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May 21 - May 29, 2023
Before signing her name she wrote, “Live loved.” Not only an instruction, but a proclamation. One that now arrests my soul and is so applicable to our discussion at hand. Live from the abundant place that you are loved, and you won’t find yourself begging others for scraps of love.
Living loved is sourced in your quiet daily surrender to the One who made you.
We must respect ourselves enough to break the pattern of placing unrealistic expectations on others. After all, people will not respect us more than we respect ourselves.
Unrealistic neediness is actually greediness in disguise. It’s saying, “My needs and desires deserve to tap into or possibly even deplete yours.” This will never set a relationship up for success.
The more we fill ourselves from His life-giving love, the less we will be dictated by the grabby-ness of the flesh.
Being full of God’s love settles, empowers, and brings out the best of who we are. On the other hand, the more full of the flesh we are, the more we grab at anyone and anything to fill that ache for love and acceptance.
But I’ve discovered something about defeating the flesh. If I fill my stomach with healthy foods before being tempted with the pasta, I can say no. It’s so much easier to turn away a dish of pasta if you’re completely full already. But if you are desperately hungry, a dish of just about anything is hard to turn away. Our souls and our stomachs are alike in this way.
The more fully we invite God in, the less we will feel uninvited by others.
What we see will violate what we know unless what we know dictates what we see.
The word trust is like air; you know it’s there but it’s tough to draw a picture of it.
People who care more about being right than ending right prove just how wrong they were all along.
We must speak with honor in the midst of being dishonored. We must speak with peace in the midst of being threatened. We must speak of good things in the midst of a bad situation. We must be obedient to, trust, and believe God and let Him boss around our contrary feelings.
Relationships don’t come in packages of perfection; relationships come in packages of potential. They have the potential to be great. But they also have the potential to be hard at times. No matter what, it takes work to make it work. And wrapped in between the wonderful and the work are inevitable times of imperfection and possible rejection.
To be set aside is to be rejected.
Anything that infuses us with humility is good. Even if it feels a bit like humiliation in the moment, the workings of humility within are a gift.
Isn’t it a lovely thought that God might be waiting for there to be silence in your life in order to share some of His best secrets with you?
He whispered to my soul, You are not set aside, you are set apart.
I resisted forgiving. Until I saw someone write the word this way: For Giving. God made us For Giving. God made you For Giving. God made me For Giving. And if we are for giving, we have to see opportunities taken away differently. What if this opportunity wasn’t really taken away from me? What if I was actually spared of this gift, because for me it was really a burden in disguise?
So even as the closed doors and rejections seem more prevalent than the new opportunities you’d like to see, even as you’re seeking to readjust your thinking, remember that there is an abundant need in this world for your contributions to the kingdom … your thoughts and words and artistic expressions … your exact brand of beautiful.
Choose to live loved while you’re in the middle of the journey, and know that what He has in mind for you is so much more than you imagine.
There is an abundant need in this world for your exact brand of beautiful.
The enemy loves to take our rejection and twist it into a raw, irrational fear that God really doesn’t have a good plan for us.
No, you didn’t get that job opportunity. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be other interested companies.
Replace the negative talk that will hinder you. Replace it with praises for God, who will deliver you.
What is one good thing I’ve learned from this? What was a downside to this situation that I can be thankful is no longer my burden to carry? What were the unrealistic expectations I had, and how can I better manage these next time? What do I need to do to boost my courage to pursue future opportunities? What is one positive change I could make in my attitude about the future? What are some lingering negative feelings about this situation that I need to pray through and shake off to be better prepared to move forward? What is one thing God has been asking me to do today to make tomorrow easier?
The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. (PSALM 37:23–24)
us. The breaking of us has actually been the making of us
Hold fast to Jesus and remember: This breaking of you will be the making of you. A new you. A stronger you. Strengthened not with the pride of perfection but with the sweet grace of one who knows an intimate closeness with her Lord.
The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
The enemy’s power is rendered powerless in the presence of God’s promises.
Don’t get so consumed by and focused on the mess—the feelings of rejection, hurt, and disillusionment—that you miss the miracle.
Inspiration and information without personal application will never amount to transformation.
Resisting God’s promises will make us forget God’s presence.
Pain is the gift that motivates us to fight with brave tenacity and fierce determination knowing there’s healing on the other side.
We think we are freeing ourselves from the pain when, in reality, what numbs us imprisons us. If we avoid the hurt, the hurt creates a void in us.
Pain is the sensation that indicates a transformation is needed. There is a weakness where new strength needs to enter in.
