Get UP

GET UP!
.....If 2013 left you heartbroken and weary I want to encourage you with this story.
There was a particular day that I found myself so tired. Tired of heartache. Thoughts of discouragement and defeat filled my mind.
I fought for focus. Clarity of thought. Peace of mind.
But I was so very weary and I just couldn't find the strength to keep going.
I collapsed under the weight of it all and just cried.
I felt defeat on every level.
I wanted to go to bed and start all over again. With promises of NEW grace. NEW mercy. A NEW day.
Iron out my wings to fly again.
As hard as I fought....I felt disappointed in myself. Not being consistent. Wanting so much to be constant. Strong. Dependable. Just feeling weak. Incapable. Not wanting to fight any more. It became too much for me to carry.
Then God stepped in and painted me the most GLORIOUS picture.
He showed ME....on the ground. Weeping. Complaining about how weary I am. Complaining about how hard the devil fought me that day. Showing God all of my "injuries." Like a little child running to their parent after having been hurt. Complaining that I've failed again. I see Him standing over me....and I hear Him say, "My love? ..... What are you doing down there!? Please get up. This has not injured you!"
(This has not INJURED me??!!!!!!?---it most certainly HAS!!!!!!!)
He speaks to me lovingly....gently.....and asks me to "GET UP"

But, Lord, I failed on so many levels!!! "GET UP"
I'm too weary. "GET UP"
But don't you see? I'm hurt! "GET UP"

He showed me the battles I fought that day in the light of His grace. He showed me defeat in light of His mercy. He showed me that I had not been hampered or injured in any way by my failures in light of His compassion towards me. His grace was enough. I could keep going. The blows weren't as devastating as I had "imagined" them to be. The battle wasn't as big as I had imagined it to be. He showed me my enemy in light of His MIGHT and POWER and AWESOMENESS. I said, "THIS is the one who made me tremble? THIS is the one who shook me to my core!??!" All of the sudden...he didn't seem that terrifying. His weapons didn't seem that skillful. Instead they seemed weak and powerless.
Stand FIRM then. RESIST the devil and he will flee. Having done ALL---STAND.
So I get up......
Proverbs 24:16 No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don't stay down long; Soon they're up on their feet
I brush myself off.
It was not a *devastating* blow.
2 Corinthians 4: 8-10 We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do: we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken.

Jesus CAME to heal the brokenhearted. To give strength to the weary. To give us a GARMENT of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
Don't carry the burdens of 2013 into the new year.
LET IT GO.
It hasn't injured you. God has promises stored up for YOU. A HOPE and a FUTURE. He's got something in MIND for YOU.....
So *GET UP!* and expect greater things in 2014. He's doing a NEW thing and what's behind you is done and over. His mercies are new EVERY morning.
He makes *ALL* things NEW.
This is the beauty of God's grace. Even the messes we create with our own HANDS....He can turn those ashes into something beautiful. It's an *Amazing GRACE.*