I have a lot of thoughts flowing right now but I'm going to try to put them into some coherent words...bare with me!....Tonight was a big night for one of my boys. This is his second year of playing "player pitched" baseball. The team that we played tonight is one that has beat our team twice by a pretty large margin both games. This wasn't making it easy for my son to have the desire to go play tonight. He asked if he really had to go tonight because he already knew what the outcome would be....but he was so wrong! While his team lost, they played really well and scored quite a few runs on this team that had previous held them to low scores twice. But what was even more important for my little guy was that not only did my he have a great catch, he did something that he had not done in nearly two years....he hit a homerun!! Upon touching home plate and walking back to the dugout, he was smiling from ear to ear with a look of shock on his face and he said, "Did that just really happen!?!?" Yes, my sweet boy, it just did really happen. For this mom, this was a moment I have been praying for and I could not have been more excited. See, I think he's been doubting his abilities and measuring himself up to others in a way that is keeping him from wanting to try new things or even from continuing to do things that he's been doing for awhile...like baseball. He's really hard on himself and so if he's not doing what he thinks is the best, then he thinks maybe he shouldn't be doing it. Now, he hasn't said all of this too me...just what I've gathered from his actions and from what little he has said. My "momcolgist" degree allows me to make this diagnosis. But I haven't been able to find a cure for this hardness and doubt that he seems to be experiencing. So we've just been encouraging and trying to talk about it a bit, and praying that he would see that God has given him the perfect abilities to do anything he wants to do...and that he may have to work at it a bit.
Ok, back to tonight...On the way home, we were talking about his hit and he told me that while running the bases, he just kept thinking, I'm going to get out, I'm going to get out....way to be a positive thinker, son! haha! But next thing he knew, he was rounding third and a throw was coming home but he beat it and accomplished something that he never expected.
This got me to thinking...how often do we doubt ourselves and the gifts and talents that God gave us? Or how often are we waiting for "the other shoe to drop" rather than recognizing God's goodness and provisions? Or how often do we find ourselves measuring ourselves by fake standards that we make up for ourselves based off of what we think others are rather than what God made us to be? Or how often do we find ourselves standing by with a shocked look on our face saying, Did that just really happen?? When we grow in our relationship with God, we start to see His fingerprints in every aspect. Living life without His guidance and faith in His plan for us will leave us striking out a lot. But when we fix our eyes on Him and are looking for, and able to see His fingerprints in every aspect of our lives, we will find ourselves standing in awe, saying, Did that just really happen?!?!
This day, and this post is a culmination of exciting things that have happened in our house lately...which has left us saying, "Wow, I can't believe that worked out that way!" We've had lots of reminders that good and amazing things come our way when we strive to stay on the path that God wants us on. Notice I said strive...we're far from perfect! We fail daily but keep striving and trying to improve...we just keep swingin'! Keep swingin' and be ready to stand in awe the things God will do in your life. You will catch yourself saying, "Did that just really happen?!"
Isaiah 30:18
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
Philipians 2:13
.....for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
