Encouraging Words for Discouraging Days

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the Lord Christ."  ~Col. 3:23-24

Life can be hard.  Work is hard.  This is time of year that things usually begin to snowball for us SLPs. Progress reports, evals, RtI, Medicaid, IEPs, tally sheets, planning, testing, evals, testing, evals, bleh.  You might start to feel edgy and stressed.  Your coworkers and your students are testing your patience.  Some days you might even go home to more craziness and drama.

Everyone seems to demand something from you: your time, your money, your talents, your signature.  The list. goes. on.

Well guess what, amiga?  You aren't alone.  The Lord sees you and your stress.  And I'm here to offer you a few words of encouragement (from a biblical perspective cuz that's how I roll)...in case you're one of the ones who might be feeling crazy.  Or if you aren't, you will at some point.  So just stick this in your back pocket for that day. ;)

Here are a few thoughts that are often encouraging to me when life gets stressful. . .

1.  Do your work as unto the Lord, not for men.  Meaning, I'm not going to get caught up in comparisons or feelings of inadequacy.  I'm going to do my job the best I can to serve Him...not to impress anyone else.

Source

2.  Even when you're overwhelmed, there is hope.  Hope in the One who is in control of all your circumstances.  He tells us that for those who Hope in Him their strength will be renewed!

Source

3.  Remember the big picture.  Sometimes I tend to look at my problems through a magnifying glass.  They always seem huge and I can't focus on anything else but that situation.  I need to remember to put down the magnifying glass and take a step back.  Look at the big picture and remember that God orders all of your steps and circumstances.

Source

4.  As the old saying goes, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."  Or as the Bible says, "sufferings produce endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope."  We can take heart that even though life seems hard, the Lord is producing in us something far greater than we know.  And we are stronger because of it.

Source

If you need a few more verses and quotes, check out my Pinterest board.  There are also random funnies and other stuff on there, but don't mind those.  ;)

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts with you.  I hope you don't mind.  It's just been something on my heart lately.  I guess if even one person is encouraged from it, then it served its purpose.  Have a great day!