Humility

Humility - the quality or condition of being humble; A modest opinion or estimate of one’s own importance, rank, etc.


I can be haughty, brash, bold, sweet, benevolent and worldly. I am a mother who fiercely protects what is hers and a friend that defends the defenseless. I am hell bent on saving the world and self sacrificing in the process to the chagrin of friends and family.

Despite the outer bravado, when it comes to my God and all that He blesses me with on a daily basis I am truly humbled. I shirk away from Him in utter humility unworthy of being in His presence but longing for that connection as a deer who pants after water. It is from the utter depths of my soul that I reach out to Him in prayer and supplication. Giving thanks before asking or even thinking of laying at his feet all that burdens my torn and twisted soul.

I live to serve Him by serving those He places in my path with a glad heart, and a cheerful and kind spirit. Although it may not always go the way I envision it at times, I know that He knows the intentions of my heart and that is all that matters.

And so I come before Him surrendering my all and saying “Here am I Lord, use me.”

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10)

This is the one I esteem: He who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)

Gratitude

Gratitude - the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.
In spite of all the drama and chaos of the past three weeks I am truly grateful for my life. I have much gratitude in my heart for the opportunity to experience these trials and tribulations as a way to strengthen my character. Although it can be challenging and overwhelming while going through it, once the initial feelings have given way to reason and sanity I can clearly see the growth I gain each time I am faced with these issues.

Does that mean that I enjoy them? Not always but they truly are learning opportunities not stumbling blocks like I once envisioned them to be.

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." (Psalms 136:1)

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. (Colossians 3:17)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters and friends that are helping to raise a child because it truly does "take a village" to do it.

A Mother's Love

There are times when only a mother's love
Can understand our tears,
Can soothe our disappoints
And calm all of our fears.


There are times when only a mother's love
Can share the joy we feel
When something we've dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real.


There are times when only a mother's faith
Can help us on life's way
And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day.


For a mother's heart and a mother's faith
And a mother's steadfast love
Were fashioned by the angels
And sent from God above.


--Author Unknown

Friendship

“Friends are the flowers in the garden of life. Beginning with a seed of trust, nurtured with laughter and tears, growing into loyalty and love.”

Navigating the minefield of friendship has always been a hardship for me. I’ve had friends come and go through the years and some friendships that have lasted since grade school, but I have never truly learned how to grow my circle of friends. As time has gone by it seems to have shrunk instead of increased. Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful for those that continue to be in my life although I wonder at times what I’ve done to deserve their loyalty.

I am true to my Virgo nature, once a friend always a friend - loyal to the end, unless the trust is broken and then the intricate threads that wove us together wither and break. While we still remain friends it is never to the extent we once were. I have a thing about trust; real deep-seated trust. Over the years I realize that I’ve grown cynical and isolated instead of outgoing and engaging in activities that would lead me to make new connections and now I find myself lost and at times alone.

My view of women and friendship has evolved from someone to hang out and go partying with to someone you share aspects of your life with and support each other through the different seasons you encounter in your life’s journey.

Not one to bog anyone down with my issues I’ve pretty much just held it all in and expressed what was just beneath the surface but nothing with any real depth to it for fear of rejection or abandonment. I always felt like I was supposed to be there for them but that my life had to be pretty close to perfect in order for things to work.

I never really realized until much later in life (like now…) that it is a give and take and that I have to share with them just as much as they share with me. Not wanting to be pushy or clingy I could go several weeks without calling or talking to my friends but devour the details of their lives when we did catch up while divulging very little of my own. Eager to please and ready to help at the drop of a hat but emotionally aloof is how I would define myself. And yet I know that there is more to friendship than this.

I pray that I will learn to reach out more often, to share more deeply, to trust implicitly and forgive as I have been forgiven for the slightest offenses that would normally send me retreating in an effort to preserve myself.

May He send me a circle of friends that will embrace my nuances and help me to break down the walls of isolation and allow me to blossom under their tutelage as I strive to be a better friend. May the friendships I do have flourish to even greater depths and may they know that I love them deeply, cherish them always and want nothing but the best for them today and always.

“A friend loves at all times…” Proverbs 17:17

Energy

Energy is the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity; a feeling of possessing such strength and vitality.


Over the past few months since my schedule changed from working out in the mornings to getting the kids off to school therefore, I haven’t been working out. During this time, I’ve noticed that my energy level has plummeted and my sleep intake has increased. Don’t get me wrong, once I’m up I have tons of energy for the first few hours of the day but after 1:00 it decreases considerably and stays low the remainder of the day. I’m in the bed earlier than normal on days that don’t require extra studying for school and still feel drained. It’s amazing how that one hour of exercise each morning used to carry me through the day.

This also reminds me of how I get when I get out of the habit of having a quiet time with God each day. My spiritual battery runs low and I find myself not as sharp, in control and patient as I am on the days when I make that time to study the word, have personal prayer and quiet time just me and Him. Doing that 15 to 30 minute exchange each day recharges my spiritual battery just like exercising does it for the physical part of me.

Knowing this and applying this to my life consistently is a battle I am facing right now. I don’t have any excuse because I have the time if I use it wisely but I haven’t been a good steward of my time lately. I’ve given in to the flesh and when sleep beckons I’ve allowed myself to let go and catch a few extra minutes in the morning or allowed myself to be lulled into the abyss in the evenings when I lay in bed reading only to awaken a few hours later having not made it past the first paragraph or from my brain to my lips. The pages of my prayer journal are pretty sparse and the peace of having that quiet time is missing.

In a few weeks school will be out and I’m looking forward to the summer when I’ll get back into that routine of working out in the morning since the kids don’t have to get up for school and I can let them sleep in. But I can’t wait until then to jump start my spiritual battery. I need my quiet time to begin now on a steady and consistent basis.

So I am challenging myself to create the habit again of doing this each morning for 15 minutes before getting up and starting my day beginning tomorrow. I know that He will give me the strength I need to get over the hump of missing 15 extra minutes of sleep and I will be renewed with an abundance of energy in return.



But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Destiny

As long as we are persistence in our pursuit of our deepest destiny, we will continue to grow. We cannot choose the day or time when we will fully bloom. It happens in its own time. Denis Waitley

The destiny of man is in his own soul. Herodotus

Destiny is defined as something to which a person or thing is destined; a predetermined course of events often held to be an irresistible power or agency.

We all have a purpose, a destiny that must be fulfilled. No one can accomplish what has been destined for you and you can’t accomplish that which was meant for someone else. The key to this is for us to seek out and fulfill that which we have been purposed for in this life. Some of us have multiple things to accomplish while others have a singular path but we were all created for something much larger than mere existence here on this earth. Greatness comes from the creator and since we were created in His image then greatness is in store for each of us. What that looks like for me will be different than what it looks like for you but it is equally as important.

What is your destiny and are you living your life as to discover it?

All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. Ecclesiastes 9:2

Confidence

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.” Norman Vincent Peale


Confidence is defined as belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust; the state of feeling certain about the truth of something.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.” Jeremiah 17:7

Who is your confidence in - God, man or yourself? The question is not meant to trick or confuse you but to get you to think about your confidence and where it comes from.

I am confident in my ability to perform my job to the best of my ability. I have confidence in my role of a friend, mother and sister – sometimes. I am confident in my belief in God and that he is the beginning and the end and that I should cast my cares upon Him and feel confident that He will see me through.

When my confidence comes from myself it wanes when things get tough or beyond my control. When my confidence comes for God, I am able to stand steadfast through the storms of life and weather them out knowing that He has all things under his control and that no matter what the outcome, it is as He has planned.

Self-confidence is necessary to survive in the world but it is not to be confused with pride and our thinking that we are able to do all things by ourselves without care or thought of God in the process.

My confidence comes from my faith. When my faith is strong so is my confidence but when my faith falters so does my confidence.

Hebrews 10:19-39 talks about confidence and faith in great detail and I have learned a lot about how the two correlate to one another. I am thankful for the word and the lessons found within that help clarify what my role is in this life and how it relates to what God wants me to do and how he wants me to do it.

I am still a work in progress but I am open and flexible in my beliefs that as I delve deeper into His word that my faith and therefore my confidence will remain entrenched in Him as it should rightly do.

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.” Hebrews 10:35