Progress

What I feel like sometimes:

"I don't really know what I'm doing
Just watching myself in some play
And the actress looks like she wants to go home
And lie in bed all day
Yeah lie in a big bed all day"
Lyrics from 'Chief' by Patty Griffin

"Sometimes I feel like
I've never been nothing but tired
And I'll be working
Till the day I expire
Sometimes I lay down
No more can I do
But then I go on again
Because you ask me to"
Lyrics from 'Up to the Mountain (MLK song)' by Patty Griffin

God's Promises and Wisdom:

Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40:31, New American Standard

This verse has been brand new to me this week. And, I like this version because it says we will gain NEW strength. All the other versions say that He will renew our strength - but that always made me think "What if you feel like you never had any strength to begin with? What if there is nothing to renew?" I think this translation reframes the point - that He gives us strength, and it was never about what We could do on our own anyway.

I love how God re-frames scriptures with time. Learning them as a child, I always made them mean such huge miraculous things and framed them all in what otherwise seems impossible. This scripture always had to deal with healing and supernatural ability for me. Now, I see that it's about Him giving us the strength to get through - to get up in the morning, to go to work, to do the things we have to do but don't want to, and to tackle the things we are otherwise afraid of.
It's about getting us through the mundane to find the joy. :-).

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
Philippians 3:13 New Living Translation