Sunday thoughts - Soaring through Struggles

Defying odds, breaking barriers, not being held back. Hanging tough when others are giving up, forging ahead when others are lagging behind, choosing to be cheerful when others are sinking in defeat.

I think I may be a little of both, depending on the situation at hand.  I guess in a way I'm a fence walker, never quite jumping to one side or the other, always walking that tight rope between being what God wants me to be, and being a quitter and a scaredy cat.

Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4

I was reading through my devotionals this morning and this one came up.....Soaring through Struggles.

If that doesn't talk to me right now, I don't know what does.

Struggles aren't defined by their enormity, by their quantity or by how much they make someone suffer.   At least that's not how I measure them, because to me, a struggle is a struggle, whether big or small they are equally important to whoever they are happening to.

Financial, emotional, relationship, spiritual, feeling inadequate, worthless, unwanted, struggling with something at work or even struggling through a project at home.

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

He will drive out your enemies before you,

saying, ‘Destroy them!’

Deuteronomy 33:27

The worst think you can do is surrender.  Give up.  Say "I can't do this, I can't get through it, I will never be able to.......".  Because the truth is, You CAN, You WILL and you ARE able.

For me, I think it's just getting my mind to click with my heart.  I know I can do anything I want, I know I'm strong, I know that God is with me, but getting my attitude to match what I know in my heart is a whole other issue, and I think it's what keeps me from succeeding at times.

I'm making a conscious choice to first, address my current struggles, name them, really put them in my face and stop being in denial.

Then I'm going to access them, how many of them are real struggles out of my control, and how many of them are self imposed?

Pass them on to the Lord, or throw them in the trash.   There is no middle ground for me here, I either take the real struggles and ask for the Lord's help and guidance and let HIM see me through them, or I continue to stumble through it all, hold myself back, continue to tell myself that this is not doable.  Self pity is a pain in the behind isn't it?

So that is what I'm doing today.  Accepting, Assessing, Alleviating.

It's time to wash my hands off the things that have no place in my life.  It's time to let Him do what He is supposed to do.  It's time to throw away the fake impostors of struggles, those things that are not really problems at all but merely little stumbling blocks....mole hills that I have turned into Mount Everest.

What are YOU doing with your struggles today?