"who can laugh at the days to come"

It is with great joy that I write tonight! There is something about Monday night bible study that fires me up with the passion to write about everything that's been on my heart that past week. In this case, the last few weeks.

I've been thinking about the "Proverbs 31 Wife" ~ "She can laugh at the days to come." (vs. 25)

Girls, that has NOT been me. I want to get real with you and tell you that anxiety has been ALIVE and PRESENT in my life. It's been such a huge part of me recently, that it's caused me to wallow, complain, cry, get angry, get lazy, spend money.... everything. If anything is a threat to a joyful Christian spirit, it's anxiety. 

A sweet Sister-in-Christ said something very eye-opening to me. "There is pain when you choose to think about a problem, but there is also pain when you try to let it go."

So I began to think about that. Why is there pain when you try to let something go? How come I can't just put it aside and be happy? (If you are a black and white person like my husband, you might not understand what I'm talking about. You either choose to be happy or choose to be sad.... right? Well I'm sincerely happy that it's easy for you! For those of us who can only see gray... this can be a huge battle!)

Here is what I read: "Give up the illusion that you deserve a problem-free life. Part of you is still hungering for the resolution of all difficulties. This is a false hope!... Link your hope not to problem solving in this life but to the promise of an eternity of problem-free life in Heaven."
~ Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

Hmm... maybe the pain comes from putting our hope in solutions. We want to fix everything, you know? Maybe we're putting our hope in the American spirit that inspires us to chase our dreams and pursue a better life. Maybe we're putting our hope in being able to help a loved one. Maybe we are putting our hope in our abilities to fight and stay strong through a battle.

Jesus said in John 16:33: "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Another reading in Jesus Calling said this: "Trust is a golden pathway to Heaven. When you walk on this path, you live above your circumstances."

Trust the Lord. OK? I've heard that all my life. We need to trust in God... He will take care of us. Sisters, those words can be SO powerful, if we can just find it in us to really do what we are saying.

Beth Moore says that thanks is not the same thing as trust. Sometimes after something amazing happens we go to God out of gratitude and say that we trust Him, or feel that we trust Him. But that is NOT the same thing as trusting God before the work happens... or when the work doesn't happen.

Isaiah 30: 18 reads: Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him." 

Putting our hope in God means to trust God. To trust God means to wait for Him.

God has promised us that this world will be full of troubles, but when we learn to depend on Him and not solutions, we can see that God offers us peace through the storms. Peace doesn't come from our problems being solved. Peace doesn't come through miracles. Peace comes from trusting in Him all along- through waiting on Him. Trusting that His will and His timing are perfect. Even when things don't turn out as we hope, even when things seem awful- we must let the hope of Heaven give us strength. Trusting that life in Heaven will be problem-free regardless of what we face on earth. 

I want to leave you with one of my favorite songs. We sang it on Sunday and the words couldn't have come to me at a better time. The big line is, "My hope is in you Lord all the day long. I won't be shaken by drought or storm. The peace the passes understanding is my song, and I sing, I trust in you alone."

Even if you know the song and have heard it 100 times, watch the music video. It's such an inspiring story. It really captures the idea of putting our trust in eternity, where life will be perfect... because life on earth is everything but.
My Hope is in You by Aaron Shust VIDEO

I hope with all of my heart that this encourages you. Take a leap of hope my friends! Let's be that "Proverbs 31 Lady" who can laugh at the days to come!

~ Wishing you many many blessings ~
K. Marie

enough

The holidays have come and gone, bowl games have been watched, the last of the goodies and fattening food has been devoured, decorations put away, resolutions set, weight watchers membership rejoined, back to work. Yup... and so life begins in 2013. 

Over the holidays I revisited my interest in cross stitching. I got me a BRIGHT task lamp and picked out a pattern that says "It's all about the journey" on it. Little did I know how much that little phrase would mean to me. 

As I've been applying myself more to weight loss, that phrase has continued to pop into my mind, almost like God whispering it to me. I have a tendency to look forward to the future a little too much. In college I couldn't wait to be out of school, married with kids. I really didn't care at all about the in between. And in reality that made me miss out on so much. The same can be true for goals that I make for myself... I become fixated on the goal.. where I see myself... and in the end I destroy my self esteem and feel that I am worthless unless they are acheived. I miss out because I'm so miserable... and usually it destroys my efforts. 

But as I focus on KIND this year, the spirit has been revealing to me that I need to be kind to myself. I need to be kind to the life that God's blessed me with, and the be kind to the opportunities he puts before me. 

As I was working on my bible study (on Esther) this morning, it became even more clear to me. It discussed Haman and how he was so fixated on the one thing he couldn't have (the crown itself) and in the end it destroyed him. This had me thinking all day.... wow. 

I get so fixated on where I want to be in life...kids, being skinny, feeling fulfilled, that I might be destroying myself. 

Click HERE to hear the song I'm talking about!

Tonight I was listening to my Chris Tomlin CD (Please watch the attached video! It's such a great song!) that I found when we were rearranging furniture. I heard one of my favorite songs :More than Enough: and I thought to myself, "how perfect!"

"God you truly are more than enough. All the other things I want would be great, but if I don't get them, it's OK... because YOU are all I need."

I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Cool Runnings: "If you aren't enough without it, you'll never be enough with it."

God makes me enough without all those things I want. With or without the skinny body, the kids, the house, the fulfilling and passionate job - I am enough. I am enough because Christ has covered my sin and God sent his spirit to dwell in me until I dwell with him in Heaven. 

So I as I start 2013 with the focus to be KIND.... 

I will be kind to myself... because with God, I am enough.  

"Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God."

~ 1 Peter 2:10a~ 

* Side note... I'm sure I've blogged on this song before. It's a powerful song. It speaks to me every single time I listen to it. I hope it moves you too. 

KIND

You might have already seen that my word for 2013 is KIND.

When I think of kindness I almost always think, "Love is patient Love is kind". I guess you could say that I always think of patience and kindness together and in a way that's not too far off! Authentic patience comes out of authentic kindness.

So what else might come out of authentic kindness?

- encouragement
- being truly happy for someone
- not repaying evil for evil
- understanding
- friendship
- LOVE
- help
- support

I could go on and on and on. No doubt kindness is one of those fruits of the spirit that have a lot of seeds in them! There is a lot to reap from kindness.

My focus (as I focus on KIND) will be WWJD. Because Christ's spirit is inside me, I want his spirit to flow out of me, so I will be praying that God will reveal to me what Jesus would do... how Jesus would be kind.

It's like the old Aggies for Christ skit.... Focus Focus Focus Focus Focus Focus Focus ON ME!!! There is so much out there in the world screaming for our focus. But a focus on Christ will be what sets me free.

I wish I could find a video of it so that I could share it but I can't. Basically there is a person and all of a sudden different people start coming around her saying Focus. Focus. Focus. ON ME or ON HIM or ON HER... or whatever it is.... and you hear all these people screaming for your attention and finally you hear a focus on Christ and the skit takes a turning point. I haven't seen it in a long time so I don't remember exactly how it goes... but that's what keeps ringing in my head as I set out this year to focus on KIND.

I think to myself... "Focus on Christ."


~ May there be many blessings your way ~