With just a few hours left of the weekend and a cat who is highly displeased with the lack of snuggles he’s received over the past two days, I sit here with a to-do list that didn’t get finished, a super achy back, and very cranky attitude.
However, to stick with my theme of encouragement, finding love in your heart for the challenges you go through, and to not continue today’s post with negativity…I reflect on Philippians 4:8.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
After last week’s post about the ruts we all find ourselves in, I feel as though God has been working in an unexpected way to help. Some of the women at my church had a Zoom meeting just to get together and chat (social distancing and all). We caught up on how we were doing and shared prayer requests. I was surprised to hear so many of the other women share that they needed prayers for strength, energy, and motivation to use their time better while we are all at home so much. A big part of that is spending time drawing closer to God, reading, and praying. So after hearing that from the other women, I felt a sense of community and connectedness knowing that I was very much so not the only person this was happening to. I also felt some accountability come over me because I had shared my current struggle, others shared the same struggle, and now we all have the opportunity to pray for each other. I’m aware of this mutual hope that we will all start doing better.
So…despite my cranky attitude at this ending point of my weekend (which has actually started to get a little more pleasant since I’ve been writing about all this), I was greatly encouraged by the other women from my church and reminded of how valuable it is to be connected with others on this path. Sharing your struggles and pointing others to God during theirs are two things Love the Belly of the Whale was purposed for, and that Zoom call was so in sync with that.
Over the past week I have spent a lot of time painting (actually finished something), I’ve done a kind of lazy version of yoga almost every night, and I’ve stayed on track with my daily devotional reading. I am still…roughly 17 days behind on my Bible in a year plan. That’s a few days more behind than I was last week. Whelp…
In honor of those words from Philippians 4, right now I am just going to focus on my gratitude for God’s work in my life and the blessing of sharing our human imperfectness with one another.
Love the Belly of the Whale 