The word “surrender” can be a scary one.
It implies laying down our desires and our dreams, for something that is unknown. Surrender means that we submit everything to God with hands wide open. The problem is that we have a tendency of closing our fingers around those desires and dreams again into tightened fists. We say to ourselves, God is not willing to help or He’s not moving according to my timetable, and we feel the urge to take control.
May I ask, when did every season of the year become busy? Growing up it seemed that there were only two busy times – back-to-school and Christmas. The rest of the year was ordinary and slow.
It’s only February, nothing important has happened for two months, and yet I feel like I am gasping for rest. Even when I have restful times, I’m not truly resting. My mind is jumping to the next chore, project, or event.
I am very excited to bring you my first post here on TripleBraidedLife!
Embrace. What comes to mind when you hear that word? When I hear it, I think it sounds elegant. I feel like it is a fancy way to describe a hug. It actually means to “accept willingly or eagerly”. As single Christian women, what are we accepting willingly or eagerly into our lives? Godliness or sinfulness?
In the face of consequences from my recent deceptive and lying actions, I asked myself, “Am I embracing the discipline of godliness in my life, willingly and eagerly?”
Can I just tell you that Lent completely snuck up on me this year. I mean, I’m embarrassed to admit this, but as I scrolled through my Facebook feed yesterday I saw a post about Ash Wednesday and had to remember what day it was and if THIS Wednesday was the Wednesday they were talking about. It was.
Can I also admit I immediately felt burdened by it? Easter is my favorite holiday, truthfully, not in a “I just want to be different” sort-of way, so I love that in less than 40 days it will be here. But, right now I’m exhausted. I’m bogged down with so much life stuff that I feel like I can’t give Lent one ounce of me.
This is partly because I am in Bible Study Fellowship which is great, and I’ve recommended it so many times, but it is intensive weekly Bible study. There’s no extra time in this toddler mom’s days for a Lent study, too.
So what do I do? I start a Lent study anyway, of course – She Reads Truth to be exact. I don’t know why I do this to myself. Sometimes I wonder if it’s to subconsciously set myself up for failure.
I miss Star Hill.
Back in college, a dear friend would often ask me to go on evening walks. Usually I would beg off, already settled in for the night … or just too lazy to bother. Every once in a while I would go with her. We lived in a tiny college town in The-Middle-of-Nowhere, KY, so it didn’t take long to walk past campus to the quiet neighborhoods. As dusk set in, we would wander past sleepy homes and head to the top of a small rise where the town suddenly came to an end. Here, on a clear night in a dark, empty field, we would stretch out and explore the night sky. Our meager knowledge of constellations would soon give way to talks about life, family, and friends. And then we would just lie there in the cool grass and breathe in the beauty of the galaxies.
Overall I consider myself a nice person. I say “please” and “thank you” and most of the time even “yes ma’am” and “no sir.” I am from the south after all.
I always use my blinker, even when turning into my driveway. If you try to do something to help me I make sure you really want to by asking, “Are you sure?” a hundred times. I smile at everyone I see.
But put me in a public place, such as a grocery store, and all of a sudden my eyes go red and my fangs come out. It’s as if walking through the automatic doors transforms my body into the Wicked Witch of the West. With everything in me I have to hold back screaming, “Get out of my way!”
In public my flesh is real.
