Today I have been thinking about small victories. Â Those times in life when something is a step forward to me, but may not seem like a big deal for anyone else. Â Sometimes it may become overwhelming to think about how far you have to go to overcome a certain situation or to achieve your goals, etc. Â Sometimes looking down that road may seem never ending…
Image via Flickr
But oh how much more encouraging to my soul it is to look at how far I’ve come. Â How far I’ve come from who I used to be, where I used to stand, how down I used to feel. Â Everything is truly in Gods hands and I must have faith in THAT.
For my family and close friends, seeing me with my oversized purse is nothing out of the ordinary these days. Â I have mentioned here and here before that I have been ill and it has been quite a journey for me. Â Before becoming ill, I traveled light with a cute little purse or clutch in hand, with nothing but my keys, lip gloss, wallet, and cell phone. Â Now, whenever I go to the doctors or just around the corner to the grocery store, I come equipped with my own sort of “medi-pack”. Â My bag is stuffed full of all the things I need to make it through an hour or 2 out of the house, including things I’d need should I have an bad moment.
Now I know some of you could be saying well what’s the big deal? Â Well, I am someone who was constantly on the go, traveling light, and very spontaneous. Â Having my “medi-pack” is not only heavy lol, but it makes it front and center that at any time something could happen. Â We all know that part of life is dealing with the unexpected, but when we’re going through life day to day, floating on cloud nine, Â healthy or without any huge circumstance, it’s a little easier to forget that something may happen at any moment. Â It’s a little easier to feel as though you have more control over what’s going on. Â But when sickness or troubles come, you realize how much you never really were in control to begin with.
So for this stage of my journey, I carry my “medi-pack”, style it up (because you know I love a cute bag), and have faith that one day soon, I will be able to travel light once again. Â And when I am able to do so, I have this fabulous clutch to strut.
I call it my victory clutch 
. Â I know it may seem like just a really nice handbag, but for me it signifies so much more.
Tomorrow is not promised and today is in Gods hands.  Let’s celebrate today’s small victories! ♥
What about you guys? Do you have anything special that you do to encourage yourself (or others) or to recognize your own small victories?
Image via Flickr
Glamour just posted an interesting article over on their Daily Fitness Blog. Â The article discusses the stigma (and sometimes criticism) placed on women who are naturally thin. Â Whether a person is thin, more curvy, or overweight due to genetics, stress or health issues, body image issues are a huge part (and problem) of our society (and the images we see and words we read day to day don’t help!). Â Oftentimes, these body issues can lead to physical and mental health problems. Â There may have been times when we have said something someone and not even realized how our words affected the other person. Â We may not know what another person is dealing with in their own life, but one thing is for sure, a kind word never hurts. Â Maybe we can be the ones to use our words to help to build our sisters up . Â Check out the article here.
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24
I have often heard others referring to someone “swimming against the current” with their actions. In this, they are referring to actions which go against the flow of their lives, or the direction in which they should be going. These actions often exhaust a person or cause a person feel like they are doing everything they can, but gettin’ nowhere.
Today I was doing some reading (Joyce Meyer-Battlefield of the Mind) and had my own “ah-ha” moment. After getting sick in December and then getting diagnosed in February, I of course began doing research on what could help me be in better health, what foods would be easy for me to eat and digest, and what food would speed healing. While all of these things are great, the latter of the three is where I had my “ah-ha”. Not only was I looking for food that would speed healing, but in my mind I was depending more on the food and what I could do for myself then I was depending on God for my healing. I had been sick for such a long time that I started to feel like there has to be something I’m not doing right. There has to be something that I can do to help this along. I’ve prayed and prayed, so now maybe God wants me to do something else! I was completely OVER being sick and not being able to be out and about like I normally am. I was stressed out every day because I felt guilty for not being able to work and was fearful of what was going to happen if I lost my job. I was all over the place, but never really settled in to the fact that maybe I was supposed to just be still and know that through faith and perseverance and when the time was right, I would be healed.
I am still healing and living through my illness, but today I realize that sometimes God has to slow us down to talk to us, teach us, develop us, and get us to a better place in our lives. I may not understand everything right now, but what I now realize is that with all of my hard work in trying to heal myself, I was doing my own “swimming against the current”. Sometimes God stretches things out and makes them so that we will know without a shadow of a doubt that it is He alone who has delivered us and that it wasn’t through anything we could do on our own.
When everything is going well I have felt in control of things and like I have had a handle on them. During this time I have felt fearful of what is and could be and out of control. But I was never in control to begin with, right!? Through this journey I am learning to expand my trust and really give it all over to God.
This whole journey is a learning experience, and God is still working on all of these things with me today. But what I do know, is that through all of this God has taken care of all my needs and on the other side there are great rewards and blessings.
Images via flickr – Yvette Inufio
