Category: Trusting God

I want to say something that definitely came to mind for me yesterday and it’s this: God may not always be telling you the same message for every season of your life.

When you are making a decision, you often think about what has happened in the past, right? You remember that time when God was nudging you to step forward and take action. So, you apply that to this situation, no problem. Sometimes that means that you did the right thing by acting, other times it might not have worked out because God wasn’t telling you to make a move yet. Every situation is different, so you need to listen to see if God is still telling you the same message.

This concept can also come into play when picking what sort of attribute we want to focus on improving, such as trusting God, or being more generous with what we’ve been given.

Here’s an example of what I mean:

Say there is a woman who has been blessed bountifully, and she is a wonderful, God-fearing person. However, she struggles with wanting to share what she has because she fears that she will not have enough for herself. But God uses other people and circumstances to change her mind and over time she is one of the most generous people anyone has known. But once she has improved this much in this area, she should listen for the next thing God is telling her to do. If she does not change once she has grown fully in this area, then she has become too comfortable with her calling.

Our callings need to be a little bit risky, forcing us to take that leap of faith. It doesn’t have to be life-threatening, but it shouldn’t be something that comes naturally to us. Of course, if you naturally love giving, and God is calling you to give money to a family in need, you shouldn’t ignore that call simply because giving is something you love doing. God wants us to be able to enjoy our lives and when we are following His commands. What I’m trying to say is that we shouldn’t expect what God is calling us to do to be easy all the time. We should be looking out for something unexpected that God might be pushing us to do.

Or maybe it’s something not unexpected, but rather something we’ve hidden deep down inside that we have not wanted to work on.

For me, I know that I have focused more on things that I want to work on rather than the things I need to work on. But what made me realize that God was giving me this message was when I thought about what I was asking for from Him on a regular basis: courage. This was something that I have and will always need, but looking over my past journal entries and prayer requests, I realized that perhaps what I need courage for is changing. More importantly, maybe I should be thinking about what areas of my life need more attention.

The word that I keep hearing lately is praise. This surprised me since I have not thought much about how often I praise God or if I do it enough. I don’t usually hold this word to such a high level of importance. But as these verses kept popping up, I realized that praise can truly change everything. Your perspective, your personality even, how you connect with God and others.

You might have spent the last two years working on seeking wise council, trusting God, or doing more with your church. Everything God tells us or God has put in the Bible for us to apply to our daily lives is important and worth listening to. But perhaps step out of the comfort zone or what you are used to hearing from God and start paying attention to the new words or messages He has been telling you.

“Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.”

Psalm 63:3-4

“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

As 2019 draws to a close, so does the decade. And with that comes a lot of reflection. Every year, God seems to be sending out a different message to me, and I’m sure others can relate to this.

In 2019, a lot happened in my life. I would even say it was one of the most eventful years of my life. With that comes a lot of new relationships, grief, surprises, fear, excitement, and regret. I have said goodbye to many this year, and I’m sure that a lot of you have had to do the same. I know that as I get older, I will have this happen more and more, but it doesn’t make it any less difficult to have to watch loved ones grieve or be the one grieving yourself. This year has been hard as I have watched many that I care about make decisions that I know will hurt them later on, yet I am not in control of anyone’s life. All I know is that through all of these changes, good and bad memories, God still was trying to teach me something this year. He has also blessed me in numerous ways throughout the year, such as helping me discover my love of public speaking, giving me new people to care about, and giving me the inspiration to start this blog, just to name a few.

God’s Message to Me This Year

I will be the first to say that everyone is on a different journey, and we all are being told different things at different stages of life. But for me, I think that God’s message to me this year that I want you to think about as well is to continue to have hope and know that if I am patient, I will be less discouraged. God will never fail, and He will never stop caring.

What I want to Leave You with in the New Year

For any of you who dealt with loss, heartache, discouragement, or for those of you who had victory, excitement, and joy this year, I want to leave you all with one thing as you step into the new year.

No matter what’s to come, no matter what has happened in the past, you will never be worth any less or have failed the One that cares the most about you.

There are always going to be people who get in your way; who discourage you and tell you that you’ll never be worthy. There are also always going to be people in your life that love you like there is no one else in the world, who will always want to help you, and who are willing to listen to you. Sometimes, it takes seeking out these people, but they will always be there. If you reach out in your time of need, you are much more likely to experience God’s love shown through others.

My word to you this year is hope. Have hope that things will get better, have hope that you are the person you were meant to be and you are still growing, have hope that there is more to come than what you can see right now, have hope that you have been created for a reason. But most of all, have hope that God will fulfill His promises in your life no matter how bleak things look right now. Most of all, don’t get discouraged if this appear to not be going the way you plan. Oftentimes, you will end up grateful that they went the way God wanted them to.

With that said, have a very blessed new year, and I look forward to when we can catch up again!

“Perhaps this is the moment for which you have been created.”

~Esther 4:14

“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.”

Gerard Way

Remember that Challenge…?

So…anyone remember that challenge that I gave about two months ago about going out and doing something that would strengthen who you are? Well…honestly I forgot about it until today when I was going through old posts. But, I realized that I unintentionally did the challenge and that is something that I can share with you! If you did it or “unintentionally” did (haha) then please share your stories with me 🙂

One of My Flaws

I will be the first to say that I have MANY flaws as an individual. One of them would be not doing the things I know I’m supposed to when I know I should and then letting the opportunity pass me by. Another would be not telling people how I feel when I feel it and then inwardly allowing the feelings to grow stronger until I tell them at the wrong time or just too late. These two flaws go hand in hand, and I ended up tackling both of them last weekend.

How I Ended Up Doing “The Challenge”

First one ended up being confronting a person who has been doing things that have caused me to be upset, passive aggressive, and annoyed over the past several years. Yes, that’s a long time to not really say anything even though I gave those “nine-ish” hints. I can safely say that she is mad, but I feel a lot better because I know that I did the right thing. It was hard to say those things because even though I had that people-pleasing side that didn’t want to say things, I also have that inner fire that wants to explode once in a while when the opportunity presents itself. But the thing I’ve learned from repeated experiences like this that it’s just good to go upfront and be gentle but honest. And I’m glad that I was finally honest.

The second was slightly more difficult even though it has shorter lasting consequences. This weekend I was at a pretty emotional event and I saw some people that have been the cause of pain for me, particularly in the past year. I knew that I needed to welcome them to the space though because it was a place where they could grow. But it was so hard, and I knew that my efforts weren’t appreciated. However, I still reached out and did all that I could to be kind and make them feel like how I would’ve wanted to feel. I’m sure that they may hurt me again in the future or that maybe they learned nothing from the experience. But I know that I did what was right, and that’s what’s important. I’m not going to regret what I did.

Takeaways…

The quote talks about watching your life before your eyes and not regretting any of it. I have had my life flash before my eyes– twice. Maybe more. And honestly, there are things that I’m thankful I did and there are things I know I could’ve done better. And after thinking more about this challenge, I know that I am going to strive to take more risks, not worry as much about what others are thinking of me, and work towards becoming more of who God wants me to be, even though that’s hard. But I want all the challenges you either are presented with or give yourself to help you also become the person you were created to be. The worst thing I could wish upon you would be living a life full of regrets. I’m young and I have many already. A person who was and still will remain a hero to me focused his life on living without regrets. And I’m giving you that mission too. Do everything as though you are going to remember it in ten years and like only the One that’s important is watching. You won’t regret it 🙂

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

-Joshua 1:9

The presence of fear does not mean you have no faith. Fear visits everyone. But make your fear a visitor and not a resident.

-Max Lucado

I’ll let you in on a little secret. I would never consider myself superstitious. However, there is this weird thing I do when I begin hoping that something will happen or something seems somewhat promising. I will think to myself, “Oh, that will never happen. Don’t count on it or believe.” Then I think that the chances of it happening are more likely than if I had a positive attitude about it. And I’ve begun to realize that this tactic which makes me think that I am safe from the grief of being hopeful about something just to have it fall through by denying the possibility is hurting me more than anything else.

I’ve been thinking more and more about it, and honestly, my mentality that something will have a higher chance of it working out by having a doubtful attitude about it is honestly ridiculous. I would probably work harder to make dreams a reality if I actually believed that they could work out. But more importantly, I’ve let this mentality affect my faith.

I’ve let this lie slip into my head a lot recently: “God doesn’t care about what I’m going through or how I am feeling.” I’m worried that if I believe that God cares, then when bad things happen, God was intentionally allowing those things to happen.

This sentence might make you a bit upset…

The truth is, God IS intentionally allowing these things to happen. To you, to me, to everyone. All that pain, all those confused feelings.

So…then why should we believe?

Because God is using those things to make you a better person. He believes that you are strong enough to fight through the doubts, the insecurities, and the pain. And He believes that those are what will bring you closer to Him.

Frustrated yet?

Honestly, it makes me upset sometimes. I feel like it takes a lot of faith to believe that God is using these rough things for a reason and that He has a plan through it all. Mostly, I wonder why God could ever believe that I would want to be closer to Him after all these hard things happen. But the truth is…I do. It’s because throughout all of these challenges, God is the only One that stays constant, who stays there with you through everything. There are a lot of people who say they will always be there for you who either move away, slowly drift apart, or who were saying it simply because it sounded right.

Have you ever noticed how you feel a lot closer to someone after they have been with you through one of the worst moments of your life? I have, at least. I think that it might not make sense, because those are often the times when you are least like yourself or at least who you want to appear as. But in reality, it’s those people who are the ones that have proven loyalty, trustworthiness, and are putting those things into action now.

That is what God does when he allows rough seasons to hit. God is proving that He will bring you through the times you thought you could never make it out of. He is showing you that He will provide even when you thought nobody cared. He is showing you that people love you, that people need you, and that someday He is going to use you for incredible things.

Are you going to end with “you just gotta have faith”? Because I’ve heard that line before…

No, I’m not going to end with that. I don’t think faith is as simple as those sayings go. Faith means vulnerability. Faith takes bravery. And faith is not something that is easy to come by. But a lie that often revolves around faith is that it is a process in which you have to go at alone. You have to somehow have that “revelation” that makes everything suddenly seem real for you. That might work for 1% of the population (or more, but no one I’ve known…) but for the rest of us, there are other things we can do to grow our faith constantly. One of those things is being surrounded by people who encourage it. Hearing real stories about what God is doing and feeling God’s love from others can definitely strengthen our faith. In addition, spending time getting to know God and journaling to see how prayers are being answered is helpful.

My final word to you

We all have doubts. We all have low seasons. I’m in a low season right now, actually. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have faith. It just means that we have to work a little harder at being brave enough to believe. Yes, God cares. Yes, God is listening. Yes, God is allowing these things to happen. But it’s for a reason. And yes, you are going to have doubts, even if you are in a season where life couldn’t be better. Sometimes those are the seasons where it’s hardest to believe we even need God. But trust me, after the hard stuff hits again, you’ll remember why. Ultimately, don’t beat down on yourself for doubts. Just remember that it’s all a test, and God is always going to be there waiting for you.

“The LORD waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for him to help them.”

Isaiah 30:18

“It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.” 

― Roy T. Bennett

A Little Background

A pretty common preference for Nines is stability. We like having comfort in our routines, in our habits, and we don’t always change easily. We go with the flow for others, but our innate preference is to stick to what we know. But sometimes, it takes change in our lives for us to discover things about ourselves that we never knew were possible. Sometimes taking that chance, that risk, is what we needed to make our lives or someone else’s live better. A simple example of this was when I was young, I had a hard time when my mom decided to go back to work. I really enjoyed being able to have her when I needed her and I anticipated a lot of time alone at home. But if she had not gone back to teaching, then I never would’ve figured out my own passion for helping children. And, we may not have continued to go to my current church, where, thanks to giving it more time, I have made so many wonderful connections that I hope are for a lifetime. I have never been as enriched by a community as I have been by them, and now I am so thankful that God called my mom back to work all those years ago. I never would’ve anticipated those blessings, and by taking other opportunities that seem foreign, we can experience positives we weren’t expecting!

My Challenge for You

The point in all of this? Change can be good, if we embrace it and grow from it. I was reminded of that when filling out this fun little booklet that was a humorous gift to me from a relative. I thought it would just be a time-passer, but its little challenges have given me things to think about. Today’s challenge was to “go out of my way to do something I have never done before”. So…that’s my challenge for you too! I will update you on what I decide that change will be, and let me know if you try it out too. Who knows, we might just find our next greatest passion! 🙂