Stand.

Merriam Webster defines the word STAND by three separate meanings.

Stand- verb /'stand/

1. to be in an upright position with all of the weight on your feet.
2. to move onto your feet from a sitting or low position.
3. to be in an upright position.

We've all heard pop songs singing of standing through diffiulcut times or perhaps we've had a well meaning individual quote a cliche phrase like " You aren't defined by how many times you fall, but by how many times you get back up."      I've heard this all of my life. 

But what happens when we don't get back up?  What if we have allowed the circumstances in life to knock us around and beat us down so much that it affects us physically, emotionally, and spiritually? 

I can recall moments where like in the dark boxing ring with the noise blaring and the crowds cheering that  I felt drug down and beaten up emotionally to where

 I could envision myself as the one flat on the mat as the clocked ticked with seconds away from being down for the count. 

I'm laying there watching and hearing all of life happening around me and fighting within myself to determine if there was any fight left? 

For me the definition of STAND could best be described as 

2. to move onto your feet from a sitting or low position.

This isn't a vocabulary lesson, but for me it has been the times where I am at my lowest, unable to go on, that God has moved me from my sitting, kneeling, flat on the mat-position, into a place where he plants my feet and gives me the strength to stand. 

As women especially, I think we compare and define ourselves too harshly. Does it necessarily matter that we are completely upright? Our stance may be low but it is our decision to stand in the first place that brings us up to where we are suppose to be. 

I want you to know that if you are going through difficult times and you are ready to throw in the towel, it is not your strength that will keep you upright. We can let go of the fear and the worry that we may not be enough, have enough, to keep it together. 

As professing believers we already have someone who holds us together. Though you may feel in pieces and not completely whole, you are complete.