I feel so OUT OF IT!! I feel like my eating is rotten, my exercising is non-existent, my relationships are sketchy at best, my housekeeping is disastrous and my blogging upkeep is a mess. I feel like I’m spinning my wheels… working a lot but getting seemingly nothing accomplished. I get one thing going right and everything else seems to fall apart. Then I move on to tackle the next thing and the first one is a mess again.

Does this sound like you? Sweetie, I’m here to tell you that YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

I’m going to burst your bubble and let you know that not one of us Do It All, let alone do it all well!

First I want to bring up some things we might need to look at:

I’ve used the juggling analogy before, and it’s well worth the re-read. Take a hard look at your life. Are you trying to keep all the balls in your life in the air at the same time only to find yourself with just one in your hand and all the rest scattered on the floor? Then it’s time to take a look at the reality of your goals.

Are you setting your priorities according to YOUR desires rather than according to the Lord’s priorities for you? Then it is time to take some time with Him to find out which of the ones you are clinging to that He wants you to let go of.

Is your focus wrong about how your life is used by God? Do you see your life as getting away from you yet, in reality, you are doing exactly what the Lord has for you – and that this spinning of your wheels is actually a life poured out as a drink offering to His glory? Then it is time to let God renew your vision for your life.

Are you feeling burn out and don’t know how to get recharged, or even if you have permission to? Do you find yourself wondering if you will scream if one more person calls for you? Then it’s time to let the Lord give you rest and redirection.

So much of it comes down to the work the Spirit is doing in your life right now.

• Are we walking in the tasks the Spirit calls us to TODAY?
• Are we choosing joy (knowing that the joy of the Lord is our strength)?
• Are we recognizing that, in the midst of our failures, His power is make perfect in our weakness?
• Are we sapping our energy by comparing ourselves to others (thinking they Do It All) and feeling more of a failure?
• Are we looking at the long haul of our lives or just the Today where we might be blowing it?

Another analogy to look at is the Spiral Staircase.

Think of all the sin issues or areas of failure and struggle in our lives as if they were written on the wall of our lives. But our lives are not linear… they are in an enclosed spot with a spiral staircase in the center. And these issues are written UP THE WALL from bottom to top. As they go further up the writing becomes dimmer and dimmer until it finally is gone altogether.

As we walk up the staircase, we come to the first issue God wants to deal with. It’s written on the wall big and dark for all to see. We spend time working, training, being tested and we find areas of victory. GREAT! We have finished with that and continue on our upward walk. But as we come around the curve, there it is again on the wall! “Wait a minute! I dealt with that! Why is it still there, big and dark for all all to see?”

Well, we dealt with the most blatant parts of it in our first go-around. But God wants to work deeper in our lives to address this issue. We are not done yet. So, we do more work, more training, more testing and finally, more areas of victory. HOORAY! We can go on, knowing it is done. Oops… we come back around the bend in the staircase and THERE IT IS AGAIN!! Didn’t I learn before? Didn’t I grow? Am I just stuck without seeing any permanent changes?

If we look carefully, we’ll see that the writing is actually much lighter than it was way down at the bottom. This means that the Lord actually IS working in our lives. We ARE changing. But, like most of the sins and failings in our lives, this goes further than skin deep. God is working deeper into our soul, the essence of who we are, and changing us deep inside; how we think, how we automatically respond, what we believe. He’s peeling away all the outer layers, layer by layer, to reveal the soft heart deep within that is our new nature longing to be released to please and delight the Father.

If you are feeling like things are falling apart, is there something specific the Lord is working on in you?

• Some area of sin or weakness where He is building victory?
• Or is there one thing that is out of whack that is tossing a wrench into the entire workings of your life?
• Some are He is wanting you to surrender to in joy?

Ask the Lord to identify this area or thing and to give insight to you and GRACE to let Him deal with it in His timing.

Image courtesy Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net.