oh man, i woke up this morning so tired and kinda queasy all over again. i had the stomach flu this weekend while i was on a gig, and it was not pretty. i'm feeling it again in my stomach this morning, so it was really hard to get out of bed.
needless to say, i missed most of joyce meyer's show.
but the 10 minutes that i did catch still had something in there that grabbed me. there were clips of different people, probably at her convention or church, and this one woman with the sweetest smile said, "I WANT IT ALL. I WANT EVERYTHING GOD HAS TO OFFER ME."
that is so what we deserve. it all. and that got me thinking about a question i had tried to answer earlier this weekend. it was in a book called, "strong women, soft hearts," by paula rinehart. great book. (am i a self-help junkie, or what?). anyway, the question was, "where in your life do you sense yourself holding back, playing it safe? why?
and here's what i wrote in my journal ~ i'm just wondering if anyone can relate...
"nowhere, and everywhere. i try everything and have the guts to do anything. but every single chance i have to become great, i stop short. i go 80% and then stop. why? i so have the guts to go all the way. i have what it takes ~ i know it. it's like i'm afraid of imbalance. but people can be great and successful and be completely balanced too. i don't get it."
i'm ready to do the work and follow through with the blessings God has prepared for me. i'm making a vow by saying this!
this all reminds me of the prayer of jabez. amy introduced me to this book, and it's super powerful. the prayer is in the Bible and is really the only little blurb about jabez. his name meant pain, so he prayed this prayer to overcome his own name:
"oh Lord that you would bless me
and enlarge my territory,
that your hand would be with me,
and that you would keep me from evil,
that i may not cause pain."
i pray it everyday and my life has changed immensely. it's okay to pray for blessings and it's okay to receive those blessings. you're not being greedy or selfish! God is dying to bless you with more and more. be prepared to receive more blessings than you feel like you deserve, and way more than you expected. that's how it works. this isn't like a Christmas wish list. you don't even know what could be a blessing to you!
gotta go spread my germs, i mean blessings, to some high school voice students!
4 comments:
It's definitely hard for me to pray for blessings. I even have a difficult time praying to God for help. I'm not totally sure why that is. I think it has to do with control - I feel I have to be in control of everything, even the blessings in my life???? I don't get it. Today's thoughts have inspired me to pray today for God's blessings in my life.
Are you feeling better? I hope so. You have to be ready to eat all the yummy food on Thursday.
i just read this great comment, beth. i think so many people, if not all, feel the same way you do. there are some parts of my life that are easier for me to let go of and let God bless me. or not bless me. but there are a few parts that seem impossible. all i can do is pray the prayer over and over, until one day it'll creep in.
what you wrote is so profound ~ that you even have to be in control of the blessings! how many out there feel that exact same way? all of us, i think.
mom and dad and i went to jackstack tonight for barbecue. you and andy HAVE to come up and eat this stuff. it's the best barbecue i've ever had. puts kc masterpiece to shame!!!
thanks for writing...
tannehill, i just want you to know, that i think you are great, blessed, and beautiful, and that you have already arrived. you are a great person already. there are some people who appear to have it all to the world's standard, but they have nothing to give and they are mean hateful people. then, there are those who have nothing by the world's standards, and they have everything to give and we all want to be around them. what i am trying to say, and doing it poorly, is that success can only be measured from the inside out.
I'm also confused by what you mean by wanting God to bless you. what does that mean? maybe this is too forward, but i really feel like americans have trouble with contentment. i think that we are always striving. what do you think?
hi operamama! so glad to hear from you!
thank you so much for your sweet words. i feel EXACTLY the same about you.
have you read "the prayer of jabez"? if you don't have it, i'll send it to you for Christmas. this little book will help you understand what i mean by asking God to bless us. contentment is one of the greatest blessings you can receive from God, along with joy, peace, patience, etc. the book talks about God just dying to give us so many blessings, but we never ask for them. but the list of blessings he has for us aren't necessarily the same list we would make. so we're asking God to bless us with his little bag of goodies, like contentment, success (with HIS measuring stick), peace when it doesn't make sense to have any at all, and on and on. i think God blesses us with material things too, like my beautiful apartment i found, that makes me forget that there is a 2700 sq. ft. house being built in iowa that i don't get to live in. who cares when you have a cute little apartment in my favorite town, with all the fixings? and it's decorated in MY colors. and it's peaceful. i can't say that big house would have ever had peace in it. so, i thank God for this apartment.
i want to send you this book if you don't have it. you'll love what it says about asking for those blessings.
write more! i love the dialogue!!!!
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