1) His promises are in place, and there is no law against the fruit of the spirit. In that is where His will is fulfilled. Anything else needs to be nipped in the bud and done away with. When fears creep in, that is actually a wedge between myself and God, blocking my view of His perfect peace. Pride erases my need for Him, until I fall and can't get up. So on, so forth. But in Him, dreams flourish and joy runs over. Even in scary times, because my hope is in God alone. Otherwise, why would I even pretend to be a person of faith? If this is truth, it is. Selah.
2) My past failures will not define my future. I am a new creature, God's mercies are new every morning. Therefore, clutter can be defeated, order will be restored. My favorite stories come from strengths that come from fears. One example of mine is a very distinct thought of my past. "I could never teach. I would not know how to explain anything because I cannot think like other people." Ironically, this is one thing I can say with confidence that I am good at. My brain is jumping around, looking for a multi-angled approach to teach one simple thing, because if I can break it down and explain it in a simplistic yet relative approach, one step at a time, there is no telling where this lesson will take us. That just makes my heart beat a little faster. I love my job, and no one could have guessed that I was to be called as a teacher.
3) There is never one way to do a thing. God can take 100 different people, with 200 different talents, and make them all a success in their own way. While some people are inspirations to me, they should not be a measuring stick to grade my performance. This is what is called art, and that is why I call it the "art of homemaking". Everyone will do it a little different, and that is a beautiful thing.
From Nate Saint: On a Wing and a Prayer by Janet and Geoff Benge-
As strict as his parents may have seemed, in other ways they weren't strict at all. A lot of things that bothered most mothers didn't worry Mrs. Saint one bit. Meals at the house were served at all hours of the day and night, whenever enough of the children gathered to make it worth setting the table.....nor did they care if the children didn't keep their rooms tidy or had holes in their pants, or if they were late for school.....
Since Mr. Saint was rather forgetful, Nate's mother took care of most of the practical matters around the house. She was organized but, to most people, in a different way.
Because her father, Josiah K. Proctor, was an inventor, Mrs. Saint thought it was important to let the children experiment....Despite being raised in a wealthy home, Mrs. Saint knew that having ideas and trying new things were more important than having lots of money. It was something she never forgot when she had her own children.
Indeed, more often than not, Mrs Saint helped the children carry out their wild schemes. When the children came to her with an idea, instead of saying no, she would say why not?
Behind the studio where his father did his glass work was the Saint family's private, double-track roller coaster. The huge wooden structure had curves to swoop around and drops to plunge down. Mr. Saint had built it in his spare time with the boys. A few stray nails had gone through the roof of the house and caused leaks, but no one worried too much about that. Nate's parents thought it was more important for the children to have fun and to learn something than to keep everything in perfect condition.
Mom called me after reading this and told me that Mrs. Saint reminded her of me. That made me smile, since Nate and Rachael Saint were a few of the people responsible for influencing the savage ways of the Aucas in Ecuador. Mrs. Saint did good. 4) It may seem like you are not moving forward, neither will you ever again move forward, but only God knows the end of a matter. Expect that it will get better every day, and even if it does not, expect it again the next. My Bible study today told the story of Jim Cymbala, who unexpectedly became the pastor of a tiny church called the Brooklyn Tabernacle. It shrunk even more (less than 20) when he took the job, and nothing he did seemed to make a difference- until the day it changed. And it did indeed change.
In a nutshell; all excuses aside.
Lesson #2 The victory is already won. In order to experience it, just don't let anything convince you otherwise.
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