"Should"

Repeat with me: “Today, I will not SHOULD on myself.”

Do you “should” on yourself a lot?

I should have it together.

I should be able to do _________.

I should have accomplished this by now.

I should be ________ because I’m a Christian.

“Should” is only useful until it’s not...

...Until you use it to beat yourself up, when Christ already took the beating for you.

So today, I’m going to remember this too, as I experience more pain.

We are all experiencing some form of pain, whether it is physical, mental, emotional, relational financial or spiritual (or combo!)...so can we all agree to be still, rest, and stop “shoulding” on ourselves?!

Which of those voices do you relate to more?

As #chronicillnesswarriors , we think we have to choose between healing or living.

1. It takes so much of us to find methods, exercises, supplements, and other forms of steps to heal from our physical and mental conditions that by the end of it, it feels like we don't have anything left for other things.

2. Or we end up on the other spectrum of throwing our hands up and just going ham on everything because we might as well "do what we want, eat what we want," if nothing is working.

Which of those voices do you relate to more? 1 or 2?

But what if we could do both?!

What if we could find what works best for our pain management and conditions, AND be able to live AT THE SAME TIME.

You don't have to wait to be "more healed" before you can fully live.

Thinking you have to is causing you so much frustration and pain my dear friend.

Start believing that there is a middle...and YOU can create whatever that middle looks like.

#overcomingwithgrace

Tetelestai

He loves you as you are, not as you should be.

“Self-acceptance is not pop culture or pop psychology; it’s not the power of positive thinking...It is the profound act of faith in the acceptance of Jesus Christ of me as I am, and not as I should be.” -Brennan Manning

And not because of myself or anything I’ve done, but because of who HE is and what HE has done.

Tetelestai = IT. IS. FINISHED.

Awareness and full acceptance of knowing it was complete REMOVES you from trying to complete yourself.

It removes us from demanding of ourselves to strive more because of low self-worth and low self-love, and gets rid of ANY excuses that hinder us from loving ourselves because the GOD who sent His Son, and the Son who was willing to die a brutal, undeserved death, loves YOU and I the same in our worst and best moments.

As you continue into this shelter in place, take some time this weekend to reflect on this unfathomable, loving, gracious and merciful God who not only loves you, but WANTS you to experience this love and wants to have a relationship with you that He’d rather die than be without you...ALL of you.

The faithful you or the doubting you.

The you that has it all together or the you that’s falling apart.

The you that remembers Him, and the you that forgets Him.

The you that trusts Him and the you that doesn’t.

ALL OF YOU.

Tetelestai.

#GoodFriday