What's Your Thing?

Do you ever get to the place where God asks you “what’s your thing?” He does that to me from time to time. What I’m talking about is those times in our lives that aren’t so great. Not just a bad day, but a time in our lives where we have to “endure the suck”, as one of my friends once said. Another way to put it, and what I think he meant by that, is hunkering down and walking through that particular time in our life that doesn’t seem all that good and pleasant. I think it’s a natural part of life, opportunities for us to grow in Him a little more. Well, sometimes it’s actually a LOT more growth that we need.

That brings me back to the question – what’s your thing? What is it that has you down? Why are you so downcast? Why so disappointed? Have you set your hearts upon something you shouldn’t have? Are your plans not working out as you thought they would?

God really does give us a lot of leeway in our lives. He gave us free will, and you can’t get more leeway than that. Since we have been living with our free will from the time of our birth, we have picked up a nasty habit – doing things our way. So when we try to walk as God wants us to we find that our ways are not necessarily His ways, and discover a conflict. Often times it can be painful. Very painful. We weep and gnash our teeth and stomp our feet and become downcast in our hearts and spirits. In essence, we pout. Because we don’t get things done OUR way. But didn’t we decide to live for Him, to give ourselves totally to Him? James 4:1 – “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. ”

We can turn from leaning on Him and doing things His way and go back to our own way, but then we wouldn’t be following God, would we? And we know how things can turn out when we take them into our own hands and do them the way we want them done, don’t we?

One other thing my friend said, and that was to "embrace the suck." Not just endure it, but embrace it. What we need to do is reconcile ourselves to God. To balance our checkbook, if you will. To embrace the suck, we have to identify what it is that is mal-aligned, and get it back in line. This will take blind faith more often than not. God wants us to trust Him in all things, and that requires faith. But when we look at our lives in God’s perspective, we grow in even our faith. If we want to do things His way, we have to lay down our expectations, desires, and needs at His feet. The times that are dark, damp, and downright nasty are the times we need to remember that before we were ever born, He knew our entire lives. He knew we would come to this place in our lives that will seem painful to us. God hasn’t left us during these times. He’s just walked a little farther into the tunnel, and what we have to do is follow him.

Take courage! Be of good cheer! God IS in control!!! There’s light at the end of the tunnel – it may be faint, but focus on it. It may seem to recede, but it only seemed brighter because we have slapped on our own understanding of where we were in relation to the end of the tunnel. Take this opportunity God has given you to grow.

Proverbs 13:12 - “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.”

Proverbs 16:9 - “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”

Philippians 4:11b-13 – “for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Matthew 11:29 – “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”