“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming...” My dear warrior,
There are times in our lives when it feels like no one is rooting for us to win, and everyone is looking for us to fail. It seems like no one is for you and everyone is against you. Sometimes you wonder if anyone out there has thought about cheering you on, or if anyone is on your side. You feel alone, completely abandoned, like there is not one sympathetic soul out there rooting for you. I have learned that oftentimes, while those who are against us are the loudest, there are silent spectators watching us, waiting for us to step into our identity. These are the ones who are for us, who are quietly rooting for us, praying for us, and cheering for us. They are sitting by, waiting to see what we will do, staying out of our way because they want to see us succeed. They are watching from the sidelines because they know the decisions we have to make must be our own. They know the victory has to be ours.
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"The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us."  “The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self--all your wishes and precautions—to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call "ourselves," to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be "good.” My dear warrior,
As C.S. Lewis and A.W. Tozer both so eloquently stated, the almost impossible thing is to come to the end of ourselves. We struggle and wrangle to kill the flesh; we fight against temptation; we want to live our lives as ‘good people’; and yet, we fight to maintain control. We want to be in charge. We have to have the last word. If that sounds familiar because you are in the middle of that selfsame struggle, if you recognize yourself in this, let this be a letter for you.  You call me out upon the waters My dearest warrior,
Imagine yourself standing before an ocean of possibilities. The ocean reaches to the farthest expanses, disappearing into the horizon line in such a way that sea and sky seem to blend together. You cannot tell where the ocean ends and the sky begins. All that is before you is vast and overwhelming. That is what our future often seems like. It’s an endless expanse filled with possibilities, and we don’t know how to take it all in. We have a goal in mind, but we cannot see how to get there from where we stand, and the idea of simply taking the plunge, diving headlong into our future can be daunting, to put it mildly. |
Check out Michele's new book, now available for purchase on Amazon!
Mere Humanity: Becoming a Mature Christian in an Immature World 
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