⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

 

The Lord reminded me this morning about something He showed me about five years ago. He was speaking to me about progress and completely shifting my perspective.

 

He said to me, “The expectations you have placed on yourself, are not from Me. In fact, they are actually distracting you from the very plans and purposes I have created you for!”

 

He began walking me through a journey of saying, “I do not have to be a perfect_____________.” You can fill in the blank with any hat you wear. Mine included wife, daughter, sister, friend, hairdresser, Christian, among others. I would literally look myself in the mirror and speak this truth over myself until I began to feel a shift in my spirit, in my belief system, and in my atmosphere. 

 

What He was undoing was my attitude towards myself which constantly left me dancing faster, working harder, and always feeling as though I was in a state of playing catch-up. I felt like I could never make it in time, or be good enough at the right time. And while I can tell you plainly today that is how I was feeling, and I can also tell you while I was enduring this “Performance Mentality” I had no idea I was suffering with it. This was a completely subconscious cycle that was not made known to me until it was tested against the TRUTH in God’s Word.

 

The Lord made me come completely unglued one day because He spoke to me, “You do not have to DO anything to earn my love or approval. I am proud of you simply because you are my child.” It took a long time for me to start understanding this. Actually, it took motherhood because I am so incredibly proud of my son, and he did not have to earn it. That came natural along with the unbelievable amount of love I have for him, also which he did not have to earn. 

 

So the next thing the Lord said was, ” Your goal is no longer to get there, reach there, achieve this, perfect that.” I had no idea what to say or think or do because striving had been the only way of life I had ever known. So I simply asked, “Then what do I do?” He so lovingly replied, “You do a little better today then you did yesterday, and then you CELEBRATE IT!” That is when He showed me His example of when He was creating the Earth. Each step He did, it states, “He saw that it was good.” He took a moment to celebrate His progress, even though it wasn’t finished or complete. He celebrated every step in the right direction.

 

And lately, He has been really bringing me to a new level of freedom because He has taught me to seek Him for my daily bread, and not to worry about tomorrow. He has been encouraging me that progress and change occur by consistent small right choices. I had always tried to make big huge change, to be left disappointed because I had no foundation for them to succeed on.

 

So I would just like to encourage you today to seek Him, ask Him what He wants from you. Ask Him to redeem any wrongly placed expectation you have been striving for. Ask Him what small right choices you can make with His help today that will encourage lasting change, and really break negative cycles in your life. And then tonight, reflect on your progress and take a minute to see that it was good. CELEBRATE your progress with the Lord. You do not have to wait to ARRIVE before you are worth celebrating!

 

This is a new prayer I have found myself praying daily:

Lord,thank You for this day that You have made, I will choose to rejoice and be glad in it. Lord I ask today that you would provide everything I need for today. And Lord I ask that you would bless me with supernatural wisdom that I would be able to make the most with every opportunity to place in my way and make wise choices with my time, resources, food, and words. I acknowledge that You are God and I am not, and I am utterly dependent on You. Lord please meet me in my weaknesses and strengths. Please be strong where I am weak and strengthen my strengths. You are an awesome God, and I love You Lord! It is in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!