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I’m No Superwoman

Faster than Florence Griffith Joyner.  More powerful than Ms. Olympia.  Able to leap a mound of laundry single bound.  Look!  Up in the sky!  It’s a bird!  It’s a plane!  It’s Superwoman!

 

Twice on Sunday people made references to me being superwoman.

 

So for once and for all let me dispel that myth. I am no superwoman. More like:

 

Super mistake maker.

 

Super grace receiver.

 

Super Jesus girl.

 

superwoman

 

Truth be told, I am vulnerable. I do get tired. I do lose my cool. I have my kryptonite.

 

But God…

 

Aaron Shust sums it up well for me singing,

 

“My Savior loves, my Savior lives, My Savior’s always there for me. My God He was, my God He is, my God He’s always gonna be”.

 

Without MY Jesus, I can do nothing, be nothing. Apart from the vine we are nothing.

 

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

 

That’s as super as it gets. I’m a super vine clinger.

 

There was a time I tried to be Superwoman. I really believed I could do all and be all to everyone who needed me. But that left me depleted. I Thank God for speaking His truth to my heart and freeing me to know that all I have to do if heed His voice and he’d lead me, love me and empower me.

 

I can only love through Christ who strengthens me. I can love give through Christ who strengthens me. I can only serve through Christ who strengthens me.

 

I don’t try to do all and be all. I stay in my lane and do exactly what he’s called me to do. It’s when we go picking up other things thinking we are superwomen that we can get into trouble. God makes all grace abound toward us to do that which he’s tasked to our hands.

 

Let me give you an example. God has given me the ability to do hair and to do so with a level of excellence that could earn me some good money. I’ve had offers. I’ve had a stylist suggest how I could make it work with my schedule and how much money I could earn. But God told me, “This gift is for HOUSEHOLD USE ONLY”. As a homemaker I had briefly entertained the thought of making some money for doing something I enjoy that isn’t grueling work. Yes, I could do a few heads on the weekend. Then came the gently shoulder tap, “FOR HOUSEHOLD USE ONLY.” Thus I quickly extinguished the idea because I want to operate in his perfect will not His permissive will. So I travel in my lane with the surety that I receive the needed grace for my calling.

 

So I cling to him. I cry out to him. I am open and honest with him. I lean in to him. I dance with him.

 

And he is faith to hold me, to wipe my tears, to listen to me, to strengthen me and to lead me in the way everlasting.

 

No super mommy

 

No super friend

 

No super minister

 

No super wife

 

Just one super Jesus girl fiercely clinging to the Father.

 

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As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!

 

Feature image photo credit

Happy to connect with friends at Purposeful Faith Titus 2sDay Life Giving Linkup

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Stronger: What Doesn’t Kill You

Stronger: What Doesn’t Kill You

 

“Get into that muscle.” “Get there! Get there”, admonishes Nevie, personal trainer and owner of FLMD Fitness Studio.

 

Indeed, what doesn’t kill you…makes you stronger, so they say. While I’m still trying to figure out exactly who ‘they’ are, and my muscles still feel the effects of that workout, I do know that I feel stronger both mentally and physically.

 

Mental Strength

 

Wellness is not isolated to the mind or to the body. We are created mind, body and spirit and the three are inextricably linked. What we do to one area impacts the others. If we neglect one area, we neglect the others as well.

 

“Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.”  

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

 

And research is catching up with what the scriptures have already shown. We know that as a man thinketh, so is he. There is research suggesting that even thinking about exercise will make you stronger. We’ve heard the old adage, mind over matter. Well, your mind directly affects matter. To read more on that click here.

 

Right now I’m visualizing myself doing crunches. Yes, summer abs here I come (insert smile).

 

Physical Strength

 

A few years ago I got P90X. It was a very popular exercise routine of many DVD’s including: yoga, cardio, kempo, plyometrics and more. When I first started doing those DVD’s they were a killer. I couldn’t get through most of them without stopping. Fast forward several years. This week I put on one of the DVD’s. I was doing this thing for 30 minutes and thought to myself, “Did I just waste 30 minutes here?” My heart rate wasn’t up. That workout didn’t even scratch the surface on the warm up that I do in my exercise class. And in between going to workout classes I exercise at home doing H.I.I.T. or Tabata workouts that challenge me but those DVD’s…well.

 

This type of conditioning is definitely making my body stronger. I have pushed myself beyond what I ever imagined I’m capable of doing. When the trainer says “Get There”, she’s pushing us to GO BEYOND what we think in our heads we are capable of. It is then that we are digging into the muscles and affecting change. Now in my mind, that’s the point at which I truly want to give up. But if I give up then, I’d be cutting myself short of reaching my full potential. That is not isolated to exercise alone.

 

Have you cut yourself off from achieving the next level of performance when you were standing right at the brink of your breakthrough?

 

Spiritual Strength

 

…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

 

In order for us to be able to ‘set aside weight’ we have to be strong enough to do so. In order to run with endurance we have to be conditioned to go the distance. We gain spiritual strength, stamina and endurance by exercising spiritual muscle.   And just how do we strengthen spiritually?

 

~Word Workout

Feast daily on the Word. And it doesn’t have to be lengthy passages of scripture. Sometimes when I’m reading the Word, a single word can stand out and that will be my meditation throughout the day. I have to hide the word in my heart because something is certain to arise and I will need to have a ready word.

 

~Faith

Faith is a muscle. What happens when our muscles aren’t used? We can get atrophy. While the working of our faith doesn’t always feel good, I urge you like the trainer urged me, “Get There”. Your faith may be worked, stretched, and torn. This is how muscle it built. Feel the burn baby and praise Him!

 

Continue to go the distance. Right when you think you can’t do another rep, handle another setback, deal with another issue, press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling and get there! Stronger…Yes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

 

If you live in the DMV and need some encouragement in helping you get there, check out Certified Personal Trainer Nevina Gray owner of FLMD Fitness.

 

As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!

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I Am Weak

Ahhh. Argh! I grimaced in pain as I lifted my arm attempting to carry out the most mundane task.

 

I had just spent nearly 2 hours ironing a week’s worth of clothes.

 

And the space between my shoulder blades is on fire. It literally feels like if I reach my hand back there for a touch, flames will lick my fingertips. There is a twisting and wrenching as if a giant turnkey has been thrust between my blades and a powerful hand is turning, turning, turning the crank to wind me up, stretching the muscles beyond reason, tearing flesh right from the bone.

 

In this intense pain, I continue to muscle through, intent on hanging the clothes.

 

You see, I have to get this work done.

 

I hide my face from my children because you see; I don’t want them to see me in pain.

 

I premeditate in my mind that when my husband returns from work, I will hide the pain from him too.

 

All the while it takes every fiber of my being to not break down in tears from the intense burn.

 

Walking away from the clothes, I look at the flames licking in my fireplace and think, “What a great portrait of what’s occurring in my back right now.”

 

So what’s the deal with this MASKING of pain?

 

Do I want to appear strong?

 

Do I not want to worry my husband?

 

Do I not want my children to worry?

 

DO I want my children to look back on their childhood and think, “My mom was always so strong”?

 

What I do know is:

 

I want my children to know their mother experiences a full range of emotion: joy, pain, sorrow, delight, disappointment and more.

 

I want my husband to know I am vulnerable. I am not superwoman. But I also don’t want to hear him ‘lecture’ me on sitting down for a minute because really these clothes aren’t going to hang themselves and the children are busy completing their routine chores.

 

Week before last I led a teaching on being Authentically Me. My Women’s Group is reading Priscilla Shirer’s The Resolution for Women. This book has been a tremendous blessing thus far and I highly recommend it. In this particular chapter she talks about freeing yourself to be the fearfully, wonderfully made creation you were made to be. She addresses how we can fall into the trap of defining ourselves by worldly standards. I had done some soul searching and swept my mental and spiritual house clean. Or so I thought.

 

Standing in that closet, attempting to hang that shirt, hiding the agony on my face as I fought to hold back the tears showed me that I indeed have some work to do in being Authentically Me. And isn’t that like God. He brings you into the knowledge of His truth. Then He gives you an opportunity to see where it applies in your life then follows that up with an opportunity to address it.

 

I thank Him for leading me into His truth. I thank Him for giving me the strength to be okay with acknowledging my pain.

 

I walked away from that closet to share this truth with you.

 

If my children ask me why my face is contorted, I will tell them.

 

When my husband gets home I will tell him because really I need him to give me a massage.

 

So while I’ve accepted and embrace that I’m unique, value myself & my contributions and know my self-worth, I also acknowledge today that I am vulnerable. I’m not always STRONG.

 

Yes I am weak.

 

In today’s vernacular, that has come to mean something else.  When one says, “I’m weak” it means very funny,  hysterical, quite entertaining”.  That is NOT how I’m using it here. I.AM.WEAK. At times devoid of strength.

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

 

Just recently a friend was mentioning to me that she “Had to be strong”. I asked her, “Who told you that? Why do you feel you have to be strong all the time?”

 

What if we’re not feeling strong?

 

Is that ok?

 

Well, that statement came crashing back at me as I was confronted with my own weakness. Now I can say to myself, in MY weakness HIS strength is made perfect.

 

This also reminds me I have to be diligent in finding a new chiropractor. I believe this could have possibly been avoided. I had been under chiropractic care but when he stopped accepting my insurance, I stopped going. And just recently I wrote about the importance of being in alignment (click here to read). We must be just as diligent in caring for ourselves as we are about caring for others.

 

Much to my dismay, I think I’ll have to resort to taking some ibuprofen. I don’t like taking over the counter medicine. I prefer natural remedies but the pain is excruciating. Darling hubs will apply the Tiger Balm and prayerfully, I’ll be all right.

 

In my weakness, I am strong.

 

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As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!

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