This is a declaration! A declaration filled with hope, promise, and encouragement! On this beautiful Monday mourning/morning; I pray you experience a supernatural level of courage to do the hard things! You, my friend can do the hard things like:
Eat Clean
Speak up and against oppression
Drink your water
Love your body regardless of its ability, size, and/or shape
Believe the Promises of God
Pray for others
Fast from behaviors, food, and/or thoughts that distract you from God's Promises
Resist temptation
Refuse to give up
Fight for justice for all
Celebrate the life of a loved one that recently died
Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5)
Do your chores
Take the bus as your only source of transportation
Earn the GPA necessary to be on the Dean's List or Honor Roll
Have faith regardless of what is happening around you
Clean your house
Listen actively before speaking
Pay your rent
Tithe
Believe God's word
Exercise for 30 minutes
Follow the leader
Be a healthy leader
Be the healthy, responsible, and safe parent that you did not have
Write the book, poem, blog, article, essay or sermon...
Presume good will
Give
Be the pastor God called you to be
Be humble
Go through deep waters without losing faith (Isaiah 43:2)
Follow through
Complete the task
Start the project
Move across country
Dream the biggest dream (Acts 2:17)
Listen
Be patient
Be content
Repent
Forgive
Love (again)
Live before you die (John 10:10)
Speak up (Isaiah 61)
Advocate for others (Proverbs 31:8-9)
Help meet the needs of others (Acts 2:44-47)
Finish school
Go to therapy
Stand up to White Supremacy (Isaiah 1:17)
Being honest
Being still
Going beyond
Be a good steward over our bodies
Claim God's promises
Moving on
Forgiving yourself
Unplug (Exodus 20:8)
Tell someone
Make music
Let go & let God
Recover from addictions
Be accountable
Rest
"Reclaiming my time" - Rep. Maxine Waters
Rise!
Care for aging & chronically ill loved ones
Write your story
Tell your story
Parent
Stay married
Sing (again)
Play
Experience joy
Pray when you'd rather worry
Keep going
Resist evil
Confront your fears
Resist doubt
Live within your financial means
Come to Jesus - just like you are right now
Fostering children & teens
Obeying God
Trust God
Take responsibility for the harm you caused
Be vulnerable
Take a risk and develop a new friendship
Go the extra mile for someone else you don't know very well
Find your "why"
Be the salt & light (Matthew 5:13-15)
Call out White Supremacy among family, friends, and colleagues
Mourn the death of your loved ones
Share your resources
Be still & know that God is fighting for your (Exodus 14:14)
Move your body
Get counseling
Fight fear with God's perfect love (1 John 4:18)
Pray out loud
Ask God what He says about you
Change for the better
Fight for a community garden
Drop our children off for their 1st Day of school
There are so many hard things that we can do because Jesus has promised us that He will help, strengthen, empower, encourage, and cheer us on! It's hard to do the hard things when there is nobody supporting you - that's why I am so grateful to have God's word that literally shakes pom-poms, does cartwheels, and shouts into megaphones saying that we can do this!
We can do hard things! But are we willing to try? Real talk - trying is the hardest part. If we can move through the fear and doubt and get to the other side of that thing I believe we will be more apt to "doing" the hard thing. We each have that hard thing we've been unwilling to do, have been afraid to do, or have just completely suppressed it in hopes that the hard thing would mysteriously disappear. What I have come to know in my life is that they never go away - they come back in the form of memories, inspiration, dreams, and/or other people doing that same hard things. I believe the Lord keeps presenting the hard things to us as a reminder that this thing that is hard is waiting for you to conquer it.
WE CAN DO ALL THE HARD THINGS
THROUGH CHRIST THAT MAKES US STRONG!
In fact, we are waiting for you to conquer the hard things. When each of us conquer the hard things it gives the rest of us hope to conquer our hard things. When we overcome the hard things it gives us a sense of authority to show/teach/model how to overcome their hard things. Every single time we confront the hard things, grab God's hand, take that huge leap of faith and try to conquer it! We are literally waging a war against the defeated foe (the devil) every time we grab God's hand to do the hard things. The enemy wants us to try to defeat the hard things on our own, which makes sense because all of our hard things are usually bigger than we believe we are! That's why we need THE ONE who is BIGGER than the hard thing to cheer us on! We are sending a clear, bold, and honest message that 'yup, this thing is hard but I have Jesus to cheer me on, I have The Holy Spirit to show me how, and I have my Father in Heaven who is reminding me that the victory was already written and won into existence!'
What's your hard thing today?
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