Success Yourself

 

The Holy Spirit...bears us up in our weakness.  Romans 8:26

Our youngest son is a freshman in high school and sometimes goes to great lengths to 'fit in' with some of his upper classman friends; especially some of  teammates on the lacrosse team.  As adults, it’s not too much different for us either.  Think of how many people project false images of themselves through social media each and every day.

The truth of the matter is that I am tired of playing games and trying to be someone that I am not. There is a lot of freedom in just being accepted as we are without being facing the pressures of being someone we simply are not.

God wants us to accept ourselves for who we are, and wants us to actually like who we are, despite our weaknesses. Everyone has weaknesses, but we must realize that God will never reject us because of them.

We must also be careful of placing too much value on our weaknesses because we will then underestimate our value. Our worth is not based on anything good or bad that we have ever done/are doing/will do, but on what God has already done.

We were purchased at a high price and yes we have all disappointed God, but God will never abandon us because He loves us just the way we are. So tell Satan to 'stuff it' the next time he tries to convince you that you don't measure up to someone else’s standards!

Under Control

 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-which is your spiritual worship.  Romans 12:1

Both of our sons used to be into a variety of different things when they were younger; Pokémon, Nintendo, Marvel and DC superheroes, and anything sports related (i.e. football and basketball).  Transformers were (and in my book still are) 'all the rage' in the Fisher household and can be somewhat complex for younger children to transform.  While the Transformers are totally awesome, the ones they make nowadays are sometimes even difficult for an old veteran like me to actually transform from a vehicle or aircraft mode to a robot and back... 

Just the other day, I was reminiscing about helping our youngest son transform his vast collection of robots (when he was in elementary school) and how he became so impatient with me being so delicate as not to break.  I remember vividly telling him to be careful as he was forcing the plastic toy to where it would eventually break if he was not more careful.  After repeated attempts, he managed to break the arm off of one of the Autobots (the good Transformers) and was very disappointed.  I was eventually able to repair his broken toy and was also provided with the wonderful opportunity of teaching our son a valuable lesson.  In fact, I learned a little lesson from this incident as well…

You see, if you are like me, you have no problem giving God control over the ‘big’ or ‘important’ areas of your life.  I struggle, at times, to give God control over the small and day-to-day things.  I can face a number of situations and foolishly try and convince myself, “ You've got this, Will” or ”I can handle this on my own, God” and end up royally screwing everything up along the way.  Just like our son did with his broken toy, I will proceed to turn things over to God so that He can fix or repair the same things I thought I had under control. 

We must ask God to take control of our lives each and every day. One we have admitted our powerlessness and inability to manage our lives, we must come to a place in our faith where we decide to turn our will and lives over to God’s loving care.

Acknowledge the need for God’s guidance in our lives.  When He becomes our new manager, we must also choose to accept life on His terms as well.  God offers us a way to live that is free from our past, allowing us to enjoy new and wonderful experiences in accordance to His good and perfect will for our lives.  Thanks be to God!