I am so excited to have Sheila Walsh guest posting today. I love Sheila Walsh. It is rare that a day goes by that I don’t laugh out loud at something that she posts on twitter. Everyone should follow Sheila because she is hilarious. But Sheila is also poignant, insightful, brave and boldly honest. A powerful combination. Which she uses for good. Sheila Walsh is the author of numerous books including The Shelter of God’s Promises.

I love that Lindsey has made honesty her word for the year. On the news, via twitter, in person, on stage – the truth can be hard to nail down. But lately I’ve been struck again by perhaps the most important place for honesty and truth: in our own minds and hearts.

I don’t think we consciously mean to lie to ourselves, but we do it all the time: I’m not good enough, no one loves me, my life doesn’t matter…

Over the years I have believed an ocean of lies. But I’ve found it usually starts with just one. As I allow that lie to seep into my thinking, it distorts everything else and soon I find myself in a storm where I can’t trust my own perspective.

There’s only one absolutely reliable antidote: God’s Word. The Hebrew words we translate as “promise” actually meant “to say” or “to speak.” In other words, God doesn’t need the word “promise” as His word is enough. If everything we said were true, there would be no need for us to “promise,” either. In reality, that only works with God. When God says something, it is true. No exaggeration, no twisting, no unhealthy agenda. He cannot lie, so His Word is truth and you can stake your life on it.

So that’s where I’m trying to train my gaze this year: on His truth, not mine.

What lies do you find slipping into your thinking when you least expect it?

What truths or promises do you cherish when that happens?

If you would like to win a copy of The Shelter of God’s Promises, simply leave a comment answering one of the questions above. I will randomly choose 5 commenters on Friday and will notify them via email.

I have been traveling the last five weekends.

I don’t how it happened exactly. I would have never planned it that way but…

There was a wedding of a close friend and co-worker in Dallas. There was a Women of Faith conference that my sister and Bianca could attend. There was a baby shower in Birmingham that I was helping host. There was Thanksgiving in Asheville with the whole family. There was a reunion of Compassion Bloggers at Deeper Still.

They all seemed like opportunities I could not turn down. So I went. Every weekend. For the last five weekends.

And it wore me out. My house is a wreck. My bills are piled up high on my desk waiting to be paid. My puppy has been neglected. My friends haven’t been properly loved on. My life is in general disarray.

But I learned a lesson. There is always a lesson.

I need to learn to say “no.” (Let’s practice it together…”nooooooo.”) I need to build more margin in my life. I need to build in down time so I can fully enjoy the experiences I say “yes” to. This is key…I found myself so tired last weekend in Birmingham that I couldn’t fully revel in the incredible opportunity at hand. (Shame on me.) I found myself knowing exactly what Beth meant when she said, “Our treasure gets lost in the same trash as our time. Where there is no margin, there is no treasure.”

In 2011, I am going to TRY to living with a new rule.

I will be in town at least 2 weekends a month.

We’ll see if I can do it. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy being in Nashville the next few weekends.

What kinds of boundaries do you put around your time?

A week or so ago, I traveled to Dallas, Texas for the Women of Faith Conference.

Women of Faith is a division of Thomas Nelson and so it was essentially a work trip. And candidly, without my connection to Thomas Nelson, I probably wouldn’t have attended a Women of Faith conference.

You see I don’t typically enjoy being in extremely large groups of women, and that is what this is, a group of 16,000 women to be specific. (I know its weird, but sometimes lot and lots of women in a confined space make me feel overwhelmed and not in a good way.)

Not attending Women of Faith would have been a big mistake because Women of Faith should not be missed. Here’s why:

1. Mary Graham and her team know how to produce an event. For fifteen hours you can sit in a chair and be totally and completely entertained. There is literally never a dull moment. (more…)

Have you ever broken a record before? Seriously a legitimate record? I break silly records all the time: most hours spent on the couch, number of tweets in a fifteen minute period, times using the word “hilarious” in a conversation. (I annoy myself with how much I use the word “hilarious” but I just can’t seem to stop.) But I don’t know if I have ever broken a legitimate record. Until this weekend.

This weekend at the Women of Faith conference in Dallas, Texas, I was a part of something pretty amazing. I helped break a record. And not just some stupid record, but one that I can be proud of.

We (that is me and the other 15,999 attendees of the conference) broke the record for the for the most WorldVision children sponsored at a Women of Faith Conference EVER. Over 1,500 kids were sponsored. Over 1,500 lives were changed.

I sponsored a little girl named Workezeb from Ethiopia. (more…)