Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Stop Wishing Start Doing

These past few days we have enjoyed beautiful, cloudy skies in California…  I love walking into the fresh greyness of the day (smile).  Usually the atypical weather is enough to make me happy, yet this week I have been feeling really insecure and with insecurity comes this uncontrollable necessity to overanalyze every detail about my life and relationships. Sometimes I have difficulty between action and waiting on the Lord and I think it’s a common struggle of the Christian life.  My friend’s life philosophy is “just let it be,” and I half-heartedly agree with it…  Trust in the Lord is essential, but God created us with the ability to accomplish a lot, the capacity to think and freedom to choose; thus, there’s a part of us that must be always putting our talents to work.  The Parable of the Talents teaches us to use what God gave us for the good of the kingdom and that at the end of time God is going to hold us accountable for the lot He entrusted us with.  Thus, there has to be some action on our part- we can’t just sit back inactive and hope that things will get done- that’s the description of sloth.  However, God wants us to act in the things that we can change and the things that are out of our control to give those to Him with full confidence.  There have been many times that I have wondered God’s will for my life.  That’s usually a curiosity that we all have, we want to know exactly where He wants us to go, afraid of making mistakes or of losing a blessing through our own bad leadership.  Yet, God doesn’t work like that- if He’s going to bless you (which He is) there’s no way that you will lose out on a blessing if it’s meant for you. 
Mother Teresa prayed a great deal and trusted with utter surrender that if God willed it, it would get done.  When she needed funds to keep her ministry going she would pray, but while she waited for God to provide she went on ministering to the poor.  She has this great quote, “God doesn’t require us to succeed He only requires that you try.”  I think in each situation in which we are wondering the will of God we need to first pray and then look at what part of that objective we can do ourselves while we wait on the Lord.  For me lately, I have been praying and wondering about a relationship that confuses me.  To me when I like someone I want to establish communication and to get to know that person better, to develop a friendship and discern in an active way whether God wills it or not.  In discernment of any kind, there has to be prayer and action.  While I have been praying and doing my part by being encouraging at times I feel like I keep hitting a wall, but deep down I know that I am doing my part and trusting that in due time God will reveal His plan.  Sometimes, our loss of peace is because we are trying to do someone else’s or even God’s part.  We get fooled into thinking that we have to do everything on our own, but God delights in being involved in our lives (smile) and He values our work in community. 
Fear can also rob us of our peace.  Not knowing right now God’ will in a certain area can be enough to drive us crazy.  On days like these, when I feel slightly insecure, I get scared that I like this man more than he does me, that am just a person who strokes his ego, that he has no intention of seeing this friendship grow, and many more negative thoughts…  The thing is in matters of the heart one will have these rollercoaster feelings and insecurities because of the vulnerability it takes to recognize that you desire another. Father has told me numerous times a man who really wants you will do whatever he must to possess your love (and vice versa a woman who really likes you will encourage you)...  I think the remedy to pessimistic thoughts is to lean on God and trust Him because He has promised to provide for our needs.  Whatever the outcome to my prayer request I must learn to be content and at peace with God only.  To rest in the TRUTH and throw all those "what if’s" in the garbage.  

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