Know the Truth

I have always thought my life was going along pretty good, great family, good health, wonderful husband, caring friends. Perfect right? Well, perfect has a way of crumbling before your very eyes.

The first to fall from the Perfection Train was my health. I know getting older things change but this is ridiculous! Parts need replacing, other parts just quit working altogether. Ok, I can deal with this I will just strive harder in other areas of my life. Not truth!

Next to leave the Perfection Train were the caring friends. We have moved a number of times and trying to keep caring friends long distance is VERY difficult. They seem to dwindle and even though I try to hold on they slip through my fingers. That's alright I will make new friends and they will become the caring ones. Right? Not always truth.

Family derails on the Train. Thinking that once the kids are grown everything will be great. No not the truth. Realization hits that perhaps I wasn't that perfect mom after all. This is perhaps the car that will derail me. Not truth. [I do still have a wonderful husband.]

If I were to let this be the end of what I was sure was the PERFECT LIFE, I would go down in flames. I have a verse that I keep telling myself,

 

 Isaiah 41:13



       For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Knowing that God ALWAYS keeps his word, I hold on to the thought of him holding my hand and walking through the day with me. Each time I encounter the need for perfection and fall I remember that he is holding my hand and I have nothing to fear because the God that created me is right here. He is helping me to be exactly who he created me to be, not perfect, but His very own daughter. Now that is perfection! That is a truth to hold tightly to!

 

Freedom from Perfection

As I grow older and look back at my life I sigh and struggle with all the mistakes made, bad judgments , things left undone, things never said and now are to late, in a word not Perfect.

I could struggle with the weight of the failures. I could sit in a blue funk and never move. I could put on a happy face to try and fool those around. None of these are the path I have chosen.

Holley has asked how we have moved to the freedom of perfection, these are the ways I have chosen.

I have run to God and asked his forgiveness for all of what I see and don't like, in other words my sins. He is so merciful and reminds me that I am forgiven. Easter is such a wonderful reminder of God's great and steadfast love for me and for you.

He also reminds me that he knows me and he knows my heart and he adores me.[did you know he adores you also?]

I also have a wonderful friend that listens without judgment. She always points me back to God's word with such a gentle and loving spirit. We all need someone that listens and offers a loving shoulder to lean on.

I think that one of the greatest verses in the Bible is this one:

                                                                     1 Peter 5:7

                                  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 

 

This verse says I don't have to be perfect. I can give all the mistakes,  bad judgments, things that are now to late to say, to God because he cares for me. He loves me and doesn't want perfection just my best. He is the only perfect one and that is great to remember.

 

 

Not Perfection, Perseverance

When I was thinking about all the women that I know that have shown perseverance it was difficult. I have lived quite a while so thinking about friends that came through abuse and have the most positive outlook on life. Perhaps the friend that came through a spouse finding someone else but stayed the course and her marriage was restored. I decided on a very special woman, my mom.

Times were difficult when my mom was growing up. Her father left her mom with 5 kids to take care of. My mom decided she would easy the problem of food and clothing and became a live in maid. She had just finished the 8th grade and now she was in charge of cooking the meals, cleaning the home, and all the laundry [back when shirts were starched and ironed]Makes me tired just to think about it.

She married my father and they had a small farm that was totally washed away in a flood. They started over and built our family home themselves while raising 2 small girls.

When I was 10 and my sister was 16 my father died. It was a very traumatic time. My mom however, didn't cave and throw up her hands and give up. Nope she found a job cleaning family homes and on the weekends she cleaned the airport hotel rooms.

When I think of my mom I think of her tremendous perseverance. She wasn't worried about perfection, she left that to God. She carried on with the day to day living and loving. Yeah, this is the person that has greatly inspired me with such great perseverance.

Romans 5:3

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;