One of my Least Favorite Words

Striving has become one of my least favorite words. Just hearing the word makes me tired. I spent the last part of 2016 and the first half of 2017 STRIVING; I was reaching too far, stretching myself too thin. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything well: coaching, mothering, or wife(ing). By mid-2017, I was exhausted and burnt out.

Reading this excerpt from “She Is Free”, by Andi Andrew, took me right back to that season of my life:

“Whenever I feel totally out of my depth, unable to achieve what I am supposed to do, I know I’ve stepped out of connection with God and have started to walk in STRIVING and fear. Worry leads to a striving life of self-preservation instead of one of rest in God’s unfailing love. When we seek Him first, we are rewarded with HIM…
When we CLAW after our own destiny in fear, we reap anxiety and striving, and the “STUFF” we accumulate must be maintained by our own strength.”

Striving is not a place I want to live and walk in. I can’t do it. I’m not meant to do it.

I want to live according to my priorities. I want to work hard and know when to stop. I want to trust the process. I want to rest in the hope of Jesus. I want to dream God-sized dreams and then surrender.

It all sounds so good, right? But I don’t live there ^ everyday. I relapse into striving. I imagine we all do. But if we are going to strive, let us STRIVE after the life of ABUNDANCE and joy and hope and REST God has already given us, IF we will just ease into it, ease into HIM.