Something’s Gotta Give

Sometimes you walk into a season of your life that calls you to make changes. My little family has been in a season of perpetual change it feels like since last spring. This last year has been so very wonderful for us in so many ways, and in others, so very hard.

But, I know from over two decades of following the Lord, that the hard parts are where the most growth comes from. I am in a season of necessary growth.And the enemy is not happy. And I feel it. Daily.

It is time to fight back.

Time to stop huddling down with my hands over my head simply feeling most days like a losing boxer trapped in the corner of the ring.

Nope. It is time to strap these gloves back on and choose to fight. Fight for my Joy.

I know the best training ground I have and my best battle plan comes from digging into the Word.

The Word alone.

It is time to quiet the outside voices that make it so easy to believe the lies. The lies that I talk about, write about, pray against, over and over again it seems…and yet, they still remain.

And I am sick of it.

I have felt a pressing need to eliminate as much as I can. Eliminate stuff. Thin out obligations. Defeat wasted time. Lessen expectations ~ especially on myself.

Get back to the basics so to speak ~ my basic training.

I have been thinking a lot lately about when I first became a believer 21 years ago and what was different between then and now.

Passion.

Passion for the Living Word. And maybe even more importantly, the ability to believe what the Word says about who I am. Having the kind of faith that is like a mustard seed that could move mountains and the kind of faith that simply trusts as a little child.

So, as I determinedly come out of this corner a little bit angry and a whole lot fed up, I am going to intentionally be quieting the voices as much as I can that I so often allow to speak lies into me ~ Facebook, Pinterest, TV, Podcasts…

None of these things in themselves are bad! As a matter of fact, there are many, many life-giving things that can come from some of these and other online outlets for many people. But when you live in a world that constantly challenges you with messages of be this, do this, look like this, fix yourself this way… it is so very easy to end up in a perpetual state of comparison and end up feeling so completely unworthy.

It is so twisted. And something’s gotta give.

And being completely transparent here, it’s gotta give especially when the enemy knows my jugular is the very idol of comparison and uses that against me even with the women that speak the most life into me. Stupid enemy knows how to aim his blows.

I need the One True Voice to be the loudest voice I hear. I am praying this morning as I commit to limit and turn off a lot of these things for the rest of the year and start journeying once again through the New Testament over the next 260 days, one chapter at a time, that His voice will become so much easier to hear. And believe.

I am ready for this. I am in need of a season just focused on my Savior. Not reading anything else but His truths. Seeking answers for my struggles in the Word first.

Just me and Him.

And I am praying out of this will once again come an overflow of Joy.

An overflow to invest wholly in the small handful of women that the Lord has placed in my life in my new town. An overflow to invest deeply in my children and their friends in this new place. An overflow to invest completely in the gift I have in my precious husband, right here in front of me. An overflow to keep in touch through a real live phone call with the friends I had to move away from.

Getting back to the basics of relationships.

Face to face.

Sharing hugs, tears, laughter, meals… Sharing life. Real life.

I am also praying for you, my beautiful sisters, as we fight for our Joy in this world that so often beats us up. No matter what your jugular is, trust me, the enemy knows it.

Be transparent. Get some accountability and fight!

Let’s battle together on our knees and in the Word.

And lastly, as I was preparing a check list for my reading plan, I don’t think it was just coincidence what I found. When I looked to see how many chapters are in the new testament (260) and then looked to see how many days we have left in this year, studying a chapter a day would leave me finishing right at Christmas.

The last chapter of Revelation will be complete in the very season we celebrate His coming and the Hope of our new beginnings!

Ending with the hope of a New Beginning sounds like a beautiful place to be.

So, here I am, with gloves on. Begging for ears to hear and eyes to see. Ready for the beginning of a new chapter.

Seeking the path that leads to hearing only the Lord.

Matthew, let’s do this…