Pearls & Pumas

An Encouraging Anchor for Your Week Is Your Planning Making Room for What Matters? What if better planning starts by asking God what deserves your YES and trusting Him with what grows? Hey Reader! Just this week, I woke up on what I thought was a glorious Friday morning, only to realize it wasn't Friday...it was Thursday! I was so depleted that I had the entire day of the week wrong! I hadn't exercised since Monday, and somewhere along the way, I realized I'd started losing touch with who I...

An Encouraging Anchor for Your Week Learning to Practice What I Preach ***** So... I didn't plan for this email today. And I'm going to be real with you when I say I spent far too much time beating myself up over that. I kept thinking about what I should have done. So, I found myself staring at a blinking cursor, feeling strangely numb and wondering if I was using the time God has blessed me with the way He intended. And here's the thing: Writing these weekly emails often reminds me that I...

An Encouraging Anchor for Your Week A Growth Mindset Starts with What You Believe Don't let yesterday's limitations keep you from tomorrow's calling. God is still growing you. Math has never been my thing. And when I say, never, I mean forever never. Even 'till this day I'm haunted by the memories of how my lack of math skills had me stuck in a random room in the fourth grade (with other classmates who apparently lacked the same skills). And then, in high school, I never actually made it to...

An Encouraging Anchor for Your Week Living the Vision You Prayed For When the excitement fades, faithfulness begins. Intentional Planning Part 7 Over the past several weeks, we’ve spent time talking about our mission, identifying the vision God has placed on our hearts, and creating goals that align with His purpose rather than our own. We even paused for a bit, talked about planner paralysis, and reminded ourselves that intentional planning isn’t about filling every square on a calendar, but...

An Encouraging Anchor for Your Week The Space Between the Plans While we've been talking about creating goals that align with our compass, I wanted to take a moment to share a quote I read by Lysa TerKeurst that literally stopped me in mid-planning mode: “ "Never is a woman so fulfilled as when she chooses to underwhelm her schedule so she can let God overwhelm her soul." — Lysa TerKeurst Underwhelm my constant moving... my loaded schedule... to be overwhelmed... by GOD. I don't know about...

An Encouraging Anchor for Your Week The Planning Pause I Didn't Know I Needed... Sometimes the most productive thing we can do is stop focusing on tomorrow and fully embrace today. I know we've been on this intentional planning thing for a few weeks, but we're taking a break this week. Why? So, me, the hubs, and Sofie took an amazing vacay with our family for a week, and logging in to any device was limited. And I'm not kidding when I say every email to you, my awesome subscribers, takes me...

An Encouraging Anchor for Your Week What Does Living Out Your Mission Statement Actually Look Like? Intentional Planning Part 6 Hey Reader, Trust you've been killing it this week with your roles, goals, and personal mission statement! 😎 (And if you haven't, there's no judgment here, you can always revisit the latest I sent out to help you get your groove back). The first time I wrote my personal mission statement, I was so motivated, inspired, and ready to take on the world. But then life...

An Encouraging Anchor for Your Week Writing Down What God Is Revealing Intentional Planning Part 5 Disclosure: This post may have 'affiliate links.’ The affiliates and products I share are those I believe in. Should you click on the link and purchase the item, I may receive a commission at no cost to you. Hey Reader, Over the last few weeks, we've spent time evaluating the roles we carry and asking whether the goals we're pursuing align with God's purpose for our lives. We've reflected, asked...

An Encouraging Anchor for Your Week Intentional Planning Part 4: When Good Goals Aren't God Goals Hey Reader, You know what a lot of people don't tell you about goal setting? Not every goal is meant to be pursued. Have you ever chased a goal because it sounded impressive, looked productive, or seemed like what you "should" do, only to discover later it wasn't what God had for you? I know I have. In fact, while writing this post, I literally asked God to remind me of a goal I tried to force...