Happy Monday!

Good rainy Monday to you Ladies! I think that I have kinda lost you all in my Happy Mondays...SO, I will do some different kinds of devotionals with you girls and try to "reel" you all back in. This is actually the second time I am doing this blog this morning...I hit publish post and nothing...it took me right back to my sign in!! Argghhhh! I did scream...just like that...and then I took the kids to the bus stop..here I am again though, I will just start over. Maybe the Lord thought I needed to read it again, maybe I didn't get it the first time around. Oh well, it is what it is, let's get started, again...

Colossians 1:17
He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together.

God never called us to control the world. He never has and He never will! To ask you to do so would be to call on you to perform a task that is reserved for only God Himself. In the same way, He also never intended for us to balance everything in our lives and in the lives of our friends and family all by ourselves. There is only one person who is able to manage all of these things-God alone. Our shoulders are not broad enough, nor strong enough to balance the weight of the world-and God knows that. But we can be encouraged, His shoulders are more than able to carry all of it!

So, let's take a load off. Let's take off the load that is unnecessarily burdening us. As Christians, we have never been called by God to bear any burden, perform any task, lead any group of believers, manipulate any situation to produce a certain outcome, or make any decision that God Himself has not purposed and equipped us to do. And once we remove these unnecessary burdens off of our shoulders, the faster we will grow in wisdom.

It has taken me a long time to realize that when I say "no", that doesn't mean that I am "shrugging off" my responsibilities. I thought that when you are in the ministry, you had to always say "YES!" I just read that by saying no, we are showing a level of spiritual wisdom. When we extract the unnecessary burdens from our lives and discipline ourselves to focus only on what God expects from us, we will become more efficient in our time-management. We will also experience a greater sense of accomplishment. Most importantly, those around us will not feel the spill-over of our emotional frustrations like they do when we are striving to perform the impossible.

Today ladybugs--- let's make a list of everything weighing heavy on us, be specific. The more detailed the better. After it is complete, scratch out every single item that is out of our control, the ones that only God can take care of. Mark them out completely- so completely that you cannot even read what you have written! Then read the items that remain on your list. I believe that the remaining items will be things that are just between us and God.

Let's be encouraged today:
Live to the fullest, within the parameters God has set up for us. Live within His expectations. Focus on what He has called you to do, and do not burden yourself with things that He has reserved only for Himself.

Let's Pray:
Heavenly Father, we love You Lord and we praise You for this devotional today. Help us Father to give You what only You can take care of. Help us to give You the unnecessary burdens Lord, and do what You have called us to do. Not what we have called ourselves to do.Help us to get back to where we started with You Lord! In Your Son Jesus' name... AMEN!!!


Love you gals! Know that I am in prayer for you all today!

In Him I Remain,
Shana