an early fretful waking on a Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Do you have those awakenings? When your mind clears from sleep and you begin looking at the week ahead and think “How am I going to get it all done?” Or “How do I even do it?” Anxiety builds, and depression follows.<\/p>\n

That’s how this morning started…and then the heaviness lifted with the simplest thought. A reminder I received just this weekend…a reminder that stirred sweet memories of a woman with huge influence on my younger years…writer Elisabeth Elliot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On our trip to see family this past week, we had an evening with girl talk. Four generations of women around the dinner table, laughing, sharing, and remembering. [I know men do this, too – how else do they keep all those football, baseball, and fishing trip stories so fresh in their memories?]<\/p>\n

In the course of the warm glow of that conversation, my dear sister-in-law, Stacie, reminded her girls of how she counseled with them through their high school angsty moments. She told us she used to\u00a0 quote Elisabeth Elliot<\/a>‘s own advice to her daughter, Valerie, when she was overwhelmed by life: “Do the next thing.” <\/strong><\/p>\n

[Stacie sounded just like Elisabeth Elliot as well…took me back to when I was her girls’ ages and first began reading Elliot’s books, including her husband Jim’s journals<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Elisabeth Elliot died in 2015, but through her life she wrote many books that had huge impact on my life. From my teen years. Books that remain treasures today…\"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Blog-Elisabeth-Elliot-Love-is-a-Laid-Down-Life.jpg\"<\/p>\n

For years after, as a struggling mom with young children, I would tune into her daily radio shows – Gateway to Joy<\/a> – listening to her “square-your-shoulders” walk-with-God counsel. Her manner was both tough and tender as she covered the real stuff of life and how we maneuver through it in the presence of God.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: AZ Quotes<\/a><\/p>\n

This morning, in the cloud of confusion over where to even begin this week, God brought our dinner table conversation to mind. Hearing Stacie quoting Eliot in that no-nonsense voice of hers made me laugh then, and smile today.<\/p>\n

Four little words that brought clarity.<\/p>\n

“Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business. If I peer anxiously into the fog of the future, I will strain my spiritual eyes so that I will not see clearly what is required of me now…Do the next thing.<\/strong>“<\/em> – Elisabeth Elliot<\/a><\/p>\n

When You Don’t Know What to Do<\/em> – (a tribute to Elisabeth Elliot) – Rhonda Quaney<\/a><\/p>\n

On the Passing of Elisabeth Elliot – Love Is a Laid Down Life<\/em> – Deb Mills<\/a><\/p>\n

Love Is a Laid-Down Life\u00a0 – a Slowing Down for a Season<\/em> – Deb Mills<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Pinterest, AllysTruth<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video: Elisabeth Elliot: Suffering Is Never For Nothing<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Francis J. Gavin, Kristian Dela Cour This morning I woke weighed down with so much undone that needing doing. A week of travel, as delightful as it was, lends itself to a deep sleep on Sunday night and an early fretful waking on a Monday morning. Do you have those awakenings? When your … Continue reading Monday Morning Moment – a Comforting Reminder When Family Gathered – “Do the Next Thing”<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5628,34,1705,1618,1148,6548,2307,147,903,33,3742,1732,5130,317,263,888,1450,353,1437,5227,761],"tags":[4452,4455,1426,418,6552,6551,1424,6554,1459,1458,2960,6549,6553,6550,368,1522],"class_list":["post-20429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anxiety","category-books","category-conversations","category-courage","category-critical-thinking","category-depression","category-emotions","category-family-2","category-grace","category-inspired","category-laughter","category-leadership","category-legacy","category-lessons-learned","category-lives-full-of-god","category-memories","category-monday-morning","category-monday-morning-moment","category-mothers","category-productivity","category-redeeming-restoring","tag-anxiety","tag-depression","tag-do-the-next-thing","tag-elisabeth-elliot","tag-fretting","tag-gateway-to-joy","tag-jim-elliot","tag-life-is-a-laid-down-life","tag-monday-morning","tag-monday-morning-moment","tag-mothers","tag-overwhelmed","tag-rhonda-quaney","tag-struggle","tag-suffering","tag-worry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-5jv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20429"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20451,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20429\/revisions\/20451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}