Category: strength

Relax: To Deprive of Energy, Zeal or Strength of Purpose

 
 
Do not sorrow,
for the joy of the Lord
is your strength.
(Nehemiah 8:10b NKJV)

Relax, I tell myself. Again. I am not good at relaxing. I suppose I never learned how, or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Then last night, at the dinner table with my mom and sister, the youngest niece bounces in, snuggles into her mom. She had been throwing up just hours ago. He brother sleeps sprawled on the couch. She snuggles and nuzzles deeper into her mother’s side. She burbles with energy.

We all look at her astonished. We tease her, guess you’re feeling better. She grins. She bobs her head up at her mother and asks if she can show Aunt Kel something. Of course. She runs to her room to get it. She gets absorbed actually showing the game to her mom, instead of me.

My sister pauses, looks at the little child chattering away, lightly bouncing on the bench next to her. She asks nonchalantly,
“Do you know how to relax?”

Still full of glee, enjoying her  video game, without looking up at us she answers succinctly, “Nope!”

I laugh. I see reflected in this young five year old girl, a zeal for living, energy propelling her past obstacles and a strength of purpose that will serve her well. Growing up so fast and then I wonder if that’s why I never learned to relax.

She will have still moments, but they will be rare. I know. I can be still now, because I have trained myself, but really there’s always a stream of life flowing beneath the surface urging me on.


 


Posted on by kelrohlf 6

Recall: To Bring Back to Mind

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
Psalm 84:5 NIV
 With the 31 Day Challenge completed, I continue on this journey to seek God as we approach the season of Advent. I am preparing provisions, spending time in solitude and recalling the goodness of God in the land of the living.
 
 

As we close in on the end of this year, my mind returns to this time last year. It always amazes me how much can change over twelve months. Last year this time, I was putting the finishing touches on a dream. I was in a flurry of activity. Finishing papers and studying for finals to complete my bachelor’s degree in English. Editing and formatting two books. The first being, a collection of poems, prose and art pieces published for Bellerive,the literary publication of Pierre Laclede Honors College. The second, my own self-published collection of devotions: Defining Moments: Overflowing with Living Words. To recall the vast array of accomplishments humbles me, because truly without God’s strength, I would never have dreamed of completing a degree and a book in the same year. (And not to mention that I still prepared and celebrated the holidays with gusto.)
 
 
 

This year has been a year of rest. A year of saying no to good things, in order to nestle into God’s goodness and wait. To taste and see that God is good in the midst of hard things. He carries us through in ways we never could imagine.
 
 

This time of year brings to mind the munificent provisions that have been bestowed upon us. God sees beforehand every single thing that we need. He knows exactly what will be best for us, even if we can’t see it for ourselves.

As we celebrate this season with gratitude, may the blessings of God restore your hope, peace and joy!
 
Linking up with:
 
 
 

 
Posted on by kelrohlf 6

Thrilling Guest Thursday: Rachelle Parezo

This week I would like to introduce you to my friend, Rachelle. She is a woman seeking after God’s heart like you and me. She’s a wife and mother, who wants to love boldly. She reflects on her life through journaling and occasionally gives glimpses of her heart through notes on Facebook.

Here is an offering she wrote last fall:

Epiphanies or “Aha” Moments

I’m probably seeing the last of the hummingbirds this week.  It’s supposed to get cold again soon.  The one I just watched drink from the feeder and fly away looked different than the ones with the red and green that I have watched often all through the summer.  Maybe hummingbirds are already migrating and this one was getting a little nectar to take him a little farther?  Once they are gone, it will easily be May before I get to enjoy their flitting flying patterns, their fierce battles for reign over the feeder and their high little chirping noises they make to one another.    
The flowers are all fading, and one season is coming to a complete end soon.

I didn’t sleep much last night – it happens more and more often.   Also, Dennis & Jonathan had to head out very early this morning for a Weeblo-Ree event with cub scouts.  They left here at 5:30, and that was on my mind to get up early enough to get them out the door with all their reminders, their stuff, the hot cocoa and coffee and microwave breakfast to eat in the truck. 

Since I was fully awake and had also had my morning coffee, I decided to head out to enjoy the morning before the sun rose.  I love the quiet and peace of the very early morning.  I love the cool dew of fall mornings – seeing it rise in a mist as the sun comes over the horizon.  As I walked and listened to all the morning songs of the birds, I heard a honking and looked up to see the V formation of geese flying … north?  Curious! 
The pear trees have various shades of fading green, orange and bright red.  The maples are beginning to be more and more orange.  The morning rays of the sun reveal these colors best.  Then as I got to the bottom of the hill, the sun’s first rays were casting their light on the steeple of the little church next to our fire station.  All the while, my heart was singing “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory.”  I breathe deep, I listen hard and I look for the places where God’s hand is evident. 
Ann Voskamp’s wonderful book One Thousand Gifts  is challenging me to look for beauty more and more.  As I enter the rays of the sun, and see my shadow become evident, I also notice that the air is still crisp enough that I can see my breath in the light.  When things feel hard, I remind myself to breathe in and breathe out and relax myself this way, it is easier when you can see your breath!

I got a chance to visit with my mom on the phone awhile the other day and she was telling me things she had told me before about how God never gives us more than we can handle and how hard things make us stronger. 

I suddenly had an epiphany while talking with her (that I usually refer to as “aha” moments) that God indeed has consistently given me way more than I can handle.  Yet, He’s never given me more than He can handle. 

Also, much of life has buckled my knees at times, but His Word says that when I am weak, He is strong.  So, yes, life has made me stronger in some ways, but only so much as I’ve learned to lean into the only One who is strong, and allow Him to fill in all the gaps created by my many weaknesses.  Yes, lots happens that is more than I can handle, but as long as I run to Him with the difficulties, and practice and learn to rest in Him, then I can watch Him resolve the issues that may trouble me at that time.

Posted on by kelrohlf 1