Stomping & screaming instead of SURRENDER
The truth is, you’re either going to stubbornly decide that you can go it alone, or you’ll let God in.
He’s there either way, even when you can’t FEEL Him.
But a lot of the time you can’t FEEL His presence because you’re choosing to lean into your pain.
Now hold up. I’m not saying pain isn’t real. Or feelings aren’t real. Or that anything you’re going through isn’t real. All of it is SO real. More on that in a minute…
What I AM saying though is ask, seek & knock.
Here’s why this whole thing has bubbled up inside of me today –
“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 139:16)
As I was doing my daily devotional this morning, this was one of my readings. (I was actually a day behind, and this was yesterday’s reading but whatevssss.)
Psalm 139 continually speaks to me, every single time I read it, and different verses always pop out. Today, it was this one.
Every single one of my days was written before I even existed.
Can we just stop and drink that in DEEP for a minute?
And that’s why I said what I did at the start of this message.
No matter how difficult the day, we somehow get to recognise that God is showing us something, teaching us something, or wanting us to see something and we can, therefore, cry out to Him.
Another perfect example of this is found in the book of Job, which is where the rest of my readings took place today. For those of you who aren’t aware of his story, in short, the enemy speaks to God about the fact that Job only trusts in God and worships Him because his life is so great. And so with God’s permission, satan is allowed to attack Job but mustn’t kill him. (Side note, the enemy can’t do anything without God’s permission, and God won’t give you anything He knows you can’t handle – You’ll handle it in HIS strength if not your own.) God knew Job would be the sort to run TO God as opposed to from Him and of course, He’s proved right. Here’s what Job says amidst his pain, mourning, grief, suffering and torment from so called ‘friends’:
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:25-26)
It wasn’t that it wasn’t HARD for Job. Of course, it was hard. SO hard. But He also knew that things being hard didn’t mean that God wasn’t present and so He chose trust.
What are you trusting today?
What are you trusting, knowing that today has already been mapped out and that God tells you that you can BOLDLY approach His throne?
Can I encourage you not to wait until breaking point?
Last week (when I wrote the spoken word piece which you can check out over on the blog) I was feeling drained, frustrated and to be honest, a bit lonely.
Hubby was in the last few days of finishing his three-year degree and our communication was nothing more than a few words (more on CELEBRATING the end of this season another time – that message is still brewing in me!) So yeah, I was feeling kind of flat.
You know when they say that mumma knows best? Well, mine certainly did. I was at my parent’s house watching the royal wedding and although I was ‘fine’, my mum messaged me the next day saying I seemed sad… I guess in hindsight I was.
But do you know what? A lot of that was just HEAVINESS which I was CHOOSING to carry on my own as opposed to allowing the process of SURRENDER to actually take place.
I love me some Jesus, but I’m also a strong-willed and pretty independent woman. And so this… what can only be described as PRESSURE was just piling on top of me. I felt stretched with launching a new arm of my business (more on that below), starting a podcast, hosting a brand new Alpha course at Church, doing everything at home, feeling like my life is so, totally ALIEN sometimes and not really having anyone to talk to… the list goes on.
And yes, maybe you’re reading the list and thinking ‘first world problems.’
Cool.
I’m not professing to have it harder than anyone else AT ALL and I also know that there are so many of you going through SUCH a lot right now.
I tell you all of this because the PRINCIPLE is the same. Our loving Heavenly Father patiently waits for us to surrender the hardship and press into Him. When we’re feeling weak, vulnerable, lonely, hurt, and everything in between – HE GOES BEFORE US.
I haven’t done enough standing on this TRUTH recently. I’ve been the stubborn little girl carrying a pile of stuff way too big for her, stomping and screwing up my face about how hard it all is, whilst my Heavenly Father has been there all along wondering when I’ll just hand it over.
You don’t have to stomp and scream. Sometimes you just have to be still and know that He is GOD.
Over in my Living Word League member’s community, I’m going live today to talk about God’s LOVE. This was spurred on by a question asked in the group, and it got me to thinking that we really need to lean into His love more.
If you’ve just read this whole message and KNOW you relate to it, I want to invite you to come and join the Living Word League community so that you can spend some time just SOAKING UP His presence, love and adoration for you. We all need a little more of that, right?
Learn more about Living Word League and how you can sign up as a founding member for less than a Chinese takeaway by clicking the button below.
HEY! I’m Naomi, Business Coach for High-Level Female Entrepreneurs & Founder of Living Word League.
I coach, write, teach and run programs which infuse practical strategies with Biblical principles (which I personally think is the best rule of thumb for success.) I moved from a 7-year High School teaching career, to building and scaling my business after starting out as a hobby-status blogger in 2011. Within months, I was able to go totally full time and haven't looked back. My success, as someone who previously would have never seen myself as an entrepreneur means that I'm now beyond passionate about business being an expression of Kingdom-building here on earth. Hobby status and inconsistent feast to famine months aren't cutting it for you anymore right? You're meant for a business which has faith as your foundation AND soars with success. That's where I come in.
Click HERE to learn more about working with me.