This summer, I made Kelsey Lee Writes LLC an official business.  It’s been in my prayers for over a year.  What first started as a desire to write a practical theology book for Gen Z turned into launching a podcast and starting a business.  Some days I’m excited, other days I wonder if I really did this, and other days I ask myself what in the world I’m doing.  (Check out the intro episode of the podcast here where I share my heart behind starting Wholeheartedly with Kelsey Lee!). 

I now find myself with two part-time jobs (plus teaching a parenting class once a week during the school year), and co-directing children’s ministry at my church.  As I’ve worked to balance my schedule, I’ve come to face an uncomfortable truth: I can’t do it all.

Sure, I’ve listened to podcasts and read blog articles about how to do it all.  And I have implemented some time blocking tools that have immensely improved my time management.  But I still can’t do it all.  Not without burnout. 

I had to reevaluate my commitments and make the painful decision to let go of some things.  And I was faced with a second uncomfortable truth: I don’t like letting go. 

I made the hard decision to let go of something that was a good thing, but I knew it wasn’t in my giftings and was causing burnout.  I had to work through a lot of fears of handing over this work to someone else, but as I worked through that, I came face-to-face with the real root of my fears: pride. 

In my pride, I thought I couldn’t let go because if I didn’t do it, who would?  If I gave this away, would it still be up to my standards?  I thought I could do it all, and in believing that lie, I was believing the same lie the devil presented Eve:

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5 (NASB95)

Whenever we tell ourselves that we can do it all, we are telling ourselves that we can be omnipotent, or all-powerful, like God. 

But just as we were not created to be all-knowing, we also were not created to do it all.  From the beginning God designed us to rest every night and every sabbath.  When we rest, we remember that God keeps the world in motion, not us.  We were created with boundaries and limits to our strength and knowledge because we were never meant to be our own gods.  How prideful to think we can do it all rather than relying on the One who truly does it all! 

So, as I’ve been working on getting my business up and running, I’ve been remembering that I can’t do it all.  But God can and does.  So, when I’m overwhelmed, or when I need to say no to good things in order to say yes to what God is calling me to, I can rest in His capable hands.  He can do it all, so I don’t have to. 

With love,

Kelsey