Less Than Is Perfect

The past couple of months I have been reading (and listening) to some pretty amazing books. I'm in a transition phase of my life. I have been struggling the last year trying to balance my family, ministry work and serving God. 

 

It's been a fight. Mostly because I don't know when to give in or maybe when I'm supposed to give in. I love ministry. The positive is that I love helping people. The negative is that it's one of my drugs because I get to hear those positive affirmations and words of appreciation from people when there is a job well done. I love my husband and my son to the moon and back, but the praise department does not live in our house. I need that! I crave the praise and appreciation of the people around me. It's how I know I'm a good person right? 

So here is my lesson. I don't need praise to know I'm a good person. I don't need to be in charge of or participating directly in a ministry to know that I have earned God's love. I don't have to be doing everything that everyone thinks I should be doing to be a good wife and mother. I don't.

People love me for who I am. My real friends know that I am an amazing person. Do I have faults and failures? Yes, but isn't that part of what makes me fun to be around? I'm normal. That's right! Faults and failures are normal. God did not make us perfect. 

Am I lonely? Absolutely! My main conversations are with an 18 month old. Once you take a step back from being busy all of the time your phone stops buzzing, your inbox decreases, people who once were always talking to you no longer have anything to say to you. It isn't just lonely, it kind of hurts. This is not something that I have completely worked through, but it is definitely something that I have learned from. I used to reach out to people that were standing at the back wall, hoping to be noticed, but afraid to walk in to the middle of the room. Then I became too busy to interact with them. It's a reminder that there are people who need to be recognized and remembered. I don't need to sit and see if someone will call me, text me, email me. I can reach out to them just to say "hello, I was thinking about you today". My value to people is not dependent on what role I play in the church.

I don't have to earn God's love. That isn't how He works. He is a God full of grace, mercy and love. I have been in this rat race of trying to prove how much I love Him, that I deserve His grace, that I have earned my right to be by His side. I've been treating God like He is a person. He isn't. My value to Him isn't dependent on my usefulness to Him. 

Finally, I don't have to be a perfect wife, mother or friend. I make mistakes all the time, I am not the best housekeeper, I have a desire to have things and because of it we have a house full of clutter right now. I should exercise and eat better, but have a constant battle with the effort it takes to do it. I need to complain less about my husband and be more patient with my son. These are just some of the things that I have been very hard on myself in the past because these are things that make me less than perfect. I'm frustrated with myself just thinking about it. 

The author's of these two books consistently reminded me that I don't have to be perfect. I don't have to meet the demands of what everyone thinks I should be doing and most importantly that I don't have to earn God's love. These are basic thoughts, I know that I'm not the only one that struggles with this. I know it because both authors are very transparent about their struggles in their books and they wouldn't have written books if they didn't know that others struggle with the same feelings.

Present Over Perfect and Grace Not Perfections have helped me tremendously. I resigned from the ministries that I was involved in in my church. That's right, I said ministries with an s at the end. I have been taking time to reprioritize my family over ministry. It has been difficult, because I yearn for people to recognize me when they walk by me. I want to be valued. However, it has also been amazing. I'm not so tired anymore. I have energy and time to do things with my son like go to the library, park and someday when spring finally makes it to Wisconsin the zoo. I have more time to clean. Of course, it isn't my favorite thing to do, but I don't have a bazillion excuses to put it off. Plus, my son loves cleaning and helping, so that makes it a little more fun. Lastly, I have time for my husband. I have time to listen to him. He loves coming home to a clean(er) house. Though he doesn't say it every time he walks in the door I know that he appreciates it. He in turn has made more of an effort to spend more quality time with myself and our son. 

So though, I do not have the big crowd singing my praises, I have the praises of my son and husband. I have time to focus on something specific and be intentional. I love the word intentional. To me it means I'm doing it on purpose. Most importantly I have brought some semblance of balance back to my life and that my friends is the big picture lesson. We can love God, serve Him and have a fulfilled life with balance in our life.

I highly recommend these books. I actually listened to Present Over Perfect on Audible while I did housework. Either way, you will not be disappointed in what you read or hear.

                                                 

Mustard Seed Faith

When you think about it, it's so easy to say that I have faith for something. Lately, the Lord has been dealing with me about this. Am I just saying I have faith? Or do I really have faith? Do I have faith that will move mountains.
I was reading through some Scriptures on faith and I came across the Scriptures when Jesus talked about mustard seed faith. The conversation came about because a man had come to Jesus and asked him to heal his son. The man said that his son would "have seizures" and "fall into fires and water". The man said to Jesus "I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him". Jesus seems a little irritated when he turns to to address the crowd, but then he calls for the boy, rebukes the demon and the boy was healed.
Afterward, the disciples come to Jesus and ask Him "why?". Why you and not us? Jesus very simply tells them that they do not have enough faith. It sounds as if the disciples were saying that they had faith, but didn't actually have the faith to back up their words.

At the beginning of this year, my pastor asked me to come up to the front of the church and speak faith over some things that were going to happen in my life. I spoke those words. I called out a committed life to God for my husband, restoration to God for my family and babies for my husband and myself. Those are some pretty tall orders. I spoke those in faith!
Now, it's three or four weeks later. It's hard to hold on to those words. We look for an immediate answer. When it doesn't comes, we start to justify our words, God's untimely answer, etc. Where is my faith? Why is it so easy to say it, but not believe it?
Jesus when speaking to His disciples told them that if they had faith of even a mustard seed, you could say to a mountain to "move" and it would move! WHOA! Now that is a faith that is believed. Jesus even follows up with something that should resound in our heads over and over again. "Nothing would be impossible".
If I have mustard seed faith for those things that I spoke of than I realize that nothing is impossible! Nothing! The things I listed in my moment of passion can be fulfilled because I said them with a sincere heart. All I have to do is believe.
So what is the difference between just saying it and believing it? I believe it comes from a true fear of the Lord. Not just an "I love you" moment, but an everyday, every breath, every step commitment with Him. It comes from a true bond that has been formed with the One True God! When we have a true relationship with Him, we can easily rest in the fact that whatever we ask in His name will be done.
So what is it that you've called out in faith to God? Have you grown weary from waiting to see it happen? Or did you not believe it in the first place?
Join me today, as we take the step of growing a deeper relationship with Him. Let's grow a love so deep for Him that we are nothing but secure when speaking out in faith.


Here is my favorite Bible to use while studying.