A month ago I made a difficult decision that taught me powerful lessons.

Since the new year, I've been paying attention to thoughts and feelings that have knocked on my heart for some time. Finally, I deciphered the message and was able to let go of my business and life-changing program, LIFEChange.

LIFEChange has been a second-place passion, its goal to improve the quality of lives for women and their families.

My focus in married life has been to put family first and do LIFEChange with my left toe.

In the past, that has worked well, taking 10 to 15 hours a week for LIFEChange (usually while my little ones napped or slept at night). I've been able to count on structured chunks of time to get things done and delegate to a few others what I couldn't do.

But I have felt my life changing. My family's rhythm slide into a new phase where suddenly I run more errands.

The chunks of planned time just aren't available any more. (On an embarrassing note, when older women would tell me that life would "just get busier," I remember thinking, "Perhaps they just aren't organizing their time like they should." God is chuckling, I'm sure.)

And underneath, I can feel that something is coming, though I don't know what that something is. I just feel I need to make space in my life by letting go of something.

What I've learned from this journey I hope may help you.

I've learned that putting family first works.

Because of personal parameters put on my time and energy, I now feel peace.

I've learned to go with my gut. Though money has been exchanged in LIFEChange, I made a decision early on to not personally take monetary compensation during these past nine years.

My desire has been to avoid dependency on a second income so that I can keep my focus on serving and sharing.

This has allowed me to walk away without a negative side effect.

I've learned to keep my "absolutes" — the core things that need my attention — to stay balanced. As I have turned down seemingly juicy opportunities over the years, it has taught me that "not all that glitters is gold" and that even good things are not always best.

And I've learned to work with great people. The singular, outstanding women I've been blessed to work with have patiently shaped and loved me, bringing such meaningful and tender friendships that I continue to enjoy. Being a part of LIFEChange has been an amazing journey, selfishly for myself, but hopefully for the other women involved. Your life experiences have changed mine and made me a better woman, wife and mother.