You Can Win With What You Have Left

It's wintertime - the season when all that was once green and growing goes cold and dormant. To the naked eye, it's not a pretty picture.

Is that how you're feeling as 2015 draws to a close? Has this been a barren year for you?

Well, I bring you good news! You may be at the end of another calendar year, but that doesn't mean that you aren't on the verge of a personal revolution. That's right! And I don't mean a comeback of epic proportions either (although that would be a righteous surprise too). I mean an awakening in your soul, a shifting in your perspective and your level of expectation that will slowly but surely propel you forward. It can happen, even if you don't think you've got everything it takes to make it happen.

Let me paint a picture for you...

When I was a little girl, I remember going with my mother to the home of one of our elderly church ladies. She was hosting a quilting circle with some of her friends. At the time, I didn't realize what a time-honored tradition this was among our African-American ancestors, but I soon found out.

I can still remember them laughing and chatting away as they leisurely took what looked to me like old raggedy scraps of fabric and effortlessly sewed them into colorful patterns. It took them weeks to finish, and I wasn't there to witness all of their labor. But I can tell you that when they were done, that quilt was fit to be displayed at The Louvre!

Who would have thought that all those little scraps scattered around the floor would eventually yield such an amazingly beautiful and purposeful thing?

Maybe 2015 may have drained a lot out of you. You may feel like you're running on empty right now; like you're left with scraps. 

photo credit: www.absolutelysmall.com

But God looks at your scraps and sees this:

photo credit: www.weallsew.com

That's because He knows the awesome things He can do through your faith. So don't focus on what you don't have. When you do, it makes you blind to your potential and robs you of your promise. Smile over your scraps, girl! They're going to make for a great story someday.

Remember the Old Testament story about the widow who was facing a critical debt situation and had only one vial of oil left in her house? (2 Kings 4:1-7) Go back and check it out. You'll see that it wasn't about what she had. It was about what she was willing to DO with what she had.

So, I ask you, are you willing to use what you've got left?

"Because little becomes much as you place it in the Master's hand." ~ from the song, Ordinary People by Danniebelle Hall

Until next week, Overcomers...

Silent Success

I was talking with a friend of mine recently and she shared with me that she didn't feel successful in her life right now. There are some personal obstacles and professional challenges she's facing at this time, and because she's not seeing certain results, she felt that she had somehow gone off-course. I could tell by the way she was describing her circumstances that she was obviously judging herself by an improper set of standards.

I asked her to define for me what success looks like. She gave me the standard answer that I expected: more money, fewer hassles, relationships that run smoothly, etc. In her eyes, everyone else around her wasn't dealing with these things, so they must have some secret formula that she doesn't have.

I explained to her that most of us have been conditioned to believe that success is a destination rather than a journey. The truth is, SUCCESS doesn't start at the crossing of the finish line when everyone is cheering and patting you on the back. It starts with all the many intangible things you do in SILENCE that often go uncelebrated. Just ask any champion athlete. She would tell you that she became a winner by making a series of pivotal choices. Think of the countless days she woke up in the wee hours of the morning to run when everyone else was still sleeping. The times she pushed and pulled those ever-increasing weights that would soon strengthen her arms and legs. The many times she pushed her plate away when her companions kept right on eating. Every time she chose these actions, she was being successful. It would seem that those things don't matter until the day of the race. But in actuality, it is because of those silent successes that she was able to endure the race in the first place.

Once my friend received this new perspective, I encouraged her to stop rating her victories according to commonly accepted measures like a bigger bank account, a more prestigious job, or a house of her own, and begin extracting those things that have more lasting and effective value. Here's what she realized:

#1 - She is working at a place where she makes less money than she has ever made before, BUT she is blooming where she has been planted. The children she serves love her to pieces, and she has become a ray of sunshine in their young lives.

#2 - She had to move out of a house she loved but could not longer afford. HOWEVER, she and her son are learning to weather storms together as a team and as a result, they have grown much closer.

#3 - She has had to struggle with lack more often than she would like, BUT in the process she is learning new ways to use what she has available to her, and she is seeing God reveal His faithfulness to her and her son in unprecedented ways.

So I say to you, my sister, if you're struggling with self-doubt right now and you don't feel like you're making any strides toward what others have defined as success, I challenge you to look inward. Allow your challenges to transform you, not trample you.

It's not about the climax, it's about the climb.

Peace & Blessings!

Are You Running Away From Home?

Have you heard about a recent study that reports most people feel more stressed at home than at work? I saw a link to this article posted by one of my Facebook friends. Not only did the article's title catch my eye, but there were so many comments from apparent sympathizers, I couldn't help but be intrigued. So of course I had to blog about it.

I don't know about you but, single or married, home has always been my refuge. However, according to the research reported in the article, women, in particular, feel more stressed at home than they do at work. The reasons they state are fairly obvious because they're so common: 1) "It's easier for women to keep home out of work than to keep work out of home," i.e., answering emails, etc. 2) Work is only the first shift of the day for the average working mom. The proverbial "second shift" kicks in when she gets back home to be met with household chores and parenting duties. 3) At work there are "clear actions" and "rewards." At home, not so much. One outcome that struck me as odd was that women without children reportedly had even more stress at home than women with children. Imagine that! Supposedly, even though working moms have to deal with the ever-changing demands of parenting, the warm emotions that are associated with nurturing children tend to off-set the stress of caring for them. I think that's a built-in perk.

So after reading this and considering how many women spoke up on Facebook to affirm their agreement with this article, I felt like doing a self-assessment.

I work from home, so there is no running away to work. When I did work a traditional office job, I still didn't consider it a getaway from the demands of home. More often than not it was the other way around, to be honest. So what makes the difference for me? I would say it's the fact that even when I was single, I purposefully set boundaries between work and home. While I did like getting paid for my labor, I never allowed myself get wrapped up in getting a check. Therefore, I've never felt like I had to compromise my peace for the sake of financial security (whatever that is!). Even now as a married, working mom that same mindset is still in place for both me and my husband. And we give God ALL the credit for that! He's helped us to transform our minds to the point that we focus on what's most important (putting God first in our home, frequently praying together as a couple and as a family, spending quality time with one another) before we focus on the important (paying bills, homework, doing laundry, etc.). We've set an atmosphere at home that we've committed to maintain, and I believe because of this, everything else has fallen into proper perspective. Work is a blessing. Home is a joy. Stress is out the door!

So how about you? Are you running away from home?