faith unfaded

Most of my life I had things out of whack.

Too much of one, not enough of the other. I was full throttle or sputtering out. I’d focus intensely on one area of my life while neglecting the others.

One of the most humbling and heartbreaking moments of my life came when I thought I was thriving in Oklahoma. I was teaching in an incredible school district while maintaining a 4.0 as I got my master’s degree. I was proud.

Playing charades with my teenagers one night, they started an impromptu “guess which family member this is” game. Going through the family and their trademark quirks, we roared with laughter.

Then my son did his impression of me.

His fingers typed on an imaginary keyboard while shushing the world with cries of not nows. They all laughed and shouted, “Mom!” in unison.

I was devastated.

I never told them what a failure I felt like that day, or how I tried desperately to change after that. I tried to be more present but the truth is, until I finished my grad degree, it took precedence over family time.

I tried balancing my life without God as my fulcrum for years.

Once He was firmly in the center, I no longer had to try to balance everything. I simply walk in the path He sets before me and the journey is seamless.

I drove to a church in Monroe yesterday morning to give my testimony. The drive over was spent in worship and praise. I ministered through sharing my message of surrender and hope. I listened as others shared their own tales following the service.

I stopped by a Smalls Sliders for lunch and created a TikTok about the upcoming opening of their Alexandria location which was reposted on a corporate site as well as a local news site.

I then spent a few hours at Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo, partly for my personal #zootouracrossAmerica and partly to research for an upcoming article on National Zookeepers Week.

I stopped at a park right after I left because I could. #swingtherapy I mean, what’s the point of being a grown-up if you can’t do what you want to do when you want to do it?! Isn’t that what we said as kids? “I can’t wait til I’m old enough to….” I’m pretty certain we didn’t end that statement with phrases like “take a nap” or “clean my linen closet!” Mary Mcnulty-Welcome

I caught up with friends over the phone on my way back to Alexandria and also spent more time in prayer before stopping at the grocery store for my parents before I went home.

I ended the evening with a card game and swing time with my dad and middle daughter, enjoying the moments that you remember most when all the rest is stripped away.

It is a balanced life now, a race run with ease. Not because the trials have been removed or the circumstances are always ideal, but because I fully surrendered my every thought and action to the One I owe my life to.