I was reviewing my sermon notes from yesterday’s service. Basically the pastor was talking about resting in God’s timing, in His will, in His timing. And when we don’t, there’s a battle. Us, our minds, our actions and words in competition with what God’s wanting for us.
As the pastor continued his sermon, an image of one of my favorite elementary school playground equipment pieces came to mind. Remember those seesaws/teeter-totters. My best friend and I could play forever on that thing. One minute you were up in the air, the next you were digging in your heels to send your friend, jumping up in her seat. What a blast!
But you know I got to thinkin’, based on how the pastor was talking about being in God’s will. I find that when I’m sailing through life, doing my own thing, treating God as my sidekick instead giving Him the honor and placement of being the God in/over my life.
On one side there’s anxiety – the worry of tomorrows what-ifs. And then on the other side, you’ve got the depression of shouda-coulda-woulda’s of yesterdays. And depending on your day, your circumstances, events, what someone said to you or something happened we can either go flying out of our seats with the anxiety or come crashing down to dig our heels into yesterdays regrets.
And if you’re anything like me, on any given day, I can toggle between them both, never fully coming to rest.
But alas! Enter Jesus – out He walks onto the playground of our lives and peace, like we’ve never known calms even the most skyrocketing and plummeting emotions. Now as you can see in the picture above, the toy equipment is resting on one side. But truthfully when we take a deep breath, go to Jesus, share what’s happening in our lives, even down to the most intimately painful heartache, we’re not worried about falling out of our seat or being knocked to the ground. Instead we can rest, knowing that Jesus is right there in the midst, steading our minds, calming our emotions and thoughts and allowing us to get off the seesaw, grab His hand and walk away in peace. So our lives look more like this…
There will always, always be moments of our lives when we’re off kilter. Pain, heartache, frustration have the potential to throw us off balance.
The difference is you and I don’t have to engage. We don’t have to get on the seesaw of emotions. What we can do is seek God and start asking, “Lord, what should I do?”
Maybe God is simply asking us to show up and stand firm in your faith with Him so that He can be glorified through your obedience to Him. Maybe He wants you to experience Him holding you through a painful time. Maybe He wants you to see the victory He has secured for that time and moment.
Whatever the case, my encouraging reminder is to seek Him first. Running to God, allowing yourself to draw closer in your relationship with the Lord.
Build that relationship girls, He’s waiting for you!
Until next time, I’ve got you covered in prayer!
