Weary?

Weariness can come in all shapes and sizes.  What is the source of your weariness today? Are you tired of the ugliness of cancer? Are you weary of the shootings that go on when and where you least expect? How about people that can’t get along and friends that move away? Or weary of all that's going on in our country? Weary of an aching body? A work schedule gone mad?

Sometimes, a schedule out-of-control can just leave me weary. During times like this, I long for those things that quiet my spirit and bring rest and refreshment to my soul. An afternoon kayak ride on the Guadelupe. Riding horses. Biking on a nearby bike trail. Cozying up on the couch to a good book. Yes, those are the things that bring back equilibrium and peace.

Even in the midst of a busy schedule, I make it a priority to start my day with time with God. Day after day, I make it a point to get up super early, exercise and then cozy up on my couch for my “God-time.” Opening the Bible, reading and studying passages of scripture affects me. I get God’s perspective. I find refreshment for my weary soul. I find peace amidst fears. I see answers for how to handle things. I gather wisdom for difficult issues. Yes, it’s this special, protected time in the morning that keeps me alive and well.

Actually this verse aptly describes what happens when I have my “God-time:” “The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.” Isaiah 50:4 (NIV) I need God’s wisdom, His heart, His words to encourage and instruct me. A personal relationship with God involves a real relationship.

You may think this kind of time with God is just crazy. Why sit and be with Someone you can’t see or talk to out loud? I want to encourage you to try. God loves you and longs for a personal relationship with Him. He is the source for true refreshment. He can give sanity to what feels crazy. He can give hope when you live with a “what if?” He can give peace when your heart wants to fear. Try Him. He’s just waiting. He has much to say.

“I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” Jeremiah 31:25

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.

Confidence in the Cowboys?

I don’t remember when my loyalty to the Dallas Cowboys started. I would guess I was about 11, when I realized there was a football team that shared my love for horses. The Dallas Cowboys. Fast forward ten years or so, having graduated from college in Ohio, I moved to Dallas. Was it my love for the Cowboys or the great job that drew me to Dallas? You decide.

So when the Packer-Cowboy game happened last Sunday, I had full confidence that my Cowboys would win. Even when the Cowboys were behind 21-3, I knew they would come back, which they did. They just didn’t come back and win. Bummer.

Where do I place my confidence? Where do you place your confidence? Your kids and their performance? Your career? Your degrees? Being in shape? Being accepted and approved by others? Your reputation? Your relationships? Your accomplishments? A football team?

When we place our confidence in the inevitable uncertainties in life, we will eventually be disappointed. My natural bent is to place my confidence in other people or things. Yet, I have been profoundly disappointed when I do that. I have found, over the years, that there is One who will never fail me or let me down. God is my confidence. He is worthy of my trust. In fact, He will never come up short or ever let me down. Why? Because He is God and can be trusted.

Feeling weak and inadequate can actually draw us to rely on God. It’s during these difficult times, we realize our need! That’s not a bad thing. I’m reminded in Jeremiah 17:7 that “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.”  Where do you place your hope? What would it look like to trust God in every area of your life? You will be blessed as you make God your trust.

“For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth, I have relied on you.”  Psalm 71:5-6

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.

Walking With A Limp

I walk with a limp. I don’t like it, but it’s reality, for now.  It’s all a part of healing from a broken ankle. Walking with a limp is awkward and even painful, at times. I try so hard to hide my limp, but I just can’t. For now, I walk with a limp.

Do you walk with a limp? It may not a physical limp, but an emotional limp. Those things that have crushed or broken your spirit. You know, things that have happened in life that have left a scar. We all have them. We work hard to protect our image and hide them from the general public. They’re there just the same.

In “Leading With a Limp: Turning Your Struggles Into Strengths,” Dan B. Allender describes what makes flawed leaders successful. “They’re the type of leaders who are not preoccupied with protecting their image, they are undaunted by chaos and complexity, they are ready to risk failure in moving an organization from what it is to what should be.  God choses leaders who aren’t deceived by the myths of power and control, but who realize that God’s power is found in brokenness.”

Most of us don’t associate weakness with strong leaders, do we? Let’s take Martin Luther King, Jr. Do you think he was weak? We celebrate him today because he was a great leader, a strong leader. I thought for a moment about the times that King must have lingered in God’s presence, praying and seeking His face. I have a feeling there were plenty of times he felt very weak as a leader! King recognized his need before God and pleaded for His strength.

Consider this verse from the Apostle Paul: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses…in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12

I think Martin Luther King had this verse memorized! He saw that his suffering had a greater purpose. He didn’t hide his limp! Leadership was painfully hard. Yet, he saw that in his weakness, he was strong.

Thank you, God, for the life and message of Martin Luther King! A limping leader is a person God can use to accomplish amazing things.

“Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.

When You Can't See A Thing

I knew it was going to be a cold morning, but not this cold.  This is San Antonio, for goodness sakes! I had forever forgotten the cold weather drills I had learned from living in the Midwest. With drizzle coming down hard on my windshield, I decided to try the wipers. What was I thinking? The defroster couldn’t work fast enough! Thankful to find the next street, I pull off to give my defroster a chance to work. It didn’t take but a few moments and I was off on my merry way.

That moment seems to be frozen in time. I. Couldn't. See. A. Thing.

Have you experienced a time in your life when you couldn’t see one thing? For me, it was singleness. I was single a long time before I met my husband. I questioned God. It wasn’t easy to wait so long, while so many women around me were married with children. But, I never stopped believing that God had His best for me. My husband, Ben, is worth the wait! However, there were times when I didn’t see or understand what God was doing.

When we don’t see answers to our problems quickly, we can easily become confused and doubt God. We may even doubt His existence for that matter. It may be these pains in life that keep us at a distance from God! As I look back on my life, I know that God was molding and making me into the woman He wanted ME to be. I never gave up on God, even though I couldn’t see what He was doing.

Sometimes, we don’t see the whole picture. We want answers, but there are no answers. However, there were significant times in my singleness, where God would whisper encouragements to my spirit “I have a purpose in what I am doing in You and in time, you will see. Trust me.”  I now look back on my life and see the beautiful tapestry that He’s been weaving. It was worth the wait.

Trust Him, my friend. He’s so faithful, even when you don't see what's going on.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make our paths straight.”Proverbs 3:5-6

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.

Is Real Change Possible?

It's a new year! I don't want to be the same person I am today by December 31, 2017.  So that means I have 364 more days to make changes. That's a long time. But things happen. Life gets busy. And all at once, the will wanes. And I go back to my old ways and habits. 

Resolutions are just hard to keep, aren't they?

Maybe you, like me, dream of being a better version of yourself. I want to grow. I want to be different. But, how does true transformation happen?

I've never been great at setting New Year's Resolutions. Even though I love to think about the changes I want to make in my life, resolutions are hard for me. It's so easy for me to write them down, create a file, and then, somehow, I lose the file!

However, what I have found to work is setting goals in partnership with God. I use the simple categories: Mind, Body and Spirit. What changes do I want to make in my mind? What changes do I want to make with my body? What changes do I want to make in my spirit?

I know that as I partner with God on my specific goals, it is HE that helps keep me motivated. It is HE that gives me guidance. It is HE that gently and kindly molds my character flaws more into His likeness. It is HE that keeps me from discouragement. And somehow, change does happen as I partner with God. I'm not off the hook. I have hard work to do, but I trust that God will walk closely with me, every step of the way.

Let me give you an example: As I set my goal of restoring my ankle that was broken to full strength in 2017, I need God to help me BIG time. I can easily get discouraged at the very slow rate of healing and need God to give me patience. I need God to keep me disciplined to do my simple, boring exercises. I need God to give me hope in improving, even if small increments.

Formulas don't work for me. Neither does behavior modification. Change comes as I develop the habit of being and communing with God Himself. It's personal. It's a relationship. It's doing life with God, knowing He is the best partner I could ever have. 

Happy New Year!

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.