What are you tethered to?
Have you ever had days where you feel like you are about to suffocate under the stress and burdens of a full life? Do you ever feel like no matter how much you love God and others, you still struggle with feeling like a failure as a mom, wife, and friend at times? Do you ever feel as though the life you’re living is not how life was supposed to be? Do you need some extra oxygen for your soul?
I once knew a woman who came home every night and saw dishes piled up, kids who were illusive and distant, and a spouse with whom she couldn’t connect. She was overwhelmed by the very life that she had dreamed about. She carried a lingering feeling that she didn’t have what it took to balance all that was on her plate. Surely she wasn’t enough. She felt like a failure as a mom, a wife, and a manager of her home.
I also knew a woman who had such a heart for the Lord and His work but seemed to always find herself so distracted from what mattered most as she was drowning in the immediate and the urgent. She valued quality time with her family, her personal fitness, and time to meditate on scripture but found herself buried in mundane things like laundry and dishes. Her heart was purely set on her priorities, but her days were filled with taunting distractions.
A few years earlier, I knew a sensitive woman who seemed to live offended by the poor behaviors of “those” people in her life. Once she heard her friend speak critically behind her back and she could never shake the offense. The offense penetrated her soul, but she yearned to not live offended and separated from her friend or her people. Was she strong enough to navigate harshness in others? She needed tougher skin.
Or the woman who spent too many days racing on the performance treadmill in an exhausting race with herself and those she compared herself with. She had a resume full of empty titles that proved her ability, but her plates were always spinning and often falling to the ground. She wondered if all this was just an effort in futility. Was it all a “vanity of vanity” as is written in Ecclesiastes? Or a “chasing after the wind”? She was desperately seeking a true and intimate rest for her soul, not just a rest from her activities.
And lastly, I knew a woman who was overwhelmed by all the voices going through her head leading to all the choices that she needed to make. Should she do it this way or that way? Yes or no? Now or later? With them or others? Scold them or not? So many choices! So many voices. Which decision was the right decision to make? Anxiety became her norm. She was sinking into a depression from the overwhelm of the noise.
Actually, guess what? All those women mentioned above are me!
Zechariah 4:6 states, “Not by my power, nor by my might BUT by the Spirit of the Lord.” The indwelling Spirit gives us the power to live FROM His wisdom and strength versus the daily exhaustion of living FOR Him. It is 100 percent up to God to empower us to live in His will, in His way … BUT it is 100 percent up to us to yield and invite Him to do so.
I invite you to breathe in the Holy Spirit power that has been given to you in order to live from the place of freedom and rest that is your Christian privilege … Christ in you, the hope of glory! Tether your heart and your peace of mind to the character of God and not to this world, the news, other people, or circumstances.
Do you want to breathe deeply, peacefully, joyfully, and fully alive?
Come, and let’s receive the Lord’s breath together!
~Roxanne Parks
