My first week of warriorhood has been less than stellar.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not rethinking my word for the year. I’m just becoming grossly aware of how much work this is going to take.
My mind needs some serious retraining to think like a warrior. The other day I had a call from an aggressive salesman. I took a deep breath, tried to think of how a warrior would handle this pushy guy, and then proceeded to stand my ground. I even did it without sarcasm. That was a victory, though it would have been nice to not have my heart racing so fast. And by the end of it I needed a hug, but at least I didn’t start to cry or give in.
This morning I had another moment when I was forced to rethink my approach to something. I was praying/whining about how much stuff I have to do and how hard it all is for me, and I was asking God to help me when I suddenly got this picture of God crossing his arms and shaking his head no.
What?
Why would God tell me no when I asked him for help? That can’t be right, can it?
And then I remembered my weekend. I spent this past weekend helping my oldest daughter move into a new apartment on campus, and we were both kind of concerned because she didn’t have a bed to sleep in. She could take the one from her old apartment, but it was going to be hard to move and a big hassle, so I prayed with her about it, and then waited to see how God was going to fix that little problem.
He didn’t fix it though. (Crosses arms and says no)
The bed from her old apartment didn’t magically get moved to her new one, and her new place only housed the bed ends, not the spring part. She ended up calling to see if there might be anything in storage, and after some work on our part, she had a bed, but I was a little disappointed. God hadn’t moved the bed. We had.
And that’s when it hit me.
Maybe sometimes God doesn’t do things for us because he knows we can do them ourselves. He doesn’t offer us that helping hand because the reality is, we don’t need it. He’s already given us what we need, and if he were to do the work for us … well, that wouldn’t really help either of us now would it. So I guess God did move the bed. He just used us to do it.
And from all of that, I give you my first warrior lesson –
Warriors don’t wait around to be rescued. They believe, and they proceed in faith. They are on the move, equipped by their master and fitted for battle.
How about you? How has God equipped you to do the things you’re needing to do?
Amen.
Truly, truly.
Loved the post Mary,
Really comes down to practice. We all have programmed reactions to certain situations. If you stick with this, you’ll be able to change your reaction to that ‘warrior’ mindset.
Keep it up!
I’ll be back for more blogs. This was really genuine, enjoyed it.
Until then,
Kevin
Thanks! Practice is good. I do hope you’re right about that ‘warrior’ mindset part.