Choosing to Stress or Choosing to Trust

Beth Vogtanxiety, Beth K. Vogt, challenges, choices, expectations, Faith, health, hope, Life, perspective, Quotes, Reality, stress, trust 13 Comments

@bethvogt Life stopped abruptly for me last week, thanks to unrelenting muscle spasms in my jaw. Forget powering through the pain – sleeping was the wiser choice, curling up in my bed with either a heating pad or ice pack pressed to my face. Not how I planned to spend the week. Several days in, I was in bed – …

The Fallacy of Doing Our Best

Beth Vogtchallenges, confidence, expectations, goals, In Others' Words, Life, lifequotes, perseverance, perspective, Quotes, Reality, success 9 Comments

KLowering the Bar to Achieve More by @bethvogt Success, my friends, isn’t always about giving our best effort. Sometimes success is doing a little bit less. Can I get an “amen!”? Over the years, my family has learned to ask, “What’s the wise choice?” And sometimes the best, wisest choice is to stop trying so hard. There are times when …

Do You Operate in Crisis Mode?

Beth Vogtchallenges, choices, crisis, emotions, In Others' Words, lifequotes, perseverance, perspective, Quotes 8 Comments

Learning to Balance Our Emotions by @bethvogt   “This is a deadline, not a crisis.” I woke up in the middle of the night with that phrase running through my head. I’d gone to bed a couple of hours earlier frustrated yet again. Staring down a looming writing deadline and an insufficient word count. I’d been chasing that deadline for …

In Others’ Words: Finding Rest When You’re More Than Tired

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perspective, Quotes 9 Comments

Some days you work hard and go to bed at the end of the day good and tired. And some days you’re worked over and go to bed at the end of the day more than tired. You know the difference, right? The days when you put in the work, hit the mark you were aiming for — or maybe …

In Others’ Words: Planning and Planting for Shade in Years to Come

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, perspective, Quotes 11 Comments

How often do we think about how our actions today will affect someone else in the future? I can get so caught up in the here and now — crossing off all the things on my To Do list that I accomplished — that the future encompasses only a few days from now, and not much further. Oh, sure, I’m …

In Others’ Words: God, You, and a Yoke (Guest Post)

Beth VogtFaith, In Others' Words 10 Comments

Really? Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light? Saving all of creation by dying for us is easy? When I look at who Jesus was trusting in to do the work – God the Father – and that Jesus knew his Father was trustworthy, ultimately powerful and infinitely gracious … then I see why Jesus thought his burden …

In Others’ Words: Cure

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Life 26 Comments

We’ve all heard how an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I’m not sure that’s true, but I do think there’s some truth to the healing power of laughter and sleep. It’s been said that a cheery heart is good medicine (Proverbs 17:22) — and I have to believe laughter’s included there. And more and more studies reveal the …

In Others’ Words: Rest

Beth VogtIn Others' Words, Life 17 Comments

I turned in my manuscript for my third novel one week ago. I finished teaching at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference yesterday. Today I exhale. Today, I rest, really rest, for the first time in months. I know what rest equals rest to me — and it starts with looking at the calendar and the word “deadline” isn’t …