I have had many of these wonderful invitations of depression and despair over the course of my life, and more often than not,  have found that they were actually indicators of my breakthroughs.  The old saying goes something like this- “it gets darkest before the dawn”,  and I have found this to be so true, in my personal experience. When I have cried out to God the hardest, and felt as though I could go no further, His favor has broken through the darkness without fail.

I remember one particular occasion when this scenario played itself out in my life in bold fashion.

It was 2003 and I was being let go from my job. I was told that I had 6 weeks left of my salary and that would be the end. I began to pray and ask God what direction I should go in, and all I heard was. . . “BE STILL”. Not what I really wanted to hear, but I had a month and a half to walk this through with Him, so I waited.

It was easy to have faith on weeks one and two, but an uneasiness began to creep in around week number three. Needless to say, I was in deep prayer each and every day in anticipation that God would open a door for me to walk through. By week five, however, panic set in.  I began to have the distinct feeling that I had missed God in a horrible way.  Thoughts of doom began to flood through my mind.

I had never been unemployed before, so I had no grid for what lie ahead of me.  How would I feed my family? How would I pay my bills? Would I lose my home? Would I be perceived as a fool for thinking that I could hear God? I was in full panic mode, and for the next two weeks I came to understand anguish like never before.  Needless to say, I was in a place of deep darkness and despair.

In all of this emotional turmoil, I could not escape the ‘still small voice’ telling me to be still.  I would pray each and every morning, seemingly to no avail. I quoted scripture and spoke to the mountain, and went through the motions of everything that I knew to do, but nothing seemed to change. I felt as though I were sinking deeper and deeper into a pit that I could not get out of. I eventually got to the place where I could not sit down and eat with my young family, because all I could think of was that I would not be able to feed them in a few weeks.

I should also mention that my wife and I we planting a church during this season. In fact, the church that sent us out to plant it, was no longer able to support us due to a change in their financial situation. We had grown this small plant to about 30 people, and now it seemed as though the rug was being pulled out from underneath us. The church plant was in the city of Lake Jackson, about 10 minutes from the ocean. This will be relevant in a moment, I promise.  But the added weight of what would happen to these new converts weighed heavily on my heart.

When we had reached the fifth week, I told my wife that we would go down and spend the weekend in Lake Jackson, to let the kids kids have a mini vacation before they started back to school. We tried to get a room in Lake Jackson, but due to a convention, were unable to find any vacancies. I drove a little further up the road and found a La Quinta in the small city of Clute.  We stayed there and did the beach thing for a couple of days, held service on Sunday and returned home to start week number six.

I cannot begin to describe the whirlwind of emotions that I faced that last and final week. Depression began to take root inside of me like I never had felt in my entire life. I felt as though I had rolled the dice on my faith, and that it was becoming ever apparent that I had missed God. Now, the only scripture that I found comfort in was in Luke 3:5 – ‘the crooked places shall be made straight.”  It was all that I felt I had left to hold onto.

I remember waking up on the last Tuesday morning of the sixth week. I would be getting my last check that Friday, and I was a mess. I woke up about four in the morning, made my coffee, and sat at the kitchen table to pray with my Bible. Strangely, after prayer I felt pretty good. I was at peace, basically because I was coming to the end.  I had no answers, I heard nothing more from God, but at least the phase of panic seemed to be over-  or so I thought.

At nine o’clock that morning, I felt a psychological melt-down come over my entire being. I grabbed my cellphone, my Bible and a tablet and told my wife that I was going to the park. I think my exact words were, “I think I am having a break-down and I don’t want you to see me this way!” I told her to call me if she needed me, and I went on my merry way to ‘lose-it-ville’.

I remember getting to the park ready to cry my eyes out, only to find the city crew there cleaning and emptying the trash.  I was so very annoyed. I wanted to scream for them to leave so that I could get on with my melt-down, but it didn’t seem like the appropriate thing to do.  After about twenty minutes they were done. Finally!

I placed my things on the picnic table and proceeded to walk the soccer field in full blown tears-mode! I did my best to try and convince God that I had done what He asked me to do. I quoted scripture and plead my case. I recounted the events of the last year and a half, and questioned His call on my life, repeatedly. I think I even made threats of quitting ministry altogether, in hopes that an audible voice would break through the clouds and save me. I think it took roughly an hour and a half to reach the point of utter exhaustion, and then there was nothing else to do but be silent! I had reached the end.

After about thirty minutes of silent contemplation, a sound faintly broke through the silence. It was a windy morning, but I thought I heard my cellphone ringing. I stood still, listening intently. When I realized that it was my phone, I made a mad dash to the picnic table. It was a friend of mine. He inquired as to what I was doing, but there was no way I could bring myself to tell him.

He said that a church needed a keyboard player for the next two weeks, and that none of his guys were able to do it. Then he said the magic words- “they will pay whoever can play for them”!  I was desperate, and even if all I could get was a two week extension, I was sold. I took down the number of the church, thinking it was in Houston,  and immediately dialed the pastor.

As it tuned out, he knew who I was and wondered how I was available. He asked if I would be able to come to their rehearsal that night, and possibly meet him earlier for dinner beforehand. I said that I would love to, and asked where to meet him. He asked if I knew where the city of Clute was? I told him that I only knew where the La Quinta hotel was, because I had stayed there over the weekend. He said that his church was on the same street as the La Quinta, two blocks down the road.  Coincidence . . . I think not!

To make a very long story short, the church was in desperate need of help in their worship ministry, and I was hired that night at dinner. The church that I was planting was literally three minutes up the road, so we merged our churches together!  All with three days to spare! And to top it all off, my income increased by almost ten-thousand dollars! Talk about a ray of light breaking through the darkness!

I learned many things through this experience … too many to write here.  If I had to choose one overriding lesson, it would be that God’s processes are not easy. When He chooses to leave His fingerprint in our lives, there is an extreme amount of pressure under the weight of His hand! I no more like the process today, than I did in 2003, but I do like the results.

If you find yourself in a dark place today, know that He is in complete and total control! You must settle that in your heart of hearts. He is ready and willing to deliver you, but there are things that He is doing ‘in you’ as you walk through the process! If the process is not complete, then neither is the work that He has begun in you!

Philippians 1:6 states- ” being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it . . .”!  Remember what Proverbs 3:5-6 commands-

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

One thing I’ve learned about the darkness is that it brings me to a place of intense focus.  Many of the peripheral things simply fall away, as God grabs a hold of my complete and total attention. But when the light breaks through, there is no question about the direction I should go!  Something to think about!

Now back to reality. What you and I focus on, becomes our reality. This is not about positive thinking, but about control. Can we control our focus? Again, as Christians, we learn all this stuff in church. We memorize scripture after scripture, especially the ones that say good stuff to us, but do we actually do anything with those scriptures.

God’s word is totally about reality! The truth of that statement, however, is that His word deals with reality as far as He is concerned. That being the case, I constantly find that His version of reality is at odds with mine. I have often thought, “how easy it is for You God, … you’re God!” His response, though, is that I am made in His image and called to conduct myself as He conducts himself.

He says to “speak” to mountains/circumstances in my life! That seems utterly ridiculous and feels pretty silly when actually carried out. I remember being fired from the last church that I was on staff at- (a long and crazy story for a later time). I firmly heard the Lord tell me to be still and trust Him to lead me where I should go. I thought it would be no problem, until I realized that He was serious- and that I literally had to trust Him from day to day for months on end. I literally went over 10 months without being employed, and yet God supplied every need just like He said that He would.

My reality said, “I need a job”! God’s reality said, “all you have to do is trust me!” I am grateful for the experience, for I learned to see reality from God’s perspective instead of my own. This demanded that I daily focus on His word to be my new reality, and that was not easy. The only way that I can describe it is in terms of a new-born colt. I have seen when a mare has a baby, and the colt does it’s best to stand. The new-born wobbles as it does its best to stand on all fours, looking as if it will collapse at any given moment. That has to be what I looked like as I stood on God’s word in the new reality of Him being my source with out a net to fall back on.

He would command me to speak to my bills and believe that the doors would open that would supply those needs. Please understand that I am not encouraging anyone to just go out and quit their job and just trust God. That season ended after 10 months, and I was once again employed. The purpose of this illustration is to simply bring home the fact that God’s reality and ours are very different. In fact, His words says My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. It’s a given.

Just because it’s a given, however, does not mean that God isn’t expecting us to change our ways and our thoughts to match his own. He is calling us to choose which reality we will live from. The reality of impossibilities or possibilities. Reality of doubt or faith. Reality of love or hate, and so on.

The Bible tells us that the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than are the sons of light. It really bothers me, but I see it play out over and over again. The sons of this world are visionaries. They exercise their faith to bring about buildings, computers, record labels, clothing lines, movies, television programs, and even governments. Yet where are the sons of light? I am asking this question of myself as I explore changing my reality of life once again, for I believe that it is constant.

The Bible states that “My people perish for lack of vision”. So I pose the question. What is our vision? Is it to live a comfortable little existence while praising God and shouting Hallelujah in our church houses, all the while waiting for the sweet bye-and-bye to finally come? Pretty lame, as far as I am concerned. We need to become movers and shakers of mountains. We need a reality check, and if we are comfortable where we stand- I venture to say that our present reality is not a God-reality.

You and i were made to dominate. To bring things into existence that do not yet exist. We are called to be like God! To reflect Him to the earth. Romans says that the expectation of the creation is for the revealing of the sons of God! According to this scripture, I just can’t see having a good ole time in church cutting the mustard! How about you?

When was the last time you actually heard your own breathing? When was the last time that you literally felt your own heart beating inside of you? You have a miracle taking place inside of your chest at this very minute, pumping the very essence of your life throughout your entire body. The funny thing is, in a morbid sense of the word, that we hardly ever think about it until something is not functioning as it should.

When was the last time that you purposely listened to silence? Actually hearing not to hear anything? It’s amazing how we can literally be surrounded by hundreds of distinct sounds, and yet have the power to block out nearly all of it! Things like birds singing, dogs barking, Carpenters sawing, horns honking, air conditioners blowing, etc. These noises are happening all around us at any given time, and yet we have the power to hear nothing or succumb to the pressures squealing from within our own minds.

I am amazed at how I can get so busy living for the future, and never live in the actual moment that I am experiencing NOW! I am following my plans and my dreams. I am building for a better tomorrow. I am searching for answers to life’s problems, and coping as best as possible under the given circumstances of the day. And yet what am I missing?

The laughter of my children! The hug from my little girl who longs for my attention! The smile and loving touch of my beautiful wife! The sounds of my sons wrestling downstairs! The peace and tranquility of my family sleeping as I lye awake listening to them breathe deeply.

I guess all that I am saying is know that you are ALIVE! Live in the wonder of the brainwaves and electrical impulses that belong to you. Rediscover the power of touching and feeling, expressing and loving! Experience the power of yelling at the top of your voice for no good reason- just because you can! Call a wrong number on purpose, just to impact the life of another unsuspecting human being! Eat your dessert FIRST! In fact, eat a big dessert and nothing else!!!!

Run through a water sprinkler with your work clothes on! Eat cake with your fingers! Mail a get well card to yourself! Sing in an elevator- that has other people in it! Dance in your driveway! Go through a McDonalds drive through and order a whataburger! Then order a whopper!Do something, anything, that will cause you not to allow yourself to be caught up in the “RUT”.
You are wonderfully made! Start remembering it often- and don’t forget to BREATHE!

They say that the only thing that never changes is the fact that there will always be changes. You can either embrace change, or let it run right over you. But make no mistake- there will be changes.

Transitions can be scary. There’s the fear of the unknown! The trouble of having to break out of a routine. The need to learn something new, and may be even completely different. There’s also the frustration of having to start completely over! Transitions are probably as welcome as that wet kiss from your Aunt Gertrude who has no front teeth, bad breath and a mustache! But like that nasty kiss, transition is coming to land on you!

The real struggle, at least from my vantage point, is not the actual action that is taking place in my life, but rather the mental and emotional strains that it produces in me. The Bible tells us, do not worry, but sometimes that seems almost impossible. Yeah, I know the scriptures- cast your cares on Him, His yoke is not heavy and His burden is light, all things are working together for the good, and on and on and on… But what about right here and right now!

I remember going through a remarkable experience about 4 years ago. I was working and yet I had nothing in the bank, due to a series of little catastrophic events. I was overdrawn, and my gas got disconnected. This is not a good situation for a man who has a wife and four kids. We could not use our stove because it is a gas stove. We could not heat our water because, well … no gas! And to top it all off- we were almost out of food!

Honestly, I had never been in such a bind- ever! The despair that sunk in was unbelievably hard to deal with, and yet life demanded that we go on! I was stunned. I would ask God, “How could you let this happen?” “What did I do, or not do?” I was dumbfounded, to say the least. I was ANGRY, to say the most!

I would pray, but felt so numb inside. I had not mismanaged my finances. I had been doing all the right things. Why would God allow me to endure this embarrassment?

I remember re-assuring my older children that God had a plan and a reason for allowing us to walk through this. That He would not allow us to go under, and that it would all make sense soon. And yet when they were not looking, I had my head buried in my pillow, screaming and crying out to God, just trying to keep the Faith!

To make a long story short, God did have his reasons, and much of it was to get my attention concerning a major shift in my life. You see this happened while I had a job and finances in the bank. As far as I was concerned, things were looking pretty good. But what I didn’t know was that God was about to ask me to walk out on to nothing. No job, no savings, and to trust.

I found out that my trust was in my JOB and my SAVINGS account. God needed to re-align my vision. The process was ugly, hurtful and humiliating… but also necessary to prepare me for where He was about to take me.

When I had finally hit the bottom, He came through. Groceries came from no where. Money came from a very unlikely source, in a very strange place. My gas was restored! It was all very miraculous, and that was His point.

It would be about four weeks later that God would ask me to step out from that job and walk through another door of transition. This time there would be no job, at all… nada! There would be no bank account to rely upon, only Him! It was probably the greatest transition that I have ever experienced, but it was the greatest decision that I ever made.

There are many awesome facets to that transition. God literally sustained me without a formal job for a whole year! That was incredible, to say the least. Doors would open each and every week for me to go and minister, and other doors that provided financially in other ways. My children got to view first hand, the awesomeness of God and His ability to provide things supernaturally. In that one year period, I never had anything disconnected, never went without the necessities of life, nor was embarrassed for putting my trust in Him. What I could not do with a job, he did for me without. It was all awesome!

But honestly, while those are great things to focus on, they were not the greatest. The greatest thing that I walked away from that experience with was the fact that I got the opportunity to KNOW GOD in a way that I had never known Him before, as my PROVIDER!

So the next time that you are starring a transition in the face, don’t cower! Yes, it will be uncomfortable. Yes, it will frustrate you. Yes, it will challenge you. Yes, it will cause you to change! But who knows… it just might be God that you find on the other side of the door! Go through!

Before I finish the story, I want to stop right here and ponder for a while. I hate dry seasons. The times where you do everything that you know to do, and still it seems that for all of your efforts you get nada, zilch, nothing at all. These are the frustrating seasons where nothing seems to make logical sense. I say things like, “God…how can this possibly be helping me? This is ridiculous! I have trusted, and prayed, and spoken your word, and still nothing has changed!”

I have said it before, and I’ll say it again… I hate the process! I always look forward to the outcome, but I cannot stand the process. If you are not familiar with the “process”, I am referring to the method by which God decides to put me in the pressure cooker and allows me to marinate in the herbs and seasonings of despair, lack, self-pity, doubt and unbelief. I guess what I hate most about the process is that my true inner-self is revealed and my short-comings are exposed.

Trust is a difficult thing for a lot of us. Especially when you are in a dry season that is also in the midst of a life transition. You know that feeling of being the mouse in the maze frantically looking for the cheese. You keep tunneling through each opening, but it seem that you just keep hitting a dead end. It drives me crazy!

I think that it probably drives God crazy, as well. How many times did Jesus confront the disciples with the question, “how long must I put up with you?” followed by the statement, “O you of little faith!” I really don’t think much has changed, at least as far as I am concerned. I think He is asking me the same question, followed by the same statement.

The question is what do we do when we have already tried and reaped nothing from our efforts?
The answer is in the last part of the story I opened with. Yes, Peter was tired and probably grouchy. Yes he had been out all night and just wanted to put it behind him. The drought was real. He had nothing and could prove it. He had eyewitnesses in his crew. But when Jesus told him to do it again, even though he couldn’t rationalize it in his mind; even though his first response was to tell Jesus why it was not a good idea, he said, “nevertheless, at your word I will do it!”

Two things stand out to me. When we are in the dry season, we must get a command from the Lord on how to proceed. We must have ears to hear, which usually isn’t hard because we become desperate to hear something, anything, when it’s dry. Second, we must act upon what we hear, no matter how ridiculous it may seem or feel to us. It doesn’t matter that you have already tried…just do it!

You may be tired. You may have already resigned and chosen to lay down. You may have to go it alone. Peter was the only one who initially went out on the word of the Lord. His crew only joined him when the distress signal went out because the catch was so great and his nets were breaking. In essence, they all got to share in Peter’s obedience. Many people sit on the sidelines until the rain finally falls… Just don’t be one of them. No matter how dry it may feel, know that it’s gonna rain again. Get out your umbrella, in faith! Believe a little more!

In a real sense, fear is a form of negative faith. A strong belief that something bad is going to take place generally opens the door for it to happen. While they are polar opposites in terms of their role in your life, in many ways fear and faith operate on the same level.

Both require that you strongly believe in their potential. Both invoke a sense of reality into your thoughts before you actually see a physical manifestation. And lastly, both seek to dramatically change your life.

This is not going to be a long drawn out segment, but I would like to interrupt your day with the question of which element you are existing from today. While we all have probably experienced the “in your face” type of fear that causes your knees to shake, I believe that it is the subtle fear that we must look out for.

It’s the fear that leads to complacency and in-action that we must look out for. A fear that sneakily lurks under the radar, whose message is that nothing will ever change no matter what we do. A fear that keeps you from reaching. A fear that steals your Godly birth-right as an over-comer and a powerful force in the world.

If your reaction to that last statement was, “who…me?” Then this blog is for you! You are more than, not less than. You are destined, actually the Bible says predestined. You can have and attain but you must choose, ‘faith’ or ‘fear’. It’s just like God said, “I present before you, life and death”, but it still is your choice.

What is fear stealing from you today? To me, fear is a substance much like dog-pooh. If you smell that substance on your shoe, you must quickly act to get it off so that it doesn’t contaminate other surfaces like your carpet! Are you smelling anything?

There are great challenges ahead of us. We watch as financial markets are crashing, wars are being waged, natural disasters are happening with greater frequency, political landscapes are being rewritten, Supreme Court decisions are selling out morality, and from the looks of it, we are on a slippery slope to Godlessness. This is of course barring another terrorist attack on our soil. Then I guess we will once again see our country coming out to sing another rousing rendition of ‘God Bless America’.

I am reminded of the scripture in Romans 8 that seems to aptly describe the current state of affairs in the world.

Romans 8:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

I love that. The world awaits the revealing of the Godbreed! You and I have what the world eagerly desires. The truth is, however, that we must get a greater revelation and understanding of who and what we really are. But how do we do this? Truthfully, we must rely on the work of God’s Holy Spirit, because our strategies are not enough to get the job done.

Romans 8:

26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us[b] with groanings which cannot be uttered.

We must understand that it rains on the just and the unjust alike. We cannot escape the situations that are causing the world to groan in pain. But we are the Godbreed. We are able to stand in the midst of it all with the confidence that God is in control, and because He is in control, it is working to our good.

Romans 8

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

The words used in these verses should bring definition to the Godbreed. We are ‘the called according to His purpose’. We are ‘foreknown’ and ‘predestined’ to look just like His Son. We are ‘called’, ‘justified’ and ‘glorified’.

It is important that we derive our identity from His point of view. The enemy seeks to steal, kill and destroy our understanding of who we are, because if we don’t believe it, who will? The Godbreed is not an impotent people. We are powerful!

I challenge you today. Take your place in the breed. Look beyond your faults and inconsistencies, and see yourself as He sees you. Walk in the knowledge that you are predestined and called for His purpose. It is not dependent on you. Get you out of the equation and allow the Spirit of God to do His thing. We were meant to live for so much more, so let’s get on with it!

In closing, I want to leave you with a thought. It’s Spiritual. We must not try and fulfill our mission in the natural. Good ideas are just that- good ideas. God ideas, however, are spirit and can only be accomplished via the Spirit! We must tune into the realm of the Spirit through prayer and God’s Word. It seems simple enough, but I know that I am guilty of living on yesterday’s, or even last Sunday’s manna. This cannot be.

James tells us that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. We cannot reverse the order. God is ever present, we know that. But if we desire a greater relationship; if we truly aspire to be like Christ, then we must draw near. It is a deliberate action on our part. So I urge you today. Take the first step. We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain! It’s high time that we were revealed to the rest of the world! After all, they are eagerly waiting.
Let your light shine!

I am one that does not believe that we are living according to chance. I firmly believe that God is centrally located at the very core of where ever we may find ourselves today. That even includes the wacked out places, where it seems that nothing is really going right.

We know that God is not the author of confusion, and yet I do find myself confused at times. What I have come to realize is that I generally get confused when I try to regain control of areas of my life that I have already placed into God’s hands. When He does not move as quickly as I feel that He should, or when it seems that things are not going in the direction that I want them to go, I try to get involved- once again.

The truth is that we as believers have to daily crucify our trust issues to the cross. Many times it is not a matter of believing that God can do something on our behalf. I think the real issue is believing that He will do it for me. Sometimes we may not feel like we should be a high priority on God’s list, what with world hunger, imprisoned Christians, wars, and such. But we must really come to understand the true nature of our God the Father.

He loves you! The Bible specifically states that He will leave the 99 just to go after one that is lost. The word also states that if we, being evil in nature, desire to bless our children, then how much more so, is He willing? In fact, the real mission of Christ was to reunite us to the love and relationship of the Father.

Yes, we are unworthy in and of ourselves. Yes, we fail daily! But look at God’s response to David! The man committed murder to cover his adulterous affair, and yet God still called him a man after his own heart. Talk about love being blind!

You are on God’s heart! His words states that all things are working together for your good! God is able to make even your crooked places to become straight! The key, however is to be able to truly trust and believe that He will do everything that His word says He will do! Close the door to doubt and unbelief today! Re-align your thoughts and position yourself to receive God’s best! Then all that is left to do is simply trust Him. He can, and He will! But in His way and in His own time.

He will not allow you to beg for bread! He has called you the head and not the tail! He has made you to be equal with His only begotten Son as an heir, and adopted you into His family. In fact, He has called you a royal priesthood and a chosen generation.

So if you are going to trust today, begin by trusting that He is who His words says that He is, and secondly that you are what His word says that you are! If you truly believed that you were a King’s kid, how would you approach daily living? Once you get over that hump, the rest should be a piece of cake!  And who doesn’t like cake?

Sometimes we aren’t exactly sure of what actions to take. We search for a spiritual compass that will point us in the right direction, only to find that the compass works about as good as Jack Sparrow’s compass in ‘Pirates of the Carribean’. That was a great part of my year in 2008.

After the motorcycle accident of Christmas 2007, I found myself floundering. My bills had piled up and it seemed no amount of prayer was making a dent. I had finally had enough by September of 2008 and decided to take some sort of action.

I had a new full-time job, but decided that I would look for a second part-time job. I spent my nights looking through on-line ads, and placed many applications. Finally, I received a call-back, but not for a part-time position. WalMart came calling with an over-night full time position. Being the vampire that I am- I took it! After all, who really needs sleep?

I would go in at 9:30 pm and get off work around 7am. Then I would proceed to my day job. Needless to say, I learned the true meaning of the word sacrifice. I find it interesting that I think I know what something means, only to experience it first hand and come to the realization that I didn’t have a clue.

I thought that I knew what sacrifice was, only to find out that I really understood what laziness meant. I met people on the overnight shift who had been working those hours for years while working another part-time job and going to school on top of it all.

The thing that I have come to appreciate most is the pushing of myself to limits unknown. I never knew that I could go 28 to 36 hours with no sleep several days a week and still function as a father, husband and worker. Yet because I had envisioned a goal of getting out of certain debt, I performed beyond what I thought was possible. In essence, I discovered something very meaningful and valuable about myself through sacrifice.

I don’t want to make this long, so let’s fast forward to the point. Sometimes we have to do what we don’t want to do in order to get to the place where we want to be. Let’s face it, everybody wants it easy.

As I stated earlier, I prayed against my mountain of debt, but to no avail. It wasn’t until I put my hand to the plow that anything began to happen. I did, however, see God begin to speed up the process once I took an action.

I worked for 5 months at something that I honestly grew to hate, yet God met me there. I was able to share my faith with many unbelievers, pay down my debt, and even recovered my range of motion that I had lost in the motorcycle accident. And when I was finally able to walk away, it was through new doors of opportunity that the Lord opened to me.

God is faithful, and we know that He is capable of doing anything. Let us not, however, forget that we play a part in all of this. You may feel like you are waiting on God, but do not think it impossible that He might be waiting on you!

Just something to think about.

We know that life is a journey, a process whereby we are searching and stretching towards things that we cannot even see in the natural. Sometimes, however, it’s easy to understand why people give up on the roller-coaster ride. The constant drain on the emotions, one day up, another day down.  There are those seasons where it seems that no matter which way we turn, we are destined to hit a wall. Ouch!

I hate the process! I really wish that I could get to the end and reap the rewards! I would like nothing more than to hit my stride and become and achieve and celebrate the spoils of my victories. That would be great if I were destined to be a ‘self-made man’,  . . . but alas- the cry of my heart is to be a ‘God-made man’!

The Word of God tells us that we walk in steps ordered from the foundations of the world. It states that whom God foreknew, He predestined. The Word tells us to rejoice for the steps of the righteous are ordered by God. This means that where you stand at this very moment in time- is God ordained!  May be hard to believe,  I know,  but still true.

What I have come to realize is that God loves the process that I have grown to hate. The reason is simply that He does not see me as I am- but sees me through His eyes of faith. Think about that for a minute. We know that without faith it is impossible to please God, but have you ever stopped to think that God has a tremendous amount of faith in you? The God of all things that exists, both seen and unseen, has put His trust and His faith in you and in me!  That blows my mind!

If you and I are predestined, then that means that God saw the end before He brought us forth.  You and I cannot fail, if we can accept the higher ways and thoughts of Father God! The Word states that He is not the author of confusion, and also states that He is our peace.  If we are walking around confused and restless, then chances are strong that we are being ‘self-made’ instead of ‘God-made’!  This goes against most of what the world around us strives for.

Remember David? Had God not chosen him above his older brothers?  Had God not anointed him to be King?  Had God not predestined him to rule over Israel?  Yet did David not find himself running for his life from Saul?  Would that not be both discouraging and confusing?

I can hear David questioning God in the depths of that dark and dreary cave. “Why?” . . . “Why would you allow this to happen to me?”  “I didn’t ask for this, God!”  “Was it not You who sent the prophet to my father’s house anoint me King!”  “How can this possibly be Your plan for me?”  ” If I had known that this was going to happen, I would have stayed in the fields with the sheep!”

I believe that God’s response would be simply to say, “Exactly”! If God had told David what was up ahead, he would have probably emphatically declined. No one wants to be in that position. It seems so unnecessary, and border-lines on cruel and unusual punishment.  At least that is how it seems to me.

But let me ask you, “Where was David’s army assembled?”   When were David’s foreign relationships with the enemies of Israel established? Where did David get his leadership training?  When did David get his greatest victories?

It was in the cave! It was in the place of discomfort. It was in the place of separation from his family. It was in the place that he probably least desired to be,  that God chose to forge his identity, as well as his destiny.  It was a point in his life filled with chaos, fear, danger and uncertainty. Yet God allowed it to work all things together for his good,  as well as for the good of the whole of Israel!

I once heard a very powerful and successful business man say that you can never connect the dots of success looking forward.  The dots cannot be seen from this vantage point.  It is only when looking backwards that you are able to see how every experience,  every win and every failure played its role in getting you to the place where you successfully stand today.

That being said, we can  look at the place in which our feet stand today and rejoice, for the steps of the righteous are truly ordered of God! You may not understand what is going on around you, but you are not called to connect the dots going forward, that is God’s job. You, like this business man,  can only connect them when looking back. But as the Word commands us, Stand today- doing all to stand! Embrace His thoughts and His ways right where you stand!

Jeremiah 29:11 states-

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,  thoughts of peace and not of  evil, -  to give you a future and a hope.”
He really is taking you somewhere . . . you just have to trust Him!