Early morning devotion + Fall weather

Life has been very crazy lately. I've been stressed out, worn out, freaking exhausted, and just feeling like I'm ready to quit life. I'm always up and doing something, whether it be to hang out with family and friends or run errands. I never have "me" time. You know, time alone with yourself to relax and not say a word and just reflect. 

In the past few weeks, I feel that I have become very irritated with people. No one in particular, it's anyone I come in contact with. Its like everyone annoys me and they haven't even done anything wrong. 

I decided I needed some time to myself. And that's just what I did. 

Yesterday, I relaxed. Yeah that's right, I did. And it felt GREAT. I hung out with myself all day. Some people get weirded out by that. "You hung out by yourself and enjoyed it? Wait you wanted to hang out by yourself?" 

Today, I woke up and had my morning devotion. It was quiet and the Lord really spoke to me. It was about discouragement. I've been pretty discouraged lately. I try not to let it show because 1. People will be all up in my bidness and 2. I don't like talking about myself or my problems. (I'm a listener rather than a talker.) Here are some things that stuck out to me in my devotion this morning. Maybe they will help you, maybe they won't, but I thought I would share anyway :)

• Discouragement comes when there is a gap between what you expect and what you experience -- when there is a gap between what you hoped would happen and what actually does happen.
• Discouragement can destroy your passion and undermine your purpose.
• What you see as one of your greatest setbacks might be one of God's incredible setups for marvelous miracles to occur.
• What the devil really wants to do is to steal your confidence and the best time to rob you blind is during a season of disappointment.

So do not throw away your confidence, it will be richly rewarded. Hebrews 10:35