I can take no credit for the content in this post. I come to you today only as a scribe. But so many of you told me that my post on choosing life resonated so deeply with you, that I thought you might also enjoy these words from Jill Savage. But first, who is Jill Savage, and how did she end up on The Rescued Letters?
I met Jill at the She Speaks 2016 conference in Charlotte several months ago. She Speaks is a Proverbs 31 Ministries conference for Christian women led to write, speak, and lead in women’s ministry. The story of how I ended up there is evidence of God’s gracious hand in all things, and one that I promise to tell you later. So you can imagine my surprise when I sat down to hear Jill speak to the writers at the conference and she asked us to open our Bibles to the last few verses of Deuteronomy 30, the very same verses that God drew me to as I was shoulder-deep in battling anxiety this past winter.
Specifically, Jill spoke on those two words that jumped off the pages at me in those dark days: choose life. Her message was geared towards writers, intent on living out the ministry that God has called them to, but I think her message also applies to what we are doing here in our series on battling anxiety.
Jill leads Hearts at Home, a ministry for equipping moms in all season of motherhood, but you can also read more about her incredible story here. I think you’ll enjoy her wisdom based on Deuteronomy 30 about the daily choices we can make to live effectively for God.
7 Practical Ways to Choose Life Everyday, from Jill Savage
- Choose people over projects. God calls us to love the person right in front of us. This could be your child, your spouse, your family member, or your coworker. Pay attention to where God is sending you on this day, and love the people he places in your path.
- Choose God over goals. We may have to grieve the loss of our dream to make room for where God wants us to go. He has plans for us. If He opens a door you don’t have on your radar screen, be prepared to adjust and trust that His plans for you are good.
- Choose margin over mayhem. The moments in our lives where we can retreat from the world and listen to God speak are our margins. Silence is where God gives us our marching orders. We need margin to create, to live effectively, and to handle whatever comes our way.
- Choose mission over money. Whatever God is calling you to do, do it because it’s a part of who God made you to be.
- Choose perfected over perfect. We have a tendency to compare our insides to other’s outsides. Change the story you see in your head when you look at someone else – she has a back story that you don’t know. There is no perfect, but God is perfecting us everyday.
- Choose calling over counting. Your story is powerful and the human experience is far more important than any tools you may use to rate your worth. Let God do the counting while you pursue your calling.
- Choose love over lists. Compassion for others has to rule everything we do, and it must be at the top of every one of our to-do lists.
Until tomorrow, carry on warriors.
[…] to break through the fog. My friend and fellow VEDS survivor Heather Dixon shares Jill Savage’s 7 Practical Ways to Choose Life Every Day. (And sometimes in suffering this means taking a shower, going for a walk, or talking to a […]