Cross The Finish Line

I recently walked into Books A Million to do some work and have a coffee; one of my favorite things to do that I don't get to enjoy much these days, so when I have the chance I relish in it. Well this time I happened to walk by an end cap to a book shelf and saw this book jump out at me. I often find some of my favorite books this way. This book is called "Love Out Loud: 365 Devotions for Loving God, Loving Yourself, and Loving Others" by Joyce Meyer. I picked it up right away and read the back. As I read the Bible verse I thought "I have to get this book". This is what it said "Jesus said, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your sould and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourelf. (Lucke 10:27)". It continues to go on and say "Many Christians get mixed up about what love really is. they know they shold love God and others, but don't understand that loving yourslf is one-third of God's equation. Instead, they mistakenly think of it as being selfish or egotistical. I often feel guilty when I take time for myself, even though my life is so filled with chaos most of the time. As a mother I feel that I often need to be doing for others, and feel I'm being selfish if I'm taking a few moments for myself. However, even got states in the Bible that we need to love and care for ourselves, then we are able to give more to others. 

Since I purchased this little book I've been taking time just about every day to read a page. Each page focuses on a daily task that you should focus on in the act of loving others and yourself. To focus on what God wants for his children. 

Today's devotion focused on the task of following through with your goals or plan that you start. To not give up in the difficult times, but to persevere through it. The bible verse states "But we do (strongly and earnestly) desire for each of you to show the same diligence and sincerity(all the way through) in realizing and enjoying full assurance and development of (your) hope until the end. -Hebrews 6:11

This hit home to me today, because I recently finished up my Master's Program after 4 years of long, hard, tiring work. I often felt like I wanted to give up. I often felt as though I wasn't going to make it through it. I had nights of exhaustion, frustration, and tears. As a Mother working full time this was a very difficult task to take on. However, it was a dream I knew that if I didn't accomplish I would regret it. I'd have been settling in my life, and that is something God does not want for any of us. He has big plans for us in our lifetime and wants us to do that work for him. I've always felt that being a teacher and working with children with Special Needs is my calling, and I was feeling incomplete not having achieved that yet. So I gave it everything I had. I often prayed to God to get me through those days when I wanted to just curl up and give up, however I persevered with his guidance.

During this time I was also working at getting my youngest son help with his struggles. Going to doctors appointments, IEP meetings, consultations and making phone calls. I often wondered how would I get through it all. But as I was reading this little page this morning and crossed this verse "Beginning something is easy, but finishing takes courage." It hit home...in the beginning of a new adventure there's excitement, our heart races, and we just want to conquer it right away, but nothing worth having is that easy. Those big accomplishments in life take hard work, sweat, tears, and grit. When the excitement wears off it's the real work and challenge comes. In God's mind we aren't successful if we abandon what He's called us to do. He wants us to finish and do it with JOY! You might lose interest in your journey as the excitment wears off, weather it's a new job, your education, or even your marriage and your children. There are many people that don't want to put the work in, that walk away and give up when the work gets hard. However those that achieve great success in these things are the ones that stick it through those difficult times and come out on the other side with the greatest rewards. 

Success doesn't always come in wealth and material things. Success comes in all colors. Success is what gives you Joy in life and the feet of accomplishing your goals however small or big they might be. As you go through today keep in mind these words from Joyce Meyer "God doesn't promise that finishing everything we start will be easy. In fact, most of the time things don't go smoothly because we need to learn the lessons that come from resolving problems. But we cannot let ourselves quit; we must rely on God's grace and keep moving toward the finish line until we cross it in victory. 

Today go with a grateful heart and think of what tasks you haven't finished and resolve to work hard to accomplish those today, not matter how big or small they may be xoxo 

Much Love