Reassurance

Will we drift and grow apart?
Will we stay the way we are?
Will we go deeper in love?
Will we forget about us?
Will we remain friends?
Will we lose in the end?
You're ready to commit,
but can you answer this?

Will we stay the way we are?
We are. We are.
The way we are?
We are. We are.
The way we are?

We will foster closeness.
We will keep growing.
We will mature our love.
We will nurture us.
We will always be friends.
We will ensure the other wins.
I am committed
and confident as I say this.

We will stay the way we are.
We are. We are.
In love: We are. We are. We are.
In trust: We are. We are. We are.
With time: We are.

Contrast

Sometimes, while lying in bed, tired, and unable to sleep, she counts failures. She can count personal failures like others count sheep. "I failed at...I failed at...I failed at...I failed at..." She's counted to tears. She's counted to nausea. She's counted to hysteria. It's a damn mean thing she does to her. She rehearses every pitfall, recounts every poor choice, recites every mistake then marvels when she can't sleep, questions her self-esteem, and wonders why she's self-doubting. Kind to others and awful to self, it's a special kind of crazy creating an exhausting mental hell...Self-love is standing with yourself, in all of your glory and folly, unwavering on your value, worth, and resilience. It's being willing to go toe-to-toe with anything or anyone, including self, who doubts that you, even with your humanity, fragility, and frailty, are created in the image of God. Fierce protection of Precious You from all that alienates self from love births a special type of freedom; it allows for a peaceful liberation. 

Perspective

I weighed myself this morning after a week of the most physical discipline and dietary restraint I've shown in a very long time. I'll reach my 90 day mark of no meat this month. (I want this to be the beginning of lifelong vegetarianism.) I have abandoned sodas and other sugary drinks and adopted more water, unsweetened tea, and lightly sweetened teas. (Fact: I love sweet tea, and I'm talking McDonald's Sweet Tea, sweet.) I worked out 4-5 times this week. Plus, I've gone a week without dairy. (I wanted to challenge myself. Goal Accomplished. 😩😭😂)

This week of good decisions culminated last night when I went to a pizza place with Errian, Heidi, Karina, and Sarah. Everything looked and smelled delicious. (I was salivating.) Errian had a veggie pizza that I wanted to devour, but even the meat pizzas looked and smelled amazingly tempting. I resisted and struggled through a spinach, pecan, and cranberry salad. (I did not eat it all. Its taste could not compete with my preferences.)

Back to this morning...

I stepped on the scale with pride and excitement. "Numbers don't lie." "Surely, I'm going to be rewarded with a minus 1 to 2 pounds." I almost lost it when I saw the number, exactly the same as last week. I didn't lose or gain anything. I was highly ticked and disappointed, but I remembered my measuring tape. (Thank you, Aunt Deb!) While I am not losing the pounds I want to go away, I am losing inches...

It's sometimes like that with spiritual matters as well. You pray for results in area 1 and see change in area 3948581. It can be frustrating. Your prayer may sound something like "I'm fasting, praying, and trusting for ____ to change. God, I need direction. I need Your help. You have no respect of persons; Father do for me what you did for ____. Your Word says _____. Father, I trust You, and I thank You." After praying so many variations of that prayer with seemingly no results, you may feel faint and tired.

Don't give up! Keep praying. Keep fasting. Keep sowing. Keep believing. God heard you. He hears you. He sees you.  "There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time." (Ecclesiastes 3:1 ERV) At just the right time, your "due season" will come. 

Nothing you can't handle.

I was at my desk about to unwrap a Halls cough drop, when I read this message. I'm not attributing this confirmation to coincidence. God knows. He hears. He's attentive, and He's active. Stay connected to Him. The same Word that says apart from Him we can do nothing confirms that we can do all things through Christ. Be encouraged! This, whatever "this" is for you, is nothing you can't handle with your very present help.

Job 42:2

Job 42:2 was on my heart so heavily today. "I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted." (Job 42:2 AMPC)  While discussing this scripture with Errian, Jeremiah 29:11 came to my mind as well. "'For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,' says the Lord , 'plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11 AMP) What an awesome, encouraging, and hope-giving, faith-stimulating revelation!

God's thoughts and purpose cannot and will not be restrained (prevented/restricted) or thwarted (stopped or frustrated). Those thoughts and plans for peace, well-being, a future, and a hope that God thinks towards us will not be prevented, restricted, stopped, or frustrated. Praise God!

Thank You, God, for Your Word that affirms us in this faith walk. Thank You, God, for being the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God. Thank You for Your plans and thoughts.