He lifts me up....

One of Micah's favorite songs is by a Christian band, Audio Adrenaline. The chorus says, "I get down....He lifts me up". The funny thing is that Micah and Noah both sing the song this way - "He lifts me up....I get down." The latter version of the song seems to be the way I tend to live my life. Just as every time God gives me an experience that lifts me up, I allow the negatives of life to bring me back down. Why is it so easy for us to focus on the negative?

The other day, during my workout/therapy session, my therapist asked me to tell her some things that I like about myself. As I walked the treadmill, I thought....and I thought...and I thought. I then began to cry....I couldn't think of one thing. I would start to say something that I liked but then it was always tagged with something negative. It took me almost the whole rest of the afternoon to come up with one specfic thing that I liked about myself - that wasn't plagued by a negative. (I am currently working on a longer list) :)

The world is so doom and gloom these days - the constant rise and fall of the Dow, war, gas prices, violence, hatred....I could go on and on. It makes it hard to allow God to "lift us up" when we are down.

2 Corinthians 4:7-9; 16-18
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Therefore, we do not lose heart. Through outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.


I spend so much of my life looking back at the mistakes I have made, struggling with guilt - the shoulda, coulda, wouldas of life. I spend the other half of my life fretting about the future - worrying about what is yet to come. Rarely do I spend time in the here and now - being thankful for the ways that God lifts me up day by day.

I have decided to steal an idea from a friend who also blogs. I am going to write random blogs at times but over the next several months to a year I am going to post the "TOP 100 things that lift me up". Of course, this exercise in thanksgiving is more for me than anyone else but I hope that whoever (if anyone) is reading this blog - they too will be encouraged, will spend more time living for TODAY, and will being lifted up rather than being brought down.

Food for thought: It takes more muscle strength to frown than to smile.
You can choose to either be a Tigger or an Eyeore.