Visualize with me that there are three people standing in a row. The first represents you. The last person represents your goals such as graduation, a wedding (or a boyfriend/girlfriend… or a ring), a new position or title, a ministry opportunity or internship, summer, or for more short-term goal planners; spring break, or simply to have a good day. All these things are well and good if they come from the Lord. However, there is still the third person standing in the middle. Now this person represents classes, a school bill, work, homesickness, opposition, time, or I could name countless other things. They represent all the things that stand between you and where you want to be. Keep that image in mind. I tend to write my “to do” lists and homework assignments for the week on an index card and carry it around with me. At the end of last semester, I began writing the title “obstacles to freedom” at the top of each one; referring to the fact that these tasks stood between me and Christmas break. As I thought about that, the Lord convicted my heart and I continued to think on it, He kept showing me areas I needed to work on. As I am entering into this final semester, Lord willing, my prayer is that I will view it not as a hindrance to graduation or marriage, but as another opportunity to learn, grow, invest, build relationships, and glean from others. My desire is that I would view all the things which stand between me and the nexr stage of life as opportunities, not as obstacles.
Philippians 4.11 says, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Back a book in Ephesians 5.15 and 16, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”(To redeem means to buy up; rescue from loss.) “The ministry is a battle and {Bible College} is your bootcamp… it isn’t supposed to be easy, it’s supposed to prepare you.” (James Merlow) All the things in the middle are part of the process of transforming you more into the person God made you to be. You can’t have the product you desire without first going through the process it takes to getting there, so enjoy it! We can’t view the process as an obstacle. We will miss out on God’s greatest blessings. There is so much life to be lived in the ‘in-between’. Instead of counting down the days until the next stage of your life, recognize that you only have ____ amount of days to grow, to learn, to invest, to prepare… and even that amount of time is not promised. Time is fleeting… if you’re not careful, you’ll miss it. Freshman me and Senior me are not the same people. I have changed. If I were the same now as I was freshman year, what was the point?! What made the difference in changing me from who I was then to who I am now? Not a wedding, not graduation, not a position, but the middle ground… people, work, time, classes, responsibilities, mornings of waking up late, confrontation... “obstacles.” They truly became stepping stones to what He prepared for me. If we get distracted and focused on what’s to come, or what we wish would come, the time will pass us by and we will be the same person we were when we came. Use it instead to prepare yourself for the future. I’ll end with this: Why are you here if you can’t wait to leave? Be content, redeem the time! Don’t wish it away!
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Lizzy parkerMarriage.
Motherhood. Ministry. Missions. Archives
January 2023
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