Day 304: When It's Out of Our Control

James 5:7

Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.

I love the analogy of a farmer waiting for the harvest, or the rains to come so the plants can grow. I know this scripture is about patience but what I get from this is that the farmer is not worrying or stressed about when the harvest will come. One because they know that it will come in due season, but also it is something that is out of their control. That’s what I want to discuss today, we as humans sometimes worry about things that we cannot control and we stress ourselves out for no reason.  We get to the point of worry or stress where we can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t focus, can’t do anything. That is not healthy, worry does nothing but make the situation worse. I can tell you that worrying is never the answers, worrying has never fixed a problem.

How many times have you been worried in the past month about things that are out of your control? What about the last week? One thing that God has taught me is to always trust Him, His timing, and His plan. I used to worry about everything, the smallest things to the biggest things until I realized that there is no reason for me to worry because God already has it figured out and also why worry when there is nothing I can do about it. Let’s not stress ourselves out and go into early menopause or mid-life crisis because we spent all of our time worried about things that we can literally do nothing to change. All we can do is wait on God, like the farmer patiently waits on the harvest. When we spend less time worried about things we spend more time focusing on God. When our focus is on God we don’t have time to be stressing about what He’s already taken care of. When was the last time worry helped you through something? It never really helps all it does is give us unnecessary anxiety.

Recently I had an audition for a showcase that will be happening in Los Angeles. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s when actors get the chance to perform for multiple agencies, manager, casting directors, etc. As someone who is from Los Angeles and is planning on moving back after college this was a big deal for me. A huge deal! So I prepared for my audition, more than I’ve ever prepared in my life for an audition. I prayed, had everyone else praying and I went in there and did it. In my opinion, it was the best audition I had ever done. I walked out of there confident. We wouldn’t know if we were in the showcase for another week, so that week was a struggle. I had to continue to pray, not that I would get into the showcase but that I would not worry or stress myself out waiting for the results. I came to the conclusion that whatever happens it would part of God’s plan and two I had no control over what happened next, all I could do was have faith in God. A week later I got into the showcase!

-Dyamond

All this to say, sometimes we are so worried about the things going on in our lives, the results we are waiting on, or the things we are praying for that we forget to have faith in God. Don’t let your worry get in the way of you focusing on God. He’s got in all under control even when it looks like everything is going crazy, God’s got it under control.

Reflection

1. Do you ever find yourself worrying about things that are out of your control?
2. How has worrying helped?
3. How has choosing to have faith in God and His planned helped?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your pray, if you have a tendency to worry and be anxious ask God to free you from that.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 305!

Day 264: Our Way

Genesis 15:2-5

But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.” Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”

Genesis 16:1-5

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”

Genesis 18:10-15

Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But the Lord said, “No, you did laugh.”

Genesis 21:1-5

The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac. Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.

For some reason we sometimes think we know more than God. For whatever reason we think we know more than the all knowing, living God. We somehow think that we are smarter and that we know what’s best. You ever decide to do God’s job for Him because He’s not moving fast enough or He’s not doing what you want Him to do? I know I have, I can only speak for myself, but sometimes I can get impatient with God. Sometimes I decide that my way, my plan, and my ideas are better than His. I end up looking like an idiot in the end.

I feel like someone who can relate to this is Sarah, or Sarai, she was still Sarai when these passages started (God likes to change names). However in this familiar story, Abram is told by God that he would be the father of many nations. Abram was past childbearing age and so was Sarai, so his concern was, I don’t have a child who will be my heir? God then promised him that he will have an heir, and numerous descendants, countless descendants.

Stop right here, you ever worry about something and God is like, ‘don’t trip I got it handled’? That’s basically what God is doing here, He’s like Abram, you don't have any kids now, but you will have a plethora of descendants and they will outnumber the stars in the sky. God never told him when that heir would come, but He told him that it will. We may not know when God is going to do something but we must have faith that ‘s He’s doing it.

Moving on to the next passage when sarai decides that she’s tired of waiting on God to give her a child. In other words she takes matters into her own hands. Sarai is getting old, way past child bearing age, So she’s like Abram, sleep with my maid Hagar, so you can have a child, and we can have a child through her. Let’s stop right there. In her eyes Sarai was doing what was right, she was doing the only thing she thought possible. A common mistake we make when we exclude God from the equation. She didn’t want Abram to go on without an heir so she decided to find a way to give it to him. Most likely in her eyes she was being a good wife. Abram agreed with her, despite what God had already told Abram, he agreed with his wife, instead of standing on God’s word. It’s not stated how long it’s been since Abram received the promise from God, but I get the sense that he is tired of waiting. I think we all know what it’s like to be in both Abram and Sarai’s position. We try to do what right not realizing that it’s not what God wants. It doesn’t come from a place of malice or anything like that, we just want things to go right, but we do it our way, not God’s way and it never works out. We see that in the passage when Hagar begins to act towards Sarai with contempt because she is having and has had Abram’s child, Ishmael. His first child might I add. God is not a God of confusion.

When waiting on God, and looking at a situation that seems impossible we begin to doubt the power of God. Sarah, (her name has changed) hears that she will be pregnant within a year. This is a message from God sent through a visitor. When Sarah hears this she laughs, and she’s basically doubting what God is saying. Like, ‘yeah sure an old worn out woman and an old man are going to have a child. Yeah God, sure, you’re funny.’  But God proposes the question if there is anything too hard for Him. I’ve been in positions where I have felt like not even God could help this mess. Everytime He has proven me wrong. But when we think about it, no there is nothing too hard for God, nothing. He makes the impossible possible. We’re talking about the same man that created the entire universe.

Then God does exactly what He said He was going to do. He said Abraham and Sarah would have a child and his name will be Isaac. Isaac could only come from Sarah and Abraham, so no matter how many maids Sarah got to sleep with Abraham none of them would have been Isaac.

All this to say, we have a way that we think is right and there is a way that is even better than ours. God has a plan for all of us and it may take time to come to fruition but when it does, all the waiting will be worth it. We do not know more than God. It’s easy to take matters into our own hands because we think we know what we’re doing, but when we compare our knowledge to God’s we literally have no idea what He has in store for us. Trust God’s way, it’s so much better and easier in the long run.

Reflection

1. Have you ever had a moment when you decided that God is taking too long so you decide to take matters into your own hands?
2. Have you ever felt like something was too hard for God?
3. Have you ever tried to do God’s job for Him?
4. What have you found about trying to do things your way versus god’s way?

Prayer Time  

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about what we discussed today and have a conversation with Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 265!

Day 214: Walk through the Door

Matthew 7:7

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Growing up my mom would always say, “A closed mouth don’t get fed.” This was her way of telling me to speak up for myself, and ask for the things I want. This was her telling me, I don’t know what you want, what you’re feeling, or what you need if you don’t talk to me. If you knew me as a child you would know that I rarely spoke. I was beyond quiet. So needless to say I grew up hearing this scripture, both at home and in church. We were always told to ask for what we want. We were told to knock and the door will be opened. The door can’t be opened if we don’t knock. We always talked about the door being opened, we never talked about walking through it. Opening the door is one thing, walking through it is another.

Ever asked God for something and then hesitate to accept it when He gave it to you? We as humans do it constantly. We are constantly asking God to do things for us and when He does, we hesitate. We have enough faith to believe that God will open the door and when He does, we expect Him to carry us over the threshold too. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, God will not do for us, what we can do for ourselves. God will open the door, but we have to walk through it. Walking through that door is completely on us, Often times we ask God to open doors for us, but for some reason when He opens the door we have to take the time to figure out of it’s right for us or not. We send ourselves into a full on anxiety attack, posting on Facebook and asking for prayers to help with big decisions. We often think there’s a catch to blessings and grace. There isn’t there’s no catch. When God opens a door for us we don’t have to hesitate, we don’t worry that’s it’s not right for us because He’s opened the door. He opened it for us. God will not open a door for us and then not allow us to walk through it, (I mean unless you’re Moses, you’ll get a glimpse and that’s all.).

I think sometimes we are so concerned and caught up with “the right thing” that we overlook the right thing. What I mean is that we put so much pressure on ourselves to do what is right that we are blinded by the very idea. We become so infatuated with the idea that we start to overlook the real thing. Sometimes we complicate things more than we should. We tend to make the smallest things into an obstacle course when they don’t have to be.

All this to say, walk through the door. When God opens a door, don’t hesitate, don’t doubt. Trust Him and walk through it, He’s not going to walk through it for you, He will walk through it with you. First we have to choose to walk through it, so we have two choices, either stand there stuck or walk through the door that God has opened and continue to move forward. It’s our choice. The door is open we have to decide to walk through.

Reflection

1. Do you hesitate to accept what God has given you?
2. Do you have trouble walking through the doors GOd opens for you? If yes, why?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above question guide your prayer today, Talk to God about having faith and accepting what He is giving. Just have a conversation with Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 215!