Category: Melodie Quotes

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Finding Me Truth #9: Weakness is Exactly What You Need

​But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12: 9,10

Truth. 

What if we considered limitations and disappointments our strongest moments? Failure and weakness remind us we’re not in control. We don’t have power. 

But God does. And he desires to put that power to work in us, especially in our most powerless moments. It’s in those moments that we can see how badly we really need him and choose to surrender to his plans and wrap ourselves in his fortitude.

Counter the culture, weakness is exactly what you need to experience the presence and nearness of God. Weakness beckons and invites him to meet you exactly where you are and be a present help in your time of neediness.

Embrace your weaknesses. Express your neediness. Ask God to enter into them with you. In them precious victories await because of God. Hope in him never disappoints.

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Finding Me Truth #8: You Need A Pillow

Sometimes the best thing may seem like the least productive thing.

Humans tend to think if we’re not doing something, changing something, being a catalyst for something, then we are not productive, not useful and are ineffective.

A friend told me he heard someone say, “The most spiritual thing people can do sometimes is take a nap. Resting shows your trust in God and not in what you can do.”

I think those words are stellar.

People need pillows. People need rest. People need naps. 

Rest brings recharge for the body. Your mind gets some peace while your body renews itself and cells get regenerated and such. Sleep and rest are a good thing for finite human beings in rechargeable body vehicles. I’m sorry, I just think it’s funny to say “rechargeable body vehicles.”

Anyhoos, rest yourself today. God neither sleeps nor slumbers. Well, he kinda doesn’t need to…he is God. But he does model rest for us. After he made the world in six days, he took the seventh day off and rested. He rested. If he does it, then I for sure know that I need to do it and I haven’t even made a planet or an animal like a kangaroo like he has.

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Finding Me Truth #7: That Kool-Aid

Sometimes, you just gotta stop drinking the kool-aid. Wake up. It’s time to live. Make changes in your life. Get out of the box, trapezoid, octagon – whatever shape you stuck in – get outta there and don’t ever go back. Decide to thrive and no longer just exist. Make authenticity your #currentmood all the time. Choose growth, all the time, every time. Don’t be different; do different.

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Finding Me Truth #6: Keep Moving

What I’ve found to be true: Sometimes life can bite your butt. It hurts, it sucks, it definitely is not fair but it happens and will continue to happen this side of heaven. Some wrestle with why God allows tragedy and struggle to come into our lives. Others feel God sits on a throne with a shiny thunderbolt just ready and aiming to impart destruction and pain into our lives. Some think he’s dead or powerless and not able to do anything to help anyway so why even bother to bring him into the conversation.

Bite Your Butt

I think the butt bites in life are a reflection of a world that’s in a pretty awful tailspin because of the evil, death and human brokenness that permeates everything around us. They bring with them effects that have consequences greater than we can imagine. God enters this tailspin to give us hope, freedom and eyes to see that the bites won’t always be with us. If we are willing to look closely, we’ll see him actively rescuing, redeeming, healing and restoring.

What I’ve also found to be true: We need to keep moving forward. In the midst of all the struggle, even if you have to crawl your way through it, keep moving. At least you are moving a few steps away from the butt bites that feel like they’ve taken the very breath out of you. Sometimes you may not feel like you have anything in your tank to make one foot or knee move ahead of the other. When you lack the energy, God will carry you. I know this to be true because he’s carried me more times than I can count.

Keep moving forward.

The bite marks will wear off eventually.

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Finding Me Truth # 5: In The Crazy

 

If we didn’t experience eventful things, we often wouldn’t be aware of God’s protection and peace in the middle of the crazy, right?

Flat tires happen. I got one on Monday. Pulled over to check the damage and it sounded like a hurricane wanted to blow through the punctured hole. That tire got slayed by something beasty in the road I never saw. I was en route to check out a friend’s for sale bookcase to see if it would be a good fit in my bedroom. Once I finished there, planned to meet up with another friend and cook dinner together.

My annihilated left rear tire changed all of that.

But God is good in the middle of it all.

An auto shop was less than a minute away. I pulled into a parking spot, went inside and met J.P., a friendly mechanic full of jokes and easy to speak with. In the time it took to explain what happened to my tire and walk back outside with him, the tire had sunk flat to the ground.

Mercy.

J.P. got one of his mechanics to put my spare tire on. I made plans to get the damaged tire replaced. Though slightly frazzled, I let J.P. know he made what could have been a really stressful situation for me not stressful at all. I was able to still make my evening engagements and the night ended well.

Life can be hectic. I’ve been traveling almost back to back the last four weeks for my job. First Illinois, then Indiana, followed by Georgia and lastly Pennsylvania. Lots of flying and driving, with an allergy cold thrown in there, two leadership conferences I served with, a staff work conference, visits to college campuses to meet with students leading chapters with my organization, several meetings AND trying to eat well and stay on track with nutrition goals.

It’s been a lot.

But God is good in the middle of it all. 

I made it through the travels, through the airports, through the allergies and I gained the beautiful gift of memories with some amazing people. Plus, an authentic Philly cheesesteak thrown in for good measure. You can’t just be in Philly people and NOT have one. I’m just saying.

What I’m finding to be true: In the crazy it seems like I find a little bit more of me. Sometimes crazy helps us to see who we are in the flurry of activity that surrounds us.

I don’t always like the crazy but it reminds me God is good in the middle of it all. He’s in the midst of my crazy and he’s in the middle of it. Calming fears, giving strength and reminding me he’s near. Sometimes that’s all we really need – that reminder that he’s near, even if we don’t always feel like he is. Our feelings don’t change the truth of his nearness.