Defeated.

Sometimes I'm just tired. Exhausted. Worn down.

Defeated.

I'm not talking about tired from lack of sleep or exhausted from my crazy workout last night. I don't mean worn down from whiny kids or defeated by the dishes.

All of those things are very, very true. But I mean something so much deeper.

I cried out to God in the middle of doing the dishes - "I don't want to!" (He's used to such outbursts). I'm just so tired of fighting my sinful nature. I'm exhausted from the constant battle. I'm worn down from the regular failure. I feel...

Defeated.

I quit doing the dishes (this did not take much convincing on God's part!) and sought relief in my War Room - a sacred place I have not been spending nearly enough time in I'll admit.

The Lord responded to me with the verses my sisters, mom, and I are currently memorizing:

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

What on earth does it mean to "wait for the Lord"? What does it look like in my every day?

In His way, He led me to an excerpt from Andrew Murray's book Waiting on God:

Above everything, when you wait on God, you must do so in the spirit of hope. God in His glory, His power, and His love longs to bless you… God's delight is to impart Himself to His children. However weak you feel, wait in His presence. As the sun does its work on the weak who seek its rays, God will do His work in you. Trust Him!

What does waiting on God look like in my every day?

TRUST.

Jesus IS doing something new in me (even when I don't feel it)!
I will run and not grow weary!
I will find streams in this desert!

I am NOT defeated!

Because greater is HE who loves me.

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 

Are you feeling defeated today? Soak up His Word like rays of sunshine! And let me know how I can pray for you!