When My Smile Disappeared

                                                  
It's funny how quickly I can go from 'okay' and having a nice day to screaming 'stop the merry-go-round, I just need to get off for a while'.

Today was one of those days. A nice morning, a relaxed afternoon...and yet somehow slowly and insidiously..I could feel the pull of my spirit in a melancholy direction. Nothing seemed quite right, and things around me were bothering and irritating.

Suddenly, I thought of the words to a song by Keith Green. ..."trials come to test my faith"...I believe God does not bring the aggravation..this is life and some days are just like that.
But, He does allow the trials to be a very real time of teaching. Today, was one of those days, when my smile slowly disappeared.

A day when I didn't feel like I quite measured up.
A day when others were becoming a source of irritation.

I remembered that Ephesians 6:12 tells us that, ".. our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms".
I have found there is only one way to go, when you recognize the spiritual battle waging...and that is,...straight to your knees...humbled and repenting and crying out for His protection and leading.

So, I 'forced' myself to pray and refocus. Everyone needs a place to hide every now and then.

And I thought I had better hide under the shadow of His wings (Psalm 17:8), especially since, anywhere else increased my chances of just being ugly, to anyone I encountered.  I was beginning to reflect the very thing I was feeling about myself.

Yet, it was while, I was on my kness that things began to make sense...

The day is now behind...and yet God reminds me of yet another promise. 

"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail. 
 They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness. " -Lamentations 3:22-23

Slowly, I sighed and I smiled....
because of His grace so freely given at he cross, I can start again..

His mercies really are new every morning...

Today was one of 'those' days...and I'm glad it was...

courtesy of Mackesy Photos