One of my devotions today had an interesting story, or at least I thought so. I wanted to share with you guys. “We use God’s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the devil’s strongholds…” (2 Corinthians 10:3-18)
There was a competition for wood chopping. One of the guys was younger and really strong. The other one was quite a bit older and very slender. At the end of the day the younger one couldn’t figure out how the older one cut down double of the wooden trees. He finally confronted the older gentleman.
He said, “I don’t get it, I never stopped. You know I never stopped cutting down trees. No breaks. You took two breaks every hour. How could you cut down more trees?” With humble eyes and a kind voice, the older man replied, “Every time I stopped, I sharpened my axe.”
A lot of people are swinging, but they don’t have the edge. You will feel defeated and worn out, swinging as hard as you can, all day, everyday, only to feel defeated with winning just out of reach.
I struggle with being the young guy. I keep going and going, feeling weak if I don’t. It has been a long rough season, where I am learning just this. My definition of weak has been a lie. In fact, I was feeling even worse. Beginning to be very resentful and ugly. The past two years my brain has been rebooting to Gods definition of strong. Just like the older guy in the story, I need to take breaks, to recharge. I need to resharpen my weapon, Gods word.
I can tell you the reward has been paying off. I am more happy again. I am healing in every area. Now I’m still not perfect, it was many many years of living like that. Going to take awhile to fully heal and be complete. I feel stronger in the Word. And surprisingly I have been getting more done!
I also figured out I do need a tribe. The one that is filled with true, God fearing ladies. The ones that support you and push you to be better.to take the breaks…sometimes with them…the laughs are just too soothing. Your support system will get you through and help you sharpen your sword.
Warrior for Christ 