Erin Akin Carroll

During this lenten season, I decided not to give up anything, but instead to give more of something. I decided for a few different reasons that I would wake up a couple of hours before my boys every morning, dive into the word, and study His words more. (I guess, technically, I am giving up sleep, but I’m giving these hours to the Lord in the morning.)

I am not a morning person. I’m a nice person in the morning. It’s safe to talk to me in the mornings. But I’m a night owl. My habits have always been to sleep as late as my boys will allow and then rush in the mornings. We go through our day, and then around 7:30, I’m rushing my kids into bed. I’m ready for my time. My patience is dwindling.  And then, at the end of the day, when the boys are in bed, I soak up the hours. I stay up until almost midnight just because I love those hours.

It’s when I’m most productive. But I’ve decided to make a change. To wake up before the boys. To soak up the word. To start the laundry. To pray for my family members and our day before their day begins. To shower and get dressed before they’re up. To get all of my needs taken care of with patience and care because self care is important. My needs are important. (Washing and drying my hair is important! Ha!)

But when I’m not careful with my time, my needs compete with their needs. And my needs keep me from having open eyes and an open heart to even the needs of strangers around me.

And I want our bedtime to be precious. I want to talk to them and tell stories. And read books slowly. I don’t want to rush through that process. I want to go to bed with the same feeling of praise that I have when I awake in the morning.

It does take a while to establish habits, but I want to regularly wake up, study His word, and pray. And then still be singing when the evening comes. To start my day with God and to ask Him to stay with me all day through my decisions and my words and my tendencies to lose my patience.

 The beautiful “Let me be singing” sign is from Between You and Me on Etsy. My beautiful friend, Tara, creates these unique, beautiful signs and I love this one that is hanging in our home. This sign is the cry of my heart as I pray that each day I am still singing when the evening comes.

You can use code BEBRIDE for 10% off your purchase with Between You and Me

I have absolutely loved being a contributor over at Every Day Cheer. It has been such a fun creative outlet for me and I’ve loved seeing the community grow.

Because we love it so much, we are doing a huge giveaway this week! We’ve each compiled our favorite things for one lucky winner. (You’ll notice my very favorite Heart Knot!) Head on over to Every Day Cheer to enter!

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I’m over on Every Day Cheer today sharing one of my favorite recipes. It’s my favorite go-to recipe and I know it by heart. You’ll love it, too!

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Thank you for all of your comments on yesterday’s post. Relatedly, but on a more hilarious note, my Travoltafied name has had me giggling all week.

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My friend shared this video on Facebook and then I had to send it to my family because I was just bawling and knew they would, too. I loved my family Golden, Beaux, and love our sweet Boudreaux so much. There’s just something about a Golden. (Yes, it’s a car commercial, but that doesn’t bother me a bit because the story is so sweet.)

Chevrolet Commercial 2014 – “Maddie” from The Herd on Vimeo.

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Today is grandparents’ day at school and we are looking forward to a fun day with family! Hudson has a little performance at school and we’re praying the stage fright nerves stay away from him.

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I feel like summer is going to be here so soon. I can’t wait to spring forward this weekend and I’m getting out my summer calendar and dreaming of lazy days at the pool and movie nights on the couch and getting ourselves into as much fun as we can find!

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For those of you that haven’t heard or didn’t watch, on Sunday night, John Travolta had the privilege of introducing the incredible Idina Menzel before she performed Best Original Song nominee “Let it Go” at the Oscars.

All over the country, little girls, their mothers, and even Todd Carroll (though he’d never admit it) were all looking forward to this performance. We’ve all memorized “Let it Go” and sung it our cars and had dance parties in the kitchen at night. If it wasn’t before, Idina Menzel is now a household name.

But maybe it isn’t? John Travola completely missed her name. In fact, he actually called her something random and off the wall and something that sounded nothing like “Idina Menzel.” (Twitter accounts, Travoltalized name generators, and many parodies have come as a result.)

But there stands Idina Menzel. Stepping out onto the Oscar stage, in front of the world, and this movie star doesn’t know her name. And she nailed it her song.

She’s still Idina Menzel. She still has this powerful gift of a voice. She is still the mother to her child. She is still an award-winner and she is loved by her family. She laughs at jokes and makes jokes. She sings to her child. She is known.

We all have this desire to be known. The presence of social media in our life has amplified it. We all have a voice. We all have an audience. We want to be known and want people to know our names.

And there are many who don’t know our names. We aren’t recognized for the work we’ve done. Sometimes someone else receives the glory for the work we’ve done. We speak up and no one hears us. We have talents that we’ve stuffed away because we can’t find the time or courage to pursue them. Or we are pursuing our talents and no one notices. We want people to hear our opinion. We want to be remembered.

But God sees you. He knows your name. He remembers your talents. He gave them to you. Especially you!

Jesus called out to Saul and gave him a new name. He called out to Peter, by name. He calls me by name, and many times I completely miss Him speaking to me.

If our talents and our art and our gifts and our service are never noticed, and we are never known by others, Jesus still knows us. He wants relationship with us the way that we want relationship and community with those around us. This desire to be known is about community more than fame. And our relationship with Christ is the same way.

He knows us. We can be who we are. We don’t have to strive. We can sing our songs and write our stories and raise our children and take comfort in the fact that nothing can separate us from His love.

Someone else may get the credit for something we’ve done (Adele Dazeem) or we may spend our days doing things that no one will ever notice. But God knows. He sees us for all that we are, and all He wants is for us to know Him in return.