Thanks to all of you who stop by today after reading my "Do The Next Thing" devotion. Some of you will remember this ran originally as a blog post here. When I got a good response from you all, it convinced me I should format it as a devotion. I love when that works out because that way I know that what I wrote hit home with someone already!
As for me, my "next thing" is writing, writing and more writing-- finishing up the speaker book edits and making changes that were recommended to me in my critique group at the Colorado Christian Writers' Conference. This is still leeching into how much blogging time I get. But I am still optimistic that I will be back soon! My self-imposed deadline is June 1 for finishing up the changes to the manuscript... so until then I might be hit or miss.
Just for fun, leave a comment and share what your "next thing" is right now. Whether it's exercising, changing a diaper, signing a permission slip or running an errand there's never a shortage of "next things" to attend to in the lives of women... that's for sure! Thanks for visiting with me today!
44 comments:
I thought I was the only one awake right now in bloggy land...
My next thing is to complete homeschool portfolio nitty gritty stuff for the year.... PA is strict with paper work.
Thanks for the timely words in your devotion which presently apply to ALL aspects of my life in extreme ways!
God Bless!
My next thing is finishing my breakfast. Thanks for the encouragement! I forwarded it to my MOPS group.
Marybeth,
God is so good. This came at the perfect time (as God's timing is perfect) as I'm going through a difficult time with a friend right now. This was very encouraging to me. Thank you.
My next thing is to get the babies up, dressed, and fed breakfast. I find that I have the hardest time getting up and getting the day started but once it's started I just fall into routine. Thanks for planting encouragement in my heart today Marybeth!
Hey, Mary Beth,
I loved the devo! It truly is the only way to survive.....walking through the loss of our son Nick has been exactly this.........doing the next thing and then the next thing.....and before I know it, another day has been completed successfully!!! I keep telling myself that with enough "next things," we'll all be HOME for eternity!!!
Today, my "next thing" is getting my oldest son totally packed and out the door for his summer in Africa! YIKES!! He'll be working in a hospital in Kenya for 9 weeks! Hoping I don't cry when he leave....I want him to know how excited I am for him! He leaves around 1:30 today. Please keep him in your prayers. :)
Love,
tammy nischan
I work at a children's home and we have a young lady that is living there because she made bad choices in the past. She has made a complete change in her life and serves the Lord daily. She is getting ready to leave and go back home. I think this will help her in knowing what to do next. Thank you.
Cynthia
Too funny! The very next thing on my list to do is take a shower. I stink!
After that I need to make some phone calls and organize my summer writing schedule.
Thank you, Marybeth. I needed that today. I have been "stuck" for so long wondering what to do with my life. I keep asking God what is my purpose? I am just "waiting" on Him and each day I make it through the motions.
Thank-you for your words - I've been reading Proverbs 31 devos for about 2 years. They are always encouraging, but as I am a new mom of a 3 mo. old - your devotional today really resonated with me. Thank-you for reminding me how significant changing a diaper really is!
LOVED this! It came at the perfect time!
So, my next thing... finishing breakfast for my 2 boys (and me)!
Thanks for the devotional. It really encouraged me to "keep on going"!
Up next is to hit the local gym to get a workout in, then off to the kid's school to watch a state parade. We spend lots of time making a "Georgia" float on a wagon.
Thank you! I'm waiting on the birth of my twins, and trying to take care of my older 2 and manage being too huge to move has been really draining. So it's helpful to be reminded that I just have to go through one day at a time, that the babies will come soon, and that I don't have to manage the next 6 months... just today.
My next thing is spending time alone with God, giving him my "to do" list and asking Him what needs to be there and what I can let go!
What a beautiful family you have!
Blessings in Him,
Caroline
my next thing is to head out to do some errands and grocery shoping, hoping and praying it doesn't rain and trying to find the motivation to go if it does!!!
It amazes me and blesses me when it is brought to light that what I do, is actually scriptural. Since having kids, I would get overwhelmed as well. I started handing over my "to do" list to God each morning and I would simply ask Him what do I do first, then next? Thank you so much for sharing this enlightenment. I am encouraged to not fix what is not broken.
Dear Marybeth,
Thank you for passing along this Elizabeth Elliot quote and Oswald Chambers' thoughts.
Last week I just miscarried my "hoped to be" 4th child at 10 weeks gestation. This is particularly painful since I'm nearly 41 and realize this could be the end of childbearing. For some reason, searching out God's will in this situation and preparing to accept His will is heartwrenching.
While I'm very low emotionally and physically, I will sit down today and make that "to do" list while also trying to be patient and gentle with myself through this time of grief.
Thanks for your timely devotional.
Miriam
Marybeth,
You have no idea how perfect your timing was with this message. I just hung up after talking with a friend about how frustrating it is to feel "stuck in a desert" when what I want to do is move forward into a "vision". Thanks for confirming the fact that I can't get to the mountain without first dealing with the "minutia" along the way!
Kelley
Mary Beth,
You have no idea of the timing of this devotional. Thank you so much for doing the next thing and putting this into a devotional.
My next thing is to return some calls.
This is getting printed off so it will stay with me.
Marybeth,
Loved your post today, so simple, but yet very profound! Not feeling overwhelmed, just taking each task, one at a time! Thank you!
Lori - AZ
My next thing is to order my second daughter's wedding invitations. Like you, I am a busy mom of seven (most grown and married now). But there were days when I didn't think I could take another step but God would give me a vision of what was possible if I did. This daughter was a prodical and now I am ordering invitations for her to marry a wonderful, godly man. God is sooo good!!!
I am having so much fun reading about all your next things!! From diaper changes (one end of the mom spectrum) to ordering wedding invites for a daughter (the other), we are all busy but all making it one step at a time. Keep 'em coming!!
You know why you did this as today's devotional? Because it was just what the Lord wanted me to hear. We had a house fire and have been displaced for a little over a month now and it will probably be another 4 months until we can move back into our house. As you can imagine there is so much to do and take care of that some days I don't know where to turn or what to do. My first choice would be to curl up into a ball and cry myself to sleep, but that's not an option so your devotional really has given me a new way to get through today. I just need to do the next thing and right now it's as simple as go and curl my hair so that is what I will do. Thanks so much and please know that the Lord has used you today in my life.
Hugs,
Renee O.
www.stampinwithrenee.blogspot.com
ibecakes@airadvantage.net
Hi Marybeth!
Your devotion definitely hit home with me today! As the mother of a special-needs daughter, I often feel overwhelmed with meeting her needs, managing our way through the Community Health System, and navigating menopause symptoms. But if I do the next thing (for my daughter, family, etc.) I really do see Him (Jesus) in this! Thank you so much for the reminder!
The "next thing" for me is to get the house clean. I do not function when it is not clean and sparkly!
Thank you for this devotional. I am an avid listmaker, so I tend to know what my next thing is when I read it from my list. However, I have been struggling with realizing that life is not perfect enough to run by the list I make, and most of the time, some serious flexibility is in order.
My youngest daughter is 4 years old, and she's been sick since Monday morning, so my next thing is to check her temperature and sit for some cuddle time. When she is better, I will have to re-evaluate all those to-do's that did not get done.
Marybeth,
I loved, loved the devotion today. God's timing is always "spot on" as my teenagers say :-) My next thing is making a celebration lunch ... we just finished our school year and I have just completed 14 years of homeschooling! One thing and then the next is definitely the way to get it done.
God Bless and keep the devotions coming!!
My next thing is leaving in about 45 minutes to attend the 7th grade awards assembly at my daughter's school. Then the next thing is to apply to two more job openings this afternoon in my quest to find full-time employment.
Thanks for this - I have been having a harder time lately being in the moment with my three small boys as my brain kept jumping ahead to the numerous things I need to accomplish. One thing at a time - which will first be to make good quality time with them as they wake up from their naps!
My next thing is getting a summer routine together. I had a good system while kiddos were in school, so with today being the last day, I've got to come up with something good!
I have always been the kind of person who had a hard time waiting. I remember always counting down to special things when I was a little girl. It seems that God has used this aspect of my personality to teach me things my whole life. I am really unsure of what is coming next in my life, I feel led to work and help my husband with the daunting task of becoming debt free. Since I have four children ranging in ages 20 months to fourteen, this seems difficult to me . I am going to keep doing next things until I get there, praising God all the way. I have read this devotion here, and at proverbs 31, and love it alot thanks.
The next thing is laundry! It seems I never get caught up with six people in the house. I love the idea of just "do the next thing". I am going to post that in different places until it gets into my brain. I get very overwhelmed alot.
My next thing is packing my bag and our baby girl's bag for her upcoming arrival...I am 2 weeks away from her due date. This is getting so exciting! Baby #6 coming soon and then I will also have my 1/2 dozen!1
xoxo, Veronica in CA
Marybeth,
I put the kids down for a much needed nap and sat down at my computer so overwhelmed by the things I need to get done and no motivation to do it. My husband is working out of town most of the week so its usually me and my kids.
Before I read this devotional I asked the Lord to please help me and speak to me because I felt sooo overwhelmed!
He did!!!! Thank you for this devotional is exactly what I needed to hear!
God Bless!!
My next thing is to eat lunch at 2:42 p.m. CST. I woke up at 5 a.m. and refused to get up. I just laid there and prayed because I didn't want the day to start yet. Three of my boys are sick and I have a 7 week old. I was just feeling overwhelmed and depressed and not ready to face the day.
Psalm 61:2 says, "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 71:8 "Let my mouth be filled with praise and with thy honor all the day." I quoted all these scriptures because they tell me the next and most important thing to always do no matter what's on my to do list - stop, seek Him, rejoice and praise.
I'm learning to let go and serve Him with gladness because I know that when I serve my children and my hubby, I'm serving Him - I'm right where I need to be and He will provide enough strength and light for my next step.
God Bless You and the all the ladies at P31 ministries!
My next thing is to call the park to see if ball games are on due to rain. If so, I try to decide how to be in 2 places at once.
Marybeth I thank you for writing this devotion. Having a perfectionistic personality I can get overwhelmed with all I think I "need" to do. I have started praying that God will help me place my day in the proper order get done what He wants me to do. Thank you for a very timely devotion!
In Christ,
Brandee
My next thing is to bring back the prayers for a wayward sister.
I remember this as one blog post that made a tremendous impact on my life. It helped boatloads.
Thanks for sharing it in the form of a devotion. Looks like so many lives were touched, and mine again...
The next thing is finish cooking and getting dinner on the table.
I pray this idea helps me get organized and focused.
Dear Mary...
thank you so much for the timely devotional.... i normally get caught up with the schedule for the season... and i start worrying bout the end from the beginning...and because of my worry i end up with things half done... am so glad god used your devo to speak to me that all i need to do is the next thing at hand... and then the next... and then the next... which would take me to the end succeccfully without giving an opportunity or a place to worry...
god bless you and you use you much more to touch lives...
This was just great, as always I am a day behind on the devo's. I wished they could come to me at 4:00 EST instead of 7 or 8 because I am already at work. When I check my emails in the afternoon it is so hard to wait til the morning to read these, but I enjoy them much better in the quite of my morning. Thank you again, my next thing right now is to get up and go to work. I am sure after that there will be more.
This time last week - completely hopeless. Sitting in a cemetery with a gun- contemplating taking my own life.
Two very dear friends have come alongside me this past week, trying to help me get thru this season - but a week ago, they told me this very thing - Just do the next thing... that's all you have to do. So... that's what I've been trying to do... trying to find the strength to just keep going - that's my "next thing" right now.
A couple days ago, a friend also shared with me this story of Elijah - relating to his severe depression - and just doing the next thing to keep going.
When I read this devotion yesterday - with both of these concepts in it - I just felt like this is something the Lord is REALLY trying to get across to me right now... Still very much fighting just to get thru each day... but trying hard to just look to the next thing...
Thanks for sharing...
My next thing is to fill out daycare papers. I run a home daycare and the I need to fill out the take home papers explaining what we did all day and what we ate for lunch.
My next thing is decorating a birthday cake for my soon-to-be seven year old son, Logan!! It's an "under the sea" theme! Fun, fun!
My next thing probably should be to clean up my office but I am probably going to clean out my email next. It is getting piled up.
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