There is nothing new under the sun.

 

Well, not really. Sure, things are tied up in a pretty, electronic, informational package these days, but, nope. Nothing new.

 

We women exist with a whole lot of pressure heaped on our shoulders and I’m pretty sure that hasn’t changed since the dawn of time.

 

I’ll bet Eve felt it. All the choices in the garden, but the one that really, really looks like the best option is totally off limits.

 

And Sarai? Oh yeah, waiting for God to build a nation through her and Abraham while also watching the calendar flip at an alarming rate. No pressure at all. Not.

 

How about Mary? A young girl. Unmarried. Pregnant. Who in the world is going to believe the whole “overshadowed by the Holy Spirit” story? Yeah, that’s pressure.

 

The world is very happy to tell us what we can have. Or should have. Or heck, all we should want. And it’s exhausting. Perfect husband. Perfect children. Perfect high-level career. Perfect house in the perfect development with the perfect amount acreage. Do this. Don’t do that.

 

And in the middle of all that, we fall apart.

 

We learn that we can’t do everything and also do it all well. Something, always, always, always, suffers when we try to power through things on our own steam.

 

And when things don’t work out the way we expect them to, when it all starts crashing down, we are deceived into doubting.

 

We wonder if we really heard what we thought we heard.

 

We wonder if we ourselves are who God says we are.

 

And truth be told, we start to wonder if God is who He says He is.

 

The enemy comes to lie, kill and destroy and there is nothing new in his playbook. He can’t come against the irrefutable Word of God. So he simply plants seeds of doubt in our heads. And that’s just about enough to send us into a tailspin.

 

So when those times of doubt come, and they will, we have no choice but to press in to God and step out in faith. We have the power to tell the enemy that he does NOT rule our minds. We may not have all the world offers but, sweet sister, we have EVERYTHING Jesus offers to us.

 

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things.” ~Romans 8:31-32

 

You, my friend, were bought with a price. You are dearly loved; God’s chosen possession. That’s your reality. And though we know the enemy has nothing new in his arsenal of attack on us, how much more do we know God is unchanging? That truth also means that in the midst of this messy, stressful life, His love is always closer than our next breath.

 

That love takes all the pressure away. We can be still, confident in a God who loves and cares for us. And that love will never change.

 

Nothing new under the sun.

 

God. Is. Love.