Enter feelings of failure. Writing deadlines past. Etsy Store with nothing in it. Blog posts not scheduled because they're not complete. Two websites and struggling with how to combine them into one and save money. A list of people to call and not one called. Ad nauseam.
And then this came in my email today.
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14
There are times in life one may feel defeated, beaten down, and without strength. This is never God’s way for us. When defeated one is not being lead by Christ because “God…leads us in triumph in Christ.” During our difficult circumstances, God wants to be our strength and sufficiency so that we can spread the fragrance of Christ in every place.
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. 2 Corinthians 3:5
Paul the Apostle did not consider himself sufficient. As Paul, we must trust Christ as the sufficient One and gain our strength from Him. As we do, Christ will lead us in triumph and use us to be an appealing and effective ambassador for Him.
Am I living in defeat depending on my own strength — or am I being lead in triumph in Christ? Whom will I choose to trust for my sufficiency — myself or Him? Am I allowing Christ to lead me in a such way that I reflect His character and likeness to others?
Because He ALWAYS leads us in triumph in Christ I can....

God has not called me to confusion. That would be satan--the author of confusion. He's called me to be a fragrance of His knowledge and grace. So in order for me to walk in triumph I'm going to need to weed out the things that are confusing me, pull those weeds of doubt and confusion, and make pathways of grace.
So pray for me, friends. I'm in over my head in a couple of areas of my life and it's going to take some work to pull those weeds out.
This week I'm thankful for:
~ Being blessed by being the blessing. Our ministry is changing its focus, entering a new phase. That required me to get rid of thousands of books; library books, textbooks, diagnostic tools, and manipulatives. I will no longer be focusing on educational consulting. The ministry will keep the counseling focus, and will be adding various kinds of retreats/intensives. A new Christian school in the bush of Kenya benefited, as did another Christian school just down the road from me. A local day care became the new home for most of my pre-school materials. And then there were the 20 home school families that will have curriculum and books for years to come.
~ I'm thankful for the sweet, albeit short, visit with my daughter, son-in-law, and 4 granddaughters the past few days.
~ I'm thankful I finally have my Mother of the Groom clothes together! It only took 14 hours of shopping over 2 days. Did I mention I don't enjoy shopping? But I must say, I'm very thankful for the bargains the Lord lead me to.