At a crossroads…with a catch

I am at a crossroads today, and I feel like no matter which road I look toward, I see this:

I thought details were falling into place, but I was wrong.  Instead of solidifying my choice and the related details, I’m starting over with a completely blank piece of paper and absolutely no idea what is going to end up on it.  It’s frustrating.  It’s discouraging.  It’s maddening.

But it’s also an opportunity to let God take over.  I can fight this, or I can trust.  I can worry, or I can accept God’s plans as my own.  I can get frustrated, or I can rest in the fact that God knows what tomorrow holds.  I can choose to believe that whatever God is doing is going to be amazing and that He’ll let me know what my next step is when it’s time to take it.

In these moments, the best thing I can do is review His past acts of faithfulness.  They serve as signposts and monuments of my journey through life.  They are the reminder that I am not traveling alone, and I am not lost.  I am on a road my Father chose for me before I was even born.  It’s not a nice straight road through the open country, though.  It’s a twisting, winding, unpaved road around mountains, over raging rivers, through dark valleys.  But it’s interesting, and exciting, and if I let it be, even a bit fun.

How do you cope with apparent dead ends on your journey through life?

 

On the verge

About 10 years ago, I went to Maine with my family for vacation.  It was incredibly beautiful, as you can probably imagine.  The first couple of nights, we stayed in Yarmouth and when we woke up the first morning, a dense fog covered the town, shrouding everything in an eerie mist.  We went for a walk in it and it was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had.

From there, we went to Bar Harbor.  Now when people hear you’re going to Maine for the first time, one if the first things they tell you is “dress warm”.  So we packed jeans and sweatshirts and jackets.  The day we went to Bar Harbor, it was 96F.

Finally, we made our way to Acadia State Park.  If you’ve never been there, do yourself a huge favor and add it to the list of places to see before you die.  It’s incredible!  You stand at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean on gigantic boulders, high above the surface of the water, and on a clear day, I swear you could see Ireland if you squinted hard enough.  The water is a deep, navy blue and when the waves crash on the rocks, the foam is such a pure white against the dark water.  It really is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.  (And I got some amazing pictures that week!)

There have been many times in the past few years when I’ve felt like I’m standing on the edge of one of those boulders.  Behind me is the rocky path I’ve taken, full of hard climbs, tree roots, and wild flowers.  Ahead of me is the edge.  I’ve come to the end of the trail and there I stand, looking out at my future.  In my mind, it’s beautiful, but full of mystery and potential danger.  I can’t take another step toward it yet, but I can look out over it and wonder what it contains. 

And I wait.  I wait for a bridge to be built so I can cross over into my next adventure.  I wait for a boat to show up that will take me out into the ocean of “what’s next?”  I stand and I wonder – will it be good?  Will I like what’s coming next?  Or will it be hard?  Will it make me struggle and hurt?

We don’t know what our futures hold, but there are a few things we do know for sure:

1. God planned out our next step ages ago and He’s already in our next moment.  (Isaiah 25:1)
2. Our faith will continue to be stretched and made stronger. (James 1:3-4)
3. Whatever God has next for us is good and perfect and will be just the right thing for us. (Romans 12:2)

Our Father loves us so much and He always wants what’s best for us.  Sometimes, what’s best for us makes us happy.  Sometimes, what’s best for us confuses us because we don’t know our whole story yet.  Sometimes, what’s best for us feels like the worst possible thing.  Regardless of how it feels, though, what God allows into our lives is, in fact, the absolute best.

If you’re on the verge, on the edge of what you know, looking out into what you don’t know, ask God to help you let go of your security, your assumptions, your expectations and your fears.  Ask Him to strengthen your faith.  And then trust Him completely, without reservation.  Trust that the One who formed you in your mother’s womb and who planned out every last one of your days knows every step you need to take to end up exactly where He wants you to be: the center of His will.

Are you standing at the edge of what you know, ready for what’s next?  If you’ve already taken the next step, how are you seeing God at work in your life?

 

A pride of peacocks

Today’s post might be a little random, but I’ve had a lot of thoughts about a certain subject floating around in my head all week, so I thought I’d get them down on “paper” so we can all have a better look.  I’m not sure where this all started, but I’ve been hearing a lot about pride vs. humility lately.  Usually when I start to hear a certain subject come up multiple times in various settings, my ears perk up and eventually, I start examining my life to see where I need to change.  Then I start talking about it with other people on the off chance someone else is hearing the same things.  So here is a brief summary of what I’ve been hearing for your consideration:

1. This first one is a summary of what a friend said at Bible study this week: “We can do pride by ourselves.  Only God can bring humility.”  It’s only when we submit to God and His will that we can stop relying on our own strength and our own resources to survive.  In contrast, when we do submit to God and admit that we are nothing without Him, we find that we have strength and resources that are more than we could ever need and instead of just surviving, we can live victoriously.  When we humble ourselves under God’s authority, we have the power to resist temptation, be a blessing to others, worship Him openly and truthfully and stand strong under trials.
2. Number 2 is also from someone at Bible study: “An awareness of who we are, and an awareness of who God is leads to repentance.”  When we’re so caught up in ourselves, we think we can do no wrong.  When we think we can do no wrong, we don’t see our need for forgiveness.  When we don’t see our need for forgiveness, we separate ourselves from God because God is holy.  It’s only when we open our hearts fully to Him and let Him clean out everything that shouldn’t be there that our relationship with Him is healed.  And it’s only when that relationship is healed that we can receive His blessing and worship Him fully. (See point #1.)
3. Finally, if we are humble, we are more able to trust God with His plans for our lives.  In our pride, we think we know what’s best for us.  In our pride, we fight and strive and wear ourselves out trying to get what we think we “deserve”.  (On a side note, I’m beginning to hate that word.  We use it way too much and I don’t think we really understand what it means…but that’s a post for another day, methinks.)  On the other hand, if we are willing to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand, we can rest in the knowledge that He knows our hearts and He knows our futures.  We can trust that He will give us what is best for us and in the end, it will be better than anything we could ever imagine.  And as a bonus, we won’t be so tired all the time.

So those are my random thoughts on pride vs. humility.  I leave you with the question that ended our Bible study this week:

What can you change in your life that will reflect both humility and trust in God?  How would your prayer life be different if pride never snuck into your prayers?

P.S. Regarding the title: Is there any other animal on earth that “deserves” to be proud of itself?