working the process together

For whatever reason, I have been very excited about today. Today is more like New Years Day for me and most of you because this is the day life truly gets back to normal. The after Christmas sales are over, the commercials no longer have Christmas tunes behind them and the decorations are stored and put away (for most of us). Husbands go back to a full work week, kids go back to school and Moms go back to making sure the home is in order and functional as everyone returns to a schedule. For a few weeks we could forget about bills, problems and exercise. We could relax and enjoy the bliss of the Holiday Season. All of the hype, all of the expectations, all of the family gatherings for Christmas celebrations and all the days of being able to do absolutely nothing has come to a screeching halt. Goodbye 2008, hello 2009!

I've been thinking a lot about resolutions and goals I have for this new year. How can I be a better wife, a better mom, a better woman? What can I change? Better yet, what can GOD change? This morning I am thinking about all of you who bless me so much by reading this blog. I never get over the fact that some of you come here to this blog and read about my life daily and worry about me when I don't post for days at a time. It is never something I take for granted. I think about all of you constantly. What can I share with them? How can I use this pain I am struggling with to show them how God can help us through difficulties.

This past year I have seen so much oppression among women, including myself. Women in the church, women outside of the church, just women. No one wants to live in a state of oppression but somehow we find ourselves there often. What does it mean exactly? How do you know if you are oppressed? Well, this is the meaning from dictionary.com and I think it pretty much says it all.

To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority: a people who were oppressed by tyranny.

To weigh heavily on: Poverty oppresses the spirit.

To overwhelm or crush.

At times we are oppressed because of what others have done to us. Sometimes it is the oppression of the enemy and his relentless attacks. But a lot of times, we are oppressed because of our own mindset. I've been asking God to show me areas in my life where I am oppressed and something I am learning is that there is a root to every single area. Oppression does not show up over night. It's been growing for days, weeks, months, years and sometimes decades. We grow accustom to it being there that many of us walk around not even realizing we are oppressed. We think we need paxil or some other prescription drug. We diagnose ourselves. We even get doctors to diagnose us with stuff we don't have. We fail in relationships, we start an exercise program and never finish. We eat poorly. Our home is out of order. We shop to ease the pain. We pretend we don't have problems. We smile and act like we are fine. We hide. We disconnect. We get depressed. We over eat. We compare ourselves to others. We get jealous. We get insecure. We lie. We gossip. We even kick others while they are down. We hate ourselves. Then we lay down at night and feel like we just don't cut it!

Why don't women talk about this with each other? Oh sure you have a friend you can share with but as a whole, women do not share these things. We pretend. Then when we see someone struggling or fighting their demons and we criticize them.

We are all in in the "process" and will be in the "process" until someday when we stand before Jesus. My friends will always see me working the "process" because I have a lot to overcome. I can only overcome it through the life changing power of Jesus Christ but it's gonna take a lifetime. Sure I will have victory and finally conquer certain areas but there will always be something else I need to work through and give to Jesus. That's life!

The more I think about oppression in my own life and the more I see it and experience it in others, the more I realize that most of us are clueless. We don't know how to quit living the lie. We don't know how to quit believing the lies in our head. Those lies have become our truth. As women, we put so much pressure on ourselves to be something more than we already are. We are not content. We treat ourselves like crap, we treat others like crap. We don't know how to love and give ourselves to one another because we don't know how to love ourselves.

I want to change that! I see some mindsets and behaviors in my life that I want to DESPERATELY change! I guess you could say I am a desperate housewife! :) Desperate to be different. Desperate to love and be loved. Desperate to change and lead others to HIM.

How can I do it? How can I give these areas to Christ and allow Him to take over? Well, one of the phrases I hear among "churched" people a lot is, "Get in the Word!". I have to be honest with you. I HATE that phrase. It means nothing to people who don't get that lingo. It means nothing to a Christian. It means nothing because it's just a statement that really has no action behind it. Yes, spending time in God's Word will break down strongholds and it will give your spirit truth to chew on instead of lies that swim around in your head. But before we can get IN the Word, we have to be lead to the Word and we have to be encouraged. We need each other. Women need other women walking the road with them. I know I do.

I am really praying about what this looks like. What can I do to help other women be free of oppression while I work on being free myself?! Then last night I got an email from a very special person in my life asking where they could find scriptures on their body being a temple. She explained how she wanted to be healthy and wanted to take better care of herself. The more I thought about it, the more I got excited about her wanting motivation to come from scripture rather than a fitness magazine or a new gym membership. It is actually a SIN to not take care of our bodies. So it is God's WILL for her to be healthy just like it is God's WILL for me to be free of the baggage I carry from the past. We can be healed, encouraged and transformed through the power of God's Word.

All of that to say I want to walk with you. We can find the answers together! If you are struggling and need a breakthrough as much as me, please email me. I want to join you this year by praying for you and walking the road with you. I have found such an incredible community of women through blogging (none of them have I met in person). I have made lifelong friends through blogging. I'm going to start reading through the book of James. It's a very short book in the Bible. But I am going to read one chapter each day and pray on it and allow God to truly let it soak into my spirit. As I do this, I am going to post some thoughts for it each day. If you need some accountability, encouragement or some hope, I pray you will join me and read along with me.

I don't have it all together ladies! I am on this journey with you. You will not see me pretending I have one up on you because I DON'T! I have many flaws, many things needing to be redeemed. My marriage needs work, my relationships, my parenting, my life. So we can learn together if you would like! God is going to do some amazing things in my life this year! I KNOW IT! He is going to do amazing, life changing things in your life too!!!

If you want to join me in this, email me at mamasings2three@gmail.com. Also start in James today or tonight. Don't read ahead! Just read chapter 1 and pray God will allow your mind and spirit to truly soak it up. Let me know if you are reading so I can pray for you too! If for some reason you do not own a Bible, go to http://www.biblegateway.com/.

Happy New Year and remember God has BIG things in store for you!

Listen to this and know that there is someone who loves you more than you can possibly imagine. He is desperate to love YOU. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcWQIsG9Rqw