Are you successful? By what means do you measure your success? How do you define it? The dictionary defines success in this way:
• the attainment of popularity or profit: the success of his play.
• a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity: I must make a success of my business.
• archaic the outcome of an undertaking, specified as achieving or failing to achieve its aims: the good or ill success of their maritime enterprises.
Recently a wonderful friend was praying for me. As she prayed, she asked the Lord to help me to not put unrealistic expectations on myself.
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I have been meditating on this verse over the last couple of weeks:
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33-NLT)
I posted a Facebook status a while back that said, “I may not have everything I want, but I always have everything that I need”. As I’ve reflected back on that statement, I’ve had to ask myself how many of the blessings I’ve received lately have been as a result of a heart that is fully seeking Him, or how much of it is simply as a result of grace.
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I have been walking through an intense season of trust over the last year. My husband was laid off from a very well-paying construction job last June. It threw our already troubled finances into a tail spin. On top of all of that, we were in the process of losing our home. We tried for a year in every way imaginable to work with our mortgage company so that we could keep our home. In the end, we had no other choice but to short sale in order to avoid foreclosure. As we sat last week and signed the papers, I did not really feel anything except numbness.
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A couple of days ago, I was preparing to leave for work and my 7-year old son was the only person awake in the house besides me. After I got ready to go, I went and talked with him for a few minutes, got his breakfast, and settled him in with a cartoon. I explained to him that daddy was awake in bed and that he could go and get him if he needed to. As I kissed him goodbye, grabbed my computer bag, and turned to head towards the door, I heard him ask, “But Mommy, who’s in charge”? I explained to him that since he was the only person that was up in the house at the moment, that he was in charge.
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On my way to work one morning, I stopped in to get my morning cup of coffee. While I waited, I noticed a little girl, about the age of 4. She was all dressed up in a yellow party dress with pink patent leather shoes, and white tights. She had her hair all done up with curls and she was wearing lots of play jewelry. As I looked at her, the Lord began to speak to me about this little girl…
He spoke to me that when this child woke up that morning, she felt like a princess, and even believed she was one.
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This evening my girls were entertaining themselves with an App on my iPhone called, “What Does My Name Mean?” They were having a great time finding the meaning of their names, their siblings and friends. This got me thinking about my own name. By birth, I am “Barbara”, which means “Stranger”. When I was younger this use to always bother me. I didn’t like being referred to as a stranger. But as I’ve gotten older and have come to know Christ, I have fully embraced this birth name. I AM a stranger in a foreign land. I am simply passing through.
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I remember a simple time a while back when God opened my eyes to the beauty of His creation through the eyes of my then 5 year old son.
I was driving my youngest two children to day care one day. I listened as they were having a conversation about God and what they thought He looked like. My then 8 year old daughter was telling my son that God had brown hair and blue eyes, and a beard, similar to the pictures we’ve all seen that depict Jesus. I glanced in the rear view mirror and waited for my son’s reaction.
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