Life is Hard!

It seems everyone is having a hard time lately. I check facebook and the status updates are filled with prayer requests, sickness, or people venting about their bad days. And it literally breaks my heart for everyone suffering, in any kind of way. I want to help. I want to write something to ease their heartache or lift their spirits, but I’m blank.

Every morning, I go through the same routine. I get ready, take the kids to school, come home and sit down to write, while the house is quiet and I’m refreshed. But, the words won’t flow. I can’t even seem to pull them out. However, I’m determined, so I keep trying. I type ten words and then delete them all, and the process continues all day. I’m frustrated and starting to panic a little. What good is a blog, if I can’t write any more posts?

And then I consider the possibility that perhaps I have writer’s block!

So what now? How do I overcome it?

The answer is really quite simple. I’ll conquer this the same way I overcome all of the obstacles in my life—with prayer. I’ll ask God to help me and trust that He will. I’ll put my problems in His hands and leave them there. I know when the time is right God will give me exactly what I need. Sometimes I try to get ahead of the Lord. I want to do things and expect things to happen, but it’s not time for it yet. In myself, I can’t do anything to help anyone, but God knows exactly what everyone needs. It’s not necessarily the words that comfort us anyway, but the power behind them.

Writing is hard! Regardless of the words I’ve written, each new story starts out with a blank sheet of paper. Just like each day starts out new. Regardless of what happened to us yesterday, today is a new day. And if we decide to be happy, then we will be. If we wake up and think today will be horrible day, then I can just about guarantee you it will be. Just like with my writing. If I believe I can’t write, then that’s probably true. But if I believe, God and I can do this, it will happen.

I will tell you something that has helped me tremendously. One day I just realized and accepted, LIFE IS HARD! And it will always be that way. We will always have some kind of heartaches and pain, disappointments and fears. Whenever we get through this obstacle, there will be another one waiting. However, we will never face any problem alone—God is always with us. And there is a reason for everything that happens to us.

God is molding us each into the person He wants us to be. The problems in our lives are just as important as the good times. Without the heartaches we couldn’t appreciate the blessings. We are all stronger than we realize. Why? In our weakness, God is made strong. We have a big God who can handle these things we can’t handle. He wants us to trust Him.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, just stop and think. Is this too big for my God to handle? Does God love me? Knowing God loves me and that He can handle whatever happens in my life, helps me make it through each problem, each day.

P.S. In less than an hour God helped me to do, what I’ve been trying all week to do in myself.

Have a great day!

Paid in Blessings

For the first time in a long while, I don’t punch a time clock nor receive a paycheck. It’s an odd feeling to depend on someone else to take care of me, especially since I’ve always been so determined to be independent. It’s hard to see our own self-worth sometimes, and if we’re not careful, we will fall into the error of self-pity. That’s where I’ve been for a while now.

It bothers me that I can’t contribute to our family income. It bothers me that my husband has to work so hard, while I stay home. It bothers me that I’m not able to work a regular job, any longer. But focusing on the heartaches of my life won’t change them. All it will do is bring me down and have me wallowing in self-pity, which I hate.

However, if I focus on the blessings in my life, the heartaches seem so small. I remember a time when I begged God, every single day, to allow me to be a stay-at-home mom. Now that He has, I complain. I remember thinking, if I didn’t have a job I could write more. Now that I have more time, I just come up with more excuses. I have been focusing on all the things I can’t do, instead of being grateful for all that I can do.

I realize we are all human and these are all natural feelings and reactions, but I want to change. No more whining! I want to be thankful and recognize God’s blessings upon me. If I’m always complaining and whining, how can I give God any glory in my life? I want to praise my Lord!

So from this day forward, I will no longer presume—I’m not working right now or I’m not able to work. Instead, I will believe God has blessed me to be able to stay at home and take care of my kids. And while they are at school every day, I will write the words God lays on my heart and continue pursuing my dreams. I know God has something special planned for me and it will happen in His time. While I may not get the standard paycheck, my needs are always taken care of and God pays me in blessings. He’s a wonderful paymaster!

There’s nothing like the little smile that brightens my child’s face when I enter their classroom and play for a little while. Nothing compares to taking a few minutes to talk to someone having a bad day or spending a few minutes with my head bowed in prayer. I love it when the Spirit moves over me and the words form, and God gives me beautiful thoughts. I love it when God uses me to help someone else.

When I look at it like that I realize I have the best job in the world. I love working with God! And there are just some things money simply cannot touch—they’re priceless.

Have a wonderful day!!

Candida

Welcome!

Franklin Roosevelt said it best when he said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” So often I allow fear to dictate my life—whether I want to or not. Sometimes I don’t even think I’m aware of the fear or the control it has over me. And with every fear I conquer, it seems there is a new one gained. I don’t believe it’s possible to be totally fearless, nor do I even want to be. I believe fear can be a good thing, if we don’t allow it to paralyze us.

I’ve thought about this blog for years, but I’ve always been too afraid to actually do it. I’m the queen of excuses and I found plenty of reasons not to do it. First of all, who would actually want to spend a few minutes of their day reading my thoughts? Second, what would I write about? What could I possibly say that hasn’t already been said many times before?  Thirdly, I have major publishing phobia. I’m terrified for people to read what I’ve written. So when you combine just those three reasons, I think that’s a pretty good excuse.

Don’t you?

Well, apparently God doesn’t agree because the desire to blog remains with me and surfaces often. Every once in a while I even write a blog entry and file it in a nice neat folder, never to be read. But isn’t that why I started writing in the first place, to help others? How can I do that if I refuse to share my writing?

It’s a hard thing to open our hearts and allow others inside, to make ourselves vulnerable enough to actually help someone else.  Sometimes we have to come to a place in our lives when nothing is familiar and step out in faith, believing God will be right there to guide us and catch us when we fall.

Sharing our life experiences, hopes and fears, might really impact another life. I believe God wants us to share them with others as a positive testimony. I believe with every gift or talent there is responsibility. And I believe God gave me the gift to write. Whether or not I listen to that still small voice is up to me.

I try to be obedient, whenever God gives me something to do, but it’s not always easy; its’ a fearful thing to do God’s work. However, I’ve learned the only way to please God is through obedience. So I’m stepping out in faith, trusting God to provide me with the words, the audience, and the strength to overcome my publishing phobia and to use me to help someone else.

I may fail, but it won’t be because I didn’t try.

So, what exactly will this blog contain?

I hope God will bless me to tell you about how much He blesses my life every single day. I hope He will bless me to tell you about my scars. I hope He will bless me to tell you about the day that changed my life forever. I hope He will bless me to share my writing journey with you—my accomplishments and failures. I hope He will use me to help you in some way.

If it only helps one person, then it will be worth my time and effort, tears and prayers. I hope you will sign up and follow my blog. The one person could be you!