Awakening
I have gone through trying to be what others would have me to be and what they would have me to do. I have gone through hurting and disappointment with family, and have overcome the hurt, the pain, and the loneliness.
I have been through disappointment in the people that came into my life as a positive and ended up being a negative. I went through trying to love people, only to discover that they did not even like me, much less love me. I have suffered the ups and downs of people brought into my life by me, not God.
Through it all, God revealed a question in my mind this morning. It took a few minutes for the question to sink in and for my thinking capabilities to catch up with it. I know the question was from God, and the question He asked was, “Are you ready to be and do what I created for you to be and do?”
In an instant, I felt a release. A release of all the thoughts and fears of pleasing people in my actions and words and life. I began to imagine what peace would come from being what God created for me to be and do.
Am I ready?
Yes, I feel I am ready. But only I can make that decision.
Am I tired of being who I am according to someone else’s thoughts? Am I tired of other people’s opinions developing the things I choose to do? Am I tired of trying to please other people to the point of bringing pain and discomfort to myself and my wife? Am I tired of being me according to someone else?
Is this the day? Is this the time to be who God created me to be?
I have spent 70 years living life according to circumstances and conditions. My environment has been determined by other people whose only concern was something other than my best interests. All this has created great heartache, financial loss, and loneliness.
As I own the thought, I realize they might have been the reason, but they were never the cause. The decisions were made by me. I am the one who created the problems; they were just part of the results.
Am I ready?
Do I believe that God is sovereign, that He can take the good and the bad, the right choices and the mistakes, and create something beautiful?
Yes! I want the power of God to create in me the promise made at my birth. I am ready to be the me that is according to God’s will, with the mind of Christ. I am ready to trust in all that God is going to provide through Christ Jesus. I am ready to live in the power that the Holy Spirit brings upon me and my wife, Shirley.
Time will tell whether I truly live according to this declaration, and only God will be my judge.