06/15/11

This is a peony bloom being ravaged by ants. I was told that this is common, although, when I took this picture, I wasn't so sure!! By the way - how do YOU say peony? Like us NC southern peeps "PEE - O - nee" or like the rest of the country "Pee-u-nee"?

As I thought this plant was being attacked by those ants, I have felt quite attacked this week.

It hasn't been a person.... it has just been the lies of Satan himself.

How many of you have heard the little voice in your head tell you:

"You aren't good enough."

"You think YOU should do THAT?"

"You aren't worthy."

"You can't do that!"

And the list could go on and on.

Those spiritual battles we have on a daily basis can really wear us down.

I know, because I feel a bit weary.

I have been reminded yesterday and today doing my Bible study, and some of the songs that have come on my MP3 player as I walked, that I need to keep my eyes on the Lord. I am finding such richness in Psalm 120, 121, 122, and 123 from my Stepping Up Bible study.

I find that we can have such wonderful times of spiritual awakening and growth.... and, if so, beware because that is not what Satan likes and he will do everything in his power to make us fall. He hates us so he wants to make us fail or feel like a failure.

That would be me.

It seems I have taken my eyes off the Lord for a few days and put them on the troubled waters around me. I stopped looking UP and began to look out and began to sink.

The wedding photography is definitely something that Satan is trying to use against me. I am a perfectionist so I want to do everything "just perfect" but I have been reminded this week that I capture moments every time I use my camera and this is nothing different. I have to let this go and let God control that shutter.... and everything that I have to remember on that day.

Doubts about whether I have the ability to do some other things have been creeping in. I know it is just another way Satan is trying to cause me to stumble so that I cannot be used by the Lord.

I am learning this week, and choosing, to LOOK UP.

Enjoy this Psalm that I am studying right now that has helped me immensely:

Psalm 123:1
To Thee I lift up my eyes, O Thou who art enthroned in the heavens!

Psalm 124:2-8
Had it not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us; Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger was kindled against us; Then the waters would have engulfed us, the stream would have swept over our soul; Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; the snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.