I got this fantastic devotional book from a friend summer before last from Lysa TerKeurst entitled, Embraced. Somehow I forgotten I had it until earlier this week and I realized I had 10 more devotions in it that I had not gone through yet. I was so excited to discover this and dove in this week.
I read one statement in Day 91's devotion that was a mic drop moment and I wanted to share it with you. This particular devotion was talking about when we want what someone else has. Lysa shared a statement she says to herself when she finds herself enviously wanting what someone else has-- I am not equipped to handle what they have, both good and bad.
Stop and go back and read that again. Now let's think about this statement and how it's so very true! As we all know everything we have and experience, no matter how wonderful, it comes with some good and bad. For example, when you get a new vehicle, you had to pay for it or assume a new car payment and greater insurance payments. Yes, you're driving an amazing new car, but unless it was given to you free and clear or you have a Daddy Warbucks, then the realities of paying for it come with the new car smell.
This last year I really sat with myself on several goals I had and got down to the foundation of why I wanted those. There was one goal in particular that I realized I didn't really want as much as I originally thought because I experienced a bit of an inside view of what that top prize entailed, and I realized that didn't match what I want my future to look like. Now I know that the Lord equips us for what He has for us and if that top level is where I end up, then He will equip me to deal with that. However, in my current mindset that top level does not appeal to me anymore once I sat with myself long enough to think through what that would be like and all the responsibilities that would come with it.
Maybe that's why the statement from this devotional reading stuck out to me so much! Obviously, there are situations or items that the negatives seem almost miniscule, and the positives seem to far outweigh the negatives and we might need to chant the "I am not equipped to handle what they have, both good and bad" over and over to ourselves. We would all be kidding ourselves if we don't experience those and that's where praying for contentment comes in or asking the Lord to show us the reality of what we want so much. Or maybe we ask that person, so what's it like having .... and most likely they will share some of the bad along with the good.
Can you think of something you've thought you wanted until you sat with it and realized the bad that would come along with it--and that caused you to reevaluate? I hope this statement of Lysa's helps you as much as I know it's going to help me.
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