Weakness

Reading in Matthew for my She Reads Truth study today and I always get stuck on this verse about Peter. Upon remembering the words of Jesus and realizing he had denied him, he wept bitterly. While my heart aches for Jesus throughout these chapters, at this point my heart always aches deeply for Peter. Because his flesh was weak, just like mine. It opens my eyes to the countless times I give in to sin (in little and big ways) each day. My flesh is weak. But thankfully I know the rest of the story. I know that it is in my weakness, God uses me. I can’t do it on my own. But when I let God work in and through me, His power is made perfect in my weakness. And I am lead to a place of deep gratitude for Jesus & His gift of grace through the cross. 

Stuck

Real talk today.

 Sometimes when life gets chaotic, (or maybe right now it is also has something to do with a long winter) my brain just sort of shuts down or gets stuck. My brain seems to be trying to decide what task to take on first and when it looks around and doesn't know where to start, it just panics. Over the years, I have learned that not enough time in my bible, getting overwhelmed, and not taking care of myself all lead me down this path. Satan totally gets this too. It never fails, as soon as I seem to get into a pattern of consistency, something happens to get me off track again. 

But thankfully, through a lot of prayer and paying attention, I have started to realize these patterns and stop them sooner. I can see when I am starting to get stressed and too busy. And most importantly, I am learning to push myself through my feelings or lack of feelings, to do the things that make me a better person, wife, mama, daughter, sister, & friend.

This girl needs a whole lot of Jesus and His truth. And I am so thankful He is always there and never lets me down. Today the very last thing I wanted to do was work out. But am I ever glad that I did. I am always so surprised and thankful for how great I feel when I consistently take care of myself. And I am definitely learning to take things a day at a time. What am I doing today to keep my focus on God and His will for me? And what am I doing to take care of myself today? 

This is real life. No makeup. Tired eyes. A messy house...

But also a full heart, a mind on Jesus, and a determination to run my race well. 

Intentional

It has been a long time since I have posted here. I haven’t stopped writing. I just needed to take some time to pray and listen. I have had so many thoughts floating around in my mind and topics weighing heavy on my heart. But even heavier was the thought of how easily our words can impact a person. I want to be an encourager. Someone who lifts others up and helps them find joy. I want to share the truth and joy that God brings into my life, with others.
I saw too many people willing to share thoughts and opinions, all without a shred of compassion. All without trying to listen or understand where someone was coming from. And it broke my heart to watch a world becoming more and more divided. I’m willing to bet we all have a lot more in common than we think. But we live in a time where we know everyone’s opinions on pretty much everything. And that isn’t always a good thing. We choose to focus repeatedly on the differences between us and others. But how beautiful would it be if we chose to intentionally seek to find the good in others.
This year I am working on being intentional. Intentional with my time, my words, my relationships. And being an encouragement to others is something I want to be much more intentional with as well.