I went from a wonderful stress free Sunday to yesterday. I can usually judge my stress by the amount of sweets I eat in a day. The more stress, them more bad stuff I eat. Let's just say I went through Two SLIM Klondikes and one half of a weight watcher bar. That is a lot for me. Some days I do not touch this at all and yesterday...wow. It was a slide down from that plateau.
Do you remember what your yesterday was like? Did you experience a range of emotions and how did you handle it all? In today's world we are bombarded by so many things happening around us. Our responses and reactions are steeped in emotions of happy, anger, excited, worried, scared, embarrassed, overwhelmed, guilty, inadequate...etc. How are we suppose to cope?
It was late evening when Terry announced we had to go to Home Depot to get soil. I had felt battered all day by various events and really did not want to go but I did. Of course after I chose some things for two front pots, he wanted to not buy anything there, but to drive to Lowe's. Did I mention how tired I truly was? I left my flowers in the basket and we left for Lowe's. The entire time we walked around I felt like I was in a fog just putting one foot in front of another and literally praying just to make it through this unplanned trip and home where I could crawl safely in bed. I did get flowers for the pots, but not my first choice. (Note God usually doesn't give us our first choice either!)
Everyday I am sure most of you get to this point of exhaustion. Why do we do this to ourselves? We invite it all into our lives and I know the Lord does not want it there. We have free will in many areas of our lives and our controlling nature tends to put us in tight over stressed situations. Habits like this are hard to break. If I figure it out I will share it. Right now I can only share that step by step last night, moment by moment I would begin to count the joys and blessings. My body ached, my arms did not want to move as I began to think of Psalm 1. Light began filling my body and thoughts of the beautiful day that had been given to us. Thanks rolled off my thoughts as I begin to continue my praise for all that was provided.
One special memory from yesterday... Terry and I had made breakfast together. We ate it sitting in our beautiful garden room. Before our first bite, we shared Psalm 1 in the bible and prayed. Little did I know what power that verse would have in my life that day. We enjoyed the conversation together and continued discussing things from our Sunday School lesson. This was a good choice yesterday of free will. Choosing to spend time in the word. When I struggled last night I pulled on to the wealth of strength from that memory and the words of the Psalm.
Could every day have that grace? Yes, it can. Make a special time in your day to spend it in the word. Psalms is a favorite for me to find it expresses the deepest of feelings. In one breath David writes from the depth of his soul and in the next breath he soars for the heights. Our emotions and feelings are not God-given but a full result of our human nature. By expressing our soul to the Lord, we can open the path to praise him. Face your emotions today with a reading from this powerful book.
Grace,
Laurie
Psalm 2:12 "....what joy for all who find protection in Him."
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