And walk….

Some of these moments have been hurtful, some funny, and some just pissed me off.  Either way, I relay them to all of you and I love it when you flood my inbox with messages that are so full of energy and feeling.  I love that you are moved to the point of having to let me know exactly what you thought upon finishing the blog for that day.

I really do try to mind my own business until something happens that causes me to no longer remain an outsider to the situation. So, on this particular day, I was standing waiting for the elevator and I heard a couple coming down the hall and right away I could tell–the woman was worked up about something. I heard her say with complete exasperation, “I can’t find it!  I’ve been up and down this hallway three ever loving times and I’m telling you, it ISN’T here. Let’s just go downstairs and forget it!”  As they came around the corner to the elevator, I could tell by the look on the man’s face, he was not going to argue with his wife.  He replied with a rather meek, “whatever you say, Dear.”

I heard how annoyed and frustrated the woman was and I couldn’t help it, I couldn’t just stand there and ignore her clear plea for my assistance, could I?   I mean at this point, I heard her angst and because of that, I was involved, right?  So, I looked at her and asked her, “What are you looking for?”  She responded with an exasperated huffy breath, accompanied by an extreme eye roll and with complete certainty said, “the flipping ice machine.  There is NOT one on this floor.”

The funny part about this story is that I, too, had been in search of the hard-to-find ice machine earlier.  I’m a major ice chomper and the very first thing I always do in a hotel is locate the ice machine and get a huge amount of it for my room so that I can eat away. On this floor, however, the ice machine was somewhat hidden due to the fact the door had been propped open and as a result, the sign that said, “ice” couldn’t be seen from the hallway.  The other funny thing about this story is that the lady was literally standing four feet away from the ice machine.  She just didn’t realize it.

I explained to her that it was actually right in front of her. I showed her how close she was to the ice machine and she couldn’t believe it.  She went on and on about how close it actually was and how if it was a snake, it would have bit her.  I told her that she was giving up when she was actually right where she needed to be–literally only a few feet away from her goal.  She was laughing and laughing and kept saying to her husband, “Can you believe how close I was?” Right away I thought about how this relates to so many different situations in life.

I said to the nice, elderly couple, “there is a message in this situation and I’m going to blog about it.”  The lady looked at me and said, “Honey, I don’t know what a blog is, but you do what you have to do. I’m just thankful that you revealed to me what was right in front of my eyes that I was incapable of seeing.”  I smiled and of course my mind was racing with the thoughts of how the universe sends us messages all of the time.  I try, very hard, not to miss those messages.

Think about your life.  Consider the times you have given up when you may have been extremely close to achieving your goal and getting exactly what you were looking for or hoping to obtain.  Perhaps you became frustrated, just like the little lady did, when it seemed, despite your best efforts, that you would never find what you had been working so hard to locate.  How many dreams did you give up on because your frustration and impatience got the best of you?

I think this is how the devil attacks us.  He throws roadblocks in our way that cause us to worry ourselves crazy and think that what we most desire is unobtainable.  I also believe that the closer we get to being where we really want to be, the place God has prepared for us to do our very best, the devil ups his game and really bombards us with obstacles as his final attempt to sabotage us from becoming what we are truly meant to become.   The devil doesn’t accept defeat lightly, he will hit us with everything he has to try to prevent us from doing good work on this planet.

I’ve always imagined myself climbing up a ladder, trying to get where I need to be.  The problem is, my destination is somewhere in the middle of a bunch of fog and clouds, so I can’t see where the finish line actually is or how many more rungs I have to climb until I get there.  I might have 100 more rungs to climb or I might just have two more to go.  This image has always caused me to keep climbing when I want to give up.  I never want to quit when maybe, I am closer than I think, perhaps, I am almost there.

One thing I know for certain is that God has equipped me with everything I need to get where I’m trying to go.  Like anyone else, I have my days where I wonder if I’m running out of resources, but somehow, it never fails, God replenishes everything I need.  The devil has littered my path with landmines and obstacles that have caused me to stumble–some causing significant pain and trauma, but at the end of the day, he can’t keep me from my destiny forever.  He may delay me, he may overwhelm me from time-to-time, but I fight behind the full armor of God, and we all know how that story ends.

So, when you feel like giving up, when you feel like a lost cause, remember this blog and how close you may actually be to obtaining your goal.  Don’t you dare give up. You might be four feet away from the ice machine and just be temporarily unable to see it.  Pause, say a prayer and knowing that you have the most powerful force in the world behind you, announce loudly, “Nope! Not today Satan. This is one battle you will lose.”

Then, put on some 5 inch heels…….and walk.