It all started with a duck...

Well, not exactly, let me back up a bit.

It all started back in December but I've already explained that in a previous post, so let's move forward just a smidge. I don't know if you could tell or not, from some of my posts since then, but I've been a little, well, blah. I've been a little complainy (yes, I know, not a word), negative perhaps, or "going through a rough patch", whatever you want to call it.

I'm a Christian but I don't pretend to be perfect...So I'm gonna get real with you...

Just because I love God, doesn't mean that I don't ever get overwhelmed.
Just because I'm serious about being a follower of Jesus Christ, doesn't mean that I'm better than everyone else.

It is true that, as a committed Christian, I am called not to worry, not to complain, to find joy in the Lord and to keep God's commandments.

But I am human.

Bottom line- I'm. A. Sinner.

And that's why I accept the gift of God's grace through Jesus' death on the cross. If I didn't struggle there would be no reason for me to need Jesus.
And I SO need Jesus.
I do sometimes get wrapped up in the sorrows of this world. I do complain and grumble, even though He's blessed me with all I need and MORE. I'm human and every day I do my best to live a life that would be pleasing to Him, but I fall short-DAILY.

How can someone who is so incredibly blessed end up with the blahs?
How can the little frustrations of everyday life turn into something so overwhelming that a person gets stuck in a state of complaining and grumbling?
How is it that when things in life are good, and honestly, couldn't get much better, I can lose sight of my joy?
Simple...Because I take my eyes off of the Cross.

The enemy has a way of playing on our weaknesses (in my case--insecurity). It's something I thought I had beat. When I gave my life to Christ, He changed my perspective about myself. I was truly a "new creation". And for the most part that is still true, but just because I commit to living in the "joy of the Lord" doesn't mean that Satan doesn't still try to mess with me. As a matter of fact, I've learned that it's when I'm doing my best, to live the life God calls me to, that he tries to mess with me the most.

Seems to me Satan is like a prank caller...
Just when I think I've figured out a way to have an unlisted number--the enemy dials my insecurity direct, like a prank caller pulling tricks on me...messing with my mind. Telling me that I'm not a good mom. That I'm too needy as a friend. That what I am isn't enough for my husband. That the stuff that everybody else has is better.
I'm tricked again and again and again and just when I think, "Surely, he's given up. He'll leave me alone now."
He tries one more time.

And. I. Fall. For. It.

But I pray. And pray. And pray. And wait.
And sure enough, God is faithful. He speaks Truth into my life, sometimes in the most unexpected ways and at the most unexpected times.

Thank you, God, for grace.

Find out how God's "speaking" to me in my next post...(to be continued)

1 Cor. 10:13--No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out, so that you can stand up under it.