Written 3/30/13
Ouch! Of course I only said it in my mind as I walked across the lawn to my car the pain in my calves, the knot in my back and the discomfort in my ribs were a reminder of how out of practice I had been.
The last time I danced was more than 8 years ago and though I knew the journey back to one of my first loves wouldn't be easy, this ballet class that I am taking for dance technique, strength and balance was kicking my butt! There I said it, I am back in ballet classes. I thought about keeping it a secret so that if I dropped out of it no one would really know but I have a few people who are already determined to keep me accountable and I figure I need all the help and support I can get so I decided to share it with you too!
Confessedly, after the first class I was tempted to be done with it. I felt out of place, untrained, inexperienced - simply like I had no business attempting this at this stage in my life. Big Sigh!
With that said I rushed to the cashier after my free session to fully register because I knew that if I had left to consider it the chance that I would return would be slim to none.
I thank God for this experience so far because it has been quite a fitting analogy for the very things I am learning on my journey right now.
Let me share a few with you!
Many of us as believers tend to slip in to an area of complacency every now and again where we begin to slack off on the time we spend with God, the things we do for Him and the time we make to talk with Him. We don't always realize until something happens that the very things we have began to pay less attention to are the very things that maintain our strength and help to keep us from falling.
When we don't stay prayed up and disciplined and we encounter tests and difficulty the battle bruises may truly be a testament to how weak we were becoming. I had been out of practice, though I danced often in my head I never really lifted a muscle so by the time I was being challenged to dance if I wasn't careful I was simply going to find myself limping away like a dog who had lost a fight and it never had to be that way.
Sn: Had I stayed committed to dancing I would not only have been refining this art form over the years the steps I was required to do now would have been easy and even if there was a level of difficulty in it I would be able to navigate it with greater strength. Think about that for a second.
I gained perspective from my challenge and pain.
Instead of moping around the entire time I determined that if I am truly to do well at this I had some work of my own to do. So I went back to basics and started looking at videos on YouTube to remind me of what I was once capable of and to arm me with the steps I needed to master in my own time outside of class if I was going to grow.
Do I have to say how this is the same idea to be applied to our journey. We have to build ourselves up by doing our part. We won't learn everything from a classroom or from other people sometimes we have to go out and grab a hold of the knowledge for ourselves. In the same way in our Christian lives we have to return to the basics quite often to get what we need to rebuild, to recharge and to be reminded of who we are in Christ so we can truly face the tests.
Yes you might be suffering now but even with our bruises and with excruciating pain we must keep going if we are to make it!
I don't know what you are wrestling with, but ask God to give your perspective, He has a way of using the ordinary to speak extraordinarily into our lives. Just take a moment and ask but do not forget as a sign of your faith to make yourself ready to receive of and from Him.
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Until next time,
EJ
Onward & Live IN Purpose
Written 3/30/13
Good Friday has always been dear to me and of course it is significant because of the bruising, suffering, ridicule and death that Jesus suffered for me; something I had embraced when I finally understood it as an unmatched, undeserved, unfettered love of God that was displayed for me, really me, Elizabeth Jerome!
Only I can fully understand what it meant for God to carry the weight of my sins on His shoulders just like your understanding of His sacrifice will be different for you.
It was the year 1993 when I yielded to God's bidding. Yes if you do the math you would realize I was just a youngster then so young that my family questioned whether I had understood it fully enough to have been ready to take the steps I wanted...but I had understood what God needed me to understand at the very moment He wanted to come into my life! Certainly my knowledge has increased tremendously and even after 20 years I am convinced that my learning and conforming to the power of God in my life is a never ending process.
Twenty (20) years is a long time to have been saved but though it truly shielded me from certain behaviors, attitudes and experiences thought sinful I was certainly not without my share of mistakes. Thank God His sacrifice covers over the multitude of my sins...His grace is sufficient for me!
Many might see that as a carte blanche to do whatever their selfishness dictates but I see it as quite the opposite. Truly when we get into a relationship with God, we want to please Him so much that we do several things; we starve our own desires which we know are not pleasing to Him, our desires become entwined with His desires for us and we endeavor to find new ways to please Him in our everyday lives that are not spelled out in any manuscripts but that are fueled by our relationship with God.
It seems only fitting then that when a milestone like this is celebrated that there is some retrospection and introspection. I have started doing just that and whether you have celebrated such a feat or you just gave your life to Christ one thing is certain that God has always been at work in our lives and to look back is to gain a unique perspective as we watch how God has been integral to our very existence and sustenance.
Truly I have made many missteps especially in my most recent years as I am learning to be led by God in the face of adulthood and new challenges and experiences but I am committed for 'Jesus paid it all and all to Him I owe' and with 'Christ in the vessel I can smile at the storm'.
I will share some epiphanies on my blog over time but what I will say is that God has taught me resilience and strength, that I have endured many things that I never thought I would have survived but thank God and the God in me I have made it.
I look ahead armed with the experiences I have had, the lessons I have learned, the Me that God is refining to face my present and future head on knowing that it will not be easy but being encouraged for God who is acquainted with my suffering tells me daily to "take heart I have overcome the world". So I press on housing some areas of myself that are strong and uncompromising because they have been refined over time and some other areas that are as weak as a heart that is bleeding and raw because my God and Savior is working on me and for me.
I will talk more about this verse in a subsequent post but I want to leave you with this to ponder now:
"But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him."
Jeremiah 18:4 NIV
Happy Easter Everyone!
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Until next time,
EJ
Onward & Live IN Purpose
His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have
been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many
things. Come and share your master's happiness! (Matthew 25:21 NIV)
"Wow this is totally embarrassing", I thought as I skimmed through my
notebook journal. I had started one of those 31 day challenges but never
actually finished it...and looking at the date now it was roughly about
a year later.
Sigh...
It was a staunch reminder of how not only procrastination hampers
progress but also how easy it is to become distracted by or enthralled
with new activities that without proper attention and discipline we become prone to simply forgetting or significantly delaying the completion of what had been
previously started.
I didn't take this realization lightly. There was no reason for me to
stumble on this book when I did except that God was making some critical
commentary on how I needed to handle things going forward. Often we
forget that God's advice to us is not just for the realm of the
spiritual for God has a holistic approach to our development and as such
gives us practical tools for everyday living as well.
side note: To be honest what I saw hurt me just a little because I
recognize the commitment it takes to finish a task and clearly that
commitment was absent; I hadn't done a good job with this one.
Now you may think I am being a little melodramatic or hard on myself and
maybe you are right, but I figured instead of shrugging the whole thing
off and tossing the book back where it had been for the last few months, I determined that I would instead embrace this as a teachable moment.
I understand that the things I practice knowingly or unknowingly are
actually revelatory of who I am as a person and might also be indicative
of the path I might take to where God is taking me.
Focal point #1
Finish what you have started
- We constantly ask God for more or seek more ourselves; more power,
greater wealth, promotion, advanced education etc. as a result many
of us each day begin to dream new dreams or to yearn for new projects
but how about just finishing what we started; last week, a month ago,
years
ago? We cannot expect to progress if we cannot keep a commitment, finish
a task or see a project for which we have ownership through.
Now if we are honest, we would admit that
we are socialized to be hungry for more; to never really be satisfied and though there are advantages to it, it is certainly counterproductive to want more when we are not being
good stewards of what we have already been given.
Of course, do not think that finishing what you started means hovering over
every little detail, overdoing everything or overexerting yourself. Sometimes it simply means
passing the responsibility of completing a task to someone who is
capable whether at the job or at home. It is often said that we should 'work smarter not harder' (wink).
Focal point 2
Prioritize
- I remember when I used to actually create to do lists at the start of
my week or at the start of my day depending on what needed to be
accomplished and how closely I needed to monitor the time being spent.
I
would have tasks in order of importance and or sometimes arrange them
based on the level of difficulty or the attention the task might
require so I could determine at what point in the day completing them was feasible for me. Boy did it help me to stay organized, efficient and productive! But all that was in my
work space, why hadn't I consistently utilized the same kind of list in
my personal life?
-
Have you ever used to do lists?
-
Did they work for you?
Consider this, some of the tasks on your to do list might not need to be there if you
asked for help or even retired unproductive habits or activities which
were draining your time and even causing unnecessary pressure to complete other duties.
-
How might you add any needed organization to your life?
-
How might you prioritize the tasks you need to accomplish daily, weekly, monthly etc.?
-
Who could assist you...what are the resources available to you?
-
What activities might you stop to free up some of your time?
I know someone who stopped watching television and limited social media
use for a year while she was working on her book. Now that might be too drastic for
you but the question still needs to be asked.
- What are you enveloped in
that you should really give up if you are to move ahead? You know the distractions in your life.
I am sure you may be
thinking about the things you started but haven't completed. Certainly, I used the last few days to complete the 31 day challenge I had started. I
suppose, a part of the reason I went back and completed it is because it is
still relevant to my present day circumstances.
Don't get
in a frenzy trying to revisit each unfulfilled dream or incomplete task,
instead allow God to lead you to focus on the things that He still desires you to do, because to pursue something that is 'outdated' for you is to
create a distraction from the very things which actually
matter and are relevant in and for your life today.
If you have specific tips to share re how you manage your time and resources share them below to help someone else. Also if you have any questions post them in the comment section.
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Until next time,
EJ
Onward & Live IN purpose
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
The breathing was purposeful and deliberate. It wasn't that I was afraid of flying or that I had found myself becoming uneasy because of the anxiety I felt to get to my destination, it was simply that I was exhausted and needed to settle myself before jetting off into the open sky. You have your own pre-flight rituals too, don't you?
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
I always pray and this time as I closed my eyes to pray my thoughts journeyed to a blog I had read a few months prior. Check it out here, it is by Sharon Gramling. You can read it first then come back to my blog and finish up if you like.
As I considered the Angels who God would dispatch in response to my prayer for journeying mercies, I found myself marveling at the fact that God in His infinite power would command His Angels concerning even me! But that wasn't the most intriguing part for me! More significant was the fact that not only would He but that He actually could!
It is one thing to have a desire to do something, to be there for someone but does our strength allow, do our circumstances allow, can we really do what we desire or what we have promised, is what we have set out to do truly feasible?
Well thank God, our Father in heaven is not like man! He is not constrained by the limitations of the human existence!
As we soared into the sky I found that my thoughts had turned to God.
Here are a few of my reflections on God
God is Almighty. What have you been worried about? Can you not see that God is bigger than any struggle you might have? I am working with God to get to the place where I am fully convinced of God's power, so I don't allow stressful situations or moments of anxiety to derail my faith and confidence in the God who created the heavens and the earth. SMH -sn I shake my head a lot, I know-
Why do we act as though our problems, desires etc are bigger than God and God's reach? When we understand that with one word, the wave of His hand, the knitting of His brow...with the use of whatever God chooses that issue has to disappear, if that is His desire. So if He allows challenges must He not have something special in store since that very thing that we allow to cause us many tears and sleepless nights is subject to the Almighty God!?
God is Listening. Whether that frightens you or not, we should be mindful that God hears us, even the idle; non-productive words and thoughts that we have. How 'awe full' is it to know that though millions of us go to Him in prayer He still attends to our individual prayers. Just because you have not received the answer you want does not mean God has not heard you. I always remind myself that I only see in part but God truly sees the entire picture and that motivates me to press on and to trust in Him because I truly believe that He will work things out for my good. I don't deserve to have God's help but thank God He is helping me! Listen. God is listening. Pour out your heart's emotions and longings...don't keep them bottled up inside. Then align your thoughts and words with God. What does God say about your situation? Go to the Bible, it is your direct access to the word of God and the word of God concerning your life.
God Cares for Me. Many times we are quick to seek God for His compassion when we have made a mistake or messed up. The God who comforts us in our low times is the God who is caring for us allowing for our good times. We often times get caught up in making promises about what we will do and who we will become if God swoops in like the superheroes we have come to love and helps us out of a jam. We think His compassion is only for tough times but His care and concern for us is what positions us for good days and for good things happening in our lives. I thank God that His compassion teaches me to be compassionate. That I am being changed into the likeness of God each day is encouraging and all this because of His love at work in and around me!
God is Divine. Yes God is acquainted with our suffering. There is nothing that we face that God cannot understand. We often use our human limitations as an excuse to sin and to fall short, to feel justified in our moment of pleasure and selfish ambition but God in His divinity cannot accept our shortcomings.
If we consider someone who is mute, he does not remain silent because he is able to speak but won't. He remains silent because though he might desire to speak he is unable. Well God is holy because that is who He is and because of His nature He is unable to accept anything that is not holy. It isn't that He is being hard on us or that He does not understand us it is that He does not have the capacity to accept unrighteousness or unholiness because He has determined a standard that He expects us to abide by so that we can become more like the God He is. I am glad that He could have been ruthless, striking us down at the very moment of our sins but He every second chooses to be compassionate and forgiving.
God is Holy. God requires us to be holy as He is holy and to see sin and righteousness through His eyes and not our own. As He reveals our shortcomings thank God He does not condemn us as folks would or as the devil does, but that He instead convicts us of our sin and offers us cleansing and restoration to right standing with Him.
That God could forgive me though I do not deserve it and despite having the option to just discard me, He determined since the beginning of time that He would love me and make me better, that He would teach me to be the best self that He has called me to be, each time I make Him happy my Spirit rejoices and I know that my heart's desire is to please my God!
God Empowers us. I suppose I am learning a lot in this area. God resides in us. He has promised that we would do greater work than His Son Jesus. God has given us a Teacher and a power Source who is not just outside of us but who is within us. The more we yield to the Holy Spirit in our lives the stronger He performs in and through us and the more empowered we become for the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-4) and for lives of boldness.
Who is God to you? Feel free to share your thoughts with me.
Until next time,
EJ
Onward & Live IN Purpose
