Live In Your Strength

My tea speaks to me... no, I'm not crazy and I promise I'll get to my point as quickly as possible for the Queen of Rambling that I am. I have always had problems sleeping and before I had Cor.ben I had to take Am.bien in order to fall asleep and stay asleep. Recently I've begun to have problems again, but obviously with a baby in the house sleeping pills are out of the question. I have discovered Yogi Bedtime Tea and I love it. It puts me to sleep without any drugged up feeling and I'm not groggy the next day... not the point. On each tea bag is a saying, kind of like fortune cookies have. Usually I completely dismiss them because they're contradictory to the truth I have found in my Savior. However, tonight my tea bag said "Live in your strength". This really got me thinking and this is where I begin my point...

I tend to dwell on the stressful or negative things in my life, as I'm sure many of us are prone to. I think about how much I miss my husband and how hard this deployment is, I think about my lupus problems and sometimes feel sorry for myself, I think about the stress of taking care of C by myself right now, the stress of school, am I being the best parent possible?... on and on, you get what I'm saying. These thoughts and emotions become the center of my focus and they take over my heart. However, as my tea so profoundly states, we should be living in our strength. At first I began thinking that this means I should be concentrating on the things that I do well, the things I'm capable of, how I'm really so much stronger than I give myself credit for. I began to feel very puffed up, proud of myself and my capabilities... then I heard God whispering a reminder to my soul. My strength doesn't come from myself or the actions that I take. My strength is in the Lord. It is He, through his immense love that I can not even come close to comprehending, that is my strength. It is He who has provided so much for me and catches me every time I fall. It is He who patiently waits for me each time that I repeatedly turn away from Him. He is my strength and I need to be completely living in Him. This is something that I strive for. Recently I found myself drifting away from the Lord. Why is it that once God blesses me I turn away from him? When things aren't going well I'm all about delving into his Word and praying fervently, but when everything is great I become ungrateful and lacking in love for Him. This is not how I want to be. I wanting to be utterly and completely living in my strength.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped. ~Psalm 28:7

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! ~1 Chronicles 16:11

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. ~Philippians 4:13

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. ~Isaiah 40:31