Abandoned & Afraid No More

I am going to come out and just say it. I am a couch potato and certain shows just grab my attention. Lately, I catch myself watching this one show on the Discovery Channel where a man and a woman have to survive 21 days in the wild with little or no resources. A few things scare me about my fondness of this show. One, I am fascinated with the premise of the show, but do not really understand why if you found yourself in the wild and had to survive I am not sure why you would be nude. Secondly, I might like to watch people choose to make themselves miserable.

 I really enjoy the show because it makes me reflect on my own. Face it. Life really sucks sometimes and situations in life can really make you feel miserable, confused, alone, and abandoned all without being naked and in the wilderness. Frankly, I just want to know how I can keep my head above water before I drown in all life’s stress and misery.

The one thing that has worked for me has always been prayer. Now, it is not for everyone, and I encourage you all to find out what works for you. I can only attest to my own experiences and my beliefs. Too many times, I have been so distracted in my own needs and wants that I placed God in the back burner only to find myself feeling miserable, alone, and afraid. However, when I remember to put God at the core of everything I do, there is nothing to fear.

Remembering to put God first is hard work. It is a constant daily challenge where some days I lose out to my selfishness. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus invites us into His way of life, which entails abandonment of a former way of life. That former life being where God was put on the back burner and God was placed second and our needs came first. We need to break out of our selfish shells and return to Him.  That is why, Jesus tells us to “Repent, for the kingdom is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) Because God has always been with us. We are not alone.  It has always been our choice to accept Him. It is important to remember that placing God first doesn’t mean that you will automatically become a millionaire or get that new car. It means that in whatever we do we choose love first and our needs last. It means taking the time to placing God in everything we do.

Loving Father,

Help me battle my selfishness today. Help me to shed away my former life and look to you as the focus my life. Help be mindful of your presence and love so that I can be your humble servant.

Amen.

Have I Lost My Way?

I am going to be frank about it. I am a big big coward. As soon as things get tough, all I really feel like doing is to curl up into a ball and just give up. The reason I started this website is to glorify God and I thought that would be simple enough. It is not that my belief in God has changed in any way, but my faith and trust in God has been tested and tried this past month to the fullest that I couldn’t provide hope to all of you when I was need of so much hope myself.

The thing is I know that everyone has problems. Everyone is going through something that tests them. But, this time I folded my cards and I succumbed to a world without God. It was a horrible month to say the least. I am just so ashamed that I let myself down. I let my mental and physical illness get the best of me. I allowed it to lose my focus on what is important to me – my faith in God.

I found myself praying and praying, but I could not feel or hear God in my life. Where did He go? Why was He not with me? Was I selfish to believe that God would also grant me success? I used to feel His presence in my life, but it felt as if He just abandoned me.  On top of all my negative thinking, I would also find myself sitting in front of the evening news watching one tragic story after the other. In the past month or so, we heard tragic stories of mass shootings, and catastrophic natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes wreak havoc on people’s lives. How could we believe that God would let this happen to innocent people let alone believe that He took a vacation from my life too? My thoughts and prayers go out to those families who had to go through so much devastation.

Then one day, I saw this t-shirt with the saying “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” And, I felt a jolt go through my body. I was in a rut and I needed to find way out of it. I had stopped praying my evening prayers, I had stopped taking my mindful minutes to reflect on all the good that was happening in my life. At this moment, I was going to rid myself of these negative thoughts about that I had to wait for God to answer me. I had forgotten that God granted me a mind with abilities and the power to act.

So I decided to act. I decided that I would live by this mantra – Grateful Effort Matters. Step one is to be grateful that God has given me this day to live and breathe. Step two is make sure to put maximum effort into everything I do no matter what the task. I need to stop taking for granted that I have the ability to do something now, when others don’t so I can’t waste it doing things half-assed. And, the third step, what I did today matters. All I that I do is for a purpose. The purpose to utilize each and every day to be a better human than the day before. It is with that purpose that I can use my talents to glorify God and hopefully be a contributing person in this world.  

Perhaps it’s not that God abandoned me, but rather helped me grow. The fact of the matter is it is our responsibility to invite God into our lives if we chose to do so.  I know for fact it easier said than done, but I it’s worth taking the leap. This will be a long journey one I hope to share with you and I hope you will share with me. There are so many more obstacles to overcome. I may have lost my way for a bit, but I know that trusting in God is definitely the path I will take.

Keep Moving Forward

I recall being a child and constantly getting yelled at for running around everywhere. My father and mother had to be embarrassed because I would run up and down the aisles at movie theaters and at church. I was just being a kid enjoying the notion of never looking back. What happened to those days? As an adult, I notice we aren’t as adventurous or daring as we once were. Maybe its wisdom, or maybe we are just too lazy to be curious again – to look at things as if we were seeing them for the first time. As adults, we also find ourselves constantly being haunted by our pasts. Yes, we don’t want to make the mistakes of yesterday, but instead, we dwell in fear and we find ourselves paralyzed not being able to act. In some cases, it is simply just easier not to look ahead.

Life is filled with ongoing choices of sorting out priorities, which are important to us. For some us, we don’t seek to look what is ahead because we are too distracted with so many tasks in front of us. We wake up each day being a zombie going through the same schedule as the day before. Others, plan the day to the exact detail filling their itineraries to the max, and they too are distracted to see what still lies ahead – God.

Jesus calls us to follow him and to not look back. He wants us to make him a priority in our lives. He wants us to experience our life plans with Him in it. He wants to be apart or our decision making so that we can prepare for what is ahead in life- our eternal salvation. Jesus has the power to fill you with his grace so that we can be freed from our past so that we can live with him for God’s glory.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) Jesus speaks about the severity and the unconditional nature of Christian discipleship. Jesus wants us to live in him at all times so as not to be distracted from our purpose of glorying God.

Every person has the choice to accept God into our lives. God calls us each differently and individually. We can choose to accept the love and grace He has provided for us or choose to continue to look backward and live in the past. God is what is forward in our lives. When we acknowledge that God is in everything we do our lives are filled with opportunity. When we place God as the most important priority in our life, things just get easier. Our daily activities become acts of glory. When we choose God first, we choose to the important work of proclaiming his kingdom. Will you accept this opportunity?

Dear God,

Help me to move forward in my life. Help me not to dwell in the past. Grant me strength and courage to make you a priority in my life. I understand that placing you first in my life allows me to offer up all my obligations and duties for your glory. Send forth your Spirit that I remain steadfast in proclaiming your everlasting kingdom.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.