I am thankful for this opportunity to again connect with you, and I can tell you that my time off was definitely embraced. I was renewed, refreshed, and reenergized. I do apologize for the extra two weeks that was taken off, due to my daughter, who is my blog editor. She also took this guideline to heart and took some time off as well.
When the Lord originally put this verb embrace on my heart, in terms of how to approach change, I found it very challenging at that time, and
I still do now. When I am facing any kind of change,
whether it is welcomed or unwelcomed, I have to repetitively tell myself to embrace it, because that change
for me is usually a change from my anticipated routine. For me to embrace
change, it implies that I wrap my arms around it
and accept it. I embraced this past vacation
with opened arms, but to embrace all the packing
and the scheduling that it involved? That
was very hard for me to embrace, but I did it by
not getting myself all worked up and out of sorts. It has never helped me to do that so why do
it? How did I embrace
the change of breaking my ankle this past
summer? I did it one day at a time, (CHG #1 slow down), and it meant that I was
constantly praying and asking God to help me focus on the good that He would
bring out of my being physically broken (CHG #3). God’s goodness certainly did come my way. The broken ankle was instrumental in getting
me to sell my home. Consequently, the
clutter of house chores was lessened (my clutter category was situational and
the sign/symptom was house chores). I ended
up moving into a condo, and I love that there are no outdoor chores. And for the first time, I am writing this
blog from that new condo which is only 15 minutes away from my daughter, son in
law, and two precious grandchildren, who use to be 5 hours away! What blessings have come from a temporary
brokenness!
As we look at our individual circumstances, how do we find
ourselves truly embracing change, especially if the change is about a loss due to health, death, income, or a
relationship? And today, with it being the day after our presidential election,
it is a perfect example of how some are embracing the results and others are ranting and raving. Based on CHG # 5, God is telling us that our
personal clutter will lessen if we choose to embrace
whatever comes our way. And
guess what? As we apply any of the CHGs
to our personal lives it will have a ripple effect on our family, our
communities, and our nation.
The added dimension of embracing change has to do
with patience. I am forever struggling to be patient as I listen to the talk that can go on inside
of my head saying, “I wanted it to happen now,
yesterday, a week ago, a year ago, or 20 years ago! Once again, I have
to remind myself to slow down (CHG #1).
And when I do that, it causes me to slow down
my thinking and say this instead, “The timing is not in my hands. It is in
God’s.” This kind of thinking helps me
to let go of trying to make things happen that are not within my power or time
frame. I need to wait on God’s movement and His timing.
So, CHG # 5 tells me to Embrace
Change and Set Goals Patiently.
What does CHG # 5 imply as being the root cause of my clutter?
What does CHG # 5 imply as being the root cause of my clutter?
♥ My clutter builds up when I do
not embrace change.
♥ My clutter builds up when I do
not embrace change with patience.
♥ My clutter builds up when I do
not set goals.
♥ My clutter builds up when I do
not set goals with patience.
Therefore, when I embrace change and set goals
patiently, I lessen my clutter and this brings healing to me.
When I think about setting goals, they represent the end result that I
hope to see. Sometimes
I think of goals as boundaries that reflect what I need to hold on to and what
I need to let go of. Goals help us to embrace change and help us
in planning, projecting, and having direction.
And once again, we are being reminded to be patient even in setting them. This also means that we need to be patient with the actual outcome,
because there are times when the outcome differs from the goal that was set.
I encourage you to write down your
goals. Writing them down becomes a reinforcement to
reach them. Seeing your goals on paper is a reminder
to move in a forward direction, remembering that the timing and outcome is in
God’s hands.
The Scripture to support CHG
# 5 is from Jeremiah 29:11 “ ‘For I know the plans I have
for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans
for good and not for disaster, to give you a
future and a hope.’ ”
What does Jeremiah 29:11 imply as being the
root cause of my clutter?
♥ My clutter builds up when the
plans I have for myself are not God’s but mine
♥ My clutter builds up when the
plans I have made are not for my good and bring disaster
♥ My clutter builds up when I
perceive no future or hope
Therefore, when I let go of my
plans that can be disastrous, and embrace the
plans that God has for me that give me a future and hope, I lessen my clutter
and this brings healing to me.
Did you notice in this Scripture Who does know the plans for you? “I” does not stand for me or for you. God is the “I” who knows the plans, and it is never God’s plan for us to miss
out on His goodness or to experience disaster.
Disaster is what you and I create when we go our way. God’s way gives us a plan for the future and
for hope!
This
week’s SW is to ask the Holy Spirit to help you in determining what meaning the
words embrace and
change hold for
you in your life as you reflect on your own clutter category. And then, patiently consider the one goal or boundary that God wants you to set for yourself as you ask
for His plan regarding your clutter issue.
2 comments:
Hello there again sweet Momma, so thankful your back in the blogging world. Such a great post for me to read!
It's for all of us all of the time,Babe!
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