I think we all have seasons where we don’t understand what is happening. Something in our life is not going the right way, and no matter how much we pray, it just isn’t happening. We can be down on our knees begging God to show us what we are waiting for, or we can be throwing our fists in the air angry at why He has not provided answers.
I’ve been there.
I’m still there.
Continue reading Holding On in the Midst of Waiting
I surrender. I hold up my hands. I give up. I can’t do this anymore.
These are words I don’t say lightly. I don’t give up too easily and I hate losing. But when it comes to living my life how I am supposed to, I have to give up.
Why?
I can’t do this all on my own. I can’t play this game of life the way that I want to and I’m struggling to win this race.
I like a good challenge. Something I can get my teeth into. But sometimes I come across situations where I feel I’m not good enough to do the task at hand. I start to make excuses as to why I am not the right person…
…Surely there is someone else far better than me that can do the job…
…What if I fail and get it wrong…
…Am I good enough…
…what will other people think of what I do…
Do these sound familiar to you? Are you nodding with me right now and relating to these excuses?
Even Moses used excuses when he felt he could not deliver the people to the promised land:
But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11
But guess what folks? Moses did it! Ok, so it took some time, but he did it. All Moses did was ask God for His help and God provided for him the means and ways to do it.
If God calls you to do something and you don’t feel big enough to do it, instead of making excuses as to why you can’t, ask God to provide you with the means and ways to do it.
God calls you because He wants YOU! Not anyone else. He calls you because He knows you can do it.
If God calls you to do something and you don't feel big enough to do it...ask God to provide. Click To Tweet
I wrote this post as a response to the Five Minute Friday word prompt “excuse”. Click here to see what other people wrote when they were prompted with this word.
I think it’s safe to say that most of us, if not all of us, had a dream of what we would be when we were older. A nurse? A firefighter? A princess? A footballer? My dream was that I would be a teacher. I use to sit in my room and pretend that I was teaching my teddies, and sometimes I even roped my brother into playing!
For years I had this longing that I wanted to help other children to fulfill their potential. I completed pre-teaching courses at college and did a number of work experiences at local schools. I enjoyed every minute of it and I passed with flying colours.
My dream didn’t quite turn out as I had planned.
I only just got through college with my A-Levels and I never went to University. The government changed the way that University fees were to be paid, so it was just too much for me to even consider. So, yes, I wasn’t even going to get a degree! Trying to sort out what I was going to do with my life was hard, especially when I didn’t have a degree. I found the options open to me very limiting.
I decided to take a year out to do some voluntary work and to try and get some idea of what I wanted to do with my life. It was only by chance that I ended up working with the Church Army in one of their Volunteer programmes, and I moved to London. Now, 17 years later, I have a lovely family with a wonderful husband and three gorgeous children.
What about the dream?
Maybe, some of us still have that dream though? What do we do? I think that there is only two options we can do. We can either do something about it, plan out how we can live our dream and go for it. Or, we can sit here and accept what has happened. Believe me, I have planned out what I wanted to do…and started it…but it’s just not going anywhere. I’m not the type of person either to sit around and accept things.
So, maybe there is a third option?
Maybe, it’s not my dream that I should be following. Maybe, this is God’s dream and God’s plan.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8
What God wants with me and what He wants me to achieve is probably, and most likely, different to what I would like to do.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19:21
It’s hard to keep this in mind as a positive perspective though when situations don’t go as well. Especially when family and friends are gone, homes are lost, dreams are shattered…the list goes on.
How do you keep going in the work you are doing then?
I keep this in my mind…
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus Philippians 1:6
God has started something in our lives, and He’s not about to stop now. Our life is not over until He says it’s over, despite of how we may feel and no matter what we are going through. Our best days are not what has happened in the past. With God, our greatest days are yet to come!
God has started something in our lives, and He's not about to stop now. Click To Tweet Our best days are not what has happened in the past. With God, our greatest days are yet to come! Click To TweetWherever God leads us, He will provide for us, and He will meet our needs. We just need to remember that it’s not the things that matter — our job, our house, or what we achieve. We are God’s product, and we are made up of the moments that made an impact for God’s Kingdom – the moments that we are going through now! Hang in there. Your work that you are doing now is in God’s mighty plan.
Something to think about…
Are you in a place where you feel you shouldn’t be? Try and keep in your mind that it may not be for our benefit why we are there. It may be that we are impacting someone else’s lives without realising, and it will be for a greater good…God’s amazing plan!
Prayer
Lord, I have no idea what you have planned for my life right now and what work you want me to do to fulfill your bigger picture. I ask that you send your Holy Spirit to fill me with strength to help me through the times when I find it hard to see what your plan may be. Help me to realise that whatever is happening, it is for your greater good. Amen
I originally wrote this post as a response to the Five Minute Friday word prompt “work”. Click here to see what other people wrote when they were prompted with this word.
I couldn’t stop at five minutes though as this topic is just so close to my heart at the moment. The waiting period that you go through is heart wrenching at times, but I do believe that what we go through now is part of the bigger picture later on.
