How to add more fun into my life

As Mama’s with full schedules how do we add more fun into our every day lives?

In a past post I shared with y’all how to add more happiness and joy into our lives.

I feel the two are connected.

I want us to start with prayer.

Always begin with prayer.

Inviting The Lord into our every day lives is not only advised, I don’t know how else we will make it.

Truthfully.

I visited with a dear friend for a few minutes this week in the hall while waiting for our parent orientations to begin.

I told her, “The summer was good, it started out super bad.” Bad how? “Well, you know people dying.”

That’s never fun to talk about. But I leaned into that moment and shared my reality.

Life has been very difficult, but The Lord has also brought us so much joy.

I will not tell you it has been through the circumstances, because sometimes it just isn’t made right on this side of Heaven.

Sometimes we still ache and miss and wonder, and that is okay.

It is okay that we don’t have perfect answers and solutions. I can’t confidently say, “I understand why this happened.”

Because more often than not, I certainly don’t. I will tell you this, as I told my dear friend, I had forgotten what it was like to not be on the verge of tears all the time.

I had forgotten what it was like to feel a deep sense of Joy. Happiness that overflows.

Even in the midst of the hardships.

Let me see if I can explain what I mean, in life, whatever we are facing, we can still experience Gods peace and Gods comfort.

His joy, it is tangible. It is not dependent on our current circumstances. It is life giving. Ever flowing. Like a river.

When fun is hard to come by.

The weight of grief we had been walking in and other difficult life circumstances had left me pretty wiped and wondering how long it would be before clarity of mind would return.

The truth is, there is no set number of days. No predetermined time to grieve.

I have walked through grief many times in my life to know the tears do eventually stop.

Not because we stop caring, but because by some mystery The Lord collects them all. Not one is wasted.

Whatever you are facing today, I want to share with you some of the simple practices that have helped me to regain clarity and yes, even fun.

When guilt moves us from fun and joy.

When I didn’t want to do the fun things because guilt is real, and we can often as survivors wonder if it’s okay to continue to have fun after we have lost the ones we love.

I know I have experienced this multiple times in my life.

Especially after our little darling experienced a tremendous miracle in her body, one that many do not receive.

While I don’t have all the answers I have come to this conclusion after years of walking with The Lord through darkest of valleys.

Guilt is not of God.

Shame. Condemnation, these are not of God. (Romans 8)

When I experience guilt, shame and condemnation I know that these are not of God. I surrender to Father the very real emotions attached to these and ask Him to show me what the truth is.

Father has joy for us. Peace for us.

The enemy?

He comes to kill, steal and to destroy.

Of course he doesn’t want us to rejoice in the life that we have. He wants us to be miserable and to question Gods goodness, to doubt His provision.

All things I have done.

Because when clarity leaves, confusion sets in and causes much chaos in our minds.

Here is where fun must come in.

Fun for me sometimes looks like, inviting friends over.

This summer especially has been filled with many playdates. Many more than in years combined.

I truly believe it is because the sorrow we were carrying was such a load to bear that Father wanted us to open up our home and hearts to others who are either hurting just as we were or to share the surpassing riches of Gods love.

We still need people. Even when we don’t want to be around them.

I don’t know if this is difficult for you, as it is for me sometimes. The truth is, when I am hurting, the last thing I want is to be around other people.

I want to sit alone in silence with The Lord. As you can imagine in a large household, this doesn’t happen very often.

But Father invites us anyway. Because we can’t wait for the perfect moments when it is all peaceful and quiet to commune with God.

Or when life feels more manageable to invite our people over. This beautiful song played on loop for a couple of weeks. Enjoy.

Sister, it is right here, in the middle of the hard, that God invites us to invite others in. For our good, their good and His glory.

Through fun and play.

This summer I left our home before 10am to meet friends at the splash pad and at their pool. I made sure to tell her, “I really like you, because I don’t leave my house this early.”

Father also had me wake up before the sun to meet a dear friend for coffee, because my sister works a full time job and needed to meet at that time.

I drove to another town about an hour away to sit with a dear friend at her child’s swim practice. She grabbed yummy tacos for us to enjoy.

The Lord continues to be faithful. Reminding me, we meet people where they are.

How kind of Father to first show me. He leads by example, our Savior King.

He brings joy and sweetness into our lives, O, that we would have eyes to see His goodness even here.

Ways to add more fun into your days:

I am going to ask you a series of questions that I hope will help you to discover some ways to add more fun into your life.

These are some of the questions I have asked myself through out the years. Especially of seasons of walking through deep depression and anxiety.

When fun feels harder to come by, harder to see.

As Mama’s we are always thinking of our children. How to bring more laughter, beauty and joy into their lives.

Father has this for you too! His daughters. He loves us, sister.

The questions:

What do you enjoy doing?

What brings you joy?

What makes you happy?

What makes you laugh?

What makes you come alive?

What makes you want to get up and dance?

What makes you feel like a child again?

What makes you feel excited?

What makes you laugh?

What adds wonder and awe to your life?

I would love for you to sit with Father and just have fun asking yourself these questions. See what you come up with!

Grab a pen and paper and start writing!

Make a fun list.

When I am making these types of lists with my kiddos we label them, “Things to do that don’t cost”, “Things we have to save for.”

These two are only a couple of the lists we make.

Clearly I love to make lists, as a natural planner it has been a learning curve to surrender to Father, to hold my plans loosely but nonetheless present them before Father.

He is such a good and Faithful God. I know He will show you!

More times than I can count I share with you the post on making friends, and here is why, we need friends y’all!

It doesn’t matter if it is only one friend. If you have one friend, you have found a treasure!

If you are still sitting here wondering how to make friends or why it all matters.

I want you to check out the Friendship series.

I pray these posts will serve as a guide to help you navigate life.

I am thankful you are here.

Know that I am praying for you. For The Lords tangible love to hold you close and give you the courage to show up for your life as fully as He has for you, in this season.

Blessings sister, blessings!

Dig deeper

John 7 (Jesus crying out in a loud triumphant voice, “If anyone believes in me, out of him will FLOW rivers of living water!) John 10:27, Psalms 37:4

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Thankful for you!