I give up!

"I can do all things through Him who gives me strength" - Philippeans 4:13

I don't know about you, but I'm a person who tries to be strong for everyone. You know that drawer in your desk or dresser that just holds all of the junk you don't know where else to put? I know you have one. Well, have you ever taken that drawer out and found old mail, maybe a granola bar wrapper, or a picture from high school behind it? Been there. Sometimes things fall behind our dresser drawers and we forget about them. For those of us who attempt to be strong for everyone else, you know where I'm going with this. So we have a problem that we're trying to deal with, or trying not to deal with, but then we get a call from a friend who really needs your friendship. They need you to be there for them like they know you will be. Remember that junk behind your dresser? Yeah, when my friends are in need, that's where my problem ended up too. I understand. We forget about them thinking we'll eventually make it back to that drawer and deal with it and maybe we do get around to cleaning out the drawer, but what about the stuff that fell behind it? So, Spring cleaning comes along, you remove the drawer and... omg look at all that stuff! All of these thoughts come flooding in, reminding you of everything you forgot to deal with! Now what? At this point, you can make two decisions. You can create a new drawer to file them in or we can deal with them now. In the past, I would have said, "Well, I've gone this long without dealing with this problem, it's not really relevant to my life anymore so I'll just file it for later." Here's my word of wisdom that I'm learning the hard way. Don't do that! What happens is, over the years that drawer of "irrelevant" material builds up. It becomes 2 drawers, then 3..One of these problems may seem irrelevant, but how irrelevant can 3 drawers of problems be?! At that point, you feel overwhelmed. All you can do is sit on the floor, all of these problems laying out in front of you, and think about how now you have all this junk to deal with. You can't avoid it anymore. It's all there, staring back at you saying, "This is more than you can do. You're not strong enough. Just give up." Here I am. I'm staring at that drawer so-to-speak and you know what? I give up! My demons were right I'm not strong enough to handle everything that I now can't avoid. I've spent my whole life being strong. You know there's going to be a "but" though, right? :) But, here's the thing: I don't have to be strong enough to deal with it. I don't have to keep it together. In fact, I'm not supposed to be strong enough. God will be strong enough for the both of us. Isn't that amazing? I don't know what I'd do right now without that knowledge. Actually, yes I do. I'd be sitting on the floor still, staring at the mess in front of me. Instead, now I'm moving forward. I'm sorting through the mess and creating organized piles. Then, through Him and only through Him, will I be able to begin making the piles smaller and smaller. I pray that you are able to learn this a lot easier than I did!

 "I can do all things who Christ who gives me strength" Philippeans 4:13. :)