SO FAR, SO…
… good. However much I feel like I need a vacation from adulting, so far so good because GOD is good!
We are almost at the half year mark. The days are flying by so fast and I can’t help it but take stock of what I am doing with my time. Have I glorified GOD in this year? Have I used my time well? Have I accomplished what I had hoped I would have by now? Have I kept the promises I made to people earlier on? Have I gotten better at what I do? Have I been kind? Have I handled situations the best way possible? Have I been intentional in my relationships? Have I been living authentically? Have I been a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to GOD? Is my mind transformed and renewed in CHRIST?
Every season comes with its own tests and lessons. Let me share a few of the lessons that I have picked along the way this far, that have helped me answer those questions.
✦ Unlike everything else that will perish, GOD remains unchangeable, immovable, eternal and never failing. Only HE stands sure, and I am reminded to trust and depend on HIM alone, and that everything I do be unto HIM. I often question why I get so frustrated over the things that are passing away and I have started to see just how much faith I have put in them. I am learning to fully put my hope and faith only in the King of an indestructible Kingdom, JESUS CHRIST. Also thinking about how I have put my faith in man. That I have even placed on them expectations and that I will “not be this and that unless they…” Man might want to help, man might want to be the best version of themselves for you, but they too have their limits. I am learning to be okay when someone cannot always come through for me, however much I may have been there for them. I am learning to be okay when man falls short, to forgive quickly and let go. To be who GOD wants me to be, whether man creates a conducive environment for the same or not. I should not allow a character different from GOD’s will in retaliation to what was done or has happened to me. My experiences will pass, but let it be said of me that I stood unshaken and faithful in CHRIST.
In CHRIST alone I place my trust
“In CHRIST Alone” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
And find my glory in the power of the Cross
In every victory let it be said of me
My source of strength, my source of hope
Is CHRIST alone
✦ To be grateful and content in every season, for what I have and do not have. For what I am going through and for what I am enjoying.
✦ Accept that GOD will not always answer my prayers in the exact way I want them answered. Sometimes to teach me HIS sovereignty, sometimes to protect me from my own desires. HIS rescue will not always come in the way I have it in mind. Perhaps the Israelites didn’t think that GOD would part the Red Sea. It must have been scary passing through high walls of water, something perhaps never imagined, but they passed through safely. It might look risky and impossible, but stand still and see the salvation of GOD. The answer might come from unexpected corners, but don’t miss out on it because your eyes were fixed on the corner you were expecting it from. Your comfort might come for the least expected GOD-sent people. Take it and feel better.
✦ To stop feeling entitled to a trouble free life. Many times I have questioned GOD why I have had to go through what I have. Many times I have wanted to choose the kind of trials I would prefer. Many times I have wanted to curate the amount of pain I would think bearable. I am learning to accept that GOD will send or allow my way that which HE wills, and I should accept it without complaining and without letting the pain take away the essence of whom GOD intended me to be. I am also learning to understand the difference between faith and refusing to accept circumstances as they are. It’s okay to accept where you’re at, what has happened and the pain you’re going through, without trying to bury what you’re feeling. But most importantly, to not get stuck there and have faith that however bad, GOD has a plan with it and HE will sort it out. To allow the HOLY SPIRIT give me joy in the storm, it’s possible. To also not allow the situation cloud the joy that can be experienced after conquering it. Sometimes one can get too mentally exhausted from all the thinking and looking for a solution. I can tire myself from counting all the losses and seeing just how much behind schedule I feel. I am unable to celebrate and sometimes the first thing that comes to my mind when a season is over is all the work I need to do to restore normalcy as I ask GOD, “Was that really necessary?” Sometimes even not noticing that the season is over and now I am persevering a situation that didn’t need to be. Never allow anything take away the joy that the HOLY SPIRIT has given us. Never allow GOD’s good work not to make sense to you.
✦ About my patience in trying situations… The number of times I have complained, the number of times I have gotten agitated and its intensity, the number of times I have sulked… Is getting out of the trying situation more important than allowing the will of GOD? I am most times in a hurry to get out of whatever feels uncomfortable, forgetting that my sanctification is more important to GOD than my comfort and timings. Sanctification never came on a silver platter.
✦ To let go of what I have no power to change. Worry and anger will not change the situation, but will change the state of my heart, so will hope and faith. I choose how I want the state of my heart to be. To trust that whatever I have no control over, GOD is working it out. Completely surrendering to GOD, with none of my hands on it.
✦ The things that bother me reveal where my heart is at. If I worked at correcting the error in my life with the same urgency I work at getting life comforts, how much further would I be? Also, I might miss out on a chance to minister to someone as I focus on my own problems. As much as I love walking with people, my heart at some point could only be waiting to have my issue sorted, and then, and only then, can I help someone else. But it is actually possible to minister to someone in a valley even as we walk through our own. There’s a healing that comes with that.
✦ Be like little children. Let me give an example with a power outage for this lesson…. As an adult, I am always busy trying to get contacts to reach out to about the power outage, getting worried about the food going bad, trying to save the charge on my phone… But the children, I hear them happily playing outside, perhaps unbothered by what is going on. And when the power is restored, one of them will shout, “the power is back,” and they continue playing, as I am busy trying to plug in all the electronics, wondering where to start off and if the power will go off again. The children know they are well taken care of, maybe even not having to understand what it means to be taken care of. That even as the food goes bad, there will be food on the table when they are done playing. What if, with absolute no panic, we fully depended on GOD, trusting that whatever the circumstance, HE will not allow the tribulation to destroy us and that HE will continuously supply our needs? That HE will not allow anything to fall off schedule despite the delay and inconvenience we feel was caused by the trial?
✦ To let the result of my obedience be dependant on GOD alone. For example, I sometimes get worried that when I post a podcast or a blog, they will not reach the intended people. But I realized that once I have recorded, written, edited, released and marketed either to the best of my ability, it really is out of my hands for how and when it will reach people. Only GOD knows next. Release and let go of whatever has come to the end of your obedience. Don’t try to dictate how it pans out. You too have your limits.
✦ There are many ways to minister and I should not get stuck on the means I feel the need to use. It will be of no substance if my neighbour is hungry and the podcast and blog are out.
✦ Do the most with what I have. Time is going by so fast. I need to find a balance between my intentional time with GOD, work and entertainment. I need to lay out my priorities and work them out right, giving most time to what is associated with my GOD-given assignment and that which will grow me. I catch myself, a lot of times, idly scrolling through the socials, sometimes even with such little phone charge, instead of using that little phone charge to read the Bible or helpful literature. The socials will always be there, and I will be missing out on nothing if I do not check on them, but missing a chance to connect with GOD’s Word? That’s missing out on a moment that will completely turn my life around. I need to make good use of the time I have, little or much. And the best use of it is spending time with GOD and doing HIS work.
✦ Use GOD-given wisdom to innovate what is missing. GOD’s wisdom is generous in our lives. When you realise that there is something missing in your space, innovate instead of thinking of how limited your resources are. Think about how to deliver your assignment more than you think about what resource you do not have to deliver it. Also, see and appreciate the strength you have to handle a circumstance, without complaining about what has been thrown at you, even though unfairly.
✦ Technology has a way it can fail us, but we need to never fail on our time in the Word and prayer. If you can, always have a physical Bible and journal. I was so used to doing my devotion and writing notes from it on my phone, and most times, the excuse for not doing devotion is that the phone has not enough charge or is acting up. Remove from yourself every reason to not read the Bible. Also, relationships are important and technology has a way of affecting them. Our relationships with GOD and man can easily be distracted by the gadgets we hold in high esteem and by the work we do on them. GOD cares about our relationship with HIM and with fellow man and we should too.
One time you will do so well in a test and in the next, face flat on the floor. My friend and I like to determine if we aced a test and at this point we might say, “I tried to be like a little child, then I remembered children don’t go to work, and I couldn’t call in sick, but we try again!”
More of GOD’s grace, love and light,
Lydia Ndwiga.
