Skip to main content

Running on Empty --- Proverbs 31 OBS Blog Hop Day





It’s the middle of summer and I feel like I am running on empty.  Ever feel that way?  The pace of summer is supposed to relax me but these past couple of days…I feel tired and done.  Right now- I don’t believe my life is telling the story of God’s grace.  Oh, I know His grace is all around me…He gives me grace D A I L Y.  But…am I giving grace to others?  No…not really because I am empty…drained…exhausted.  In fact, I told my kids that it would be an early bedtime last night because Mommy was done...that Mommy was on empty…that I had nothing more to give and we needed to just go to bed. <Insert Mommy guilt>



I need to be filled up.  I want to be filled but I keep going through the motions of my day to day activities.  Depending on my own strength is draining me and causing me to say, “I have nothing more to give!”  When really…I do. 



The other day, my daughter had a trail ride and as I stood in a big open field and looked out at God’s creation…I thought of peace.  That peaceful feeling of standing out there on a cool July morning is what reminded me to bring it to Him.  He is all around me and it’s like He said, “Do you trust me?  We are in this together.  I am with you and you are enough.  Trust Me with them.  Trust Me with you.  I see it all and I love you.  Bloom right where you are…don’t worry about anything else.  Surrender your guilt to Me and remember My promises.  Be thankful and trust.”


I feel like I always come to Him when I am empty and have nothing more to give – when I should always be full.  But I’m not- He finds me exhausted and desperate…He draws me near and reminds me that He is always with me.



His mercy and grace are freely given to me.


“My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.” ~Psalm 71:8



It’s an easy choice but seems to always be my last choice.  Choose to see Him all around and this choice lifts me up out of my storm.  I don’t have to be standing in a field to hear Him.  I can hear Him in my kitchen with chaos around me…if I choose to listen.  


“This is easy to say but hard to do in the heat of the moment. But take heart! The Holy Spirit is our Steady Comforter and our Ready Reminder. We don’t have to do this in our own strength. We simply let Jesus’ name fall from our lips, and the Holy Spirit will give us the comfort we need and remind us how to react.”
~Lysa TerKeurst



Bloom where I am…dig my roots down and rise with Him above my own storm.

A choice that seems so easy…in Him I can give so much more.  It’s His grace that can transform my hardness into His holiness.  It’s His grace that brings me back to knowing that without Him, I fall apart - because He is the one that just wants my heart.  It’s in knowing that with Him…I can give more grace and love to those around me.  And fill them up as He fills me.  



In Him I can rise because I don’t need to be more or do more…I just need Him.
  
To be the Mommy that I want to be…I need to trust Him, be fueled by Him and grow with Him.
 
The secret to growing is facing the Light – Jesus – face Him and grow. And through this, my kids will see their Mommy needing Him.  That’s an example I hope they will live their lives by…needing Jesus.




Comments

  1. Joy MomentsJuly 23, 2014 at 7:15 AM

    Michelle isn't it amazing how just a little time outside gives us peace. I take a walk down the road looking at all God's creation in the trees, birds, animals, and clouds or I just sit on my front porch rocking my grandson and seeing butterflies, hummingbirds, dragonflies and clouds and I feel peace, and Colt must too because he just sits there and looks. A timely reminder that we have to sit with Him to grow, and we stay so busy we don't sit. Thanks for sharing. Missing you during this break. Debbie W. (Proverbs 31 Ministries OBS Team)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MichelleJuly 23, 2014 at 2:32 PM

      Debbie...missing you too!! Thank you for your comment!! :)

      Delete
  2. UnknownJuly 23, 2014 at 8:26 AM

    Thank you so much for sharing with us today! It so simple, we just need to sit still, be still and know that He is God!
    Nancy Silvers(Proverbs 31 Ministry OBS Team)

    ReplyDelete
  3. ShellyJuly 23, 2014 at 8:37 AM

    Hi Michelle, Your honesty this morning is refreshing. I understand and can surely relate to this place you're in. I love how you're pushing through and, by faith, setting your eyes on Him, even when you don't feel like it. I'm whispering a prayer for you this morning, sweet sister, and asking God to be all that you need today . . . Asking Him to overwhelm you with His amazing love and grace in the midst of your everyday moments...and to give you courage to trust and rise and grow :) Hugs! ~ Shelly (OBS Team)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MichelleJuly 23, 2014 at 2:32 PM

      Ahh...Shelly thank you so much for the prayer!!!

      Delete
  4. AnonymousJuly 23, 2014 at 9:59 AM

    Thank you Michelle. I needed this today. A reminder that I must choose joy (love the quote from Ann VosKamp), and that I must focus on the Lord alone to fill me up when I am exhausted and run down (and I totally am). Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MichelleJuly 23, 2014 at 2:34 PM

      Hi Mary!! Thank you for stopping by and hoping that you feel rested!! :)

      Delete
  5. AnonymousJuly 23, 2014 at 12:50 PM

    Thank you Michelle--as always, wonderfully written and hits so close to home for me. I'm struggling so much with so many of the same things you wrote about. I need to give it all to Him first, and to have peace and trust Him. Thanks for the reminder! Love the pics as always!!! <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MichelleJuly 23, 2014 at 2:35 PM

      Thank you!! I hope that we both can just give it to Him and trust that He has it. We just have to leave it there at His feet and focus on Him. =)

      Delete
  6. AnonymousJuly 23, 2014 at 8:24 PM

    Amen!! I feel the same as you...is this all i have to give...? No - I must trust HIM! Thanks for posting...keep on keeping on...
    You are truly a blessing.
    Teresa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MichelleJuly 24, 2014 at 6:46 AM

      Thank you Teresa.... Trusting in Him and putting one foot in front of the other with you. :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Worry? Proverbs 31 OBS Blog Hop

  This week's blog topic from Proverbs 31 OBS is on “Worry”… AND I know a thing or two about worry.  I’m betting a lot of you reading this do as well.  Dictionary.com defines worry as: “ to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret. ” Torment oneself.  Suffer.  Fret.  That’s what I can do to myself sometimes.   I’ve heard that if you worry you don’t really trust that God can handle it.  You don’t trust God with it.  That’s hard to swallow for me.  Because I worry about my kids, my family, me, friends, etc.  But I’m in the Bible every single day.  I am a Jesus girl.  So for me to worry and then see that my worry means I don’t trust that God can handle it is hard.  UGH.   I am getting better about it though.  My time with God every morning is helping.  When I start to worry about something…I begin to pray.  I stop the tormenting in it...
22 comments
Read more

A Raging Battle.... Proverbs 31 OBS Blog Hop

On Sunday of this week, we started a new online Bible study with Proverbs 31!  I am so excited because I love anything Proverbs 31!  Our study this time around is by one of my favorite authors, Lysa TerKeurst….and her book, Made to Crave !  I have read this book already and it is amazing.  If you want to jump in on the study…please do!  Go here to sign up:  http://proverbs31.org/online-bible-studies/ This week for my blog topic I picked “A Raging Battle”   because food is not something I crave more than God…I crave other things.  God has shown me some things that I crave more than Him and it’s not pretty.  “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”  Psalm 84:2 For three years now I have been doing a 365 photo a day blog and last year I started writing every Thursday about my faith and whatever was on my heart.  I felt...
15 comments
Read more

Palms Up! { Day 220 }

This week, I started a new Bible study with Proverbs 31 on a book called “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God” by Lysa TerKeurst….and I’m excited for this study.  Really Excited!!   I haven’t always said Yes to God…in fact I have ignored Him and said no to Him a lot in my life.  Makes me sad to think of how many times I have been blind to all He has for me or to all the times He has tried to lead me in a different direction.  Fear and lack of confidence have always held me back from saying YES to Him.  Sometimes I think that I know which path is better for me to take and sometimes I feel like I could do it better.  Ouch!  Or sometimes I just feel like its too scary and I don’t like change too much.  Lysa TerKeurst talks in her book, “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God” about “Surprise Parties” and how it must break God’s heart when He has planned something for us and we are too tired to notice, too blind to see or we...
17 comments
Read more