Tag: learning

When They “Should” All Over You

Leave a comment

typorama (26)

My husband and I have this saying that we stole from a former commercial fisherman named Jack*.

Jack used to say people will “should” all over you, if you let them.

As in, You “should” do this.

You “should” do that.

So when we feel the inward pull to do more than we want to, we say that “People are shoulding on us.”

And we’ve had to learn the hard way that people “should” on each other.  We all do it.  We place expectations on each other that we don’t realize are slowly suffocating the life out of the ones we love.

And so we’ve had to learn how to get very good at saying “No”, “No, thank you”, and “I’m sorry that’s not going to work for me”.

Because ultimately, it’s no one else’s job to guard our own hearts except our own.

God has tasked us with that responsibility.

 

Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
    that’s where life starts.

Proverbs 4:23

(The Message)

 

God wasn’t kidding.

Everything that flows from your life starts with your heart

And nothing kills our hearts quite like “should”.

We can get so caught up in looking ahead that we forget to live in the now, the present of our lives.

We worry and fret that we aren’t doing enough and so we redouble our efforts to get more done.

To not only do more but to produce more.

And that is death to our hearts.

It is not up to us.

We are in God’s process of learning to listen to our hearts just as we listen for His.

And if His spirit is within us  – it is Him who works in us BOTH to work but also to want to do good things.

But we have to pay attention.

It’s far to easy to drift into auto-pilot and just do what we believe is the “right-thing” rather than allow God’s spirit to direct our steps to do the “God-thing”.

And there is a huge chasm between the two.

We can be so busy doing the “right thing” that we miss out on God’s “best thing”.

For it is [not your strength, but it is] [a]God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13

(The Amplified Bible)

 

So what if instead of tackling our to-do lists and striving to meet other people’s expectations of us, we stopped to ask ourselves what we WANT to do today and from there asking the Father what he thinks about that?

What would your day look like?

Would you have more peace?

Would you have more fun?

Because you were created to live in freedom.  And the choice to give to others can only truly come from that place of freedom.

 

 It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery [which you once removed].

Galatians 5:1

The Amplified

 

And so for the past 2 years, we have been learning as a church how to walk in a season of stewardship.

That means that God is giving us the freedom to choose to take care of ourselves and the things and people he has placed in our care.

 

As a mother, that means taking care of yourself so you have energy, time, and the mental clarity to love on your kids.

 

As someone in a ministry position, that means having interests outside of church so that you are recharged and able to face the demands and needs of others.  This also means, being completely comfortable saying “no” to others.  It was never your job to save them – only to point them to the One who can.

 

As a human being, that means saying “no” to the requests of others so that you have space and time to recharge and just be.

 

 

There are seasons and times when we slip into absolute apathy and God does challenge us to give more, but not this time.  This is a season of stepping back and allowing God to do what He does best.  This is a season of being present.  Present with Him.  This is a season that is all about lifting our eyes upward to connect with the Father and is less about reaching out to others, which is why there is such an opposition to it.

 

 

This is a strategic move of the enemy because:

 

“Should” will burn out all of our energy to seek God first.

 

“Should” will leave you wondering and striving and exhausted.

 

“Should” makes it very difficult to experience the presence of God.

 

So today, I challenge you to step away from all of the demands of others, whether they be spoken or unspoken.  And to step into what the Father has for you.  I promise you it’s worth it and full of more of His presence and grace than you or I could contain.

 

You can purchase Joyce’s latest book, Scattered, Finding God in Your Story at Amazon.com

 

 

Scattered, Finding God in Your Story

 

 *Jack Frost was a commercial fisherman before God caught ahold of his heart.  You can check out more of his resources at Shiloh Place Ministries 

The Grace To Be Human

Leave a comment

When we reduce ourselves and others to merely "what need can be met", then we have failed to understand what it is to be human.

The overwhelming needs of other people can cause us to just live on auto-pilot where the highlight of our day is checking every one else’s needs off of our list.

Because that is what successful people do.

They git ‘er done.

 

But that is not and has never been the picture of life that God has had for us.

Paul said it this way:

Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

Galatians 5:1

(The Message)

 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that what you do is important, whether it’s a career, or it’s a title like mom, or maybe you have this burning desire to do something great – it’s your destiny, your calling.

These are so critical.

But only if you are free to be you – no strings attached.

 

Even in the best of situations, positions and titles can easily become something they were never meant to be.

Things like our “vision” and our “purpose”, our “calling” and our “destiny” can easily slip in and replace the core of who we are.

Our identity.

And vision, purpose, calling, and destiny should always come secondary to our identity.

 

Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
that’s where life starts.

Proverbs 4:23

(The Message)

 

You and I see it all the time.

We can find a false identity in our careers and feel completely lost when we no longer have the 9-5 grind due to an illness or a company downsizing.

Those crazy stay at home, homeschooling moms who no longer have any identity outside of what they do for their children and husbands.  You know the ones, they spend hours either posting or trolling for new ideas on Pinterest.

It can even be as simple as identifying with a group or organization rather than seeing ourselves and others as human first.

 

And it’s a temptation, lets be honest.

We end up selling out our relationships with ourselves and others on the altar of our false identities.

 

For the overly responsible ones, relationships sour into a place of quiet resentment as they continue to quietly pick up the slack for those who were ambivalent or who failed to see their responsibility.

For others, life can become a place of broken and shallow relationships, as they never understood what it meant to be accountable to others and to willingly ask for feedback so that a true connection might occur.

Because when we reduce ourselves and others to merely “what need can be met”, then we have failed to understand what it is to be human.

We fail to understand that as God is, we are.

We just are.

He loves us just as we are.

Without performance.

Any changes He may ever ask of you are only out of three reasons:

  1. to benefit yourself
  2. to strengthen your relationship with someone in your life
  3. to deepen your connection with Him

 

The life He desires for us is so much more than the cheap quality of life that comes just from fulfilling a purpose or meeting a need.

 

Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
that’s where life starts.

Proverbs 4:23

(The Message)

 

And so every once and awhile, God allows life to shake us up a bit.

Please understand me, God is not orchestrating horrible things so that he can get your attention.  But like any good parent, he does step back sometimes to allow us to experience the consequence of our poor choices.

So that we can see how self-destructive our patterns have become.

 

Several years ago, my husband and I both lost our jobs and I was pregnant with our oldest son.  We also had just bought our first home.  We were rocked.  We had no idea how we would make it. And we were both wondering why God had left us up creek without a paddle.

But you know what.

We survived.

More than that.

We grew and thrived and learned the hard lessons that God was teaching us about ourselves.

And as brutal as that season was.

I don’t regret it.

Don’t misunderstand me, I wouldn’t be the first to raise my hand to do it again, but I definitely don’t regret it.

Our lives had become so efficient.

We were successful.

We had plenty of money.

We both worked hard.

But the truth is, that we weren’t really living.

We were just really efficient at getting things done.

 

But what kind of life is that.

And what had all of our efficiency reduced us to?

 

Human vending machines.

 

I can honestly say that I am more alive today than I was back then.

 

My house is messier, because I have shifted from focus from just having a clean house to teaching my kids how to pick up after themselves.

Our financial state is still considerably less than when I was also working (now, I’m one of those crazy stay-at-home, Pinterest-trolling, homeschool moms), but I wouldn’t trade the freedom of being able to be with my kids during the day as they are learning and growing. (just as long as I don’t lose my identity in it!)

It also gives me the freedom to hang at Starbucks and write.  The other amazing gift that has come from having less disposable income is learning how to do things for myself.  I just reupholstered my dining room chairs for $60 instead of shelling out $1000.00 for the drool worthy Pottery Barn version.

IMG_1534

My Pinterest stalking habit paid off.  I reupholstered our dining room chairs.  This picture is before the nailhead trim was finished.

I have more peace.  And that, my friends, is maybe worth more than anything else.  I am not running around trying to meet everyone’s needs all the time anymore.  I still slip up and fall back into old patterns but far more often I can just chill and let the unimportant things go.

I could keep going.

The list of all of the things we took out of that season is long.

But it can be summed up in this:

When we reduce ourselves and others to merely what need can be met, then we have failed to understand what it means to be human.

 

And it’s so easy to do, whether it’s in a career, a church position, a praying mama pulling for her kids, a public speaker, a role that we have put on ourselves, I mean really you can lose your identity in just about anything.

Because of the needs of other people.

And the false expectations we have of ourselves.

Whether they are real or perceived.

 

So today, I hope that you’ll give yourself some grace.

 

Grace to be patient in the learning process.

It will occur whether we want it to or not.  Our choice is will we allow God to teach us something new about ourselves or not.

I hope that you’ll accept the gift of grace he’s giving.

It’s his grace to be human.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Haven’t Failed.

2 Comments

 

Sometimes life can make you feel like a loser.

It doesn’t always pan out the way we thought it would or should.

And it’s easy to look at the goals and dreams God has placed in your heart and wonder if you’ve screwed everything up through the wrong choices, trusting the wrong people, or by just not being, you know, enough.

But instead of asking if you’ve failed, ask yourself if you’ve grown in your relationships this past year.

Ask yourself if your trust in God has grown.

Ask yourself if you’ve made progress in becoming more of the son or daughter that God wants you to relax into.

Sometimes the toughest seasons are about letting down your guard and remembering that you and I are not God.

Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! 

The Message

Romans 8:5

 

As people, we measure success by tasks completed but God measures success by love increased.

 

Which can be really difficult to wrap our hearts around.

I went through an amazingly intense season several years ago.

God took me through about 9 months of teaching me about the gift of discernment.

And when God teaches me stuff, it’s not usually in a nice, college lecture type setting.

It’s always in a very life-in-the-trenches-so-you-can feel-this-and-have-some-tactile-experience sort of way.

Okay, yeah, it was pretty much like boot camp.

But He taught me that I was powerful.

And I watched as afterwards, my prayers moved mountains.

My words helped set people free.

I could change the atmosphere in a room, just by walking into it.

 

It was incredible.

 

 

I kinda felt like Bruce Almighty.

 

And then the seasons changed.

And God was no longer teaching me about His power in me.

 

He started whispering about my humanity.

The things I wanted.

The things I needed.

The things that irritated me.

The situations in my life that had brought me to my knees.

And I suddenly went from being the most powerful I had ever been in my life to feeling the weakest.

Driven into the proverbial wilderness of life.

To figure out with God, what was going on in the hidden places of my heart.

 

And this change of season has not been an easy one for me.

Time and time again, I’ve had to fight the thought that I’ve failed.

That somehow I’d fallen from grace and just royally screwed everything up that God was doing in me.

That He was throwing His hands up in air and you know, just done developing me.

Meanwhile, I plummeted from the mountaintop straight into the valley, to learn how to embrace the divine while my feet still remained on Earth.

 

To add insult to injury, there’s quite a few people around me who are stepping into their destinies and God-given dreams this season.

And you know, I’m happy for them – sorta. 😉

 

So where am I going with this today?

I dunno, maybe just a reminder to you and me that God really, truly does know what He is doing.

And that you haven’t failed.

Whether you’re on the mountaintop, in the valley, or somewhere in between.

He is helping us to become more aware of His love for us and to heal us so that His love flows more freely out of us.

And while our eyes have been focused on task-based success, His eyes have always been on you and me.

 

Love you friend,

img_0580

You can get Joyce’s book, Scattered, Finding God in Your Story, here.

Scattered, Finding God in Your Story

Joyce Ackermann

Humility

3 Comments

Humility

Pride is a funny thing.

For that matter, so is humility.

They aren’t quite what I thought they were.

On some surface level I had a general idea but if I was going to be real honest with you, I don’t know if I could have told you why God hates pride so much.

But I’m in the know, now.

You want to know too, don’t you?

Okay, but you owe me a latte or something.

 

God hates pride because. . . (drumroll, please) it’s a relationship killer.

 

Yep, that’s the big secret.

God hates pride because it breaks down authentic, heart connections.

And on the flip side, God L-O-V-E-S humility because it promotes very real, very close relationships.

 

So this got me thinking.

What the heck is humility anyways.

And I don’t mean a definition out of the dictionary.

I mean if I take humility off the rack, what does it look like on a person?

 

 

It’s not self-depreciating.

If you’re good at something, own it.

No, seriously.

I told you, humility is not what we think it is.  When we self-depreciate ourselves its so we LOOK humble, but inside we are high five-ing our awesome selves.

Might as well just get it out in the open.

Besides, self-depreciating yourself is no laughing matter. . . unless you’re a writer then it’s just plain funny.

 

It’s not comparing yourself to others.

It’s like those old Nintendo racing games.

Every car had some pluses and some minuses, which kinda all evened them out in the end.  We’re all in this race together, except if you had the cheat codes, then your car was definitely the best, but if you have cheat codes, you owe it to the rest of us to share the love.

 

It takes time to rest.  

Whoa.

Hold up.

What does rest have to do with humility?

I know, right?  I was thinking the same thing.  We could be besties, the way you read my mind.

Rest is the simple act of acknowledging that hey, maybe I’m not Wonder Woman after all (or Superman, you choose.  They’re your tights).

And yeah, I’m human and I have needs.

Like a couch, some Netflix and a bag of Doritos.

Don’t knock it people.

Doritios, right there on the bottom of the Needs Pyramid.

What?!  It’s not there.

Well, they should be.

 

Humility is a team player.

It’s open to hearing new ideas. . . like putting Doritos on that dang Needs Pyramid.

 

And humility is okay with saying “no”.

Not to Doritos.

Humility would never say no to Doritos.

 

And maybe the most defining mark of humility is this. . . it’s cool being itself.

Humble people are comfortable in their own skin.

You know, like your grandpa when he wears his tank top and boxers with socks rolled up to his knees.  You know what I’m talking about – that is a man who is secure in his own skin . . . and fashion choices.

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline

Colossians 3:12

The Message

 

I could use more humility in my life.

I could do with less comparison of what I think I should be.

I could do with more rest.

I could do with more saying “no”.

And I could definitely do more with just being me.

Maybe you could too.

We live in a world full of causes and needs – and we will get to them.  We will, because God has poured his spirit into us.  Those things won’t get left undone.  But in all of our doing, lets not forget that we are people and not vending machines.

Maybe that’s the truest mark of humility.

That we remember that we are human.

 

Love you,

img_0580

No

1 Comment

 

I am so loving the word “no” right now.

I would sing it like a choir boy if I could.

Do-Re-Mi-NOOOOOOOO.

 

 

“No” is the word that God gave us as freedom from distracting thoughts, over busy schedules, expectations to be something we are not.

I’m not talking about character issues.

I’m talking about feeling anxious all the time.

I’m talking about being afraid that we are not being who others think we should be.

Maybe even, who we think God wants us to be.

 

Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

(The Message)

 

Stingy and lavish.

So the moral is we should give more and not less right?

 

I don’t think that’s what it means.

Plus it’s all followed up with “God loves it when the giver delights in the giving”.

I think it’s about our motivation.

 

It comes back to heart.

I’ve had moments where I have given lots out of a stingy heart, because it was what I thought was expected, and I’ve given little with all of the love I had within me.

God was way more excited that I was excited about the little than the lot.

 

Geez, if I’m honest, I can’t remember the last time I was excited to give of my time or my money or my prayers.

I just got in the habit of giving because it’s what we Christians do.

But this burnt out girl is learning, it’s not enough to just give.

God wants us engaged in our giving- from hearts that overflow.

He’s asking us,

Why do we do what we do?

Do we give because we want to?

Or because we think it’s expected?

 

Which brings me back to my Sesame Street rant on why I loooove “No.”

“No”, protects our hearts and our motivations.

So if we are going to have and keep big hearts towards people, we have to be able to have and keep our big “no’s” towards the things that would cause us to feel less than delighted in our giving.

That’s really hard because it hits right at the heart of what people will think of me.

Yeouch.

I know, it’s hard to say no.

We want people to think that we are the awesome people we know we are- but sometimes the most awesome and sincere and honest thing we can do is nicely say “no”. It keeps our hearts from resenting people and it keeps what flows from our hearts pure.

“No” gives us rest.

“No” gives us breathing room.

“No” gives us space to really discern our own hearts and God’s.

 

So, not that you need it, but if you were looking for someone to give you permission to say “no”, I’m saying it.  Say “no” to things the things that have been slowly killing your joy and your relationships with others.  Say “no” to the false expectation to be something you’re not.

Because here’s the best part, in the “no” we have more “yes” for each other and for a God that loves us enough to give us a word like “no”.

 

 

 

Website: www.joyceackermann.com

Twitter:@joyceackermann

 

In the waiting

Leave a comment

 

In The Waiting

Hold on to your promises, even if they feel a little tattered and torn at the moment.

God moves in seasons.

 

Why?

 

I’m not sure, but I think sometimes that farmers must understand God better than us city kids.

 

There are seasons when we are waiting on God to blow on our dreams and to answer prayers.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

 

 

My friend Praveena and I went out for dinner a couple of months ago and she said in her usually brilliant way, “God is teaching me how to hold onto my dream without having any casualties in my relationships along the way.”

Wow.

Doesn’t that sound like the God we know.

The one who wants us to have our dreams.

The one who loves people.

 

The one who wants us to learn how to do both.

Have our dreams and love people.

 

In the waiting, we’re learning how to do just that.

 

Maybe it goes without saying, but waiting is hard.

Correction.

Waiting is really really hard.

 

God’s kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. Five were silly and five were smart. The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. The bridegroom didn’t show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep.

In the middle of the night someone yelled out, ‘He’s here! The bride-groom’s here! Go out and greet him!’

The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. The silly virgins said to the smart ones, ‘Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil.’

They answered, ‘There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.’

They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked.

Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, ‘Master, we’re here. Let us in.’

He answered, ‘Do I know you? I don’t think I know you.’

So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive.

Matthew 25:1-13

(The Message)

 

We read this verse a lot when we talk about Jesus coming back, but I believe there’s a kingdom principle embedded in this story.

Those who have been wise to hold on to their oil, to not give away their hope and their faith in who God is, get to enter into the party with Jesus.

Why?

Because when the time comes, they have hope that gives them light to see and discern the opportunities God brings our way.

These are the ones that held onto believing the promises of God, even when it felt like you were just holding on by a thread.

It still counts.

Remember Jesus said, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed.

And a thread is bigger than a mustard seed.

 

So hold on to your promises, even if they feel a little tattered and torn at the moment.  God is good and he always comes through for us, the ones he loves.

img_0580

 

Photo Credit: “Sparkler” by Unsplash, permission through C.C. by 2.0

The reality of dreaming

4 Comments

The Reality of Dreaming

My son wants to drive so badly he can taste exhaust fumes.

This past summer, he asked me nearly every time we got into the van when it would be his turn to drive.  Most parents probably dread the day their children start driving and their insurance premiums go through the roof,  but I am so excited for the day when I can hand him the keys and see that look of joy in his eyes.  In my heart, I look forward to him driving probably more than he does.  So why haven’t I let him get his permit and take the family mini-van for a spin?

Because he’s 3 years old.

I will safe guard the dream of his driving until he is ready, not to mention old enough to see over the steering wheel, but if I gave him his “dream” today it would cause him and who knows who else harm. He’s not ready yet.

I’ve explained to him a million and one different ways, why he can’t drive right now and he responds with a quivering lower lip, “okay, someday”.  He has resigned himself to comply despite not fully understanding my reasons.

It’s the same with us.  We don’t always understand when God says, “not now” and our 3 year old hearts distort his words into “no” as we perceive our dreams crumbling into dust.

Dreams are precious things, fragile in the making.  Our dreams are things meant to be placed into the hands of God. He knows this and he’s not willing that we would gain the thing we want most at the risk of losing ourselves.  And so, he has a way of causing us to lay down the thing we want, the way Abraham laid down Issac, so that he can give it back to us at the moment of our maturity.

We all have that something lingering just out of reach.

Maybe you’ve been praying for Mr. Right (or dear God, please fix my Mr. Right).

Maybe your dream is that elusive career opportunity.

Maybe you’ve been patiently waiting for that restored relationship with your parents.

Maybe you’ve been quietly hoping for a child.

Or maybe your dream is simply driving the family mini-van.

The temptation is one of two things: 1. to either try to do everything to make it happen or 2. to do nothing.  If you’re a bold person, you more than likely gravitate towards the first, if you’re fearful you’ll tend to gravitate towards the second and if you’re like me, a cyclone of both – it might just depend on the day.

How do we trust God and act in faith when it comes to something like a dream?

When God told Abraham to go to the promise land, Abraham went. . . and kept going until God told him to stop.  When Joseph dreamed of greatness, he served faithfully . . . and God made him the second most powerful man in Egypt.  When Ruth secretly hoped for her Mr. Right, she continued to care for her mother-in-law . . . and Boaz came along.

Be faithful.

Ask God what your first step is and be faithful to do that thing until he either tells you something new or until that day when your dream becomes reality.  Too simple?  Perhaps, but I think I remember that he likes to use the simple things to confound the wise.

 

 

*I originally posted this when my oldest really was only 3 years old.  He still wants to drive just as bad now that he’s 7.

Pray for us.

–  -No seriously.

One day we’ll have to let our kids drive.*

 

 

Photo Credit: “Key” by Unsplash permissions through C.C. by 2.0

 

The Struggle Is Real

1 Comment

My mom is a teacher and she says profound things that I don’t understand.

Again, I swear, I was an A student in school.

 

. .  . I’m just a little, you know, one twist short of a slinky.

 

This time it happened to be about teaching.

See, the Human Calculator and I homeschool our kids.

Confession: I swear I never thought I’d homeschool my kids.

 

I was like “Huh?”

I felt like God was like. “Yeah, you should homeschool.”

And then I was like, “Okay”

 

I’m still not sure what happened.

 

But here we are – we are those people your parents warned you about.

Come to think of it, I think my parents warned me about those people too.

And now I are one.

 

Sheesh.

 

So I’m asking my mom something about teaching and she nods her head very knowingly, like the best teachers do, and she says, “Well, learning doesn’t take place until the student reaches the threshold just beyond what he is capable of.”

 

Say whaaaaaat?

No, I’m serious.  I’m gonna need you to repeat that.

 

Learning doesn’t take place until the student reaches the threshold just beyond what he is capable of.

 

Yeah, write that down.

That’s free mom advice.

You don’t want that to go to waste.

 

Life is supposed to be a just a little bit difficult.

 

Check this out:

My troubles turned out all for the best—
    they forced me to learn from your textbook.

Psalm 119:71 (The Message)

 

We have some friends that moved recently but our recurring joke was “God Loves the Struggle”.  We had a few others, ongoing jokes that is, but instead of ratting out my friends, I’ll just say that what happens in home group stays in home group.

 

But God does love the struggle, because it means we’re learning.

 

 

It’s kinda cool, right?

God actually knows what he’s doing.

 

When life is hard – his intent isn’t to torture us.

It’s to teach us something.

 

And the Holy Spirit loves to teach all kinds of subjects.

Health, Business, Interpersonal Skills, the list goes on and on.

How ever the trouble ended up on your doorstep isn’t necessarily the point.  It’s “How is what you’re learning going to get it to go away?”

 

It looks a little like this:

Maybe your health issues have caused you to learn a better way to deal with stress and worry.

Maybe the struggles in starting your business have been the Holy Spirit showing you a strength you posses that you didn’t realize was there.

Maybe the arguments in your marriage have shown you that you want to learn how to communicate better.

Maybe your codependency habits have exhausted you to the point of needing to learn boundaries and how to value yourself. (I’m not going to point any elbows on this one – ahem)

 

God loves the struggle, because it’s an open invitation to learn something new.

 

Something about who he is.

Something about who you are.

Something about what he’s wanting to do for you.

Something about what you’re capable of accomplishing.

And always about how much you are loved.

 

Sharpen your #2’s, because school’s in session.

 

 

 
Photo Credit: “Pencil” by monoar permission through C.C. by 2.0