What's Tripping You Up?

I love the book of Isaiah. It reminds me of how much grace God has for us.

"Yes, this anguish was good for me, for you have rescued me from death and forgiven all of my sins." Isaiah 38:17

Today has been one of those days where I started out beating myself up as soon as I woke up. It was well in to this afternoon before I realized where my thoughts had been and what it was doing to the way I thought about myself. I spent the morning in sort of a panic mode....reacting to the fears of not having a job or money to pay my bills...blaming myself based on my past decisions. It is so easy to slip back in to that habit of feeling not good enough. I also have been adjusting to the fact that my body is changing and I am gaining weight. I am suppose to gain weight...Actually right now I am at a healthy weight. So...except for where my thoughts go sometimes, my "eating disorder" body is not underweight anymore. This is where God wants me to be. I am still catching up with His great idea of my healthy body weight! This is where God wants me to be. He wants me to be comfortable in the body he gave me. He wants me to be comfortable with the gifts and talents that he gave me. He wants me to be confident that my worth comes from Him and not from the way my outsides look. He wants me to share my struggles and my successes and my victory.

That is why I love this verse today. All of us have been in anguish in one way or another. Maybe it was trauma, a circumstance, losing a job, losing a loved one, being hurt emotionally, physical pain or illness for example. In the book of Isaiah, King Hezekiah wrote this verse in part of a poem. He had just been told that he was going to die and he immediately turned to God and God spared his life. He was desperate. It was through his anguish that he was able to turn to God and be forgiven. Sometimes we look at anguish or our past or events as set backs, but maybe we need to look at them as "good for me". God doesn't want us to be in these circumstances or only turn to him during these times. But if we find ourselves there, then we can look at it with praise and hope knowing that God wants to save us. He wants to use the hard times to bring us closer to Him if we are willing.

I had a choice to make as I began to face my past. I could stay a victim and live in the anguish. Or I could chose to allow God to set me free, stay free, and use my past to show others that we do not need to be held captive. We all have a choice to make every day. That doesn't mean our situations aren't real or hurt or cause turmoil. It means we choose to not allow them to become our value or identity.

We can wake up and spend our day in anguish. Or we can choose to see how God wants us to grow deeper in to our faith and trust in Him. We can ask what is the lesson from this? We can rejoice that we are going to grow closer to Him. When we are in the midst of something, sometimes it is hard to hear that "through this you will grow closer to Him". But the reality is you will. The situation may stink, but God has not left your presence.

Isaiah 40:3-4
"Listen! It's the voice of someone shouting, 'clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!' Fill the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves and smooth out the rough places."

Today I have had to take a close look at the path I was walking in and "clear the way"! I had placed obstacles there that were tripping me up.

Are you facing anguish, trials, or obstacles that are weighing you down? Let me know what they are, if you need prayer, or how you are working through them. Trust God to rescue you and to "smooth the rough places".

Have a great day.
Love, Teresa