More than Enough: Soul Restoration

Welcome to folks stopping by from Shelley's blog, Renaissance Wyoming on the Soul Restoration blog hop. (For a complete list of all the blogs on the hop, visit Judy at Be Present Be Real.)

I've been talking smack about how far to go with things, telling you not-so-much is best a lot of the time. I've been preaching not going overboard on things that don't really matter all that much. But there are certain things that just won't survive in "just enough."

Redemption     Beauty     Joy     Love

The things my soul needs, it needs in abundance. My frig can handle a little dirt. My soul needs its corners swept and its wood polished.

This January I didn't even have the strength to lift the polishing rag. Seriously. I was depleted. Beyond repair. Done. Out. Down for the count. Disqualified from the race. Over the hill. Beyond help. [Insert your own defeatism cliche here.] I just couldn't figure out how I was ever going to unfreeze and get on with life.

2010 had felt like a disaster. Between home schooling my four children, holding down the fort while my husband traveled the country half the year, and taking in his sick, elderly aunt, I lost myself. Oh, not in the psychological mumbo-jumbo way, but in reality--I lost my brown hair to the gray monster; I lost weight to stress; I lost eyesight to age; and I lost my sense of peace. Most alarming, I lost my creativity! [I feel closest to God and who He made me to be when I am creating. Yet here I was looking at my craft supplies thinking I should donate them all to charity because these hands weren't ever going to work right again, let alone this mind.]


I stumbled up on Melody Ross' Soul Restoration online class. Oh, class is such a dirty word for it. No, it was fully an

Experience    Freedom    Expansion    Thawing

Melody  shared her own story of thawing out and being stuck through inspiring, artful, thought-provoking, encouraging videos. All I had to do was sit and listen at the feet of someone who understood where I was without ever having met me. Indeed, she knew what I needed.


Though she only ever mentioned "God" once in the entire 7 weeks (she used the title TruthTeller instead), she spoke the Lord's truths more clearly and with more compassion than many a religious soul. She understood the nooks and crannies of living out faith in the darkest of corners, and she shared it with me. She shined her light into my shadows and reminded me there is a thing called hope. I have a future and God has plans for me that I can't even imagine!

My Beautiful Mess

This is my beautiful mess. A mess Melody helped me to create. She not only gave me a shopping list, she took a camera to the craft store with her to show me exactly what she meant. She recorded videos of herself using all the supplies. And guess what? I could do what she did! It was so easy and full of heart, not difficult processes. In this little corner of my family room I learned to love and live again. My soul remembered how to create. 


With each video, Melody includes an art project. [Hold on! Before you run off scared, know it's a simple form of art therapy. You don't ever need to have created so much as a hand-written card before you get started on the freedom journey.] I used color and texture to say things words just wouldn't touch. I created a timeline of my life that showed me just how many precious periods I've had in life and how inconceivably long they really lasted. I took the bitter edge off my memories when I met them face to face and called them what they were--simply bits on the timeline of eternity.


Oh, I hope I'm not sounding too artsy fartsy, or philosophical. Truth is, I listened to some wise words and then worked out my interpretation and application of them with crayons and glue. Bigger truth is, God reminded me who I am, and He allowed me to create again, just as He creates.


If you can identify with my story, if you need to thaw, to be unstuck, to move out of what stymies your soul, please, join Melody for Soul Restoration 1 online, where she'll help you Find Your Truth. It begins April 5, runs six weeks, and costs a mere $99. It is so worth the money--trust me. Give yourself some new life this spring.


As for me, I'm looking forward to Soul Restoration 2, which begins in June. In the meantime I've got some creating to do. I'm working on canvas for the first time in my life!

Bliss     Reward     Restoration     Eternity

Now, to continue with the hop you'll need to go see Karen at Written By Angels.