Just three days, two papers, and one presentation stand between me and my full-time return to bloggy-land. Until then, meet my friend Jessi who blogs over at This Camera Tells My Story. She is a beautiful woman inside and out. And she lives in the DFW area, which is a place near and dear to my heart. I can't wait to visit Texas and meet her in person!
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“This has been one of those weeks. I’m praying for a positive and thankful heart. I am so discouraged right now. It just feels like we’re running in circles- not sure if we’ll get out or which direction to go. It’s like we can’t catch a break.”
I wrote those words back in July of this year. We were having some rough times (which, let’s be honest, is all relative). We had just picked up everything we owned, loaded up the car with our 6-week-old baby and our cat and moved from San Diego to Texas.
Why would we do such a thing?? My husband’s contract with the Marine Corps was over and it was time to move on. We were sure that God had called him out of the military. Now he would go to school and start working in the civilian world. That’s a huge change.
So there we were: just 4 months in Texas and it seemed like everything was going wrong. I won’t go into detail because my intention here is not to give Satan any glory. But, the worst part was I couldn’t see any way out. Isn’t that funny? How we get so caught up in our circumstances that we just cannot see how things will get better?
We are so easily blinded by our circumstances!
Maybe that’s why, instead of focusing on circumstances, we should focus on God. After all, while everything else in this world changes, constantly, He does not! In Malachi 3:1 God plainly says, “I the Lord do not change…” (emphasis mine). Bam. Just like that, He says it. No question.
Maybe that’s why, when James is talking about trials and temptations in James 1, he seems to randomly throw in, “Every good and perfect gifts in from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17, emphasis mine).
Now, a few months on the other side of what seemed like a situation that couldn’t get better, I get it! I get why Paul says in Philippians: “I have learned to be content in any and every situation…” (Phil 4:12). If we get caught up in circumstances we lose heart because life changes like shifting shadows. But, if we get caught up in God, we have hope because he does not change.
the take-away:
Focus on the situation and you’ll be happy when it’s all going well but unhappy when it falls down around you (and it will) because life is always changing
Focus on God and you’ll be content, always, because He’s never changing
Seems simple enough right? But try getting that from your head to your heart. I swear, that’s the farthest distance there is; which is why my prayer in that same journal entry went like this:
“Lord, please encourage me. I want to trust you. I know in my head you’ll provide. Put that in my heart! I want to live like I know you’ll provide. I want to stop worrying & wondering & wishing. I want to live now, in your presence and purpose. Amen.”
May that be our prayer, daily!
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Thanks for being here today, Jessi! Love you and your heart! Comments are off, so please go visit Jessi's blog to say hello!
