What started out as just another Sunday turned out to be a pretty good day after all.
I decided not entirely on a whim that I wanted to go to church this morning. My fiancé and I had another religious discussion like we usually have. My fiancé is a devoted Christian and I am... wayward, at the best of times. I have been pretty much every major religion with the exception of Islam at least once. I was once a practicing Buddhist, but the closest temple where anyone speaks English is 30 minutes away and almost inaccessible in bad weather.
But I decided to go to my church by the college. I guess it was fairly unremarkable, like any other service I had been to there. The sermon was about 45 minutes long, the topic was continuing on a previous sermon I had listened to online last week. My minister is anything but boring and has a very unique sounding voice that is still recognizably audible among hundreds of people, so he always keeps my attention. He was talking about that what God tells you to do is not always the easy thing or the popular thing, but to not be fearful and do as God directs you. This is part of a 4-part sermon series on characters who exhibited some sort of fear in the Christmas story and our takeaway from that.
It was ironic because later on my dad, my uncle, and I went to the AB/InBev brewery in my hometown for a tour and free samples. My mom and my sister decided not to go because they were sleeping, and even if they were able to go they would struggled with the amount of walking involved on the tours. The grounds were maybe three-quarters of a mile long, not a very difficult walk, but still hard if you are carrying weight around, like my mom and especially my sister, who both weigh 40 lbs more that I do, and she is three inches shorter than me.
We went home, and I started working on some things for my business. I posted some new listings online, ordered a new set of business cards, and did some planning for an upcoming craft fair at which I would like to have a table. It is in March 2014 and I will prepare and have enough bracelets and jewelry ready for the March show or a show later on in the fall.
But I was starting to get a feeling of being overwhelmed. I was almost paralyzed with not a deep anxious fear but a rather intense tentativeness. Basically, I was scared to go back to where I was but scared to move forward. I took it as almost a sort of laziness, that I didn't want to do the work it required simply because I didn't have the strength to do it. And distinctly related to the example mentioned above.
I was broken of my tentativeness by someone who asked me a question about church. I have never been asked anything about church before. I prayed and sought God's direction about it, and also he revealed to me that I was not incapable of doing the work, I had just been doing it under my own volition too long, and not letting God do the heavy lifting. He couldn't bless something He wasn't a part of, He reminded me, and if I would just rest in Him and let Him guide me in what I did that I would not have to worry about becoming overwhelmed because I could lean on Him for strength.
It was weird because I never thought I was working too hard. I just thought that I wasn't doing well enough and I was being some weird sort of lazy. It was the total opposite of what I thought I was supposed to do. But I suppose God is like that. Oftentimes what I think I should do and what God really wants me to do are two vastly different things. It gave me some comfort over what may be a very long ride of owning a small business, working, and being a part-time student.
I hope you will also consider seeking God's direction in your life. Because trust me, you can only do it on your own before you collapse under your own expectations.
I hope you all have a good day. Be blessed and enjoy God's journey.
But I decided to go to my church by the college. I guess it was fairly unremarkable, like any other service I had been to there. The sermon was about 45 minutes long, the topic was continuing on a previous sermon I had listened to online last week. My minister is anything but boring and has a very unique sounding voice that is still recognizably audible among hundreds of people, so he always keeps my attention. He was talking about that what God tells you to do is not always the easy thing or the popular thing, but to not be fearful and do as God directs you. This is part of a 4-part sermon series on characters who exhibited some sort of fear in the Christmas story and our takeaway from that.
It was ironic because later on my dad, my uncle, and I went to the AB/InBev brewery in my hometown for a tour and free samples. My mom and my sister decided not to go because they were sleeping, and even if they were able to go they would struggled with the amount of walking involved on the tours. The grounds were maybe three-quarters of a mile long, not a very difficult walk, but still hard if you are carrying weight around, like my mom and especially my sister, who both weigh 40 lbs more that I do, and she is three inches shorter than me.
We went home, and I started working on some things for my business. I posted some new listings online, ordered a new set of business cards, and did some planning for an upcoming craft fair at which I would like to have a table. It is in March 2014 and I will prepare and have enough bracelets and jewelry ready for the March show or a show later on in the fall.
But I was starting to get a feeling of being overwhelmed. I was almost paralyzed with not a deep anxious fear but a rather intense tentativeness. Basically, I was scared to go back to where I was but scared to move forward. I took it as almost a sort of laziness, that I didn't want to do the work it required simply because I didn't have the strength to do it. And distinctly related to the example mentioned above.
I was broken of my tentativeness by someone who asked me a question about church. I have never been asked anything about church before. I prayed and sought God's direction about it, and also he revealed to me that I was not incapable of doing the work, I had just been doing it under my own volition too long, and not letting God do the heavy lifting. He couldn't bless something He wasn't a part of, He reminded me, and if I would just rest in Him and let Him guide me in what I did that I would not have to worry about becoming overwhelmed because I could lean on Him for strength.
It was weird because I never thought I was working too hard. I just thought that I wasn't doing well enough and I was being some weird sort of lazy. It was the total opposite of what I thought I was supposed to do. But I suppose God is like that. Oftentimes what I think I should do and what God really wants me to do are two vastly different things. It gave me some comfort over what may be a very long ride of owning a small business, working, and being a part-time student.
I hope you will also consider seeking God's direction in your life. Because trust me, you can only do it on your own before you collapse under your own expectations.
I hope you all have a good day. Be blessed and enjoy God's journey.