This past week has been what I call a huge headache. My blog was disabled because the blah blah blah read a false positive and blah blah blah which means it thought my blog–my precious baby–was a SPAM blog. Gah! Then after the wonderful Bonnie Calhoun talked me off the ledge and had the IT guys at Blogger fix it, my email was hacked. I wasn’t in Madrid (wish I had been, but not stranded).
The security at yahoo asked me for my answer to the question. I don’t even remember using that question. So after 3 tries of answering, it locked my account up for 12 hours. Hopefully, today, I have it all fixed–but in the meantime, my website designer was supposed to send me links to the pages and whatnot. So…I set up a gmail account just to get by on Saturday. Is that sad? Do we rely on technology too much? Meh, I don’t really care and this post isn’t to ponder that.
My point is. I had a crazy week.
But God is so great and so faithful and I just love Him to pieces. After all the drama went down on Saturday morning, I opened up my Word For You Today devotional and fell in love with the words. So much I’m sharing them with you today. This is the moment I wish I had a scanner. Nope. I’m typing it all in. For you. Be grateful. *wink wink*
“…In each of us there is a lesser self and a greater self struggling for supremacy. Your lesser self says, “Not enough people believe in me. I’ll never make it.” Your greater self says, “My faith in God and in myself is enough; I can make it.” Your lesser self says, “It’s taking too long to realize my dream.” Your greater self say, “Dreams are realized one day at a time.” Your lesser self says, “Enough is enough! I’ve taken too many hits. “Your greater self says, “I’ve come too far to give up now.” Your lesser self says, “I don’t have the strength to hold on to my dream. “Your greater self says, “Hold on a little longer; the darkest hour is just before the dawn.” ….Where does that kind of strength and tenacity come from? God! The assignment God gives you will never be greater than the grace He provides. So draw on His strength, keep pressing ahead, pursue your goals and you will prevail.”
Whether your past week was above the clouds or shoddy (Not to be confused with Shawty–the melody in your head) God is faithful. And this, my dear friends, is a brand new day of a brand new week. Hacked, not hacked. Disabled, not disabled. Rejected, not rejected. Grace abounds! So keep going. And I will too, if I’m not stranded in Madrid and needing some fast cash. I’ve already sold my gold.
In one more week….my new online home will be ready. I expect you all to shout, “Move that curtain!” And the unveiling will happen. Seriously. Shout.
I'm sorry your week was so stressful, Jesse, but I'm glad you had such great folks help you work out the glitches and get you going again. Here's wishing you a stellar week to come.
Grace abounds! I needed to hear that today. Thanks lady!!! Can't wait to visit your new home! 🙂
It's all in God's hands, and it's all going to be great!
Looking forward to the new place.
Btw, I got one of your Madrid emails…I didn't send you money…haha. How did you get hacked anyway?
You just made me feel so much better about my crazy week last week! Love that this is a new one. Have fun finishing up your new home this week, can't wait for the reveal!
Oh my goodness! That is crazy!
Love that devotion. When I have a crazy week and need some peace, I go to God's Word. It keeps me sane. 🙂
So glad you got it all figured out! When things get tough, I panic. Lol. My husband still laughs at how I reacted to the earthquakes we were having. I'm not necessarily the person you would want with you in an emergency.
Hey everyone! Thanks for the cheering words this morning. My yahoo hacked account is NOT fixed. I am still waiting on Yahoo support to respond to my email and help me set a new password. Gah!
In the meantime, if you need anything you can email me at jessicaropatch(at)gmail(dot)com
Happy Monday, all!
So, I'm sitting at my desk at work, nearly in tears after your post. Needed that devotional…and not even because I had a crazy week last week. Instead, I had an awesome writing weekend during which I wrote like crazy, remembered why I LOVE this writing thing and just felt SO GOOD about it all. Then I woke up this morning…and remembered I have a full-time day job. And wanted to cry. (Which is crazy because I actually really like my job and know I'm blessed to have it.)
I needed that reminder to listen to God's voice instead of my own Monday morning blah thoughts. 🙂
By the way, I'm so glad your blog is back up – can't wait to see the new site next week! And praying for a quick fix on the Yahoo dealio. Man, all that together would have me eating cookie dough by the bowl-full. 🙂
I run.
So glad all is back up and running.
Can I just tell you how much you crack me up…Shawty. Singing it in my head now. 😉
~ Wendy
Man, can I ever relate! Tough week last week for me, too. My emotions would not get out of my way! I also had a major frustration with Yahoo locking me out, asking a security question I never answered, etc. I can't access my Flikr account now. Anywhooo…Thanks for sharing your devotional, it hit me where I live.
Blessings,
Cat
Praying for you, Jess! You have such a gift for making others smile in the midst of your own difficulties. You inspire me. 🙂
I drink. Heavily. COffee of course. (Figured I should clarify)
I also run – or hide. Which I've sorta been doing lately – cuz yeah, got lots in my head (mostly, anyway) that's got me going every which-way. LOVE your posts as always, and SO sorry for that week of yours! UUCK!
What a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week!!
Love the truth you share!
And I can. not. wait! to see your new cyber home!!
Oh my! A technology meltdown! I would've been so…GAHHHH!!!!!!!
Hopefully this week will be IT seamless for you. 🙂
This was such an encouraging post, Jess, thank you so much for posting it. The entire first month of 2012 has been one stress after another–from computer issues to health issues to…well, other stuff. Anyway, I've been relying on God, but it's just nice to have that extra piece of encouragement. *hugs*
"The assignment God gives you will never be greater than the grace God provides". Love that quote! I need to write it down on an index card for those days when I lose perspective.
When I need to destress, I like to walk my dog, then read a good book while eating a great meal. Food always helps, lol.
Oh man, rough times for you, Jessica! So thankful God reminded you of His faithfulness when you needed it most. Can't wait to see your new space! 🙂
Hi, Jessica.
I keep seeing your name on other blogs, so I thought I would stop by. I'm so sorry you had a crazy week, but I'm glad all is well now. I needed to hear those words from the devotional, so thanks for sharing. 🙂
That's yucky. But you are right. God is good, even in the midst of the muck.
Thank you for this post. Thank you for the honesty woven through with hope.
One of my favorite places to go when life overwhelms me?
"The wide open spaces of his grace" — as in Romans 5 (The Message):
We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one in the crazy week boats!
Melanie: Thanks for coming by! I hope you'll spend time hanging out with us.
Beth: I loved that version. Sometimes the Message moves me in ways the other translations don't. Wide open spaces. Awesome.
Thanks everyone for chiming in from walking dogs to hiding. Great comments!
Hi Jessica, sorry that you had a hard week. My place to go in times of stress is definately the Word of God. Usually with a chocolate bar in hand…
I love the Natalie Dee cartoon. I subscribe to her blog to catch every new piece she puts out. Love her.
So, I guess it wasn't my blog that broke yours. That is a good thing. I would hate to be responsible for the collapse of the Internet.
I do two things to de-stress. I either play video games for a few hours OR go out and do a photo shoot. I grab my good camera, my daughter and one of her friends. We travel to some awesome location and take pictures all day. They get to pretend to be models and I get to pretend to be a professional photographer. Everyone is happy and has a great time.
I do exactly what I'm going to do tonight after suffering through my head cold all day today – take a long hot bath with a fantastic book.
I'm sorry about all of your technology issues.
Could be worse, believe me. My blog was hacked a while back and the bad guys were somehow using the site and server to hack into the bank accounts of lots and lots of people overseas (all my users were safe and remained unharmed).
To further rub my nose in it, they completely shut down my site and replaced my home page with one of their own. I found out about the bank activity when I was contacted by security investigators from a couple of BIG name banks.
I quickly switched hosts and servers and added a ton of security. No problems at all since that horrifying week. Well, none other than the goofy mistakes I make.
I'm sorry to hear about your crazy week, but I'm so thankful for the post you shared!! Love it. It encouraged me. Must be what I needed to hear too 🙂 Thanks, Jess!
Glass-half-full time, isn't it?
Sometimes I have to take a step back, make myself a nice cup of tea, and zone out for a few minutes.
(Which sometimes makes the stress worse because it puts me behind…but, whatever it takes, right?)
Aw, sorry for all the technical snafus. When my stress level gets bad, I reprioritize. Sometimes the things I think are important aren't really, and they're just making everything worse.
Great inspirational post! Can't wait to see your new home. 🙂