Every now and again I get lost in these funks. These thoughts where I seem like nothing will ever change. Things like “I’ll never be able to afford that”,”I’ll never loose this weight”, “my dream will never come true,” my “_**fill in the blank**_” will never happen. I’ve been there many times,on so many accounts, and this week’s never was “I’ll never get this weight down, I’m not disciplined enough”. So I decided I need a little mind renewal, because frankly I hate the word “never” and what it does to me. When I say it, it just makes me depressed. When my kids or husband say it(truthfully he almost never does 😉) it just sets me off. Because I know that whatever they are saying is not 100% true. Although some situations may be an almost never but not a complete “it has not EVER happened in the history of your life with me” never. I know you know what I’m saying here.
Anyways…to go on this journey of mind renewal let’s rewind to earlier this week. I’m currently studying the book of Genesis and in chapter 18 Sarah laughs at the idea she was going to have a son at the age of 90. Hey I can’t blame the lady, I probably would have laughed myself, can you imagine?!? The following verse is where God asks Abraham why she laughed and says “Is anything too hard for the Lord?….”Genesis 18:14 and Sarah denies it because she was afraid. Now for her she probably was experiencing some doubts, I mean she was pretty old even for those times and it just hadn’t happened yet. Again,I can’t blame her. But when God says “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” that gets me. How often in life do we doubt the things that God has put in front of us? We doubt the things that God has called us to do, we may doubt the obstacles, or heavy things that seem too impossible to get over. But does it not say right here that nothing is too hard for the Lord?
When I read this chapter earlier this week I immediately thought about a dream my husband and I have. We have always had this dream of owning a year around Christian Family Campground. One where kids can come for the summer or school vacation weeks, or families retreat together, or even come in groups. But the purpose is to slow down, rest and refocus on God and have fun. For us this dream seems fairly unrealistic because we are mainly a one income family on a retail managers salary, it would take a miracle to finance something like this. But we still like to think about it, it’s fun to dream! The thing is, this dream is something that has been placed on both of our hearts and we didn’t really know we shared it until one day we just started to talk about it. While I’m not completely sure if this dream is from God or just a fantasy in our minds it’s there. The verse reminded me that nothing is too hard for the Lord and that he does care deeply about the desires of our hearts. I’m thankful that he cares about these dreams of ours even if they don’t come to fruition.
Now let’s come back to where my mind was just so focused on me and my woes. I think I had been viewing a few to many ads for weight-loss and feeling pretty blah about my image. (self-image that is a whole other blog post to write!) As I prayed to get this negativity out of my head I was reminded again of the verse that brought me joy earlier in the week. I had to stop focusing on me and how I seem to fail at “xy and z”. “Is anything too hard for the Lord” Can I not with his strength (and certainly not mine )get to my goal?I realized that it was time to stop focusing on my faults and focus on what God can do for and through me. What HE wants for me and who HE says I am.
Lord, I know nothing is impossible for you. I know that you care deeply for me. Thank you for placing dreams and desires in our hearts. Thank you for helping me get over these negative thoughts. Help me to focus more on what it is that you want for my life so I can be aligned with your will. More of you Lord, less of me.
Genesis 18:14 NLT