Tag: weariness

Moving Out, Moving On, Moving Up Part 6

December 8, 2021

Photo by Yura Forrat on Pexels.com

I’m fighting the urge to make something happen.

The past few days have felt like we’re slogging through deep waters. Or for those of you who love winter snow, it’s that thigh deep, barely moving a trudging step at a time. It’s not bad, but it’s hard and tiring and leaves you out of breath.

I feel the weariness of our situation.

Our Jesus-friend host is so kind and gracious, as are her sons, and we all know that we are exactly in the right place at the right time, but…

Suitcases are challenging to live out of and sometimes you just want your own bed. (I’m sure she’d like hers back!) At times, it’s a perfect harmony of our little community here. Ahh…the flow moves smoothly. On rare occasions, I sense we’d all like a little breathing room.

God is working. It’s good. Deep issues rise to the surface. We’re embracing those places God reveals that still need refining in each of us. It’s what we want, but that doesn’t make it easy.

Forging a new path, taking a road less—or never traveled means moments of fear, doubt, uncertainty along with exhilaration, anticipation, and excitement.

In all of it, we also keep checking our armor. The enemy is in full attack mode. Family members ill, migraine headaches, unexpected business issues, and inexplicable situations, like the key breaking off in the lock of our storage unit, ravage our places of peace. On one hand, we cringe and cry, but on the other, we celebrate.

If we weren’t headed in the right direction, the enemy would have no cause to disrupt or distract us.

Yay, God! Yay, us.

For me, waiting patiently is one of the biggest challenges. When God gives a vision for what is ahead, I’m like a little kid rushing ahead, pulling away from my daddy’s hand to get into the new place, the exciting place, this next place. I often don’t want the journey; I just want to get there.

Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva on Pexels.com

Are we there yet?

That’s when I have to fight the urge to make something happen.

But if I push too fast, too quickly, there isn’t time for everyone to grow into what God’s doing. We won’t be prepared like we need to be. I can become bossy and miss my calling of encourager. Even when I know that only God’s way in God’s timing will bring the best result. That’s what I really want.

So, all day, God sent encouraging words and the listening ears of a friend.

I love that about our God. He sees our human frailty and knows exactly what we need when we need it. I think I may have written that a few posts ago, but it’s so true!

This morning, as I cried out to him, he answered me with two prophetic words, Bible verses, and sentences from a book I’m currently reading. (The Jesus Hearted Woman by Jodi Detrick )

“I believe you, Lord!” I silently shouted into the semi-darkness. “I believe you.”

The day held tears, laughter, some progress, and some frustration.

But a ferocious focus on Jesus.

The author of our faith. The one who wrote it into being and will keep perfecting it until the end.

How was your day?

To be continued…

Soul Weary?

October 25, 2020

Don’t give up.

Those words have popped up in numerous places in the past couple of days. How appropriate! This week has been a long one with deadlines, doctor appointments, sick kids, and pain. You know how it is. Right?

I love how God knows how it is for us too.

He offers us exactly what we need in various ways. A call from a friend, a hug, a listening ear, a walk admiring nature. All of those little places that remind us that he sees and hears us when we’re weary.

I was reminded of how the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty long years. That’s two thirds of my entire life! They were promised a trip into a land flowing with good things like plenty of milk and honey. After the first few days they were complaining. What about after five, ten, or twenty years? It’s hard to keep the promise in sight when we feel weary or worn out.

This year certainly has been a wearing us down one.

But God is true to his promises. Even when it takes years to see them come to pass. Even when everything around us looks or feels hopeless and exhausting. His word encourages us not to grow weary in doing good. He must have known that we would. LOL

When I watched this clip this morning, I was encouraged and thought someone else might need a boost too. So here is another encouraging word about not giving up.

Let’s make it through another day, another week without allowing weariness to stop us in our tracks.

The climb is always worth the view!

In what areas are you weary? What uplifts you?

What Turned My Heart to Christmas

December 17, 2017

DSC_0042This year the idea of Christmas has been rough.

With Hurricane Irma, all of us in Florida feel like we lost a month. I’m sure so many others across the country have felt the same with fires, earthquakes, floods and hurricanes robbing us of daily life.

So Christmas crept up with a suddenness that stalled me.

In addition, some personal challenges made it difficult to embrace the season. I cried at the thought of what this year may be like for my family and for so many in my area still struggling to recover from tragedy. But then my heart flipped.

It started with O Holy Night.

A line in that song (one of my personal favorites), says

“…a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.”

I can relate to being weary. Weary of recovering from trauma. Weary of the emotional roller coaster of relational issues. Physically weary of biking each day to a new job. And weary of the spiritual attacks of an enemy that wants to destroy my peace, joy and marriage.

But that is why Jesus came.

And as I sang with our congregation, allowing tears to fall, my heart grew a little hope–a small thrill if you will–that held promise. Just a hint. Because Jesus is my hope. He’s given me such peace and faithfully provided for me during this season of weariness.

This past week I still couldn’t bring myself to play Christmas carols.

But after another day of singing them at church both in our worship service and at another get together, I found my heart opening up to the possibilities. Allowing myself to be swept into the presence of God and gratitude for the birth of our Lord and Savior, I found release in the tears and joy in the celebration.

God calls us to live today. Nothing more. Nothing less.

When the Israelites were in exile for hundreds of years before Jesus came, God told them to live well there. Marry, give in marriage, eat, drink. Live. Don’t waste away because you are in a place that is less than what you’d like it to be.

So I decided to focus on what Christmas is, rather than what it might not be this year.

  1. Christmas is celebrating Jesus coming to a lost, weary world to offer us a way to God.
  2. Christmas is a time for love, joy, peace and hope.
  3. Christmas is about sharing in relationships: friends, strangers and yes, family.
  4. Christmas is about giving. Whatever resources we have. Maybe we don’t have money, but we may have time, or a listening ear, or a hug or gift wrapping skills. We can offer a ride or be a personal shopper. Let’s be creative.
  5. Christmas is about traditions. Keeping some old ones, making some new ones. Memory making lasts forever. Let’s make some good ones.

So I sang my heart out in gratitude to God. I gave what I could to those who needed something. I decorated. Lit advent candles. Put on my favorite Christmas music. And the very things I didn’t think I could bring myself to do have created an atmosphere of peace and joy.

I’m not sure all of what Christmas will look like this year. But at this moment, it looks pretty good.

How have you found a way to embrace Christmas and Christ this season?

If you need a thrill of hope, check out my church’s Thrill of Hope series at NextLevelChurch.com and if you’re in the Southwest Florida area we invite you to celebrate with us on December 23 and 24th during one of our many services at three locations.