Be Still & Know

Hello everyone!

I am pretty excited to fill you all in on how my January goals went! I have to say, it was not what I expected… and as much as I want to say I really made leaps and bounds, I can only be truthful and say that I did not meet my goals. With that being said, wow. God came through and it just shows that it is not about the struggle, but what we learn from the struggle.

Backtracking – in December I hit rock bottom. I had completely fallen off with my quiet time; I was making big decisions on the whim, and I was more focused on myself than how it would affect the people around me. On another note, I am gluten and dairy intolerant (Glairy intolerant) and was torturing my body consistently because I did not have the self-control to stop eating the foods I enjoyed even though it was hurting me. So all of this is to say I did not want 2017 to be the same as 2016. I wanted to get back on track with seeking the Lord and actually laying aside time to spend with Him. I also wanted to stop hurting my body, and really realize that my body is not my own but the Lord’s. For the month of January my goals were as follows: No secular music, quiet time every day, and no Glairy.

Now let’s talk about how it went. January 1st – January 13th I felt on FIRE. I really stuck to my guns with all my goals and I felt renewed and focused. However, By January 14th I crumbled. I ate gluten, instead of having my quiet time I watched episode after episode on Netflix, and went to bed feeling like my whole world had fallen apart (I am pretty dramatic sometimes). I was bummed that I had only made it 14 days, not even half way through the month. It took me a couple days to get back on track. As much as I wish I could say that that is the moral of the story, I cannot. After a good couple days, I failed again, and then I would go a couple more days and fall flat on my face again.

So, what is the moral of this story?

Be Still and Know.

As much as I honestly feel like this month was a roller coaster testing my sanity and self-control, I learned that things that come easy do not last. You have to fight! I knew what I wanted, I wanted a stronger relationship with my Lord and Savior, I wanted to respect my body and feed it the right things, and I wanted to have a clearer direction for this year. But what I did not realize when I first started this month and these plans, I was still taking action all by myself. Please do not get me wrong, I learned so much this month and did get direction on this year, however I was still trying to have some control – and I kept failing. The finally at the end of the month it hit and I heard so clearly “Be still and know that I am your Lord and God. Start fighting for me, I have always been fighting for you.” I had forgotten how to fight. I had gotten so use to living in survival mode, almost expecting to fail no matter how hard I tried. Consistently on the move, mind running circles. But I was focusing on the wrong thing – we are human! We do fail, but it is all about the fight it takes for us to get to where we are today. It is ALL about our fight for Him. We cannot expect a beautiful, whole, joyful relationship with Him without fighting for it. Think about the things in life you have fought for: weight-loss, relationships, maybe even your ACTUAL life, just to name a few things. I have fought many times in this life, but I had begun relying too much on my own strength and that is why I was not able to make it for more than a couple days at a time. It is so important that we take a moment to be still, and then fight for our Lord and Savior with all that we got.

So let me reiterate, this was an amazing month. I learned so much about myself, my Lord, and my health. I learned that failing is always going to happen, but it is about getting back up and fighting harder, and I learned to be still and know that my Lord is GOD and He is forever in control.

I encourage you to learn to be still, learn to fight to thrive and not just survive, but most importantly we need to learn to fight for our King - fight to have a full relationship with Him, pursue Him with all that is in us. We are warrior women! We were born for this.