Ease On Down The Road
Recent Facebook updates revealed a hometown high school friend is struggling through a difficult relationship. Another post reported the passing of a beloved father and my childhood neighbor. Several posts requested prayer for serious medical concerns. Life is hard. Life doesn’t always go as planned. You go after a big goal and completely fail. A new job promotion doesn't come through. A relationship falls apart. A pregnancy suddenly ends. You unexpectedly fall ill. The disappointment you face is only for a season, it’s not the rest of your life. The loss and betrayal is only temporary. We all go through things that aren’t fair. You can’t stop the storms of life from happening to you, but you can choose how you respond.
If you hold onto the hurt and betrayal of life you can’t move forward. If you ask why you lost your loved one, or why someone did something to you, you open the door to bitterness. Bitterness poisons your life and you’ll see things in a negative light. You may have a good reason to be bitter, but holding onto it will only rob you of your dreams. Life is often unfair. Holding onto that bitter feeling will only make it worse. Bitterness can steal your joy and keep you from your destiny.
Who you are right now today, is not how you have to be tomorrow. You can literally change your life in less than one second. When people say you can’t, you don’t need to look at them. You need to look in the mirror. Ask yourself if you’ve given it your all. The moments that define you are the moments when life tells you, “No.” Those are the moments that really matter. When you face opposition, recognize it’s not permanent. It is not your final destination. Quit worrying about things that are only temporary. Just because you’ve been through loss, doesn’t mean you won’t win again, or that you’ve seen your best days. You can choose to be courageous and go after that goal, or you can choose to stay on the couch. It’s your choice.
If there’s anything that's going to keep you from being successful at anything in life, it’s 100% because of negative self-talk. What would happen, if all through the day, instead of dwelling on the negative and putting ourselves down, we would go around thinking, “I’m a masterpiece, I’m an original, and I have everything I need?” You have to find a way to get over the fear. What do you have to be afraid of? There will be things you don’t understand. There will be plenty of times you could get negative, but in those tough times you have to remember your dreams. You may have tried and failed, over and over, but go back and try again. That dream is still alive.
Right now you may be in the midst of a storm and it’s too difficult to even think about the next step. If there’s a raging storm overhead, and just getting through the day is a struggle, I ask you these questions.
What heaviness are you carrying?
What tears are you holding back?
What fears are kept inside?
What pain are you hiding?
What pain are you hiding?
Close your eyes. Picture yourself in an open area. There are no buildings and there’s no shelter. Picture that storm raging above you. It's dark and it's cold. The storm represents the situation in your life right now. You don’t tell anyone what you’re going through because you feel they won’t understand and you feel like they can’t even help you. You're in this storm and you're down on your knees. You feel tired and you feel weak. You whisper, “Are you still there?” You look up and you see Jesus standing before you. You hear Jesus respond to you. Jesus says, “You don’t have to do this alone.” Jesus kneels down beside you and tightly wraps his arms around you. You cling to him, resting your head upon his chest. He says, “You are not alone.” He can’t stop the storm right now but He will hold you, and keep you warm until the storm passes. He holds you tightly. The storm is still there, but it’s okay because He is with you all the way. He will keep you warm. He will keep you safe until the storm passes, and it will pass. He will never leave you.
There’s always going to be things happen in life that’s out of our control, things we can’t change, and things we have to live with. The choice is are you going to give up, or keep going? Are you going to believe in yourself or those negative people around you? Every time someone puts you down, will you make a decision to bring someone else up? The fear may not disappear but healing starts when you forgive those who've hurt you. Can you forgive them? You just have to take it one step at a time.
Remember the 1978 movie “The Wiz”, starring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow? My favorite scenes is when a yellow brick appears with each step they take. They can only see the brick at the exact same time they take a step. Soon they’re skipping along to the song “Ease on Down the Road”, having faith that the yellow bricks on the road will appear with each and every step. Develop courage to step out in faith. All it takes is one step and your path will appear.
There are times in life when you fall down and you don’t have the strength to get back up. It’s not the end until you’ve given up. There’s always hope. If you focus on the hurt, you will continue to suffer. If you focus on the lesson, you will continue to grow. Maybe the lesson isn’t clear. Have faith that someday you will understand. Have faith that everything happens for a reason. Have faith that things will get better. Have faith the storm will pass. Have faith you are never alone. Develop yellow brick road faith.
There’s always going to be things happen in life that’s out of our control, things we can’t change, and things we have to live with. The choice is are you going to give up, or keep going? Are you going to believe in yourself or those negative people around you? Every time someone puts you down, will you make a decision to bring someone else up? The fear may not disappear but healing starts when you forgive those who've hurt you. Can you forgive them? You just have to take it one step at a time.
Remember the 1978 movie “The Wiz”, starring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow? My favorite scenes is when a yellow brick appears with each step they take. They can only see the brick at the exact same time they take a step. Soon they’re skipping along to the song “Ease on Down the Road”, having faith that the yellow bricks on the road will appear with each and every step. Develop courage to step out in faith. All it takes is one step and your path will appear.
There are times in life when you fall down and you don’t have the strength to get back up. It’s not the end until you’ve given up. There’s always hope. If you focus on the hurt, you will continue to suffer. If you focus on the lesson, you will continue to grow. Maybe the lesson isn’t clear. Have faith that someday you will understand. Have faith that everything happens for a reason. Have faith that things will get better. Have faith the storm will pass. Have faith you are never alone. Develop yellow brick road faith.
~ Queue the music ~
Come on and ease on down - ease on down the road
Come on ease on down - ease on down the road
Don't you carry nothing that might be a load-
Come on and ease on down the road.
Pick your right foot up when your left one's down.
Come on legs keep moving - don't you lose no ground.
But the road you're walking might be long sometimes,
You just keep on stepping and you'll be just fine!
Come on ease on down - ease on down the road
Come on ease on down - ease on down the road
Well there may be times when you wish you wasn't born-
And you wake one morning just to find your courage gone,
But just know that feeling only last a little while.
You just stick with me and I'll show you how to smile!
Come on and ease on down - ease on down the road
Ease on down - ease on down the road!
Results for the week: - 0.6 lbs lost; Total Lost: 41.4
D.O.W. = 426; Starting weight: 182.0; Current weight: 140.6
(Days on the Wagon = Days of food sobriety - no sugar pig-outs!)
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