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Advent

My Chosen [Third Thursday of Advent]

December 21, 2017 by Edie Wadsworth Leave a Comment

Isaiah  42: 1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him.

We still can’t stop talking about the weekend.

Bearing witness to beautiful things changes us, reshapes us in ways we don’t even realize.

And the essence of beauty is giving.  We are God’s chosen ones and He delights in us, like only a Father can.  He has put his Spirit in us so that we can freely give this gift of His love and light to others.

Christ is the ultimate beautiful.  He has come to give Himself away, in every possible way, even to the point of death, so that we may live abundantly.  There is an extravagance in the way beauty gives itself that teaches us maybe the most important life lesson.  What makes us beautiful is the way we lavishly give ourselves to others in a million little ways.  We dance, sing, cook, play, create, and practice the art of serving one another with our gifts.

The point was driven home a few years ago when I read the book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. They describe that beauty is not some ‘conjured up’ set of external qualities, but is instead the essence of what God has already put inside of us. We don’t strive to ‘gin up’ beauty, we simply let down the veil—to our hearts—to the part of us that inspires, comforts, speaks, invites, and nourishes. We let down our guard to the beauty God has placed there, making ourselves available and vulnerable. We generously give ourselves to others.  And we do that by being ‘at rest’, ‘at peace’ with who God has made us to be.

“A woman of true beauty is a woman who in the depths of her soul is at rest…..she exudes a sense of calm, and invites those around her to rest as well……she speaks comfort….she offers others the grace to be and the room to become….in her presence, we can release the tension and pressure that so often grip our hearts…..Her spacious beautiful soul invites other to come, to be, to taste see that the Lord is good…A woman who makes herself vulnerable and available for intimacy invites others to do the same….in her presence, you can breathe again, you are free to be you….she unveils her beauty and invites you to life.

May Advent teach us about unveiling our truest beauty and giving ourselves sacrificially to those we love.
If there is one thing our family and our world needs, it’s to see us without the veil, offering our hearts and our presence in tenderness, for the sake of seeing the grace of God born anew in us all.

 

Filed Under: Advent

Longing [Third Monday in Advent]

December 18, 2017 by Edie Wadsworth Leave a Comment

Psalm 119:81 My souls long for your salvation, I hope in your word. My eyes long for your promise.

I wish that were all true for me. The truth is, my soul longs for things not good for it, I often hope in the tangible things of this world that I can see. My eyes are too often fixed on the next thing I think I need.  My desires are all wrong.  I want the wrong things and those things—recognition, money, status, greed—never satisfy.  They only create in my heart more of the wrong longing.  My love and desire is corrupted.  I need retraining.

James K.A. Smith says, “In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our praise; we are called to worship because in this encounter God (re)makes and molds us top-down. Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our loves. Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts.”

I don’t go to the gym BECAUSE I’m strong, I go there to train my body to be stronger.  My daughter doesn’t dance six hours a day because she’s already a great athlete and dancer, she trains her body to do things it doesn’t naturally desire to do.  And then somewhere after practicing the habit over and over, her body wants to become better and better and is willing to do the work it takes.

And so with our faith life.  We don’t worship because we have the right desires and are spiritually strong.  Just the opposite.  We are weak and our desires are often jaded.  So in humility, we place ourselves in training, to hear the word and receive God’s gifts.   He so graciously remakes our hearts and re-forms our desires so that we finally begin to want what is truly good for us, what will make us happy and at peace.  Our habits, then, are the training ground for our desires, so that we learn to love what is good and right and pure.

 

Filed Under: Advent, faith

Wait & Believe [Second Thursday of Advent]

December 14, 2017 by Edie Wadsworth 1 Comment

Psalm 27: 13-14—I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.

I didn’t have anything but blind faith and belief.

And sometimes when that’s all you have, you realize it’s enough.

The evidence in my life that I could actually SEE told me this probably wasn’t possible.  My parents had neither one graduated from high school so who was I to believe I’d even get into medical school, let alone graduate.  There were plenty of naysayers and doubters.  How would I pay for it? How would I do it with two kids?  Did I really have what it took?  It felt like asking to be admitted to a fairy tale and then  asking that the fairy tale be true.

But I believed way deep down that God had something for me, that He created me for a reason, and I knew that He would open the right doors at the right time.  So I worked and studied as IF IT WERE TRUE.  I acted like someone who was going to medical school.

Faith in God is like that to me.  It feels so outlandish sometimes to believe it’s true, based on what I can SEE around me.  How can He love us when the world is so harsh and brutal? How can Christmas really be true? It sounds like a fairy tale, this Gospel message of Christ’s love.

Your belief will turn out to have been right because it will be a self fulfilling prophecy.  If you believe in the God of Christmas, the One who comes humbly to offer Himself to the world, the One who saves and rescues us, the One who has done everything to ransom us—then that is the God you will find.  You will be invited into the most incredible story ever told.

But  your unbelief will turn out to be true too.  It will condemn you because you just cannot fathom that this Christmas story is real, that it applies to you in 2017, that the God of the universe stooped down so low to become a babe in a manger in order to usher in the salvation of the world.

Believe and you will be saved.  Beg him to give you belief and He will. It is His free gift. Say with the saints of old, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”

And you will find a God of mercy and love and grace and forgiveness.  You will always find what you are looking for.  Believe before you see evidence.  Believe and wait and God will wow you with His goodness and usher you into his kingdom which has no end.  Your “once upon a time” begins today.  It’s grander and more glorious than you imagine.  Your Prince of Peace has come.

Filed Under: Advent

Fresh Joy [Second Wednesday of Advent]

December 13, 2017 by Edie Wadsworth 1 Comment

Isaiah 29: 19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord.

I knew she about to cry.

And I heard all the things she couldn’t say.

She looked at me with eyes that are learning about the hardness of the world.  She needs my truth and my  story because her battles will be impossible sometimes.  She’s learning loss and betrayal and I hate it so bad for her. And I know that this is only the beginning.  She will walk through fire and hard rain.  She will know heights of joy she never thought possible but there will also be the depths of sorrow unspeakable.

This is what it means to be a woman—covered in roses and babies and secrets and pain.

So, I sit awhile and listen.  I can’t fix it, but I try to nurture and love and serve—to show kindness and mercy in a world hell bent on hurt and hate.

I stay.  I tidy up the room.  I stroke her hair and pat her back.

And in a strange way, these moments make room for real joy.  The joy that comes from forgetting about ourselves for awhile and bearing the hurt of others. The joy that comes from feeling empty and so spent  that God can finally fill us with His comfort, His truth about who we are and WHOSE we are.  The joy that comes in the morning, though the night has been sown in tears.

Frederick Buechner says, “Joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances, even in the midst of suffering, with tears in its eyes….”

May you see the joy of Advent, even through the tears.  Christ has come.  All is well.

Filed Under: Advent, faith

Wonder of All Wonders [Second Tuesday of Advent]

December 12, 2017 by Edie Wadsworth 1 Comment

Jude 21 “But you beloved, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of Lord Jesus Christ, that leads to eternal life.”

I was 13 and I wanted to know God so bad. I wanted an inside track. I wanted to be sure that he could love someone like me.  He walked into my life wearing the skin of my basketball coach.  He gave me rides and fed me and taught me how to shoot jump shots.  He made me laugh and challenged me like a father would. And I learned something so precious about the mercy of God.

It comes to you disguised as your neighbor.  The one who steps in and takes care of you, the kindness of strangers, the hands of the one who gives you communion, the feet of the lady bringing your dinner. God’s mercy is infinite and never more present than right now in the beautiful ways He is meeting your every need.  And YOU, too, are that mercy, those hands, that kindness to others today. God is near. He hides himself in your husband and children and when you serve them, you become His love and mercy incarnate.  Advent teaches us the wonder of all wonders.  God is here and He is for us and all heaven is behind us, begging us to see the everyday miracle of God’s love and mercy in the flesh, standing right in front of us. The question is, has He come to us so plain and lowly that we fail to recognize him?

Bonhoeffer says, “And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly….God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as His instruments and performs wonders where one would least expect them.  God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak, and the broken.”

 

 

Filed Under: Advent, faith

Eyes to See [Second Monday of Advent]

December 11, 2017 by Edie Wadsworth Leave a Comment

Isaiah 35: Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared.

Thomas is 5 and is a passionate fan of trucks with trailers.

He notices EVERY SINGLE ONE, no matter how many happen to be on the road at any given time in East Tennessee.  (that would be a LOT)

And he gets just as excited about each one as if it were the first one (and not the hundredth) he’s seen today.  And since we drive an hour to church one way, it can be a little, shall we say, redundant.  But he doesn’t care.  We can drive past ten trucks with trailers and there is a 100% chance that when we drive past one 2 minutes from now, it will be as if we are driving past it for the first time.  Repeat that process ten, twenty, a thousand  times and the enthusiasm for driving past the trucks with trailers does not wane.

It’s been SO good for my teenage girls to see because when he delights in something with SO MUCH FERVOR, it’s hard not to enjoy it with them.  And it begins to eat away at the cynicism with which we as adults see the world.

It’s so easy to be so stressed or so distracted that we don’t see anything anymore.  Snarkiness and apathy creep in.  It takes so much to impress us or wow us or cause us to feel delight.

GK Chesterton says, “The capacity for wonder and delight can be recovered by admitting we’ve been wrong. We’ve taken the world for granted. We’ve forgotten to be inspired by the apple.  We’ve forgotten to be amazed that the sun rises every morning. We’ve lost the will to see the miracles that surround us every day.”

Lord, open our cynical and tired eyes to the delight and mystery all around us.  Forgive us for losing our childlike wonder.  Give us eyes to see the wonder this Advent season.

Filed Under: Advent, faith

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ediewadsworth

Coach. Healer. Life Mentoring School.
💕💕I help women heal & rediscover their purpose & calling.💕💕 Click below for my free purpose field guide!

Dr. Edie Wadsworth|Lifeingrace
A little cheer for your Friday at mine and Tom’ A little cheer for your Friday at mine  and Tom’s expense😂😂🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
“Do not waste time bothering whether you “love “Do not waste time bothering whether you “love” your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will presently come to love him.” – C.S. Lewis
Grab your coffee because you do NOT want to miss t Grab your coffee because you do NOT want to miss this behind the scenes chat. ❤️❤️❤️

Me and a couple of my brave friends taught a class this week called Lucy Libido.  It’s in my private group but I’m downloading it so I can send it to you if you want it. It’s THE ACTUAL BEST.  Especially when you watch the faces of @candacecrabtree  and @kellylynam  as I teach.  Lemme know in the comments if you want the link by showing me your most used emoji❤️❤️❤️❤️
My forever valentine is pretty handy to have aroun My forever valentine is pretty handy to have around. He’s my favorite hiking partner and an excellent homebody, like me. 😂🥳❤️

Almost exactly 21 years ago today, we ran our first half marathon together in Strawberry Plains.  Right before  the race started , in the front seat of his Honda Accord, he gave me a steroid shot in my foot so I could actually complete the race. Don’t worry, he’s also an excellent podiatrist. The race folks passing by our car didn’t know that though. 😂🕺🏻 

The whole race he kept telling me to keep a steady pace. “You keep running really fast for a while and then slowing way down.” Little did he know that he was witnessing the cautionary tale of life with me. There’s 100 miles a hour and there’s in bed with my biomat.  I don’t have the steady pace gear setting.  Thankfully, he does and keeps me from running myself into the ground. I like to think I keep him entertained with my flashes of crazy woman intensity.  At least that’s what I tell myself. 💃🏼💃🏼💃🏼

Give me a ❤️ in the comments if you and your honey pie are exact opposites.  Happy love weekend.
As a physician and a long time skeptic of almost a As a physician and a long time skeptic of almost anything “natural,” including my hair color 😂😍, I’m no stranger to doubts and confusion and lackluster results around essential oils. And by the way, nobody thought they were WEIRDER than me:)) I bought my first starter kit so my friend would stop telling me how much I was sure to love the oils.  In other words, so she’d  hush up about oils already. (😂love you forever @fieldstonehill )

Honestly, I thought it was the craziest thing I had ever paid good money for.

And as a certified skeptic who let her kit languish in the recesses of her china cabinet for a year, I hope to dispel a few of the myths that often surround oils so you can feel confident and empowered and EDUCATED to make these little gems part of your mama toolbox. We absolutely have no idea how we would live without them in our house. Just ask Stevie. 

So join me tomorrow for an  awesome online class where I shall bust the myths surrounding these little miracle drops.  Tell your friends, sisters, Momma's and bff's to join us for a fun, informative and jam packed online class!! I'll take you through the 7 Myths About Oils & the Truths that will surprise you ALONG with BONUS CONTENT about which oils you shouldn’t be without for use “after hours”💃🏼💃🏼🕺🏻🕺🏻

I’ll be streaming it live to You Tube at 
Noon tomorrow!!

Remember I’m giving away an EPIC diffuser tomorrow so comment below with your questions or thoughts about these unicorn tears or something you USED to think about oils before you actually tried them.  Your comment will enter you for the giveaway!!

Ps. I can’t  wait to share my own story with you about the absolute transformation those little bottles created in my own life🤓🍃💪🏼😍🤓

Pss. Giving a diffuser tour tomorrow in stories.  All 18 of them. 😳😱🥳🥳
Okay let’s play a game called how many diffusers Okay let’s play a game called how many diffusers does Ms Edie have going in her house on any given day??? (Not counting the ones in boxes in my Young Living hoard😂🤩)

Your guess will enter you for my giveaway of this AMAZING diffuser, only in white!! It’s actually still available for a VERY LIMITED time so grab it while you can!!

Also for your supreme entertainment, Tom did a polar plunge in the lake today at a chilly 35 degrees. Check out my stories for a good laugh😱❄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️
Let me brighten up your Monday with my favorite ra Let me brighten up your Monday with my favorite rainbow of magic plant juice!

This amazing diffuser (the one with the wood trim, which has been out of stock for EVER) has had a makeover and is now available in WHITE!!!!

AND???

I’m giving one away this week here on IG and here’s how you enter to win!

1. Like and comment on all 5 posts this week (Monday-Friday).

2. Comment on this post and tell me what your favorite YL product is OR what your curious about when it comes to oils or natural health.

3. TAG a friend on THIS post and if you end up winning the diffuser, I’ll send them the OTHER diffuser in this picture. (It’s called the Desert Mist and is also one of my FAVES!)

THAT is all.

Yay for diffusers and plant juice and magic potions.

Happy MONDAY!!!!

Ps. This will likely sell out fast so if you are already with Young Living you should grab it soon and if you are not you can get a basic kit to get started and then that will allow you to order this diffuser. Message me here if you need help!! You can go to ediewadsworth.com to order through my link and get added to my private education group❤️
“We are above all things loved--that is the good “We are above all things loved--that is the good news of the gospel--and loved not just the way we turn up on Sundays in our best clothes and on our best behavior and with our best feet forward, but loved as we alone know ourselves to be, the weakest and shabbiest of what we are along with the strongest and gladdest. To come together as people who believe that just maybe this gospel is actually true should be to come together like people who have just won the Irish Sweepstakes. It should have us throwing our arms around each other like people who have just discovered that every single man and woman in those pews is not just another familiar or unfamiliar face but is our long-lost brother and our long-lost sister because despite the fact that we have all walked in different gardens and knelt at different graves, we have all, humanly speaking, come from the same place and are heading out into the same blessed mystery that awaits us all. This is the joy that is so apt to be missing, and missing not just from church but from our own lives--the joy of not just managing to believe at least part of the time that it is true that life is holy, but of actually running into that holiness head-on.”
― Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons
2 years ago today, your world shattered into a mil 2 years ago today, your world shattered into a million pieces.

Sometimes I marvel at how we were blessed enough to be there holding you when it all came crashing down. I do know this—I can’t remember my life without you.

I do know that thousands of tears and meals and boo-boos and toy trucks later, we stand in awe of you---your courage, your brave big boy fight, your tender little boy heart, your hilarious old man ways. 

We know how sacred this walk with you is and we don’t take it lightly.

We are here for it all and we couldn’t be more grateful.

We have always loved you and you have always been our special gift.

 Love you little one. Let’s keep listening for Aslan. He will find a way to put everything back together. 

“Herein lies the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid.”
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