Praying for Balance - Amy Schisler

As you may know, I’ve been traveling quite a bit this fall. Some of it was planned, and some was spontaneous. It was wonderful, but I’m so happy to be home even though coming home can be hard. I absolutely loved sleeping in my bed for the first time last night, curled up with Rosie beside me, and I’m so happy to be getting back into my routine because it’s the routine that always suffers most when I’m not at home. While I try to keep up with emails and voice messages when I’m away, it doesn’t always work. Things slide by or fall to the wayside. My workouts usually come to an abrupt halt, and my sleep cycle is off. The first week I’m home is just like being away–I’m faced with fatigue, a pile of laundry, and twice the work in what seems like half the time. I’m left feeling off-kilter and a bit frazzled. It’s kind of like I’m heading up the wrong tree!

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While working out this morning (for the first time in two weeks), my instructor said something that made everything clear…

She said, “We all feel unbalanced sometimes in our workout and in life. When your life feels unbalanced, you just have to work through it and find a way to right everything again.”

As at the snap of a finger, I blinked and thought, that’s it. Going away and coming home are both wonderful, but the sudden shift between the two is hard and leaves me feeling unbalanced.

After all, we aren’t all Shawn Johnson when it comes to performing on the balance beam of life!

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Sometimes we need to take a deep breath, refocus, work through the tasks facing us, and find a way to put the balance back into our lives. For me, it’s trying hard to get back into my routine, just as, when their balance is off and they falter, Shawn and her fellow gymnasts need to focus on their next routine. For me, that usually means closing my eyes and saying a prayer.

One of my favorite prayers is taped to the side of my computer monitor. It sums up every need I ever have. I don’t remember where I found it, but I say it often.

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Just praying these words typically helps me regain my focus, calm the frenzy, and find my balance. In fact, it’s the Holy Spirit I turn to the most when I need something. I truly believe that throughout Scripture, when the prophets heard God’s voice on the gentle breeze or felt His presence in a dark cave, it was the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, who was making His presence known. And we can have that same assurance, that same answer in the wind, if we take a breath, close our eyes, and pray that our lives be returned to balance.

In those times when your life goes from a gently flowing river to a rushing cascade of waterfalls, close your eyes, enjoy the ride.

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Then take a deep breath, call on the Spirit to help you face life with wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and a healthy dose of fear; and know that life will return to the peaceful, flowing river that your mind and soul are yearning for.

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What I was writing about a year ago this week: Me Enamoré.

Amy Schisler is an award-winning author of both children’s books and sweet, faith-filled romance novels for readers of all ages. She lives with her husband and three daughters on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Her books, Picture Me, Whispering Vines, and Island of Miracles are all recipients of Illumination Awards, placing them among the top inspirational fiction books of 2015, 2016, and 2017. Whispering Vines was awarded the 2017 LYRA Award for the best romance of 2016. Island of Miracles has outsold all of Amy’s other books worldwide and ranked as high as 600 on Amazon. Her follow up, Island of Promise is a reader favorite. Amy’s children’s book is The Greatest Gift. The suspense novel, Summer’s Squall, and all of Amy’s books, can be found online and in stores. Her latest novel, Island of Promise, was recently awarded First Prize by the Oklahoma Romance Writer’s Association as the best Inspirational Romance of 2018 and was awarded a Gold Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2019 for Inspirational Fiction. It is the 2019 winner for Best Inspirational Fiction in the RWA Golden Quill Contest, Best Romance in the American Book Awards, and a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award of Fiction. Amy’s 2019 work, The Devil’s Fortune, is based, in part, on her family history and is garnering many five star reviews.