RESTORE 2017
Hey yall!!
So, if you've read my last couple of posts, you may have seen where I was trying to write a blog post every Tuesday.
And if you are reading this, 2 months later, you will notice that didn't quite happen, haha.
As we all know, life gets busy, and crazy, and DISTRACTING. I've noticed myself being more and more distracted by temporary reliefs. TV, Facebook, Pinterest, even reading a good book (not a study or my B-I-B-L-E!) Why am I searching for REST in things that aren't lasting?
(Did that one hurt a little? Yeah, it got me, too.)
So, being the "wordy girl" that I am, in January, I declared that my word/theme for 2017 is RESTORE. There are so many aspects of my life where I need restoration. In my marriage, my parenting, my friendships, my ministry, my health, in my home, and most importantly my relationship with my Abba Father.
But where do I begin? How do I start? Well, I'm a planner. God created me to be the type of person that has to write everything out on good old fashioned paper and chart everything out. Make a game plan. If you were to pick up any of the hundreds of notebooks or journals I have in my house, you will see plans after plans for a myriad of things. Menus and grocery lists. Cleaning plans. Birthday party plans. Plans for vacations. Packing lists. Lesson plans for Girl Scouts and church. Work schedules from when I was in school. I like to organize and map everything out.
Did you know that it just doesn't always work like that? Haha. There is a saying that says something like "We make plans and God laughs." Not a mean laugh, but I think of it more like the way you laugh when your kiddo is really trying to accomplish something and they just aren't quite getting it. Like my youngest, for example. He just turned 2, and of course he thinks he is a big as his older siblings. Last night we had macaroni and cheese with supper. My husband gave all the kids their serving and a fork to go with it, right? The tools he needs to be successful! However, Elijah wasn't willing to get help from his Daddy, and tried to feed himself. You could see the look on his face, so determined, trying to figure out the steps. Get the mac and cheese on the fork from the bowl, then, somehow, bring it up and out and into my mouth without spilling. Then figure out how to get the food off of the fork when its in my mouth and pull the fork out to start all over again. He had a plan.... and it was a cheesy, noodle mess! Elijah doesn't have the maturity yet to be able to quite master a fork on his own. But with guidance from his Dad, he managed to figure it out and be successful in eating the mac and cheese. But you better believe, that as his parents, we were cracking up while watching him try and figure out this fork! THAT'S how I think God laughs at our plans.
Do you see where I am going with this? I tend to make all these that look so good on paper, but I am trying to accomplish them on my own. In my own strength. Guys, it never works out when I do that. Its never quite right. I may eventually get what I needed to get accomplished, but its never whole. Because all things are made whole in HIM. And you know what? God cares about it all. He cares about my desire to keep a tidy, pleasant home for my family. He cares about my cleaning schedule and my grocery list. And He even cares about Elijah getting a full bite of that mac and cheese in his mouth. Because He loves us. Like our Daddy. His desire is for us to live full and abundant lives, full of every blessing that He has already given us! But we are missing it!!! Because we are trying to figure it all out on our.
Guilty. As. Charged.
But PRAISE THE LORD, that I don't have to stay guilty! Praise Him for making a way out. Praise Him for never leaving our side no matter how often and how bad we mess up. No mistake is too big or too little to separate Him from us once we have been claimed :-) I'm covered, I'm chosen, I'm beloved. And I need to live that way. Always focused on my Father, who is there, ready to guide me every step of the way.
This life is so stinking hard. And I'm realizing that it really is because its not ours. I don't belong here. The ways of the world are not the ways of God, so as long as I am called to be here, I'm going to be constantly battling Satan and all his tricks to make me stumble. But, as God said, the battle isn't really mine. And its not something I have control over. If I abide in Him, stay focused, stay in His Word, He'll fight for me.
That's so freeing, yall. So all those distractions I talked about earlier, pray with me that I will let them go. Let the need for temporary relief go, and focus on REAL TRUE REST in my Father. Because when I start to REST, you know what comes next? RESTORE.
Love yall!!
So, if you've read my last couple of posts, you may have seen where I was trying to write a blog post every Tuesday.
And if you are reading this, 2 months later, you will notice that didn't quite happen, haha.
As we all know, life gets busy, and crazy, and DISTRACTING. I've noticed myself being more and more distracted by temporary reliefs. TV, Facebook, Pinterest, even reading a good book (not a study or my B-I-B-L-E!) Why am I searching for REST in things that aren't lasting?
(Did that one hurt a little? Yeah, it got me, too.)
So, being the "wordy girl" that I am, in January, I declared that my word/theme for 2017 is RESTORE. There are so many aspects of my life where I need restoration. In my marriage, my parenting, my friendships, my ministry, my health, in my home, and most importantly my relationship with my Abba Father.
But where do I begin? How do I start? Well, I'm a planner. God created me to be the type of person that has to write everything out on good old fashioned paper and chart everything out. Make a game plan. If you were to pick up any of the hundreds of notebooks or journals I have in my house, you will see plans after plans for a myriad of things. Menus and grocery lists. Cleaning plans. Birthday party plans. Plans for vacations. Packing lists. Lesson plans for Girl Scouts and church. Work schedules from when I was in school. I like to organize and map everything out.
Did you know that it just doesn't always work like that? Haha. There is a saying that says something like "We make plans and God laughs." Not a mean laugh, but I think of it more like the way you laugh when your kiddo is really trying to accomplish something and they just aren't quite getting it. Like my youngest, for example. He just turned 2, and of course he thinks he is a big as his older siblings. Last night we had macaroni and cheese with supper. My husband gave all the kids their serving and a fork to go with it, right? The tools he needs to be successful! However, Elijah wasn't willing to get help from his Daddy, and tried to feed himself. You could see the look on his face, so determined, trying to figure out the steps. Get the mac and cheese on the fork from the bowl, then, somehow, bring it up and out and into my mouth without spilling. Then figure out how to get the food off of the fork when its in my mouth and pull the fork out to start all over again. He had a plan.... and it was a cheesy, noodle mess! Elijah doesn't have the maturity yet to be able to quite master a fork on his own. But with guidance from his Dad, he managed to figure it out and be successful in eating the mac and cheese. But you better believe, that as his parents, we were cracking up while watching him try and figure out this fork! THAT'S how I think God laughs at our plans.
Do you see where I am going with this? I tend to make all these that look so good on paper, but I am trying to accomplish them on my own. In my own strength. Guys, it never works out when I do that. Its never quite right. I may eventually get what I needed to get accomplished, but its never whole. Because all things are made whole in HIM. And you know what? God cares about it all. He cares about my desire to keep a tidy, pleasant home for my family. He cares about my cleaning schedule and my grocery list. And He even cares about Elijah getting a full bite of that mac and cheese in his mouth. Because He loves us. Like our Daddy. His desire is for us to live full and abundant lives, full of every blessing that He has already given us! But we are missing it!!! Because we are trying to figure it all out on our.
Guilty. As. Charged.
But PRAISE THE LORD, that I don't have to stay guilty! Praise Him for making a way out. Praise Him for never leaving our side no matter how often and how bad we mess up. No mistake is too big or too little to separate Him from us once we have been claimed :-) I'm covered, I'm chosen, I'm beloved. And I need to live that way. Always focused on my Father, who is there, ready to guide me every step of the way.
This life is so stinking hard. And I'm realizing that it really is because its not ours. I don't belong here. The ways of the world are not the ways of God, so as long as I am called to be here, I'm going to be constantly battling Satan and all his tricks to make me stumble. But, as God said, the battle isn't really mine. And its not something I have control over. If I abide in Him, stay focused, stay in His Word, He'll fight for me.
That's so freeing, yall. So all those distractions I talked about earlier, pray with me that I will let them go. Let the need for temporary relief go, and focus on REAL TRUE REST in my Father. Because when I start to REST, you know what comes next? RESTORE.
Love yall!!
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