The story we tell ourselves.. Is it so?

Life is a continuous learning process. As you grow older and wiser, there are things in life that you get to relearn and it is ok to realize that the previous things you thought was right is actually not.

Take for example, loving. Our way of loving progresses as we grow older. Same with the way we receive love. We thought of love as infatuation and felt that it was real love. Then that eventually changes.

We tread on paths we first thought was the right path and yes it works out for a while until we grow to realize some things and we try to correct that.

Some truths can be easy to accept.

Some truths linger a while fighting with our sense of right and wrong, siding on the right one time and shifting sides to the wrong side some other time.

Some truths, we painted for ourselves because it sounds more uplifting. But more often than not, even though this truth sounds fine and uplifting, it could paint a contrasting picture of what is real. Like for when you take a picture of something and use a filter that changes its color and feel to "fit a theme".

As Lysa TerKeurst would put it, there's a story we tell ourselves. We just need to make sure we are telling ourselves the right story. (Source: It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered)

For a very long time, I have trusted that I understood the way hardships, my capacity to handle it, and God work and workout.

I nod in agreement with "I will not be given hardship more than I can bare." The reference frequently used:

'No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.' I Corinthians 10:13 https://my.bible.com/bible/114/1CO.10.13

It does cover up the reality with hope, right? And hope is not a bad thing. But the real picture is obscured a bit.

The reality is that, living in the fallen world, we are given more than we can bare. That is why some, in desperate need to be alleviated from pain, hmm lose it.

Have you experienced choking? Like for some reason, your tongue pushes a huge piece of meat right down your throat and it got stuck there? My experience of choking was that of a tube ice. Yes. When I was a kid, I loved picking on the tube ice's middle and queueing it on a straw. And when the ice can finally fit my mouth, I start to put it in my mouth and melt it there like candy. One time, I popped it into my mouth and it went straight to my throat. The shock was, well shocking. It took me a while to realize that the ice is not going down. It's not like it was the first time I experienced popping some food in my mouth and it went straight to my throat choking me but normally they do go down straight also down the stomach (or back up to the mouth again). That happens even with roasted nuts. Specially when you play catch with your mouth.

Anyway, the ice. It was cold in the throat and because it was still huge then, it was painful. I tried coughing but it didn't work. I tried swallowing it made it harder. But thank God it's ice and it melts ( I think) it went down after some time before I needed the Heimlich maneuver and before I blackout. I was stunned for a few minutes after and was just re-composing myself and self-checking if I am fine.

That was exactly how it felt like when I realized that the verse talks about temptations and not hardships. Temptation is another interesting topic for whenever soon.

Instead, He asks us to give that hardship, that load, that wearying thoughts and burdens to Him. If it is something we can bare all along, then He would not have offered. It is up to His level.

He's got this. He's got my back. He's got your back.

The one thing I love not holding a position of a boss in my work, is that I would not have to face the managerial-level negotiation battle there is. If things become a little too huge to be handled from my position because I am in no position at all, I give my lead a heads up that she needs to put on a war face and gear up. They start talking manager-level language. I eat chips on the side (kidding).

I escalate it. Let's escalate it.

There is beauty in learning and relearning. There is that liberating feeling to have another take on something you long agreed with and seeing it in a different light. Not entirely easy. But doable. And shareable.

Sneaking one in before calling it night night. Like real good night night. The book from Lysa TerKeurst is highly recommended by the way.

© Pichi28 - 7/22

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