The Single Woman’s Dash of Sass: RELAX! You Are Taken Care Of!

Quotes of the Day:

“I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” ~Philip Yancey

“May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of you.”
~Teresa of Ávila

“God is God. He knows what he is doing. When you can’t trace his hand, trust his heart.” ~Max Lucado

The Single Woman Says:

For those of you who follow my personal Twitter page, @MissMandyHale, or follow me on Instagram (TheSingleWoman), you know I have a very funny Persian cat named Jeeves. He has a flat face and a permanent scowl and a unique, one-of-a-kind personality, and I adore him endlessly. He also has some really funny habits. One such habit is pulling out his food bowl into the middle of the floor when he thinks he’s running low on food. He can still have an entire layer of food covering the bottom of his bowl, but if it’s even a little low, he goes into a frenzy. He used to just drag the food bowl out a little bit away from his water bowl to signify his need for a refill…but lately he’s started pushing the bowl right into the middle of the room so there’s no chance of me missing it. Then he starts his nervous prance around my feet. Wherever I go, there Jeeves is. The third and final signal that he’s about to panic from thinking I’m going to fail to feed him is a persistent “MEOW…MEOW…MEOW” that is repeated over and over and over until I’m ready to take his bowl, and him, and toss them both out the window (Just kidding. I would never.) And all this drama happens because he catches a slight glimpse of the bottom of the bowl and gets it in his head that I’m going to forget to feed him.

I’ve had Jeeves for three years now. He’s healthy, happy, spoiled, and I have never yet forgotten to feed him or let him go hungry. Yet, even after three years of being the King of the Hill, he still does the ceremonial dragging of the bowl into the middle of the floor to remind me to feed him. Granted, he’s a cat and probably doesn’t put a great deal of thought into his reasons behind dragging the bowl into the middle of the floor…but for argument’s sake…let’s compare my cat’s nervous, distrustful behavior to our own lives. How many times do we ask God for something and then drag our proverbial bowl into the middle of the floor because we think He’s not responding fast enough? Chances are, our lives are sailing along just fine. He’s never failed us yet. We’re still alive, healthy, breathing, fed, clothed, maybe not living lavishly, but we’re LIVING, which is a blessing in and of itself…and yet…we fret and stew and stress and worry and panic and pace and doubt and fear. We pray for something, and instead of trusting that God hears us and will answer our prayer in His perfect timing in His perfect way, we drag the bowl of our dreams and hopes into the middle of the floor of our lives and start asking him “Why? Why? Why?” and “Are we there yet?” and “Are you even listening to me?!?”

Today I want to encourage you to relax. Breathe. Trust. Take a look around and realize that you are taken care of. You always have been, often in ways that in looking back, you can’t even explain how the blessing or the raise or the good grade or the promotion or the positive test result came through in the way that it did, at the time that it did. Why can’t you explain it? Because it was God working behind the scenes on your behalf. He’s got this. He’s got your back. He always has, and He always will. It’s okay to take your hands OFF the situation, whatever it is, and just relax into the knowledge that there IS a greater plan at work in your life and whatever happens, you will be okay. There’s no need to drag your bowl into the middle of the floor. God sees it. He sees it all. He sees your needs, every last one of them. He sees your heart. He sees your dreams. All you have to do is ask, trust, believe, show up and do all you can do, and then let go.

“Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God.”
~St. Ignatius of Loyola

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Something wonderful is on the horizon
Life doesn’t always look the way we want it to look. In Mandy’s upcoming book, Turn Toward the Sun: Releasing What If and Embracing What Is, you’ll find encouragement to live in the moment, sit with your experiences, and trust God with the unknown.
Preorder from Baker Book House for 40% off and free shipping!*
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Something wonderful is on the horizon
Turn Toward the Sun CoverLife doesn’t always look the way we want it to look. In Mandy’s upcoming book, Turn Toward the Sun: Releasing What If and Embracing What Is, you’ll find encouragement to live in the moment, sit with your experiences, and trust God with the unknown.
Preorder from Baker Book House for 40% off and free shipping!*
*US shipping only