I look at how my walk with God has grown over the last few years and
determine that it’s been a limping walk at best. Professionally, I am barely hanging on at my
current position and despite my huge respect for the organization and people
there, I have to consider whether I’m cut out for this level of thinking. I struggle to communicate why Jesus is the
lord of my life to the few people who bother to listen. Moving almost yearly, I really struggle to
make friends and maintain friendships, and my hope of ever being in a
relationship has almost died.
Whew. That’s depressing! Nor is it faithful or moving towards positive
change. The good news is that God has
given us a better and more effective way.
Think about some of the challenging/impossible situations in your
life. Where is God in these
challenges? He has not forgotten us and
he is not forsaking us. When I lose
sight of who God is, the challenges grow larger and increasingly overwhelming.
But this is who God is:
“They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock
and water gushed out.”
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock
and water gushed out.”
Isaiah 48:21
Our God brought water out of a rock.
That’s not your ordinary chemistry equation there. Water. from. a. rock. And not a reluctant trickle of water, but
enough to quench the thirst of over 1 million men, women, and children, not to
mention their livestock. WOW!!!!!
God can do anything and He can change any situation. Even more amazing, He gives us to ability to
do all things through His strength!
“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Phil 4:13
Do you still believe this? Do I?
Believing this- and truly living out this belief- would change my
perspective on all the things that weigh on my spirit. It would give me a hope that will sustain
through the ‘deserts’ of life to see the realization of these dreams. And for the dreams that God chooses not to
grant, I can have peace that God will grant me the strength to thrive despite
it.
In a study of the most successful businessmen, athletes, chess
players, and musicians, Geoff Colvin finds a simple secret: purposeful practice
sustained by self-efficacy. In ordinary
language, Colvin found out that it wasn’t necessarily the most talent who
realized their dreams. It was the people
who believed that they would realize their dreams and determinedly and
intelligently worked at it.
As a Christian, there are some key takeaways in this message,
well-rooted in the Bible. If I truly
believe that God can give me the strength to make changes and I live out that
faith with purposeful action, then God puts me on a course to realize those
dreams. The first step is to truly
believe it’s possible.
And Jesus gives us some good advice on that. “With man this is
impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Mat 19:26
- What are some of your hopes and dreams?
- Do you believe that God can bring about these changes?
- What can you do to live out your faith?
2 comments:
Many people begin the process of turning their will and their lives over to God by deciding to turn over only certain parts of their lives. We are only willing to surrender the most difficult problems when we see they are making our lives unmanageable. We cling to other areas of our lives because we think we can manage them or because we think they are necessary for our survival. We eventually realize we cannot barter with God. We must be prepared to surrender our entire will and every part of our lives to his care if we want to recover and be free. When we are truly able to accept this fact, our journey to wholeness has begun.
Thanks, Anonymus, for your thoughts, this is so true.
Many times we don't even realize that we are still holding on to some things, until God asks us to let go...
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