So how do we survive it?

Knowing what to take to heart and sharing the world with strangers can, if not balanced with wisdom, affect us all in varying degrees. As a mom, I find these things are all connected, and when I [unfortunately?] put 100% into everything . . . I tell ya, it’s so hard to be an adult…

Deciding what to receive

The other day, I was listening to a speaker. The things he said sounded very nice, and he even got vulnerable for a moment, sharing a struggle of his own. But for the reason I was present alongside what he was trying to get across, actionably, was just not clear. I walked away thinking about how typical it is that individuals place so much stock in one sentence, but don’t take the extra step to help you visualize how you can experience it with them, too. An advantage is knowing these people really well to know what was intended. But if you don’t, all you have to go on is your actual experiences and how far removed they may seem.

I take this personally because as a communicator myself I want to make sure that I am understood. So if I say something that is meant to inspire and motivate you, you will be able to say “Me, too!” and “I want to be a part of this.” This is a work in progress. I have not arrived yet, so I am in no place to judge.

Deciding what to release

Another really challenging aspect of being an adult in this wild world is realizing that people will decide what they will think of me, and most likely, I will not be able to change their perception.

This hits a bit close to home, as I often cross paths with some of these individuals, and boy, is it awkward. I will speak up and cut the tension with a knife when the time is right. But I am relying on the Holy Spirit to do that. This one needs that by far.

Deciding what to forgive

Here is another. Driving is a great example of covetousness. Ugh. The longer I drive, the more of a defensive driver I feel like I have to be. For one main reason: I have precious cargo in my vehicle, so I need to stand my ground. Driving gets way too stressful, and now more so since school just started up. Lord, help me.

I heard a definition of covetousness that I will never forget. I heard it during a book study. (Hmm, those were good. But as a mom, it’s so hard to leave my family behind on a weeknight.) Anyway, covetousness is not the same as envy, where you may want what someone else has–but it goes further in that you may not even want what the other person has, and something inside just makes you want to keep them from having it, that thing, whatever it may be. That’s covetousness.

The hurt cuts deeper when it’s the little things that may have bothered one person on their bad day, and perhaps you’ve been asking for some tools to enhance what you do, and someone admits to slowing down the process, and for no reason at all. (I finally got what I needed, but I could not celebrate because of how rough that journey was.)

Adulting is hard. But surely there is a way.

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As a woman, all my roles in life intertwine. So if I have experienced any of the above, and it’s usually multiple of these things, in a day, when I come home, I feel like an utter failure in all the things: mom, wife, friend, daughter, employee, believer, you name it.

So how do we survive?

Life is too short to waste it being discouraged by nonsense because I “wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Here are some other verses the Lord laid on my heart as I considered this topic.

This verse has sustained me through some tough days. He even showed Himself in one instance, and it was such a nod to His promise in this verse.

Exodus 14:4

“The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”

The Lord knows what my heart longs for. In this season there is waiting and the “meantime” has presented challenges that I keep reminding myself will be understood one day.

1 John 5:14-15

“And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”

I may not know why I had to experience all that I had to, but the Lord already does.

2 Corinthians 2:3-4

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

From day to day I need this reminder, that God can get me through anything. He already knows what happens tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and beyond. I can do whatever I need to do today. I have Him for my strength.

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Thank you for reading along!