Barriers

   So Monday was a super rough day mentally. I woke up feeling bogged down as I stared another week of social-distancing at home in the face. Our situation currently includes homeschooling a super TWEEN 12 year old, who is partially doing on line learning through his part-time private school. A husband who is working from home via our double living room, answering customer calls; while I wrestle with our very active and over-emotional, button-pushing 5 year old who thinks he runs the world, in to submission. Mix  that with 2 dogs, a cat, a master escape artist hamster and a bird who likes to vocally combust when he feels like he's left out. Did I mention this all takes place within about a 1,000 sq ft apartment? If coffee becomes as scarce as toilet paper.. I AM DOOMED! I have noticed I'm not the only one who hit a wall this week. A lot of us are spent in one way or another during this time of upheaval. I don't pretend to be any different in my struggles of frustration in all this. It's a hard time for many.

  I was thinking about the term "hitting a wall" and that old song came to mind about Joshua and the battle of Jericho. "and the wall came a' tumbling down." I thought how tired Joshua and his army must have been by the third day marching around Jericho. I bet they woke up in the morning with that same feeling of dread over the monotony of walking around that wall. But still they remained obedient to God's calling. They marched on carrying the ark of the covenant which was a symbol of the presence of God. The result? The wall came down and they were victorious over the town. What does this have to do with mentally or emotionally hitting a wall? EVERYTHING. When we are faced with these barriers whether it's in the form of anxiety or fear, frustration or just feeling overwhelmed we need to march in like prayer warriors. It may take us a single prayer or several prayers.. but we need to stand firm in our declaration of authority over these things and continually praise our way through these barriers! These barriers are not of God.

 This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.- 2 Timothy 1:6&7

  When you are born again and become filled with the holy spirit, you are kind of like the ark of the covenant. You contain the presence of God inside your spirit. He has given us the spiritual authority to dispel the things that are not of Him. He gives us the power to speak life and we need to be disciplining ourselves to live in the authority that's been given to us. It is His will that we overcome! We can overcome these barriers just like Joshua and his men. We can march in to battle with the evident presence of God and give Him thanks and praise! Meditating on the word of God empowers us to charge right through these barriers and trample them under our feet.

  I found myself feeding in to my barriers by looking at numbers. I would see posts on social media about how many days we've been in this quarantine already, and how many more we have left. When I feel anxious I shut down and just become angry. I had to do some serious marching to break through the walls of  my anxieties and frustrations, but I came out empowered. (I also took a nap so that could have been helpful too!) I personally have made the choice to forget numbers and instead meditating on God's wisdom in Matthew where it says, "so don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow brings its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." It's no longer x day of quarantine or x number of days left till this quarantine ends.. it's day one of today and I will rejoice and be glad in it!