My daily journey, my struggle, is to learn not to despise when things do not work out for me-when I am hurt, or when I am in a desert place. When life is easy, good, or moving at a busy pace; it’s harder for me to see God in the details. I love how God is in the details. He loves details! He shows Himself strong in the small. It’s the little things in my life where I want the big changes. I want to respond His way instead of my own. For me, each time I’m in the process of an even deeper, more intimate relationship with the Lord, He begins to reorder my life. It seems He is shifting and re-adjusting me and replacing even more of me with Him. He is also so clearly laying before me two choices in my response to happenings in my life: respond His way, or my own. I am learning not to despise the awkward or hard things because I am learning to see God in them, allowing Him to grow me.
This week has been a real challenge for me, but He is showing me He is teaching me through hard things. I don’t feel adequate. I feel helpless. I feel I am not good enough for my children, cannot meet my own expectations of myself, I’m not reaching out to others enough, not spending enough time in His Word…
In these moments, I find this is where I often grow the most. Instead of feeling sorry or bad for myself because I lack so much, I am surrendering to Him who can do immeasurably more than I ask or think. I am totally committed to doing things HIS way. My prayer is that my heart would remain teachable through these struggles. That He would use them to show me how utterly inadequate and hopeless I am without Him! If His Word says He uses the low things, them make me low. If he uses the despised things, make me despised. If he uses foolish things, then I shamelessly humble myself before Him! I desire to live my life in full surrender of what He wants to do in it and with it.
May Romans 12: 9-21 remain on my heart: clinging to what is good, honoring others above myself. Never lacking in zeal. Being joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Blessing those who persecute me. As much as it depends on me, living at peace with everyone. Not taking revenge, but leaving judgment and revenge to the Lord who takes care of me. He is my Defender! I will not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good!
I don’t rejoice because of the struggle or because of my failures, but I rejoice that I can grow in the struggle. That somehow in my failure, He is able to show his strength! I want the hard things to remind me that I must never lose my zeal, or my dependence on Him. When I am in full surrender, I realize this: if I’m being challenged, it’s because I need to be!! May my heart and will remain always bendable before Him. May I allow Him to do His work in me.
Heart of Esther 
Beautiful….thank you!