Hanging up the superhero cape.....

I have a feeling many people will be able to relate to today's post. Its a common issue facing homes today and that is the disappearance of the word "no" in our vocabularies. I have had major struggles with this lately and my husband does also which is why we constantly feel bombarded and overwhelmed as a society. Obviously there could be worse problems in the world but I wonder how many people run around everyday like a chicken with their heads cut off from activity to activity or task to task just because we can't say "no" when someone asks us to do the 50th thing on our list for this week. I think we struggle so much with this because we genuienly want to do as much as we can to be helpful and there is a huge sense of guilt when we do say no. So instead of feeling guilty by saying no we add another duty to our list regardless of how overwhelmed we feel.

I have had major issues with this lately because I can see God doing some amazing things and truely feel like He is opening doors in my life so the passion and excitment is amazing but then I have a difficult time saying "no" and being able to decipher when enough is enough and although my heart is in the right place I still have to remember I'm not superwoman and I can't do it all. For me I have had a few situations and health stuff the last few weeks thats really made me say "ok, you gotta slow down." I got so caught up in doing, doing, doing, that it took a "stop and chill" moment and not feeling well for me to realize I have to slow down. This is hard and for me I often forget that I still do have health stuff going on and I can't just pretend that everything is fine, I can't push aside not feeling well at times because i'm too busy. I have caught myself saying this a few times this week and saying that I really didnt have time to not feel well, I have too much going on. Its pretty eye opening to think about.. Really, I dont have time to stop and be sick?  I guess I didnt realize it was a choice and a matter of saying "ok body sorry I am busy come back later."

There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman right now thats called "Do Everything." Its a really great song and a reminder to me that God isnt calling us to literally "do everything," but to do what we can and as much as He has called us to do with everything in us. Its not the amount of things we choose to do each day but the attitude of our hearts and minds behind our actions.

"Everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you to do
Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace as you do
Everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you to do
Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace with every move that you make
And every little thing that you do"

I had a conversation with a friend this week and he was telling me that there is a difference between doing alot of "stuff" or focusing on a few things and doing them wholeheartedly and well, yes I was listening LOL :) I think this is what so many of us forget, we forget that although we try to be superhuman we can't do it all. Instead of running ourselves ragged and trying to do 50 things instead we need to pray and seek the Lord and the few things that He really wants from us and instead put our time and energy into those few things and do it well.This has been a difficult but important lesson for me this week, one I am still trying to figure out and will probably always struggle with. I just encourage you that whatever you have going on in your life right now try and decide which ones are really important and practice the word "no" on the rest. Allow the Lord to bless the few areas in your life that He really wants you to put time and energy into and the rest needs to be let go for now. Take off the superhero cape and stop trying to do it all :)