The Knotted Cord

Feed your spirit— Bible rich devotions & daily encouragement.

The You of Today; The You of Tomorrow

Impatience and feelings of inadequacy are a terrible mixture for success.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” –Matthew 6:34

      Let’s be real, waiting is super hard. Waiting on anything; It’s hard to endure the moments of waiting when what we desire or where we desire to be is still foreign to us. “Will I ever get there? Will it ever happen for me?”

Something else that’s hard? Living in this flesh. Sometimes we don’t feel good enough, we don’t feel up to par. Often we can discourage ourselves by comparing what we see in the mirror with our neighbor’s reflection. We compare the numbers on our friends check with the numbers on our own, comparing the put-together residence next door to your own humble abode , littered with toys and children that never stop. We take time to heavily examine the life of another and compare it to our own, causing us to feel unsatisfied, envious, hopeless, and yes, inadequate.

I once drove by a cluster of nice model homes (one in particular being my favorite shade of blue). It had my dream car parked in the driveway and had a big back yard. You could just imagine the small little family that lives there, mom and dad, two kids. Anyway, as I drove by in my dented little malibu that you can hear screeching from a mile away; hair in a messy bun, shirt stained from one of my preschool kids “spills” at lunchtime. I’m was coming home from working another 9-6, just getting by. I felt a little bit low.

I found myself questioning things that aren’t even happening. Thinking I’ll never be able to ‘adult’ like that. I’ll never be able to date like that. Wife like that. Mom like that.

Anyway, the point is, it’s easy to compare where you are in life with where someone else is in theirs. However, you are not called to live their life but to pace yourself in your own. Today is the mission, so don’t get stuck looking for what’s seemingly missing.

Knowing and understanding the you of today and the you of tomorrow, is important. God is working on you. He’s molding and shaping you. It takes time, it takes work, it takes enduring seasons as they come and go. Learn to love the you, you are today and patiently wait for God to shape you into the you of tomorrow. You don’t have to be able to “envision it” or see it as feasible. You just have to trust God.

“You are not called to live their life, You are called to pace yourself in your own”

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us not to lean to our own understanding but to trust God and to acknowledge Him in all our ways, then He will direct us. In due season and time He will create in you the things needed. If you allow He will shape you into the spouse you need to be, into the parent you long to be, the worker, the provider, the person you need to be.

You need to be focused on being the you God wants you to be today;  not the you, you’ll be five years down the road.

“You don’t have to be able to ‘envision it’ or see it as feasible. You just have to trust God.”

    ” Cast all your care upon Him for He careth for you” –  1 Peter 5:7

So, embrace your dented fender.

Embrace your full sink and mis-matched socks.

Embrace your singleness.

Embrace your broke college student status.

Embrace your tiredness and hard work.

Embrace your messy littles and toy-littered living room.

And embrace your longing for more-  it’s okay and it’s natural but  turn. it. over. to. God.

     Keep working , keep loving; yourself,others, and God. Be yourself today and be yourself tomorrow and the next day and the next day.

“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”- Phillipians 1:6