“I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.”~ Mother Teresa
If I'm honest, that's how I've been feeling this week. I've been pushing so hard for so long, it seems, to take the steps God wants me to take to lay hold of the things He's prepared for me. This week, it's felt like one step forward, two steps back in every area of life in which I tried to make progress. And I did make some progress...it was just extremely hard won. You might say, most days it was a big ol' hairy fight! And it's not over.
There have been financial challenges, physical challenges, mental challenges, emotional challenges and yes, spiritual challenges. Usually I can handle the challenges that come my way. But then again, they usually don't all gang up on me at one time until I feel like my head is being swallowed by some unseen monster, and I may never see the light of day again.
I keep telling myself I'm on the verge of victory, that it's right there, just around the corner, and if I stretch just a little farther, hold on a little longer, push just a little harder, I can grab hold. The fight will be worth it. I can picture the victory, I know what it will feel like, I just have to hang in there. I just have to never, ever quit.
I looked up the quote my new friend mentioned, and I found another I liked even better.
“Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.”
and another...
“May today there be peace within.
May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.
May you use the gifts you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content with yourself just the way you are.
Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.”
And so I continue to reach high for the stars hidden in my soul. I continue to dream deep. I trust God when I don't trust myself. I know He has not endowed me with the gifts, strengths, talents, abilities and insight He has for these things to lie fallow, unused, uncultivated, inactive, producing nothing. He wants my dreams to come true even more than I do. Because He loves me.
Because I know He loves me, and because I love Him, I push. I reach. I dream. I may cry, I may falter, but I won't quit. I won't give up. No matter what anyone says. No matter who understands, or doesn't. No matter who is in my corner, or if that corner contains only me. I will trust that I am exactly where I am meant to be. I will be content with myself just the way I am. I will remember that without Him, I can do nothing.
I will sing. I will dance. I will praise, and above all...I will love. What I won't do is give up.
Victory will be mine. Because with God, all things are possible.
Jeremiah 32:27~I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Luke 1:37~ For nothing is impossible with God.
