Life in Focus

So often the enemy makes me begin to feel out of control, overwhelmed and unworthy. When I focus on all the things I don't accomplish in a day, or have left to do on my "someday" list of things to handle, I begin to feel like I'm sliding towards failure. Or at least "bad mom" "bad wife" status. So, this morning while cleaning up the makings of breakfasts and school lunches, having just returned from taking my grandmother to the Dr, starving from my latest round of medicated weight management, I had a moment of clarity. And all before 9:30am. Wow. As I washed out the soup can and dumped it into the recycle bin, I thought, "Gina, despite the tapes in your head, you really have a great life." So here's my list of why I can celebrate life,

1. My kids laugh several times a day and I usually join them, regardless of how many times I find myself frustrated with parenting.
2. My family has plenty of clean clothes, regardless of how many loads are still in the closets.
3. We eat off clean dishes, and enjoy debatably healthy meals and snacks without want, regardless of what's piled up in the sink, or needing to be shopped for at Kroger.
4. We have a beautiful home, regardless of the unending amount of picking up and straightening it needs daily.
5. Homework gets done on time, regardless of how last minute that is.
6. The boys love their room, regardless of how disastrous it is for anyone else's health and safety.
7. My husband enjoys being with me, regardless of how difficult I make it to enjoy me sometimes.
8. I turn out amazing work from my little black desk, regardless of what a catastrophe my office appears to be in.
9. There are people walking around in a relationship with Jesus right now, because the Holy Spirit used me to help lead them there, regardless of how often I daily fall short of the glory of Christ.
10. God has called me beautiful and I will be restored to physical perfection one day, regardless of the havoc my body has been through and the way I "feel" about it today.
11. We have astonishing friends and family who we love being with, regardless of how often those relationships have been tested and refined by fire.
12. Our bills are paid, our debt is diminishing, our budget is stabalizing, and we enjoy a healthy and fun standard of living, regardless of how bad I am at keeping it all straight and organized most of the time.
13. God loves me, regardless of how often I think I don't deserve it.

And isn't that what it's all about. Walking with the Father who has it all in His hands. Who holds everything together with Christ, and works all things for the good of His glory. No worries, no fears, no failures with Him. Now to take a deep breath, put on my smile and make some headway this morning on the budget, the dishes, the laundry, the design work, the bible study, and the child calling for me to defeat Darth Maul with him on Lego Star Wars. . .