Until you make it

So, I have been behind as of late on the blogging scene.  I have been behind on quite a bit as of late.  Groups being here have a tendancy to do that.  Not only do we have daily activities, but also some of the other "regular work" that must be done one way or another.  Blogging, while therapeutic...falls by the wayside.

We are group-less until Saturday, so I have a bit of time in between meetings (Oscar, Valerie and I met for three hours today...and it went by like it was a fraction of that) getting vehicles fixed and prepared, planning the next three groups, etc. 

No one has complained, but I neglected to get an email update out for July.  Had I somehow made time for that...I was contemplating visiting some helpful phrases I have heard over the years that have helped me greatly, encouraged me, or the like.

I may indeed expound on that there...but in doing over a month straight of groups and all that gloriously entails (rabbit trail...not sarcasm there, having groups here is so incredibly encouraging, helpful and important in several ways to the ministry it is not to be overlooked here, or anywhere for that matter...they in many, many ways give Glory to God) one continued to reverberate in my mind:

Fake it until you make it.

It might seem odd, it might seem wrong...but I can personally attest that it works.

We all struggle, we all falter, we all screw up.  No news there. 

But when you find yourself in a place where you know what you need to do...but can not quite find the strength to do the right thing, or the better thing, or the thing you know God is telling you to do, sometimes you have to ignore what you feel, and just...fake it until you make it.

Still confused?  The next time you are sad or upset, and just seem stuck in angry town...just smile.  Smile for five minutes.  Not because you feel like it, but you know that being happy would be better than where you are right then.  You'll be surprised at the difference.

I know the amazing work God does when we pray for the sick in the hospital, when we minister to those that desperately need food.  Over time however, that can be tough to keep doing, one after another.  For you it might be knowing the difference a kind word can be to a difficult co-worker or just getting up in the morning to a job you don't really enjoy.  Moving when you don't feel like it though...it seems like God uses those times to really shine a light into your own heart through the very people or thing you are trying to do.  Kind of like..."Son, don't you get it?  You're feelings might shift like the tide...but I am The Rock on which your life is to be based." 

When the words don't come naturally, but you know they are there and need to be spoken, or done...might I humbily suggest you fake it until you make it.