weary

"weary" does not begin to describe the season I've (rather WE) have been in.Since Christmas, it's been one thing after another. Some days, I've cried on the way to work, on the way home and anywhere in between. We've been spiritually kicked and physically aching, but we've just stayed in the fight. 

But this year, we have not relented. 

This Sunday 2 Samuel 23:9-10 were key verses. Verse 10 was already underlined in my Bible, but I needed this reminder...

2 Samuel 23:10 but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. 

That'll preach right there.

My mom used to tell me in my younger day "the only thing you need to be afraid of is being out of God's will."

And being in His will means He has something for us to do. And that often comes with a fight because the enemy does not want us to experience God's presence... which we encounter when we are in His will doing the thing He has for us to do...

God has asked me and Heath to do some really crazy things for Him. I learned early on not to ask "why?" or "how?"

My mind is too finite for the WHY and it was for Him to show me the HOW.

But in the doing, I witnessed and still witness miracles - stories of people learning about Jesus and hearing the Good News.

Verse 10 goes on:

The Lord brought about a great victory that day. 

There could be not victory if he walked away, dropped the sword, shrugged...

This dude stood and fought...

What can we fight with? We wrestle

not against flesh and blood...(ephesians 6:12)

so we fight through

--prayer

--worship

--fasting

--acts of service

Whatever fight is before you, stand your ground... don't let go... God is with you and will surely bring forth a victory.

follow Me

following Jesus:

is not comfortable

is not profitable

is not popular

following Jesus:

is scary

is risky

is tiring

following Jesus means 

you get 

to see Him

to sit with Him

to feel His love

to be in His presence

to be in His will

to be on His radar

is where I want to be

labels

We live in a world of labels-

mom

woman

liberal

convservative

feminist

pro-life

pro-choice

Alabama

Auburn - ha ha

And I work in a work of labels:

special educatuon

autism 

learning disability

teacher

therapist

And people get keyed up if they get labeled incorrectly- a label in error can color others' perception, boxes you in to expectations and tells you something about yourself you'd rather not know about yourself.

I've been struggling with my labels... and how the implied responsibility affects me emotionally.

About the time this all came to a head, I was gifted Nothing to Prove by Jennie Allen. I'm only two chapters in but it's helping chip off the chains of the implied expectations.

And three days after I finished chapter two of Nothing to Prove, I arrived at a conference for speech-language pathologists in the state. We were given badges with our names and school district. And at the same table, the volunteers were offering ribbons to add on to your badge. And these ribbons had labels like "trailblazer." I picked up a few and put them in my bag- those labels that I wanted to be.

As I sat in the first session, other SLPs from my district sat around me. And they handed me the ribbons with the labels that I secretly wanted to be! "THIS one is Soooooo you, Buffy!!!" 

"Aaaaand THIS one!"

Wow. THIS is what people see in me.

What if we told the people in our lives how we feel about them? Maybe they wouldn't believe the lies the enemy tells them? Maybe they would have the courage to soldier on knowing someone was cheering them on.

Words can make or break. I know this full well. Do you believe the lies of how the enemy labels you or do you hear the names the Father calls you?

Child.

Loved.

Mine.

May we hear the Lord's names for us.

And act accordingly.