Focus on What God Can Do Through You

I read a devotional today from Purpose Driven Life and it spoke to me...it is here in it's entirty (it's not long if you want to read it):

http://purposedriven.com/blogs/dailyhope/index.html?contentid=9755

I am really good at beating myself up about not doing things well enough or at all (ie house cleaning, enough Quiet Time with the Lord, proper discipline with my kids, letting homeschooling matters slide, etc. etc) The list goes on.  I have a long list of "shoulds" in my head and I struggle with them.

They can burden me and take me down to places I don't like to be.  I get ornry and then sometimes so angry at myself that I could spit.

But, listen to that cycle...
I don't do something
I think about the fact I haven't done it
I lay a good "should" on top of it
Then I get mad
And then sometimes depressed that I can't get it all done

Does that help?

Here's the message I heard today in this devotion...

as we’re beating discipline into our thoughts and behavior, we too often slip into beating ourselves up over the inability to do the things we ought to do (Romans 7:16–25). Here’s the thing: Becoming like Jesus is difficult enough without this “Try harder!” mentality we force upon ourselves. It sucks us into a cycle of “I must do better,” “I ought to pray more,” and “I should be spiritually more mature by now.” We’re left feeling defeated, and that pushes us further into our cycle of trying harder to measure up to God’s standards. But can you see that this keeps us focused on ourselves and on the things we can’t do? God wants us focused on the things he can do through us. He wants us to know that, having begun a good work in us, he “will carry it on to completion” until we see Jesus face-to-face (Philippians 1:6 NIV).

There is such relief when I actually "listen" to His word.
It is not about ME!!!  Shocker...
GOD wants me to focus on Him and What HE Can Do!!!
ooooooooooohhhhhh
I get it!
It's all about HIM!  He wants to show His Power and Carry HIS purposes on to Completion...

Even in the mundane--ie laundry, scrubbing floors, homeschool curriculum planning, meal planning, or whatever the task we have to do in our daily "work".  He wants to show His Power and Glory and what HE can do in it.

What a relief!
Yes, I've heard this message before in many forms, but I really needed it today and God plopped it right in my lap so I just had to share what an Awesome God He is!

Time to "get busy" and stop feeling defeated so that HE can show what He can Do!
whew! what a relief!