I am that woman and You are too.

I see a lot of posts flying around the Internet on blog sites with a certain tone to them. Making declarations about this and that when it comes to women and motherhood. 

Posts talking about if I have to clean before you come over, we can't be friends.

Sentences that say, you don't need to plan the perfect Pinterest worthy party to be a good mom. Words that read a laundry list of things that women are writing letting other women and moms know that they don't have to be perfect. 

Their homes don't need to be spotless. They can be messy. 

They don't need to plan birthday parties, they don't have to do a million other things to be accepted. 

I get the heart heart behind such posts, I really do. I think the point they are trying to make by writing them is that it's OK to be real and who you are. 

 But you see when I read those types of posts, I can't help but think about the other woman who's reading those posts and what she must be thinking. What if that is really who you are?

The mom who is thinking how much she enjoys planning her kids birthday parties and making a big deal out of them because she wants to celebrate their life! Not because it's "pin" worthy or perfect but because it celebrates their life. And maybe she went over board to you, but to her she spent time and energy because it's her way of showing love and that's ok.

The mom who meal plans for her family and cooks every night for them not because she's perfect, but because it's how she saves money for her family and stays on track with her budget with a one income family. 

The mom who crafts and does projects because it feeds her creative soul. Not because she's perfect or wants you to be doing those same things but because it what makes her happy and gives her joy. 

The woman who works out and takes care of her body, not because she's vain or self centered. But, because she used to be unhealthy and took back her body and is proud of herself for making changes to give her the best life she can.

I get that, because I am that mom. I am that woman. 

I am that woman I'm reading about in these posts.

Often times we call out others because of our own insecurities, I do it too sometimes. We make snap judgements about people based on what we see. 

But God calls us to give grace, he calls us to look deeper and see the things in people that are not on the surface. 

You know what?

If you plan birthdays for your kids that are over the top amazing, it's ok.

If you clean your house before your guests come over cause it makes you feel better, not because you're perfect or want to portray an unrealistic image. It's alright, if that is what makes you feel better and more together. 

I suggest if we want to "get real" with each other we stop getting so hung up on these things, and stop letting our insecurities get in the way of getting real with each other.

If I come over to your house and it's a mess, I'm not gonna care. I'm not there for your house, I'm there to cultivate a friendship with you Not your house, it's ok. If you clean it, that's ok too. 

I know from the outside looking in it may all seems perfect and that woman has no flaws, no trials or struggles. I get how it can look like that, but I also believe she's not trying to hide anything. 

She's just trying to do her best. So, before we make judgement calls on weather or not she's perfect or hiding something, or insecure about her life and trying to over compensate. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt and get to know her for who she is. 

Clean house or messy house.

Perfect parties, or kids that say please or thank-you. Know that she's a woman, wife and mother just like you. Just like me. 

Maybe she needs a friend to care about her instead of judging her from the outside.

Maybe she needs some encouragement today or a hug.

i know paper straw, such a cliche'. 

Maybe we need to remember we'd want people to do the same for us. Maybe getting real means realizing what our own strengths and weaknesses are and being ok with them. Celebrating them even. 

If someone else is strong where I am weak, let's celebrate that and learn from it instead of trying to tear it down. Extend grace and love. 

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24

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On Being Brave & The New Blog.

When I talk about the desire to thrive in my life this year, I don't just mean in one area. God has asked me to thrive in all areas of my life this year. Towards the end of last year I felt a stirring God was doing in my heart. He started stirring up all kinds of stuff, and in my flesh I was kinda like 

"No, not that God."

Have you ever been there? You want God to do something in your life, you think you're ready until God starts speaking to you and then you realize;

"Woah, wait a minute God. Maybe I'm not as ready as I thought!"

When I started to feel the same way over and over again about certain areas of my life, I knew God was trying to show me something. So finally I surrendered to that and really dug in, prayed a lot and asked God to show me what He has here.

Part of that process was about letting go of somethings. Re purposing a few things, re prioritizing a few things too. Let me tell you some of those things are scary stuff. But being brave is not about writing fancy blog posts, or doing things we think we should do. 

Nope, it's about doing what God has asked us to do. And willing to step out in that and follow through because we have his peace to do so. That is brave. 

When I felt like God was stirring in my heart the desire to re focus my blog let me tell you at first thought that was scary. 

Most of you know me in the online world through my blog Worley House. I've been blogging since 2008, that has been my online home. That is where I shared about my first news about becoming a mother, that is where I shared every creative project, that is where I grew as a writer and my heart grew for my desire for my blog to be used by God.

But, if I'm being honest my blog started to become something that I wasn't proud of. And I wasn't proud of myself with some of the attitudes I was having towards blogging. I wasn't excited about how driven I'd become about numbers, stats, page views and all that. I soon found myself posting because I thought I had to or needed to. It wasn't even great sometimes.

I threw myself into creative projects one after another and showcased them on the blog, because sometimes I didn't know how to put my feelings into words. And because much of last year I was going through a lot but you'd never know it because I didn't know how to show that side. 

Everyone is different and every blog is different when it comes to that and I knew that for myself I got caught up and borderline obsessive and I knew I didn't want to be that any more.

There's some scary sides to starting over.

Will I loose all the followers I'd built up over the years?

What about all those projects? 

What if people don't like the new direction? 

All these things went through my mind. And at first they made me just wanna stay right where I was. Comfortable in my own little space I built. 

But, when God calls I needed to listen. Once I did, once I really felt clear direction you know what happened?

I got excited. 

All those fears went away. 

I started thinking and dreaming about this new online space and how God could use it to inspire women and encourage. How he could use me in ways I didn't know. I got excited about getting back to writing and inspiring others. Excited about sharing experiences that I was going through in hopes that just maybe you were going through them too and we could dialog and pray for one another, and encourage each other.

So the name? 

Andrea Worley. It's just me. Giving all of this, and letting God do something amazing in this online space.

Celebrate the Everyday?

Yes, every little moment that no one sees but you, and God. Every big dream that's on your heart that you're not sure when will come true. The highs and lows of parenting, being a wife, mother, daughter and friend. 

The joy that life brings, let's celebrate that. Let's celebrate what God wants to do in your heart and in your life.

I hope you'll take this journey with me. 
Welcome to the new blog. 

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Office & Guest Room Inspiration

I've been working on making over my guest room for the last couple weeks. During the last year this room has served primarly as our guest room, and a place where I keep all my craft supplies and sew in there from time to time. My parents were the last guest to stay in there over Thanksgiving, but with a queen size bed and a sewing table set up it was getting kinda cramped. 

So we decided to get rid of the big bed in there, and make this room more into my office/ guest room. We don't have guests often so I think a smaller bed or pull out sofa is what we're going to put back in there. 

I've been saving my pennies, and used my earnings from my garage sale to start buying things for the room makeover. To see more of my inspiration & ideas for this space visit my pin board here. This room is small, but it has a decent size closet for storage. I want the space to be light, bright and airy with lots of white, icy blues, soft pinks and touches of gold. I've already been gathering some inspiration and pieces for the room, you can see where I'm going with the mood board below.

I love Ikea for simple storage solutions, you can't beat their prices on some of their office stuff. Last weekend I scooped up some shelves to add to my office, and some simple white boxes and magazine files to store more things in. 

The gold table is from Target and I found it on clearance back at the beginning of January, it quickly went into my cart at $24.99! I'm still on the hunt for the perfect couch to add to the room. It needs to be able to fold out into a bed so when we do have guest they have a place to sleep. 

Here's how the room looked once we cleared everything out of it to start from scratch. 

The view looking in from the doorway, and as you can see below the closet as well. So we're starting with a pretty blank canvas. 

My goal is to DIY this room for $500 or under! I'm pretty sure with my savvy skills I can make it happen. Check back later in the week to see the progress I've made in this room. 

Have you attempted any room makeovers lately? 

Giving Up in Order to Gain.

Life is interesting in a way that it takes twists and turns that you never expected. How different seasons of life change you in ways that you never thought they would. Life is this vast collection of experiences and moments made up with people and circumstances. The older I get the more reflective I get as well. The more I re evaluate what is working and not working in my life. The more I ask God, "Where do you have me?" or "What is your will in this season?"

Did you catch that? In this season?

There was a long period of years in my life when I thought that what God called me to back when I was in my early teens and twenties was what my life would be and look like for the rest of my life. 

Not to say that it doesn't always look like that for some. I think it just depends on where you're at in your own faith journey. Everyone has different conversations with God, yours are probably very different than mine. And then again they just might be the same depending on what we're talking about. 

For a long time I didn't want anything to change. I felt the stirring in my heart, I felt God calling me to move on from certain areas of my life. And you know what? I couldn't let them go. Even though I knew that he was leading me in that direction, even though I knew that it would be a time for growth I didn't want to let them go. 

And when we feel God calling us in any area and we don't act in obedience, that result is direct disobedience. And what can God do in my life when I am choosing not to follow him even in the smallest areas? Simple answer, not a whole lot.

I end up doing things in my own strength, without God. And that's not who he's called me to be. In my flesh it's hard to give things up that I want, or that I hold dear for some reason. The last six months I felt that stirring. I felt God telling me, "Andrea, you need to let this go, in order to see what I really have for you." 

"You are not defined by this, you are defined by me."

You may not know, but for the last seven years I've been a licensed minister. I have a certificate that shows that I'm a legit licensed Pastor. I felt God call me to ministry when I was a teen, and for a long time I ran from a ministry calling out of fear. In college I finally accepted that call on my life and took steps in my education to complete a degree and gain my ministers license. I've been licensed ever since. 

I had dreams of being a pastor in a local church and doing ministry with my husband. And for a while we were doing just that. Over time our circumstances have changed and God has us in a different place. 

I kept my credentials for a long time, renewing them every year because I thought God would bring us into full time ministry. When that didn't happen the way I thought it should I'll be honest and tell you that I was frustrated and confused. 

After a while my ministers license became a sore point for me. When people would ask me about it, when I would see it (the paper) sitting framed in a box. And then it became this sort of validation for me. A validation for my faith, a validation for people, a symbol of status in a way. It was everything to me that it shouldn't be. 

And that's when I felt God saying let it go. That's when I realized that it doesn't and shouldn't define me or my faith. Is that to say that I'll never be licensed again? I don't know, I don't know what plans God has for me in that area. 

What I do know is that I'm walking in obedience right now, where he's leading me. I'm giving up in order to gain....

Perspective.

A piece of my relationship with Christ back, that I let get clouded for to long. 

And letting God fill those voids in my heart that are left there from disappointed over the issue of not being in full time ministry. The reality is that I need to get back to the heart of ministering to people weather or not I have a piece of paper next to my name that says "I can." And do it because it's my heart, and that's what God's called me to first.

White As Snow.

This past year was a good one for so many reasons.

We bought a house at the end of January. We learned what life was like with two kiddos around the house. Ava started dance class, which has been so fun. Zane learned to walk, and had a million other milestones that we cheered for and rejoiced for. My Grandparents moved across the street from us, we had tons of family come visit us throughout the year. We traveled to Iowa twice. 

As with anything in life we had joys but I also had ups and downs in my life. This past year I also left my full time job to stay at home with my two little ones. A dream that I had in my heart for a long time. It was all I ever wanted. I kinda muddled through this thing called motherhood for much of the year. I had a three year old and a baby and all of a sudden I didn't know what to do. Most days I felt like I missed the mark, that I was failing or that I wasn't doing what I thought I should.

I'll be honest and say that going from one to two kids really threw me for a loop. It challenged me, brought out the worst in me at times, and stretched me as well. 

It also left me with a feeling that I felt like I couldn't place which in turn made me retreat inward. It left me feeling kinda paralized in so many ways. Most days were messy, most days I felt like I was in the thick of it and wondered if anyone noticed that I was drowning. At least that's how I felt most days. 

These feelings manifested themselves in ways that I didn't know they would. It's probably the biggest reason that in the last year you didn't see as many pictures of my children. I fought so many wars within myself about how much or little I should share on my blog about my children. 

At times I didn't feel that great about myself as how I was mothering, I felt like I didn't know what to say, so I just didn't. I felt a bit stuck. 

I poured my energy into other things that mattered. Some that didn't matter that I'm not proud of. I spent more time multitasking when it didn't matter. I let my house go for to many days. My marriage suffered at times. There were times that I just didn't feel like I measured up to anything. 

To put it plainly I felt like I lost myself a little bit this past year. Here I was a new mom of 2, not really knowing that that meant and feeling like I didn't do that well. I really struggled with this a lot during this past year. I went from working full time to being at home and not really knowing where my place was. 

I thought I would be attending play date after play date, and I didn't. I thought I could successfully homeschool Ava through preschool and most days I couldn't get her to sit down with me. 

 I love, love old hymns. I love to sing them and pray the words out loud. There's this old one called "Jesus Paid It All" that I love. The chorus goes like this;

Jesus paid it all

All to him I owe

Sin has left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow

I love these words so much. Even though this year was kinda messy, and I felt like I was deep in the throws of motherhood and finding myself again God started reminding me of who I was in Him. 

The wonderful thing about Jesus is that he gives us a new beginning. And I need that. Everyday I need that. I need his grace and mercy in my life. I'm so thankful for his grace, for his saving grace. I'm thankful that when I needed it most it was there. 

Even when I didn't feel good enough, or when I felt like I was barely making it as a wife and mother God reminded me of this calling of being just that for this season of life. 

As I look towards this next year of Thriving as a wife, mother and person I'm challenging myself with the things God has taught me and opened my eyes to.

Less multitasking and more sitting down and being there.

More sharing about what's on my heart with the people he's placed close to me.

More sharing my heart here on the blog and less worried about what others will think and say.

More celebrating life's everyday moments. 

More reminding me that God's grace is enough. He's enough. He takes even the messiest parts and makes them white as snow.

What are some things that you are learning about yourself?