#GodSuper

Our God is my superhero.

So, I have been overwhelmed by the overflow of people reaching out to me from my post earlier this week.  I will be honest, there were several moms that reached out to me that I thought were perfect.  I thought that they had it all together, and that I was just a mess.  God is so awesome to give those women the strength to reach out to me and be real about their struggles as well.  Thank you all and God bless you.

That's what I wanted to talk about today though.  God is super when we are at our very worst.  

In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul tells us about the thorn in his side.  He says he asked God to take it away, but this is what God said to him.

                 "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." 

So then Paul comes to this conclusion..."So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me."

We spend so much time trying to convince people that we are super when we really should be honest about our struggles to show people how Super our God is.  Instead of hashtagging our lives with #epicfail #unsuper we should be putting a #GodSuper perspective on everything.  

Great...What does that mean?  Well in our social media crazed society today it is very easy for us to see our failures and shortcomings, because we are seeing everyone else's best moments and comparing them to our every day life that is less than spectacular.  

Picture this with me.  A wonderful mother, let's call her Janie 😉, has had a particularly rough morning where it has seemed like all her little baby can do it cry.  Nothing she does seems to make anything better.  Finally, the little one is down for a nap, however brief it may be, and Janie checks her Facebook account.  

Here's where things start to get difficult.  It seems every other post on her page is about how well this baby is doing and how much this other baby can do now.  She thinks to herself... "My baby only cries."  She's comparing her every day to what other mothers choose to highlight for others to see.  First of all that's not fair to herself.  Second of all, it makes us miss what God has for us in those rough moments.  The rough areas are where we grow.  If we are busy looking at how other people have already grown, then we will fail to see our own progress.  

We are living in an era where we can be more particular about what people see of our lives and what they don't, and we tend to block out the rough stuff.  They have no idea it took us 15 tries to get that picture that they just loved but that made them feel as if they were somewhat lacking.

So back to our scenario.  Janie is feeling badly about her skills and success as a mother because what he child does seems less than or worse than what she sees others doing on social media.  Here's what we can do.  We can accept where we fall short because on our own we are in fact somewhat #unsuper, and acknowledge where God closes the gap in our lives because he is #GodSuper.  Janie for example can say, yes I'm struggling because my baby is a little fussy (#unsuper), but God has given me a child that I will get to spend more time with because she needs more comforting and our relationship will be stronger in the future (#GodSuper).

This isn't just for moms.  Think about dating.  You see all these other people posting pictures of who they are with and how much they love their significant other.  Then you start to think why not me?  What am I doing wrong?  The answer may be nothing or it may be that you are causing your own grief because you're comparing yourself to someone else in a different season of life.  It might be career related or about church work.  Why can't I have that job?  Why can't I do mission work?  Why am I stuck in this place or that while someone else gets to do the things I always thought I would and should do?  When we ask those questions we start to devalue where God has US at right NOW.  I'm as guilty as the next person, but I'm trying to change.  I'm trying to ask the tough question... "God what are you trying to teach me or make me grateful for right where I'm at right now?"  I said it was tough.

Now, I'm going to ask you to try it with me.   Try giving your struggles a good #GodSuper. What is he doing in the midst of your feelings of inadequacy?  How is he growing you into what He wants you to be instead of what you think you should be because of how you see other people? What is he showing you in your life to be grateful for right now?  So join me and let's fill up the internet with #GodSuper.  Let's give him the praise for what's right instead of beating ourselves up about what we think is wrong.  I'm so looking forward to seeing what He's doing in your lives.