Etc, Etc, Etc

Do you have days like these? I love this video.




Cracks me up!

There are day when it seems as though I just can't keep up.
Where life is moving by too fast.
When I have too many balls in the air...too many chocolates on the conveyor belt.
There are days when my thoughts consume my mind. (My never ending to do list, fear, worry, etc.)

ETC...means and so on and so forth

At our last staff meeting, our pastor gave a devotion. He gave another meaning of ETC. Every Thought Captive.

You see, we have an enemy. He would like nothing more than to keep us busy. Keep our thoughts consumed with stuff of the world. Keep our to do list, never ending. Busyness keeps us from spending time with God and spending time with those that matter.

Like the never ending line of chocolates, we can fill our mouths and every part of our lives with stuff that seems at the time to be sweet, but in reality it will end up making us sick.

I am plenty guilty of doing this very thing. Although if you know me, you will know that I've gotten better at this. I am becoming more protective of my boundaries. I am learning to say "no". This is very hard for me. Empathy is my number 1 strength. I "feel" for everyone!

I mentioned that we can end up sick. I truly know this in the most literal sense. I don't believe that God ever makes us sick. He is only good. There is no sickness in heaven. But I do believe that nothing happens without God allowing it to happen. Why He allows somethings and not others is a whole other post. Since I believe He allows it to happen, I think He has a reason. Maybe it's to draw us closer to Him. Maybe it's to allow us a chance to slow down. God only knows.

Something a little funny...I've been meaning to start this post for over a week. It just so happens that I'm sick! I started coming down with a cold yesterday and it's still coming. YES...I've been super busy. We had a garage sale at our house for Breakthrough Ministries last week. Of course, it was raining and cold. We'll be having the sale this week too. After that, it's time to slow down! My "to-do" list can wait. My children are growing like weeds. My oldest is 20 years old and before I know my youngest will be moving out too. :(

Back to the point of this post. Hold Every Thought Captive. I'm going to give my worry, fear, and my never ending "to-do" list to the Lord. I will be obedient and do what is honoring to the Lord.

I'll end with this scripture:
2 Corinthians 10:4-6
4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.