It’s interesting how, when I think of transition, there was a time when I know my mind would have envisioned a mama, prone and sweating, working hard to cooperate with her body to go through the necessary stages of bringing forth life.  


In later years, I would have focused upon the transitions of my children from nursing to weaning, diapers to potty training, beginning homeschooling, learning to read. Driving, dating, learning, growing, each with their own struggles, heartaches, challenges, and obstacles to overcome along the way.  Some offered by us, some by God, some just by life.  


In this season transition looks like a nest emptied one little bird at a time, college tuition payments and wedding planning.  Young adults learning to live on their own, make their own decisions, pave their own way as they are led not just by the ones who love them, but by the One that loves them most.  


As a Mama, I look over the last 20 years of transition in my children that have led to transformation.  


Give me just a second as I take off my glasses and wipe my eyes…what a journey we have taken together. 


What a privilege it has been for me to care for these precious ones the Father has entrusted me with. What a challenge it has been for me to learn to transition into being the Mama of young adults who waits to be asked what she thinks rather than offering freely…who looks forward to time that is free to spend together… who is no longer the #1 human in their life….  transition indeed.  


It’s beautiful and painful and difficult and joy-filled and hard.  


I can’t help but wonder as my Heavenly Father looks back over our journey together, His and mine… if He doesn’t experience some of the same in His Father heart.  


We have journeyed together through all the transitions that have transformed me from a fearful, doubting, angry child in a woman’s body to a still-in-process woman of God confident of her Father’s unwavering love, acceptance, and forgiveness.  


Give me just a second as I take off my glasses and wipe my eyes…what a journey we have taken together.  


When I consider my own journey, it’s been more fluid and less defined than those transitions I previously mention.  In fact, the only clearly defined moment I can discern is the one in which I invited Jesus Christ into my life to be my Lord and Savior, my friend and King, my Beloved.  


Every remaining transition has been more of an ebb and flow.  Moments where truth revealed meets with a human heart that sometimes has chosen to bow right away and sometimes has not…. There are those transitions that take longer than others. Regardless of how long each transition has taken there are similarities among them all.  Each transition initiated by my Abba Father has always begun with TRUTH.  


The eyes of my heart being opened to the truth of His Word.  A Holy-Spirit inspired awareness of where the evidence of my life poured out stands in contradiction to His Word of Truth. A first step to take beginning the aligning of my life with His Truth. A leaning on and relying upon His strength rather than my own to assist in the walking out of that step.  


When I am stuck, this is the process that gets me unstuck.  It’s just a matter of my own willingness to yield to the process of transition for the purpose of transformation.  


What I know is this.  Our Heavenly Father never sets us up for failure.  


He is faithful and kind in the way that He has only ever presented truth He knew I was ready to not only hear, but to act on.  He has never called me higher to a place He did not already know that I, through Him in me, could reach.  After all, what kind of a good, good Father would offer expectations to us that  we were not capable  of reaching?   


And although even in this very moment there are transitions taking place to continue to lead to that ultimate transformation of looking, acting and thinking like my Savior, He always sees me, and you, through eyes of faith, love and in hopeful expectation on continuing to become who we were created to be all along.  

A Graduate from Liberty University, Tanya Glanzman, LPC is passionate about helping others live the life of freedom, joy and peace Christ died for them to have. She works with a variety of populations and issues, specializing in women’s trauma recovery. As a survivor of traumatic childhood abuse, her heart is that every woman would know God as the Healer, Redeemer and Restorer He desires to be for them. She speaks and writes as My Father’s Daughter, offering hope and encouragement wrapped in grace filled truth, with the mission that every woman would know what it truly means to be a Daughter of the King.

Her first book, My Father’s Daughter, Embracing your identity as a Daughter of The King, was released in 2020.

Website:  myfathersdaughter.com
​

Have you ever felt stuck? Not really sure where you are going or what you are supposed to be doing? Maybe, you have a vision of the end point or have a particular goal in mind. I did. I had been given the vision. This incredibly, scary, intimidating, only God-capable, impossible on my own vision. 


I see this incredible end point that is so strong and real it is almost tangible. At any given moment I could reach out and grab it. It is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Anytime I think about it, there is an energy and excitement deep in my spirit like I have never felt before. When I think about it, everything in me says YES! This is it! This is what I was made for! 


And at the same time with every passing month, year, season it is almost as if my shoulders slouch farther and farther toward the ground as if carrying a heavy weight. The weight of this dream seeming harder and harder and further and further to reach. Instead of me coming closer to the goal, the goal is moving father and farther away from where I am. “I cannot do this, what am I thinking.” “There is no way.” “Some dreams aren’t meant to come true.” “Who do you think you are?”


And it was with that last lie of the enemy that I snap out of all of it. 


I know who I am. I am who I AM says that I am. 
I am treasured. 
I am His vessel. 


I am His child.


I had a pretty spectacular role model when it comes to displaying the love of the Father. I always knew in my knower that I was loved unconditionally by my father. I think that is one of the reasons why I am able to believe scripture so easily when it says,


If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask Him?”
                                    Matthew 7:11[TPT]


I know my Father’s heart. I know He is waiting for me to succeed not to fail. I know that if the vision, dream, goal, achievement that I am seeing or looking for was given by Him, He will make a way, and I absolutely have a part to play in making that a reality. 


Ok. Now we have come full circle. Let’s catch up. I (we) have a goal, dream, vision (fill in your blank here). We doubt and listen to the enemies lies. We snap back out of it, realizing that NOTHING is impossible for God and when we ask in His will He does not hold back.


But How?


I think that we as women are really good at talking our way around things sometimes. “I can’t do that now because I have to much to do already.” “I will work on this when things slow down.” “I will start when I find THE one.” “I will get active about this when the kids are in school.” “No, when they're out of school and living on their own.”…


Have you ever been guilty of procrastination? I have. 


I have these really wonderful ladies in my life, let’s call them God-Mother, they mentor me and speak to any and every part of my life in a very real way. Recently I was asked about my dream, my plans for the future and what it looked like, sounded like and felt like.
After digging for a very short while we came to realize that even though this plan was believed to be so tangible, I really had no idea what it was… or even how to figure it out.


And then…


The flood-gates opened. 


Ever hear that saying “If your aiming for nowhere, nowhere is where you will end up.”?

Well I’m not going nowhere any more.


Want to know how I got unstuck? Want to know if it will help you? (Yes, it can and will)


I asked questions. First, I asked those kind-hearted, truth spewing God-Mothers of mine. 
I am both embarrassed and thankful for my first question, you ready for it?


“What are the questions I should be asking?”


I think I shocked one of my Mothers when I asked that question. It was honest though. I didn’t even have a starting point. I felt overwhelmed and somehow just expected that one day God would drop this crazy dream into a reality and it would simply be placed in my lap, no work necessary on my part to receive it. Ok. Ok. I knew that that was not a reality, and still that is how I treated this incredible dream.


As humans we have been trained for so long to show, or speak what we know out of pride that I believe some of us (many of us) have lost the art of the question. We get so caught up in making sure that people know that we are smart and sensitive and kind and strong that it becomes so easy for us to lose sight of what really matters. I have some loving ladies in my tribe though and we have begun helping each other to re-train our minds to dig deeper with questions.


So that’s where I started… 


We came up with a list of questions that I would later go home with and sit down with Holy Spirit and do some frame work and vision casting.


I sat down, ready with paper and pen and prayed and read and asked God to open my eyes and ears and heart to what He was trying to speak to me. As I imagined I wrote everything down. And IT WAS AMAZING! He actually showed up!


My paper started like this…


Write down what you see?




Who’s the audience?




What would a typical day look like?




What would the audience output be?




What is one active step I can take right now?


My paper ended covered in notes. All because of those starter questions. Some of those questions are a little more pointed toward my dream, but they helped me to find a new starting point. Before I was stuck. Paralyzed by what I expected to happen. I keep hearing in my head the phrase from Big Hero 6, “Look for a new angle.” In the movie the young heroes are literally stuck, about to lose and someone yells out “Look for a new angle!” and their mindsets change. They are able to pause for a moment, ask a question of themselves, and shift their thinking and get out of their trouble and later defeat the villain. 


Sometimes all we need is a new perspective. If you're stuck this morning, in any area of your life, I would just like to invite you to sit with your Father God, who always wants to give you good gifts and ask Him questions. AND, expect answers. Did you know that He actually wants to talk to you? That’s why He sent His Son after all. 


Maybe you have a dream that is not quite reachable on your own. Or maybe you have no idea and you are stuck thinking this is as good as it gets. 


Sit down. Ask Father God “What do You see for me?”


It doesn’t matter what you ask. There are no wrong questions when you talk with the one who loves you most. He is not looking for you to have all the answers. He is just looking for you to come. He is looking for you to just ask. He wants to talk with you today.


Love you sis,


Alexandria

Stuck. 


How do I get unstuck and move forward into the next thing? 


I asked my 8 year old son his thoughts on this the other night. I mentioned I needed to sit down and do some writing and he asked, “Oh for that pretty and wise thing?” 


“Yes,” I said. “I’m supposed to write on stuck and transition. How to get unstuck and move forward into a new thing, the next thing, or whatever God wants to move you into… do you have any thoughts on that?” 


Honestly, I thought he would just shrug it off or, more likely, be a little confused because, to be perfectly transparent, I was a little confused. How do I write about this? How do we get unstuck anyway? I feel stuck right now and I’m not sure how to move forward here. Maybe I was just asking for amusement, because who asks an 8 year old for life advice? Apparently me...


“Sometimes, when you’re stuck, late at night, the Lord speaks like thunder. Ya know, mom?” 


Wait… what? 


“Has the Lord ever spoken to you like thunder, Jude?” 


“Yes.” 


“What did He say?” 


“You don’t remember, mom?” 


I racked my brain and couldn’t remember a time he described hearing God’s voice like thunder.  


“Refresh my memory, buddy boy.” 


“God said to me, ‘You’ll be with me forever.’”


Now I did remember. That was the night Judah gave his life to Jesus. We were sitting on my bed asking God to speak to Him and practicing listening to God’s voice together. I remember Judah said the Lord told him that he’d be with God forever and that he knew that meant he needed to give his life to Jesus. We had daddy come upstairs, we talked about salvation again, and Judah said he was ready this time. We prayed together. Judah shared his heart with Jesus and asked the Lord to save him from his sins and told Him he’d follow him forever. Jude was baptized that weekend. 


“I remember that, buddy! That’s when you gave your life to Jesus, right? I didn’t know the Lord sounded like thunder though.” 


“It was thunder alright, but a different kind of thunder than I’ve ever heard before and I KNEW it was Jesus speaking to me.” 


“And that’s when you got ‘unstuck’?” 


“Yep.” 


My eyes started to well up. My 8 year old gets it deep in his soul… something that I often forget or struggle to understand at all. 


Are you stuck tonight, sweet friend? Unsure how to move forward or get out of what you are in? 


Jesus is calling you out of that “stuck” place now. And the only way to get unstuck is to hear and obey the voice of the Lord, just like Judah who was intentionally listening for Jesus that night when the Lord spoke like thunder in his heart and he immediately obeyed. 


“You’ll be with me forever.” 


Jesus was calling him by his future - not his past and not his present. Jesus was calling out Judah’s destiny and inviting him into that reality. 


Push pause right here.


Are you getting what I’m saying? We can’t get unstuck without the voice of the Lord calling us out into HIS reality. 


How many men and women in the Bible have been given new names, new futures, new destinies? 


Gideon was the least of his family who was the least in their tribe who was the least of all the tribes of Israel. He was hiding from his enemies when God called him out of that place. How did God do that? “The Lord is with you, o Mighty Man of Valor” Gideon wasn’t a warrior! He wasn’t a champion! He was a nobody from a nobody family in a nobody tribe in Israel who were all under constant attack and oppression from other nations. God called him out of hiding from his enemies and oppressors and into conquering his enemies and a new freedom for his nation! He was called into his glorious destiny… God’s reality! 


Moses was hanging out with sheep after running away from his past sins when God called him out of the wilderness and sent him back home. God entrusted to this murderer and abandoner the salvation of his entire nation from the powerful Egyptians. God was calling him out of running and into his glorious destiny… God’s reality!


Saul was joyfully ordering and watching the killing of the followers of Jesus when God entered in! He called him out of the business of death and into the business of life. He even renamed Saul (which means “desired”) to Paul (which means “small/humble” and “released from sin” <--What?!? Let's dig into that another time). God called him out of sin and into his glorious destiny… God’s reality!


I could do this all day. There are names upon names upon names of people in scripture who were called out of whatever situation they were stuck in and into God’s reality through an encounter with Jesus. 


If you are stuck today, you need an encounter with Jesus. Take time, right now, don’t wait a minute longer, to actively listen for Jesus’ voice. You are guaranteed to hear the voice of the Lord if you open up your bible and read. Quit talking and just listen. 


He has heard your cries for help, sweet friend. He has caught every single one of those tears you’ve cried and bottled them up. He has laid beside you as you lay awake at night worrying. He has wrapped his arms around you while you felt utterly alone. He hasn’t missed one single moment of your “stuck-ness”. He’s been here through it all, but sweet friend, he is ready for you to move on. It’s time to quit crying out and start quieting down to hear the voice of the Lord calling you out. 

Take some time right now before you finish this article. Don’t short change yourself. Do the work and see the life-change. Push pause here and go listen to Jesus.




Are you back now? What did he say?

How can you obey right now? Do you need to make a phone call? Go do it! Do you need to be baptized? Call your pastor or a friend and get baptized! Do you need to (insert blank here)? DO IT! 


You want to get unstuck? It’s time to obey, sister. God is calling you out of where you’re at and into his glorious destiny for you… HIS reality! He isn’t calling you by your past. He’s calling you by your future. Remember: Gideon wasn’t a mighty man of valor until after Jesus declared that over him. What is the Lord declaring over you today? Now it’s time to walk in obedience.


As I tell my kids, “Listen and obey. Right away. All the way. Happy way.” 


I love you, sister. I’m in your corner cheering you on! Let me know how I can pray for you today and I will do that: prettyandwiseco@gmail.com.

Man, seasons of transition can be so difficult, right?

It's like our bodies can pick up physically what is so uncomfortable and stretching in the spiritual. Even as I type this, even after weeks of working through this discomfort of transition, I still have this ball of tension in my stomach. 

I'm feeling a little stuck, if I'm honest. I've been sitting with the Lord here lately, working through a lot of feelings. And He is so tender and patient and full of mercy as He even reveals things to me I hadn't even realized. 

But I just can't seem to ready myself to move. 

I don't know what your transition looks like, or what you feel stuck in today, but here's something my husband and I are praying over: after almost four years of homeschooling and 7 years of me not working out of the home and staying home with my babies, the Lord may have us send them to school, public or private. All four will be school age and as silly as it may sound, I have spent my entire adult life home in some capacity with these kiddos. And I am really struggling with moving on. 

I have a lot of questions and they're not even necessarily about my children: Was I faithful in this season home with them? Did I prepare them well enough? What about me? What will this next season look like for me? What will it require of me? 

I'm comfortable here. 

But am I really? 

Because I think when God is preparing to transition us, He gifts us with the vision to notice that suddenly, things have changed. There's been a shift. And it doesn't feel wrong, but it does feel more difficult. It feels like more effort is being exerted in order to maintain the status quo. 

So are we willing to posture ourselves in one of humility and surrender to the Lord? 

Are we willing to lay down this season that is familiar and comfortable and what we know for the unknown?

Do we trust that Jesus knows what lies ahead of us and it is for our good?

Do we believe that He is faithful to prepare and equip us for wherever He is sending us? 

Whatever it is that you're transitioning into or out of, sweet sister, you can believe right here and right now that Jesus sees all of the thoughts and questions and protests that run through your mind. In fact, He may reveal them to you Himself. 

So let's start here. 

What are you afraid of? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what it is that has you hesitant to move forward. And after you have identified and worked through this fear with the Lord, release it to Him. Lay it at His feet. Where you're going, this fear can't come. 

What are you grateful for? Recount how Jesus has been so incredibly and impossibly good in this season, because no matter what it looks like circumstantially, He is and always was the good in it. Bless His precious and glorious name. Pour out thanksgiving before Him! 

Is there anything you need to release? Could it be that in order for you to receive what He wants to give you, you need to lay something down first? Ask Him and be obedient to release your grip on what may be good but is not His best. 

And now, my pretty and wise friend, don't look back. 

No matter how different and scary and demanding the road ahead of you may appear, do not let your gaze turn back to the old season. 
Do not long for the old when what Jesus has for you is the new thing He is doing.

Do not falter and do not grow weary, sweet friend. 

Do not turn back. 
Where you're going is not back there. 
What He has for you is not back there. 
It is forward. 
Press on. 
Lean in. 

I know that what Jesus has in store for us through this transition is worth trading in whatever we hold dear. May we have eyes to see every bit of good that lies ahead. And may we see in brand new ways that He is good and able and worthy and how ridiculously lavish His love for us is. 

His desire for you is good.
His plans for you are good. 
He is good. 

I can't wait to hear about all of the good this new, unknown and unfathomable season holds for you. 
Above all, I can't wait to hear about how you see Jesus in it and through it. 

King Jesus, ready us. Ready our hearts. Our desire is You. Where You are, we want to be. May we follow You all our days, Lord. Amen. ​