Monday, August 31, 2020
Listen to
counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days. Many
plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the LORD will stand. Proverbs
19:20-21
2020, God, and Lemonade
"When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade" Whoever coined that phrase probably never saw 2020 coming. Who knew on January 1st, 2020, that we would be in for so many lemons this year? Many people have suffered more than their fair share of blows this year and had to make some big changes. In fact, we have all had to change a lot of things about our lives, some having to make bigger changes than others. Our lives have changed in many respects forever. Change is often a hard part of life, especially when we don't plan for it. Unexpected change is the hardest to adjust to, but often where God does His greatest work in our lives.
Is something pressing you to change? Loss of job, divorce, death of a spouse or a child, serious illness or other crises may cause you to want to quit or give up. The time is now to decide what you want – to lay down in defeat or to move forward into victory. Many of the major life changes that lead to a new future are forced from a change in our circumstances. If your life has changed without your consent or control, whether or not you like it, now is the time to seek God and pursue the direction He has for you. The moments that will actually define us and create for us the future we’ve always longed for, are not those moments that easily integrate into our past, but instead they are the disruptive moments, the moments when we must choose between extending our past or creating our future. Your life may be different than what you expected, but it is not over!
Regardless of the season or your status, you can begin today with the benefit of past experience and the power of purpose. Don’t live in the past but learn from it. All of us have setbacks and failures. Part of our strategy in going forward must include pulling the curtains on our past. What you have experienced may not be failure, but if it is know this - God never intends for failure to be the end, but a beginning. Not only can you move into a new place, but you can pour into someone else’s life that needs your wisdom and support. Discipleship is a great way to take the knowledge and experience you have gained and help someone else grow.
Change is usually not easy, especially for creatures of habit like us humans. Pain and disappointment are no fun, but they are survivable and sometimes they uncoverr the best in us. When you go through a life change and finally come out on the other side, you have a story to tell, a story to share to help others. It is your old story, but you are not the old person. You are a new person, with new direction, and new God given purpose. Share what He has done in you and in your life and walk alongside another who is there today.
