Back to the beginning

I am reminded of why I start writing. One of those reasons was to help me deal with depression and negative feelings. It almost feels like I am back at that point again but this time it is different.

Life is generally going well, so why am I struggling with depression? Well it is because the devil has found a way to take something that I love doing and complicate it and make it difficult to do. I can't go into detail now but it is something that I will need to deal with one way or another.

The devil doesn't want us to be happy or experience success in life because success brings Glory to God. So how do we overcome him when it is hard to keep our focus on God? We keep on giving our testimony. Revelations tells us that “They overcame him through the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.”

Believing that we are in Christ and that he can work through any situation is key. Remind yourself that God loved you enough to send His Son to die for you. When we focus on Christ's love we can be secure in Him. If we submit our challenge or problem to God, He will help us find a way out of it.

Believe and conquer!

The time conundrum

For a long time now I have been trying to figure out how to get more time....more time to do the things that I want to do. In my efforts I tried doing things faster and faster, believing that if I got more done quicker then the time would magically open up for me to rest more, do art more, write more.

Well I could not have been more wrong. In all my haste I was loosing myself and not tending to my own needs and I just ended up feeling frustrated with life. Last Saturday out of desperation I declared the day a sleep day. I did nothing but rest. I pushed all activities to the side lines and took the time to sleep. Well that was wonderful for that weekend, but what was I going to do after that?

Strangely this weekend I just decided to not do anything hectic. I got the house cleaned on Saturday (with help of course) and managed to push through as many chores as possible early and I finally found some time...time to paint.

What have I learned? If order to find more time I need to do less, not more. I think I understand now why God created the Sabbath? Without downtime, we do not learn how to manage up time because our focus is blurred by exhaustion. All things God created, He did for our good so the “rules and regulations” are there to protect us, not to harm us.

Do you need more time? Maybe you need to learn to say no more to stuff you don't need to do and yes to what God wants you to do.

What to do, what to do!

I am so blessed to be able to say that after 4 months I am still thoroughly enjoying my now, not so new, job.  Don't get me wrong there are challenges, but they are challenges that I love and embrace and I'm enjoying every minute. 

Recently though I have been a bit stressed out as tasks seem to be pulling my focus in opposite directions and trying to figure out what needs my focus first has been hard.  With the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit I have however been able to put all things in perspective and gain clear direction. 

The role the Holy Spirit plays in our careers is sadly underrated. We seldom stop to ask God for help and we frequently forget to even consider that there are ways that God can help us in our day to day tasks.  Let's try to make our focus this year...as we Grow with God...to first walk with God in everything we do.