cOMING TO TERMS
You have been waiting for a change. You have been aching to get out of your situation. You have been there for a while. And you don't understand why.
There is a reason why God has allowed you to remain where you are. He is teaching you something -- something about yourself that is necessary for your next step. This is where self-examination begins.
While God is the only One who can show you to yourself, He uses situations such as where you are now, to reveal yourself to you. So here you are focusing on your situation, and even other people, when God is actually leading you to yourself.
God knows that the change has to come from within you, otherwise even if He changes your situation, your issues will still be there and will just manifest itself in a different form next time.
The way you respond to your situation ... how it is affecting you ... how it is affecting the people around you ... how it is affecting your relationship with God -- all these are signposts as to who you are and what issues God wants to resolve.
God knows that the change has to come from within you, otherwise even if He changes your situation, your issues will still be there and will just manifest itself in a different form next time.
The way you respond to your situation ... how it is affecting you ... how it is affecting the people around you ... how it is affecting your relationship with God -- all these are signposts as to who you are and what issues God wants to resolve.
You are in a financial bind and it makes you mad. You blame your husband for it. You get disappointed with God. You start hating on others who are not helping you. What is this showing about you? It may be issues on impatience, blaming others, rebellion, unforgiveness, etc.
The thing is: we have to stop looking at our problems and people and start looking within. What defiles us is what is inside of us. These 'defiling' factors are what God is exposing. Honestly, this may be the only reason why you are still in your situation.
We have to come to terms with our predicament and see what God is working out through it. We have to come to terms with who other people are and accept that we can't change them but that we can change the way we feel or react. We have to come to terms that the discipline of God is the only thing that can change us. We have to come to terms that our ways and plans are not God's, and that His' is so much better, whether we see it or not.
When we finally COME TO TERMS, then we will stop complaining. Instead, we will surrender. Only then can God complete what He has started.
Lisa Maki
19 August 2014
19 August 2014
