Rescue Your Family--The Book!

Friends,

I'm so pleased to announce the release of my latest book, Rescue Your Family. I may have mentioned before that I'm an author of young adult fiction. My collection of published books can be found on my web site, www.juliemusil.com.

This latest book is unique for me, as it's non-fiction. It's my own deeply personal story that you've read on this blog.

It's been many months since I've posted here. During that time we sold our old home, moved in with my sister, then bought our new home and settled in. All while continuing to lead and direct three of the finest people I know--my sons. It's been quite a year.

With my latest book release comes a whole lot of hope--hope that you or someone you know will be blessed by it. Hope that it'll find its way into the hands of the spouse who's hurting and confused. Hope that it'll reach someone who's on the fence about leaving their family, and persuade them to stay and rescue what seems lost.

Won't you help me help others? Share the book. Share my story. Share the hope.

Click below to download a copy!

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iTunes

Until next time...

In Transition

Maybe a Dr. Seuss quote isn't totally appropriate, but hey, it's fun! And it hints at new adventures. 

My sons and I are in transition. We've sold our home and have moved out. We are very thankful for a loving family who has welcomed us into their home with open arms until we are ready to step forward into our next home.

I'll likely be silent until we get our act together. But I'm sure I'll have plenty to say once we're settled!

Until next time...

Forgetting the Past

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Is it truly possible to forget the past?

There are images, words, and sounds I wish I could erase from my mind and never, ever have them return. Like a cool sci-fi movie, where only the good memories remain.

But if the ugly stuff from our past was completely erased, wouldn't we also erase our ability to learn from that past? Wouldn't we lose our humility that's gained from making mistakes? Wouldn't we lose the desire to help others who are going through what we've gone through in the past?

Oftentimes, those ugly images and words pop up to the surface of my mind. And if I'm feeling especially low, or if I'm tired, those words and images stay and grow. They become bigger-than-life monsters that feed my fears, doubts, and insecurities.

There's a Bible story about Paul, formerly Saul, who did some horrible things to other people in his past. How often did those words, sounds, and images haunt him? He was a regular guy, like the rest of us, so of course they must've surfaced from time to time.

I'm so thankful he gives us this advice in Phil. 3:13:

"...but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead..."

When I'm stuck in the "past cycle," I've learned to recite this verse again and again. Only then am I able to change the channel of my mind, so to speak, and look ahead. 

It isn't easy, especially when certain things smack me in the face every day.

The past is a powerful and destructive drug, constantly drawing us in. And just like a hit of meth or heroine, we reach for more. With each hit, we spiral downward. 

Learning from the past is good. Helping others as a result of our painful past is also good. But marinating on a painful past doesn't serve any good purpose.

For me, forgetting the past is a daily thing. When I look forward to what lies ahead, I have hope. I'm encouraged by the small new things that have already begun.

If you have a painful past, my hope and prayer is that you'll change the channel on those memories when they threaten to drag you down. It's difficult, and it won't happen all in one day. But we can discipline ourselves to not stay in that dark place.

Instead, look forward to what lies ahead. 

Until next time...

Something New

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On New Year's morning, I woke up to the following verse:

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. -- Isaiah 43:19

What a perfect way to begin the new year. I read that verse over and over again, truly allowing it to seep into my soul. Each time I read it, something new came to the surface. As I broke it down piece by piece, here's how it encouraged me:

For I--it's not me who's doing something new. God is at work. He's cooking up something. For me, it's a daily task to take my hands off the wheel, and realize I'm not in control. Once I remember this, I'm at peace again.

Something new--not the old. Not the same old junk. Something new. Something fresh. Something that lines up with my gifts and my purpose. Something that is good.

See--keep my eyes open! When I pause and truly open my eyes, I can see Him at work. I can see the blessings He's already given me. I can see how the closed doors and open doors are directing my path.

Already begun--I don't have to wait for it to begin. It's already begun. I don't have to think, "Some day something good will begin." No, it's begun.

Make a pathway--This reminds me that He has gone before me. He is making crooked places straight. I don't have to struggle for the pathway. It's already done.

Wilderness--More about this at the end of the post.

Create rivers--create. He created it all, and He can create something from nothing. It's not my creativity that will solve my problems and make a way for me. It's His.

This verse refers to the wilderness and the dry wasteland. In the wilderness, we wander around confused, afraid, unsure of where to go and what to do. In the dry wasteland, we experience lack, thirst, and longing.

It's such a relief to be reminded that I don't have to figure it all out. I don't have to marinate endlessly on my problems, wondering how to solve them. The right ideas, opportunities, and people await me. He is doing a new thing. I do see it.

If you're in the wilderness right now, if you're in a dry wasteland, it may seem as if nothing good can come out of it. It may seem as if there is no solution to your problem, and no way out. If you're in that dark place, I encourage you to read this over and over again. Pray over it. See what is revealed to you.

Something new is happening for you. Do you see it?

Until next time...

Change Your "Why?" to "How?"

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Every once in a while, I read something that literally drops my jaw. Such was the case when I read, "Ask God How, Not Why" by Laura Story, author of "When God Doesn't Fix It."

If you're going through something--or have gone through something in your past--that does not make any sense at all, I urge you to read through the entire post. If your mind is open, the post will drop your jaw, too.

Story suggests an exercise. Take a sheet of paper and write down all your "Why" questions. I have a list of Why questions that I've marinated on in the past. You have your own Why questions. Then she suggests you flip the page and write some How questions.

I love the metaphorical act of flipping the page. It's as if we're saying, "Ok, I have lots of Why questions. Now I'm switching from the Why. I'm moving on to How."

She gives a list of suggested How questions, but you can make up your own. Her suggestions were enough to blow me away.

I highly recommend you do this. No matter what difficulty you're going through, I promise, this exercise will help you. Because my guess is this: what you're going through does NOT compute!

But here's where my jaw dropped. Story says this in closing:

God is good. He knows what, with His help, we can handle and where we most need to see His work. It's easy to sign up for a short-term mission project or donate money to a building campaign at church. And it's true; we can see God working in those places. But would you be willing to sign up for the brokenness in your life, if you knew your brokenness would bring glory to God and enable you to learn to trust Him in everything? We're tempted to measure our circumstances on the world's scale, but God's economy uses God-sized scales. His story is so much bigger than ours, and one day when we see it in totality, we'll have all the answers we desire.

Whoa! What? Check out the area I highlighted. I did sign up for a short term mission project. I do donate money to the church for building campaigns. But would I have signed up for the brokenness in my life to glorify God and learn to trust Him in everything? 

No way. I wouldn't wish this on anyone, and I never would've signed up for it. But I do see how it's working for my good. Truly. Pain has a way of changing people--for better or worse. For me and my sons, it's changing us for the better. That's because God is in it, working, changing, transforming. 

Do yourself a favor: read the post, do the exercise, and let your mind wander from Why to How. 

Until next time...

Quiet Love

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We're nearing the end of 2017--and what a year it's been. There are many parts of 2017 I'd like bury deep, deep in the soil, never to reflect on again. But there are also joyful, precious, tender moments in 2017 that I'll cherish in my heart forever. Life is crazy like that, isn't it?

The holidays can be stressful and busy. They can also be quite painful. For the woman whose husband recently walked out on her, these holidays were filled with confusion, anger, and sorrow. She's looking ahead to an uncertain future. For the husband who just found out his wife was unfaithful, he's holding his head in his hands, wondering where he went wrong. For the people who are struggling with their finances, their kids, or their health, they may be wondering, "Will this ever get better?"

When we're pondering where we are and what we're going through, our thoughts are busy, frantic, bewildered. Our minds are anything but quiet.

I loved this post, "Unchanging Reality," by James MacDonald. In it, MacDonald shares this verse:

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. --Zephaniah 3:17 (emphasis mine)

I strongly urge you to read the whole post. But here's a small sample:

"When you’re hurting, the worst support can be the person who rushes in with a thousand things to say, like “I know how you feel.” People say so much, yet the One who could say everything says nothing at first. No judgment. No condemnation. No questioning. No pressure for you to explain. Just there, present with you. Silent.

He will quiet Himself, and He will quiet you. He will quiet your mind that reviews, reviews, reviews. He will quiet your heart that hurts, hurts, hurts. He will quiet your mouth that might lash out in pain to hurt others.

How does He quiet you? With His love. When He breaks the silence, He will be singing over you a song. The song is about the Father’s love—His immense, unchanging, unrelenting, undeserved, all-forgiving, all-knowing, all-penetrating, all-healing love for you."

Review, review, review. Hurt, hurt, hurt. Lashing out in pain. Boy, have I done plenty of that. But now, more than ever, I'm quietly receiving love. 

No matter what someone else has told you. No matter if they left, or threatened to leave. No matter if they told you lies about your worth. And no matter how bleak your future may seem. Know this: you are loved. You don't have to earn it, all you have to do is receive it.

And let it quiet you.

Until next time...

PEAS on a Beach

My sons and I sat on the white, sandy beach of Waikiki. We'd traveled there to celebrate my 50th birthday. As we stared out at the beautiful Pacific, we talked openly and honestly about the turn our lives had taken, and how we'd untangle the future.

During the conversation, I was reminded of something I'd only recently been made aware of: my sons and I seem to have a natural tendency to encourage others. When I'm at work, or out to dinner with friends, or out shopping, it's become natural to say something nice to someone. When my sons are at school or at work, other people are drawn to their inclusive and caring dispositions. I used to view this personality trait as no big deal, but now I see it for what it is: a gift.

As wave after wave crashed against the shore, an idea was born: what if we widened our reach and helped other people? Not just our co-workers and friends, although that's wonderful. What if we created a way to help strangers? People who've lost hope and their will? What if people were experiencing trauma and chaos, and needed someone to turn to? This was something that was within our reach. It was something we were naturally equipped to do.

We'd ordered pizza on the beach, so I grabbed a Dominoes napkin and wrote:

Encouragement
Advice
Support

That crumpled napkin sat in my purse for months, kind of forgotten in all the chaos going on in our own lives. Until October, when I read something about "...one God-given idea." I'd felt it was a God-given idea right there on the beach, but I hadn't done anything with it. Now I felt compelled to do something with it.

What name could we give it? We began with E, A, and S. Not sure what to do with that, but let's marinate on it for a while. Then I attended a prayer vigil put on by my church, to support the victims and survivors of the Las Vegas shooting. That's when it hit me: add P for prayer. The most vital ingredient. I called the boys on my way home, excited. Our name would be PEAS (prayer, encouragement, advice, support).

We dove in. We created the site, and www.peashelp.com was born. We created a youtube channel. We created social media accounts. It's all still in the infancy stage, but it's out there. We're ready to help others. Our pain will not be wasted.

My hope is that you'll visit peashelp.com whenever you need prayer, encouragement, advice, or support. Simply choose a button, and you'll receive a confidential response. Also, by subscribing to our youtube channel, you'll never miss a video. And please, spread the word. You never know what other people are going through.

Until next time...