1/12/16-It’s Going to get Great
The Only constant is change…sometimes it’s good and sometimes not so much…but it is constant.
When you hear the voice of the Lord tell you…”it’s going to get great”…you would think that would be cause for excitement…but in that moment your heart aches and all you want to do is what God is asking you NOT to do. …and then again you hear…”it’s going to get great”…”trust me”.
Why is that so hard sometimes? Why is it easy to trust what we can see and so hard to trust when all the evidence in front of us would cause us to not trust that things can “get great”.
On WAY more than one occasion my flesh has gotten in the way of my peace. Sometimes I can get worked up over things that don’t even concern me, but I willingly put myself in that battle. An area I struggle with GREATLY is not stepping in to fight my children’s battles…I WANT TO…I want to take on the foe’s that come against them and rescue them from all pain and heartache; however, I am learning more and more that my job in those battles is to pray them through them, not to step in and win the battle for them…if I do that, I end up taking away their victory and I certainly don’t want to be selfish and do that!
The Lord has asked me to do something for 2 weeks…well, in reality He is really asking me to NOT do something for 2 weeks. It was in fact an “If/Then” statement. If I listen and step away from something for 2 weeks God will step in and do something…His exact words to me were…”It’s going to get great.” You would think hearing from God telling me that if I obey His request things were going to get great would be super exciting…honestly, it feels like torture. It’s a little like telling yourself you are not going to eat cookies and then everywhere you look you see cookies…car tires begin to resemble an Oreo, your spouse’s face looks like a Snicker Doodle and the Frisbee you never noticed in the garage screams CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE to you every time you walk by. I suppose it’s about resisting temptation…I’m certain the lesson I am going to be learning in the next 14 days will be if I resist the temptation then the result will be great…and not only great, but I will have been TRIUMPHANT…I think that’s the piece that is the most rewarding…the reward is ACTUALLY being able to follow through and see something to it’s completion. The bonus from obedience…experiencing the reward!
“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ecclesiastes 7:8