Find A Flower

Have you ever had one of those weeks?  The kind where everyday you have to drag yourself out of bed then scrape yourself off the floor just to make it out the door in time to meet your "busy schedule" as it drags you through the day like a herd of while horses. . .only to drop you off at night too tired to think, or breathe right, or sleep well.  In college we affectionately called them "hell weeks" and I am here this evening to tell you I found the secret to "hell week" survival last night and was rewarded with a surprise flower today!

 So yes, my week was horrible.  One of the worst in a long time filled with panic/anxiety attacks and insomnia and other health-related-medical issues due to stress.  Work is stressful.  We are too busy to see all the clients which makes everyone stress out because as Speech-Language Pathologists it is in our nature automatically to solve problems and help others and when we can not solve the scheduling problems and get the clients in to help them due to lack of space it makes everyone crazy, seriously, literally crazy.  This is no bueno.  In an office with already too much estrogen you add stress and then everyone happens to get on the same cycle and wha-la you have horrible drama and miscommunication and more drama and more drama.

 It was so rough this week that on Wednesday I came home and had two thoughts as I dragged my body to my bed and collapsed 1.) I can understand why some people drink alcohol to numb the pain/stress of life and 2.) I can understand why some people have chosen to become Monks or Nuns or Hermits and shut themselves away from society.   However...neither of these options are the solution to surviving "hell week".  The solution I found was The Bible.  Plain and simple.  After coming home and crying for awhile on the phone with my mom (seriously had to call my mom and cry this week, like a small child) I decided I should go to my weekly women's bible study group because I needed some extra Jesus time.  This was the best decision I made all week. Bible study Thursday was on God's Incredible Gift of Words (Our current Bible study topic is The Power of A Woman's Words by: Sharon Jaynes).   I have to admit that I had a hard time focusing for the first hour of the study but the second hour really got me when they began talking about God inspiring us with His words.  The text that really got me was. . .Jeremiah 1: 17-19 which says. . .

Jeremiah 1:17-19

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁷ “ Therefore prepare yourself and arise,
      And speak to them all that I command you.
      Do not be dismayed before their faces,
      Lest I dismay you before them.
       ¹⁸ For behold, I have made you this day
      A fortified city and an iron pillar,
      And bronze walls against the whole land—
      Against the kings of Judah,
      Against its princes,
      Against its priests,
      And against the people of the land.
       ¹⁹ They will fight against you,
      But they shall not prevail against you.
      For I am with you,” says the LORD, “to deliver you.”

I had a "Hello!" moment and realized that no matter how horrible I think my week is if I. . .

1. Get up/Get ready and spend my time in the Word: putting on my armor for the day
2. Believe in the words that God has spoken
3. Claim the promises as my own

Then I will have no need to fear or be anxious or worry over what is happening during the day, especially at work because God has promised to make me into a. . .

1. Fortified City: Secure in Him and myself and Impregnable to Anxiety and Stress
2. An Iron Pillar: Dignified
3. A Bronze Wall: Strong

That is sooooooo powerful!  I want to be a woman who believes that when I claim and say the words that God would have me to say that I will be secure and dignified and strong enough to make it through the toughest of days.  

So no more worries. I'm claiming the promises and with God's help becoming a strong, dignified, secure (in Him) woman who can handle all the stresses of work/life because God is giving me the strength to make it through the day. 

PLUS - Added Bonus - God gave me a pretty little flower today as I got home from work and my pepper plants I have been growing in my window all summer flowered today :)   So pretty!