Don't Give Up...

Earlier today I was driving with my little brother (Peter) in the car. I had just picked him up from school and as we were driving back I told him I needed to go to the bank today. Being the 8-year-old that he is, he didn't like that. He started complaining saying "I don't want to go to the bank! Why do you always have to go to the bank? Why can't you go tomorrow?"... but... what he didn't know was that I was going to drop him off at home FIRST before I headed to the bank. But his heart was so set on complaining about it that I made him go to the bank with me. From the point that he realized I was serious about driving him to the bank with me, to the point that we got there, to the point that we drove home... he didn't complain a single time about it again.

The funny thing about teaching kids a lesson is that the lesson is not only for them, but it's for you. In my pride of success that I taught Peter a lesson about complaining, God convicted me that the lesson also applied to me.

How many times do we complain about where God is or isn't taking us? We complain about our destination before we even get there. Before we even KNOW what the destination is. It's understandable that our journey is painful and extremely inconvient for us at times, but if we even knew where God planned on taking us we wouldn't be complaining as much as we do. Maybe even at all. It's like when you take a roadtrip to somewhere you can't wait to be. But along the way, you get stuck in really bad traffic. Finally you arrive at your destination and have this amazing-filled day. Is the traffic really going to matter to you at that point? After having one of the best days of your life, are you really going to dwell on the detail of the traffic you hit earlier that day?

Our life is like a roadtrip... and sometimes you're going to hit really bad traffic. But God promises us that there will be a time and place where that "traffic" you hit along the way won't matter anymore. When we arrive, standing before God, He's not going to judge us according to the things that happened in our life, but how we lived through those things. In this life, we'll face trials, temptations, difficulties, hardships, tragedies... but there will be a destination ahead where none of those things will matter anymore. Let's save ourselves the time we spend complaining about the journey and instead take joy in the plans God has for us ahead. We need to learn how to wait patiently in the back seat and trust that God knows the plans He has for us... we don't. We tend to live life acting as if our current situation is God's destination for us. But there is more to come that we don't know about yet.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

~Jeremiah 29:11

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

~James 1:2-4

I am speaking to myself just as much (or more than) anyone else who reads this. God just revealed to me that I need to stop complaining about my journey and trust His plans for me. 

With all that said, do not become too prideful in thinking that you don't need God's help to get you through this journey. He is with us, He is behind us, He is ahead of us. There is no part of your journey that He does not know about or know how to handle. Do not give up on your journey because you have NO IDEA what God has for you in the future. Continue seeking to do your best with the strength that God provides. He will prove to you, whether now or later, that knowing Him is worth it all. Walking with Him through this life, this "traffic", will not even compare to the plans He has for you in the future. Do not give up on your journey. There are blessings ahead.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

~Galatians 6:9

"It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil."

~1 Peter 3:17

"But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."

~1 Peter 4:13

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

~1 Peter 5:10-11

 

God Is Interested...

One thing I've leanred is how important it is to be completely open with God. To talk to Him as if He knows nothing about you (but also remembering that He knows you better than you know yourself).

For me personally, I enjoy listening to people as if I don't already know a lot about them. When they tell me a story they've already told me five times before, I don't interrupt them and say "Yeah I know, you told me this before..."; I just sit there and listen as if I've never heard it before. I listen because I know they wouldn't be repeating the same thing over and over again if it didn't have some kind of importance or significance to them.

I find it interesting that people have something in them that allows them to enjoy things they already know the outcome of. Movies for example... most people can watch the same movie several times and still find interest in it each time as if they havd never seen it before. For me personally, I can watch the same episode of Three's Company over and over again and STILL laugh the same amount every time as if I had never seen that episode before. Why are we like this? Why do we have never-ending interest in things? In people? In life?

I believe it comes from the fact that we were in created in God's image. I believe that God has that never-ending interest in our lives- even though He knows the outcome. He can watch us make the same mistakes over and over again, hear us cry about the same things and pray the same prayers, yet still find extreme interest in us... How? Why? Because of something we tend to "know" but don't fully understand... His never-ending LOVE for us.

Sometimes I wonder what God thinks of us when we hold back from sharing things with Him just because we tell ourselves "Oh, God already knows...".

If I were to be talking to someone I know really well and they always said "We've already talked about this before, let's talk about something else..." every time we met up, our relationship would get pretty boring. The fact is: close relationships have a lot of repetition. That happens when you're open with someone. You end up telling them things that they already know. So why do we put a restriction on how open we are with God? I'll be honest and say that there are many times I will tell God "God, my heart is hurting..." hesitantly; as if I'm imagining God sitting on a throne saying "Yeah, yeah, I know...". Yeah, He DOES know. But He's like a lot of relationships we have... He still wants to hear us. Relationships come from God after all! We love, we care, we listen, we laugh, we forgive... all because we were created by the God who does those same things!

About a week ago I was sitting on my bed right before I was about to go to sleep. My heart was heavy but I wasn't sure what to say. All of a sudden I started telling God about this dream I had the night before. I started going into detail about it as if God didn't already know about the dream. For a second I stopped and said, "Why am I telling you this? Of course you already know all about my dream...". But then I had this peace that kinda told me "Just keep going... I want to hear.", so I kept going into detail about my dream. The more I got into explaining it, God just started revealing things to me that I didn't understand before. It felt like such an overwhelming sense of peace that God was speaking to me as I was sharing something that He already knew. The more I shared what was on my heart, the more peace God gave me. By the time I had gone to sleep, I had a better understanding of things... just by telling Him about my ridiculous detailed dream that He already knew about.

I say all this to get down to this point... God wants to hear everything about us. He doesn't put a number on how many times we're allowed to share something with Him. He doesn't sit there and think "If she tells me this story one more time, I'm closing my ears to this woman..."... NO. He LISTENS to us with interest. He wants to hear what's on our heart even though He already knows.

With all that said though, He asks that we share the same interest in Him. We can ask something of Him and He will respond... but if He asks something of us... will WE respond? Do we desire to please God like He pleases us? He desires our hearts COMPLETELY but do we desire HIS???

I say this to encourage people to be open with God and to serve God. Tell Him everything... EVERYTHING. Don't hold back. Don't let the enemy fool you into thinking a one-way relationship is okay because you're content... but make it work both ways! Share your heart and let Him share His! Serve Him! Love Him! Submit to Him! He IS your Father after all...  : )

 

 

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

~Jeremiah 33:3

 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

-Philippians 4:6-7

"but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love frome me!"

~Psalm 66:19-20