This time of year emotions run high for everyone! This time of year it seems like EVERYTHING hits at once: sickness, joy, death, new life, the giving spirit, the stingy spirit, the crabbiness, the buoyancy, the excitement and the dread. It all comes full circle this time of year. Family drama is pronounced, and the shopping frenzy begins. The excitement for Christmas Day when presents are ripped into is bubbling over in the children and adults alike. The parents stress about how much and how expensive the gifts ought to be for each person on their ever-growing (it seems) shopping list.
For as much as there is to dread and mourn this time of year, there is just as much to be thankful and joyful for.
I have had lots things pulling at me emotionally lately, between the pregnancy, family, and outside “forces” that I’ve been feeling overwhelmed. I tend to try to hold it together until I break as I think we all do. Sometimes, I’m struggling to smile or wondering if I even should. I don’t want others to know I’m struggling because I hate the idea of adding to someone else’s burden. On the flip-side, depending on how close I am to the brink of breaking it almost hurts to smile.
My Heavenly Father has been growing me as of late. He has been stretching me and helping to mature me into the woman He wants me to be for those around me. For this I am thankful. He has really shown me how to let go.
He has really shown me lately that I really do not have to, nor am I expected to, handle every little “fire” that springs up. I don’t have to be overwhelmed because He is right there with arms open wide to carry me through in His strength and wisdom. I only need to do the one thing - not things - He tells me to do at a time and then move on to the next. As much as possible, ignore the ever growing to-do list. He sees it and is handling it. Some of those things aren’t that important, in our overworked, overwhelmed minds we are seeing things unclearly and out of proportion.
If we step back and let the Father tell us what to do as we finish a task, we will be the most efficient that we will ever be. We may or may not get very much done, depending on the day, but that is ok! Because if God has told me what to do then I got done exactly what I was supposed to get done that day. And, bonus, I won’t be exhausted either trying to constantly figure out my next move and stressing about how much time is getting away from me and how much is left on the list. God will truly be in control and He will be feeding me the peace I need to keep a straight head just in the knowledge that He is guiding me and I’m doing what I’m supposed to.
I had a comment made to me about how this person believed that I must be pretty spiritual in a sort of joking manner. I hope, reader, that you're not missing the line “I struggle with…” in my writing. I you pick up that I’m a human, too, trying to navigate this world the best I can. I just happen to be a “follower” by nature and learned early on to trust God. He has brought me SO close to Him and I am grateful to Him for that because my relationship has caused me to live my life with few regrets. Catch that?! “Few regrets.” I am still a human who has made mistakes and can look back on my life and smile because of my Heavenly Father. He has walked my life with me and continues to do so. He gets bigger to me everyday the more I stop “limiting His power” and completely rely on Him. He created me, and you, to have to depend on Him. For. Everything. Literally.
God created us to need Him. You realize that that means that when we’re at our whits end, He’s saying, “You didn’t have to get here. I could’ve handled all that for you.” He loves us and wants us to realize our need for Him so that He can do all the things a father would do for His child. He wants to be your confidant and have you telling Him absolutely everything that you would tell your best friend - and more. He can and will be there for you in all these ways if you let Him.
I have had my days where I get so wrapped up in all that I have to do and start attacking my to-do list in a frenzy trying to beat the clock at the end of the day. Well, at the end of the day I will realize my mistake and ask, why?????? Yes, I may have gotten a lot done, but was it worth it? I’m exhausted and not in the right frame of mind. Plus, working that way it never seems to be enough what was done because the list is never completely finished. There is always something in the life of a human. So, why not ask God and only do the things that really matter in His great “scheme of things”?
The Father and I are often laughing at myself when I get to this point at the fact that I figured it out… again. I will probably be laughing at my silly habit of falling back into this trap of rushing at life like I could actually tackle it if I just had enough oomph. It’s a farse and a lie that the Devil has implanted in this culture to entrap us in business to that we forget about God and drift away from Him and His perfect will for our lives. Fight that lie and smile with God at the greatness that is living in His perfect will day-to-day, chore-by-chore.
When you’re feeling overwhelmed, smile. You have a God bigger than you and your world. God is bigger than that to-do list. We - you and me - need to be ok with God choosing what we do and don’t do and trust ultimately in His wisdom that He will choose right every time. Smile at your friends and strangers in your life. Show them that during this time and all year long there is a reason that you can smile. That’s because Jesus made it possible when He came born in a manger to die on the cross for us. The reason for this season is the reason to smile all year long, not just now.
Monday Motivation: Smile, even when you don’t feel like it. Smile, not to fake it til you make it. But really smile because you really do have reason to. You will touch lives just by smiling into each face. Smile! Flash those pearly whites (or if you’re like me ‘yellowy-whites’) at everyone you see! You have great power and peace at your fingertips. People will notice and ask. When they do, and you are pointing them to Christ - you are giving them the greatest gift they will ever receive. It is priceless and only cost you a smile.
Merry Christmas, everyone!! Happy smiling!
P.S.
**The Serum Deception is officially released in paperback TODAY!!!!! Quick! Click over to the “Books” page, and get your copy now! Christmas is right around the corner… Who do you know that would be interested in this science-fiction trilogy?**
