I woke way before dawn, inspired to motor through some event marketing and get outside to play

(The six-year-old in me still gets excited about nice sunny days to play with ponies;)

Plot twist: 15 minutes in to my morning I sneak a peek at my messages and learn that the social media graphics I personally spent hours creating for my incredible guests in my next interview series were, to put it mildly, not good.

Wrong size,
blurry,
horrible.

Worse yet, I had already sent them to the guests’ marketing teams for promotion.

It was, in fact, an honored guest that brought it to my attention.

Ouch.

That was one of those.. “Am I still sleeping?  I hope?”  “Nope.. felt that pinch.  DANG IT!” moments.

Followed by tears.
Panic.
Guilt.

I rarely use the H -word, but I hate letting people down.

Instantly, I sent off e mails and asked for forgiveness and patience while I remedied the situation.

Then, I headed to church.

I quite honestly, might have kept my pitiful self at home, but as God would plan it, I had promised to do announcements.  Remember, I don’t like to let anyone down and I was already in a crisis-management situation, so, I decided to not exacerbate the discomfort more, and off to the church I went.

The sermon topic… ironically, was a new way to look at the heaviness that we call stress.

Hmmm?

“What if” The guest pastor offered,” the heaviness you feel (stress, even depression) is actually God’s pressure to take you to the next level in your greatness?”

What if, pressure, like that used to make the finest oils, pulls you closer to Him, and makes you stronger to become exactly what he Designed you to be?

We can go immediately into fight or flight mode when we feel pressure, that’s human nature… and we label it “bad.”

But…

what if it was not?

What if stress, and days like I have had today, are actually introduced by a loving God to bring out the best in us?

That’s a reframe!

I can’t say the day immediately turned around and was filled with roses and unicorns…

It still smelled like manure for a while.

However, I found patience and grace for myself between the bursts of tears.

At the end of the day.  I may not be where I thought I’d be, but I feel grateful.

Grateful that my guest was able to talk me through how to fix my issues (She’s a marketing genius by the way, so that worked out.)

Grateful  that I have friends that uplifted me and even prayed for my event!

Grateful that my sweet husband came to check on me and gave me space to work through my C**#P.

By no means do I lessen the dangers or intensity of depression.

I have had my own battle with debilitating bouts of it.

But if a day seems impossible,
then it will be.

If I can look at a day of trials as a means to a destination, and NOT the destination, it seems so much easier somehow.

I’d love to know your thoughts. Or even how you deal with days that go awry.