We All Need Pep Talks!

It happens at the oddest times…

You know, you are facing a challenge and it seems like the task is simply overwhelming. Perhaps it’s an easy fix to someone who has experienced the same challenge. Or worse, it’s something no one has ever dealt with so everyone has a learning curve.

The key is, there are times when even the simplest of tasks, along with our current status, creates a stressful moment, and bingo! We are overwhelmed!

We love the scripture that provides direction in the psalms.

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (Psalms 61:2 NKJV)

Let me point out a few things…

David identifies the end of the earth. When he has carried his load as long, and as far, as possible, he KNOWS to cry out to God! In other places he describes this as a horrible pit mired in clay (Psalms 40:2), or when he was exiled from his kingdom by his own son, Absalom (2 Samuel 17:22), or even worse, when it seems like God is not coming to his rescue (Psalms 3:2, 22:8). Still, he knows his solution is found in God!

What are the ends of the earth? It’s about as far away as you can get from feeling God in your situation!

Now, consider this word “overwhelmed”. We use it all the time. It often describes a place of despair, or the result of a calamity. The original word describes being covered with darkness and you cannot see through. Perhaps you do not like to cover your head at night and come out swinging if those bed covers close in over you! Panic. Fear. Doubt. All of this creates stress and we struggle with them as if we are juggling knives with very sharp blades!

Like a maze the stresses build up and we cannot find our way out.

In the midst of his overwhelmed situation, the scripture identifies a third party that we never talk about. The Leader. “Lead me to the rock…” We all need someone to lead us. It’s not that we cannot find our own way, but I believe God puts special “someones” in our life to lead us out of the maze we have become lost in! It may be a child who feels no stress, or a stranger who has the right word at the right time, or it may be a close family or friend. It may even be someone who has no idea that the right word in the right season is the key to lead you out of your darkness!

Regardless… We seldom look for someone to be that voice to us until we have gotten in over our heads!

What did David know, and what did David say when everything overwhelmed him? There is a “rock” this was higher than himself. A safe place above him. He can be lifted out of that pit described above and have a new song to sing!

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. (Psalms 40:2-3 NKJV)

As we are pulled from a pit, possible of our own making, then it is God we praise. Why? “Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.” What God has done for you is a victory statement that can be the help to many others!

What you are going through … is something you can make it through… There is nothing bigger than what you have the ability to handle, or tougher than our God can handle…

Maybe all you need is a Pep Talk…

I Have Hope

Why Do We Struggle?

We face challenges every moment of every day, and day by day sometimes the challenges are met by our expectation of a good solution. Sometimes they do not. If we struggle more with answers not coming than with them showing up, do we become hopeless?

Hope cannot be “feelings”, or even that emotion we stress over when things around us appear to be hopeless. Hope must be grounded in fact of something that is possible to be accomplished. Hope is acknowledging fact, believing that what is possible might be the very thing we need and the evidence of it when it shows up!

Hope is that middle link between Faith and Love (1 Corinthians 13:13) and I trust in my Faith linked through Hope to Love.

But here’s the thought for the day. I must remind myself every day that there is hope. Every single day. Do not let one day go by, or you may just thrash about until that hopelessness controls you.

And I said, “My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD.” Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers And sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:18-23 NKJV)

Jeremiah, often known as the weeping prophet, penned these words about all the problem he has seen, and since he has been around the affliction of Israel perhaps he had a right to the weeping. Even King David often cried for help from where he was stranded. It seemed he was always stressed with his situation.

To the Chief Musician. With Stringed Instruments. A Contemplation of David. Give ear to my prayer, O God, And do not hide Yourself from my supplication. Attend to me, and hear me; I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily, Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked; For they bring down trouble upon me, And in wrath they hate me. My heart is severely pained within me, And the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, And horror has overwhelmed me. So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off, And remain in the wilderness. Selah I would hasten my escape From the windy storm and tempest.” (Psalms 55:1-8 NKJV)

Attend to me. Hear me. I am restless. The voice of the enemy, the oppression of the wicked – they bring trouble. Horror has overwhelmed me!

To the Chief Musician. On A Stringed Instrument. A Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah (Psalms 61:1-4 NKJV)

Why do we struggle? It is through everyday living that I strengthen myself to stand up to those tough times when I need the most help. There are many days I feel overwhelmed, but it is at that same time that I feel the support of God that gets me through the moment of struggle.

Here’s the thought… When you feel the hopeless tendrils reaching out for you, recall the blessings of God and exercise your hope for a solution that is possible! Do not desire the things that are unattainable, or unreal. Rather, keep your focus grounded on the possible, even the miracle. Just keep living in Hope!

Waste Not Want Not

The week has been rapidly coming to a close…

There is so much to get accomplished and the stress of leaving tasks undone is not going to be an option. In fact, there is so much to do and not enough time to get everything done, and there is not a moment to waste.

However, there are options that keep me functioning.

• Streamlining some steps, combining tasks, reassigning some to a helper…
• Rethinking which priorities are creating the most stress and focusing on finishing them quickly.
• Stop picking up so many ancillary tasks that can easily be done by someone else.
• Learn to say no, so take ownership of the power that a “no” can produce.
• And when saying yes is important then make sure your schedule will allow proper focus.

When the stress of the schedule gets you overwhelmed, then you need to learn how to release the pressure that threatens to throttle your success!

This week had some onerous tasks, but still tasks that needed to be accomplished. On my plate was a scheduled trip across the state, but the pressure of the “home” tasks were stressing me out!  A drive over the mountain was in order, but was it absolutely necessary?

Maybe. But not for the reason of the trip. I took the opportunity to make the trip productive for another reason. I needed some downtime that only a solo drive could give me. I needed some quiet time where I could control the noise pressures. I needed some “me” time.

Along the trip a phrase kept popping up on my radar. “Waste”… I saw tremendous waste along side the road. Junk cars, trash, you know, all those things that people toss aside when it has no more practical use. But an idiom kept adding to the word. “Waste not want not.” You know, it’s a common idiomatic saying with substance.

If you use a commodity or resource carefully
and without extravagance, you will never be in need.

Use it carefully. Without extravagance. Never in need. Maybe… There are some things that have an unlimited supply – like oxygen! However, there are things we wastefully create with no thought that they will survive past the first use. Candy wrappers. Aluminum cans. Boxes that cover a sack of cereal. Autos that do not last as long as my truck.

I researched the idiom and found it previously stated: “willful waste makes woeful want” (1576). This makes me a happier soul. I hate to willfully waste anything! So, I refused to waste a trip over the mountain for someone else’s requirement. I did it for myself.

I took ownership of that 11 hour round trip drive and did something I particularly enjoy. Quiet time. Chosen path. Enjoy the trip!

On a good day, enjoy yourself; On a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days So that we won’t take anything for granted. (Ecclesiastes 7:14 MSG)

When Life Seems so Uncertain

You Agonize… You Fret… You Worry…

Run this way… Then that way… Slipping and sliding through decisions that would have been easy to make just a few weeks ago. Overwhelmed by doubt. Confusion. Angst. Indecision.

Yes, your state of mind makes a difference in your actions and reactions, but when you stress about everything and your foundation is rocked to the core, then your decision making ability is called into question. The choices you make all seem to be good. And bad. At the same time. To you and everyone around you.

Trying to figure out where to go, or what to do. It makes life a tough proposition some times.

In today’s world we agonize our choices in the public eye. We no longer do it in private, or in the closeness of those we are searching for answers with. And with that, we shake up the foundation of others – and especially those that are gingerly treading through life. One wrong move can tump (a “southern” word) over their whole life. And you find yourself in the position of the “tumper”…

What do you do when it seems everything you once believed and trusted is no longer stable?

If ever there was a time for a plan of action, then this would be it…

Return to the basics.

Israel was defeated. Many sent into captivity by surrounding kings. Forced to live another way. Years go by and finally there comes a time that seems to be right to return to their homeland. Jerusalem has been destroyed. They no longer remembered how they once lived. Their memory of the law was fuzzy at best.

Then Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembled men and women so that all could hear and understand the law. It was read from a platform of wood made for just this purpose. As it was opened and read, all the people stood. And listened. And learned.

So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading. (Nehemiah 8:8 NKJV)

And they found written in the Law… (Nehemiah 8:14 NKJV)

They were relearning the basics of their law. And they responded the way a people would respond to something they only vaguely remembered. How did they respond?

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.  (Nehemiah 8:9 NKJV)

When you can weep when you hear the words of God, then you are on your way to returning to the basics! That’s the first and best place to start!