We were in our favorite place on earth. Beautiful home, perfect weather, ocean view. And we still couldn't shake the stress. Here's what God showed us in the middle of it. Also, you will notice the newsletter has a few new segments! Excited to hear your thoughts on those..

Well this trip convicted us a bit.

We took a trip to the beach, our happy place! It was the kind of setting we literally daydream about. (especially with the stress-load we have been carrying lately)

And halfway through the trip, the stress of real life caught right back up to us. The rat race we had put on pause started blinking that little light again. ‘Come back, come back.’
Come back to the hamster wheel that takes us nowhere fast.

We hate to even admit this. But we figured being humble about it might encourage your spirit the way it's been stirring ours!

Here's what we realized. We were in the environment we say we love most. We even talked about it in our vlog from the trip (watch here: super cute vlog) that if we had it our way we would uproot everything and move our whole community to the beach. This is our happy place. So why weren’t we happy? _{(or at least free from the stress)}

Because we were living in the future.

We didn't leave our stress at the door. We packed it right along with us and it crept in like the Trojan horse snuck into Troy. We had hoped this happy place would get us away from the stress so what was the issue?
Us.
The issue was us.

We had prayed for this moment. And when we were finally in it we were already worrying about the next one! The. Rat. Race.

That's when the Holy Spirit did what He does. Convicted us. Not harshly. Just honestly. We had gone from "these life milestones and comforts are such a blessing" to "if I don't get this next thing my life is falling apart." That's not faith. That's just being addicted to the next milestone. Anyone else feel that?

To be clear, we weren’t devastated or anything that dramatic. But we could sense the same stress at home in grind mode present with us and that didn’t sit well with us. Discontentment is easy to overlook when you're in the same situation day after day. It took us feeling that discontentment in our happy place to make us finally sit with it.

So what now?

We're still working through it honestly! But here's what we keep coming back to. Contentment isn't a destination. It's a practice. Maybe that's the secret in Philippians 4 in knowing how to do well in plenty and do well with little. It's a practice with Jesus about how our inside feelings handle our outside circumstances. Not our outside circumstances dictating our inside feelings!

Thanks for allowing us to do life with you and thank you for being a part of our journey as well!

If you're thinking about spring break or starting to map out your summer, we want you to know about Kalos Dwellings! They're a Christian run property management company somewhere between Music City and where the beaches are pretty. This is where we stayed in 30A! Use Code: MASTERSFAM for 10% off this property and a couple others on their site!

They are hospitality first and faith driven and it actually shows.

Pro tip from us: go bigger than you think you need to! Grab a larger house and split it with another couple or family. More space, better memories and it ends up being cheaper for everyone anyway. Honestly one of our favorite ways to travel!

Browse all their properties here! Again use Code: MASTERSFAM for a discount!

LIFE LATELY

Micah had his very first soccer game this week and where does the time even go?! He absolutely crushed it which we completely expected and were also totally unprepared for emotionally!

We did a heavy metal detox on our two older kids and the results have honestly been kind of incredible. More on that soon!

Tori flew out to record a podcast with Sadie Robertson Huff and Christian Bevere and Ezra got to tag along for his very first flight! He got his little wings from the flight attendant and we are not okay about it. On the podcast front, it went better than imagined.. Tori opened up about her testimony and the conversational will, Lord willing, be a blessing to so many women!

Chad has been heads down building out some resources he is really fired up about! Tools to help believers get their heads above water, cast vision for their lives and actually start pursuing their mission. Stay tuned on that one! If you want to help out or be the first to know when they are available, his podcast is live etc.. fill out this quick survey here!

P.s. Below are 3 ways we may be able to help or encourage you!