broken4purpose

It’s been awhile since I have shared anything. I thought I would share what I have been learning during this time of Lent. Below are just some thoughts and notes from various teaching and reading.

Pressure doesn’t change you it just shows what’s already there. When pressure builds in our own lives, what’s inside of us comes out. If there’s fear, pressure has a way of squeezing that out of us. If there’s anger inside of us pressure has a way of bringing that to the surface. And, if there is an authentic trust and faith in Jesus Christ the pressure in life will expose that!

Pressure exposes all of us to think about stressful moments in our life. When our plans fall apart or when things don’t go as expected, how do you typically respond?

Pressure doesn’t change us it just exposes us; pressure reveals us. You shouldn’t be ashamed of what’s exposed on the inside. Listen, Jesus already knows what’s inside of you. He’s intimately acquainted with you. Yet, he still invites you to the table.

He knows the hearts of us our weaknesses, he knows our fears he knows our tendency towards self-preservation rather than self-sacrifice and yet even still he’s inviting us to the table

Pressure invites us to stay rooted in Jesus that’s what pressure invites us to do. Jesus says stay at the table stay at the table when life turns up the heat. We can try to muscle through the pressure on our own or we can stay rooted in Jesus. What are we going to do because if we’re being honest.  I think that when pressure rises in life, things get stressful and not right in the world. We cope in different ways. We all have ways that we cope. Some of us distract ourselves by scrolling or binge-watching. We keep ourselves so busy. We don’t have any time to really settle in with the discomfort. We can’t handle the pressure we’re feeling. Some of us shut down and isolate. We stop contacting other people and isolate ourselves in our homes. Some of us panic when the pressure rises. We start to freak out. We try to manipulate and control things to get them back on track. Some of us we numb ourselves. Maybe we numb ourselves with drugs and alcohol. Or maybe it’s just shopping, social media, work, or food. Whatever it is, we just need something to take the edge off. These are ways we deal with pressure in our lives. We distract ourselves. We shut down. We panic. We numb ourselves.

The third temptation of Jesus was,’ according to Henri Nouwen. It was ‘the temptation of power … an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God. It is easier to control people than to love people. It is easier to own life than to love it. Easier to look for the gift than to look at the giver.

Suffering is not the end of our story. Pain and joy can coexist. New life always begins with the end of an old life. My hope is not in any good gift but in the Giver of every good gift. God made me to do the hard things in the good story He is writing for my life.

WHAT IS TRUE IN THE LIGHT IS STILL TRUE IN THE DARK.

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.   Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT)

Let me see hardship as an opportunity. Let me view it as a test, not an obstacle. Let me use all that stands in my path as fuel to make me brighter and better.

The impediment to action advances action.

What stands in the way becomes the way.

The multiverse of sliding-doors scenarios can drive us crazy if we let ourselves live there. The questions of what could have been and the anxieties of what could be enough to incapacitate any of us.

Taking up residence in the land of what if guarantees us either disappointment or spiraling. Or both . . . which is not great!

Hope is an escape hatch from the what-if loop. It gives you and me permission to live the lives we have. It narrows our vision to work with what’s in front of us. Hope puts to rest all the lives we could have lived. It gently reminds us, “This is the one you’ve got.” Don’t waste it.” You could call it resignation, but I call it relief.

Each day, you and I can decide to trade those anxious what-ifs for anticipatory what-ifs. Like, what if none of this is an accident? What if God chose me for this? What if I start living like this is exactly the life I would have chosen?

When spinning around the what-if loop makes me dizzy, I make myself return to the life I actually have. I confront the reality of what has happened. I choose to believe this reality was intended for me, whether I like it or not. I even dare to hope that this life will work together for some kind of good. All its crazy-making specifics contribute to that hope.

What hit me in the head like a 2 x 4 was……What if God chose me for this? What if I start living like this is exactly the life I would have chosen?