Saturday, June 11, 2011

Taking the Risk

There is a moment in our lives when everything seems to be going wrong that all we want to do is give up. Sometimes we are standing on the edge faced with demons, things haunting us reflections of our past, and difficulties in facing the future, that all we want to do is jump off. To us that would just seem so much easier, and it would put an end to all of our problems. Why not just make everything go away? While standing on the ledge has there ever been someone you feel is calling you to step off the ledge, telling you that they want to help you? Almost like someone is trying to save your life! What about the person who has actually been there to help you and pick up the pieces? Throughout all of our lives we are faced with this dilemma, faced with all the negative, or difficult situations that leave us handing on the edge, but how are we handling them? Are we focusing too much on the hurt and despair or are we looking for the hope of the day so that we don’t end our lives at night? Have you ever considered or even accepted the fact that while standing on this ledge, that you are never actually alone. You may feel physically alone, but do you know that God is with you? Do you know that Jesus wandered in the desert for forty days by himself? That Job was tested by God and sat their alone wondering what he did to deserve going through something like this, or that Joseph was placed in a pit alone. Even though they may have felt physically alone and felt abandoned, God was there with them the entire time. And God was using them in there time so that someone else would understand that they were not alone. Maybe through what you are dealing with, God wants to show you that you are not alone and your situation can be used to help someone else. But, maybe that is just to much. Does jumping off the ledge just seem easier and that it would solve your problems or make them go away faster? Is that actually the best thing for you to do? What is really being asked of you in this situation? The hurt of the day coming from the world can lead us to want to jump off the cliff, but that could also lead to death. That isn’t the answer. Even though that seems like the best answer and alternative when you die that may look like its solving the problem, but that actually isn’t solving the problem at all. When you get picked on or ridiculed, and choose to end your life, it stops for you, but nor for others who may be going through the same things. You as a child of God, can be used by God to show others how to rise above this and realize their potential. They are more than what the world tells them they are, and that no matter what they’ve done, or how bad they hurt,  they can come home because in this moment through what Christ did on the cross, they are perfect before God. This is your time to put down your past and walk away from all the things that have caused your life to be what seems like a serious of destructive behaviors. To say that you are done living this life the way that you have been and you want the chance to feel differently, to know that their is something better out there for you, and then turn around and walk away from these destructive behaviors is hope. It is taking the risk to rise above and entrusting God, that He is not going to leave you or forsake you. (Joshua 1:5). That is the only way you are going to make a change in your life. That is what keeps you from taking the plunge and ending.  However that is not easy, and sometimes its going to be hard. There are emotions that you are going to wrestle with, and things that are going to be very painful, but some of them might be very rewarding if you let God do what he needs to do. This also might take some friendship and encouragement from others so you know that you are not going through this alone. Just like when God was with Joseph, Job and Jesus as they faced their difficult circumstances but didn’t stop trusting in what God could do for them. Saying this, I don’t try and take away any of the pain, hurt, bitterness, frustration, hatred, longing, desire, regret, or anything else you may be struggling with. Those are deep rooted issues, and I have no idea what you are actually going through, but I understand you are hurting and for whatever reason you think you have to handle this all on your own. But thats not the truth. The truth is that God wants to help you through this, whatever it may be and He wants others to battle for you as well, but are you letting Him? Sometimes life is hard, I get that and I am not trying to make you feel like you can’t have any pain; when people try to put fluff around it doesn’t make it any better. However, there comes a point when doing what you are doing doesn’t seem to be helping and you need someone or something else who will take the reigns. That is when you have to learn to trust God, because He is the only one that will chisel away those walls. There are people that God has placed in our lives that can help though, and there may be someone who is trying to convince you to step away from that ledge. Telling you to stop believing all those lies and move into the future. Those might be the worst words for you to hear, but they also might be the words you need to hear. There are people who are our friends for a reason and that is because most of the time they can speak words to us that we may not want to hear, but know that we need to hear, and eventually we can respect them for it. When we build relationships with people, we put at trust in them and place our lives in their hands.  This is exactly what we are supposed to do with God. We are supposed to place our entire lives in God’s hand and trust Him. Just like trusting our friends, trusting God can be really difficult and it may mean having to hear and do some things we might not want at that time. More often than not however, its what we need. We have to use this to help us grow and find our hope. When we entrust someone with out lives, we are taking steps of faith knowing that they want good things for our lives. We also need to understand that God does not intend to harm us, but to give us a hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) There is a reason that you are going through this situation, and God wants to use that. God wants to use you through it. The instruction might be hard to swallow, but the hope we find from that, might allow us to have a brighter future. 

Friday, January 21, 2011

What's your purpose?

While I am not an avid American Idol fan, over the last couple of seasons I have given in and watched it. This year I was excited about it because Steven Tyler is judging and has such raw honesty and is a musical icon. Every year however,  I find myself questioning the people on the show. It always seems discouraging sometimes to see thousands of people trying out for a show hoping that they can be the next American Idol and then watching what seems like failure when they are rejected and don't make it to Hollywood. This past week, I was particularly discouraged while fast forwarding to the next part of the episode. It stopped on this girl who didn't make it to Hollywood, and she was crying. She said, "I feel like I have no purpose now." That really touched something in my heart, and later brought tears to my eyes to think that we are able to get to a point where we think we have no purpose. There is nothing left for us, and we are of no use to anyone. I have to say that from the times when I felt there has been no purpose in my life, that has been when God has stepped in and showed me something. For years, I have had the opportunity to work at a homeless shelter for women and children, and seen exactly what it means to be stripped of everything you once knew, even sometimes your addictions. While working with these women and children, I have felt an overwhelming desire and passion to open something for low income families and give them every opportunity to be great. Everyone has something that they are good at, and it broke me heart to hear that girl say that her purpose was gone because she didn't make it on TV. Something I feel that God is calling me to do, is allow everyone to see their potential and realize that they have purpose. I have a passion for God's people and ministering in His kingdom. I struggle with feeling like I have no purpose, and it makes me begin to question my own self worth sometimes, but I have started to realize that sometimes our purpose is smacking us in the face when we least expect it. That even in the place, God is using us, using me in some unique way. My hope is that all of God's people will realize who they were created to be, and what they can do to influence God's kingdom. Its TV and tears are big for ratings, but I hope that  that girl understands that there is more to life. I have met people who have been at the bottom of everything and then have heard their story of how they were given back so much more because they found God and trusted in his purpose for their life. My challenge for you, find something that makes you you and don't let Steven Tyler, Randy Jackson, or Jennifer Lopez take that away from you. If this is something that God really wants you to do, and where you fit, then the tools will be provided for you to do it. Sometimes, discouragement happens and its really hard to take your own advice sometimes, but GOD.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

unfair in the fairness of God

While reading through a passage in Ezekiel, I came across a few verses that were talking about the fairness and just of God. It made me ask the question, why do we think that God is unfair? While sitting there thinking over the answer to this question, I begin to ponder what the message of our video (which I spent months showing to other people) really meant. Balance of Power, (our video) talked about fairness and how we are all faced with different challenges in our lives. "It's how we handle the adversity we encounter, and how we view the balance of power." While reading through these few verses in Ezekiel, I began to wonder where we get to call God unfair. See what I was gathering from this passage was that God opened Ezekiel's mouth only when there was a message that was from God for him to share with people. This passage talked about him being the watchman and his job was to sit and warn people of the things that were going to happen to their city. From that point it was kinda put into the peoples' hands, because they had two choices, obey or disobey. If we obey then we accept the message that is being said, if we disobey, then we accept the consequences. That is our choice, therefore, where is God unfair? This is clearly laid out in his teaching that we either accept or deny his message. Well, this made me start to realize how I once viewed unfairness in my own life. I used to say that life was unfair because I would see things happening in others lifes, that wasn't happening in mine. I would get so irritated at the things that were happening for other people, that it would make me start thinking that maybe if I did what they were doing, then things would work out for me. It works for them, so it must work for me. Then when things wouldn't happen, I would start questioning why me? Nothing good ever happens in my life, why is God using them and not using me? Tonight as I was thinking over how we could say that God was unfair, it made me realize that line from our video. "It's how we view the adversity we encounter." What I began to realize was, how when we compare ourselves to other people, we are taking away our role in the kingdom. The plan that God has for my life, yet I am to busy trying to live someone else's life. If I am faced with a situation in my life, then I have two choices. I can either live in pity and thank oh why me, why does this happen to me, or why isn't this happening for me, or I can ask how I can use this situation to move forward in life. You start to notice the positive and not the negative. Realizing that God is using you, even if you think that he isn't. Those in Ezekiel's day, heard the message but they weren't obeying. Therefore they thought  God was unfair because he was punishing them for what they clearly chose. If I am choosing to pity myself because of something that is happening for someone else and not me, then I am the one that is missing out on things in my own life. That is my decision. I have spent my life with feeling that I have lived in someone's shadow, and sometimes still find it very hard to be happy for people, but understand that that isn't the right time for me yet. Life is unfair, but if I constantly spend the days wanting to be someone else, then I have to accept when God is pulling the reins and making me wait. Or, I can move forward and think positively about what God could be doing in my life that I am putting the reins on and hand them back over to God. "Handle the adversity we encounter, and how we view the balance of power." I don't think that God is unfair, I think he states clearly the actions for our obedience and disobedience. Therefore, if I am not listening to the warnings of the watchman, I shouldn't come to God saying he is unfair. There is repentance and I begin to realize the acts of my disobedience. I begin to live my life as me, taking what is giving to me. This is, "how you view the balance of power."