How often have we silently wished for a different life? Or a different job/career? Perhaps it is to live in another country; or to travel the world? You know the wishing and hoping that can go on and on. I am not exempt from this; I have wished for other things too, and I have wanted my blessings in different ways. Unfortunately or fortunately for us, how we are blessed is not within our control.
“This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty.”
(Matthew 5:45 MSG)
God does what He chooses to do, and we must accept this, also
The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you. For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.
Exodus 33:19
In the above scripture, God responds to Moses when he asks him to show him his glory. Our takeaway is the last half; “For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. ” It means that He has total control over his blessings towards us, He decides, not us, what He allows in our lives. Oftentimes we take for granted all our experiences, not realizing that our experiences are pre-ordained—For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10 NLT). Another verse that speaks to God’s Plans for us and all that we do is Jeremiah 1:5—“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
Do not get me wrong, we must all aspire to grow and become better and better, and to receive greater and greater; but our aspirations must be free from the wishing and hoping to be blessed as another has been blessed. And we ask for more blessing with an open mind knowing that God does as He pleases.
Our focus must be on our unique journey and our prayer should be, to increase, in love, with Yahweh and our loved ones and those we must serve. Wishing and hoping to be somewhere else and doing something else is a waste of time, energy, and resources needed to build God’s kingdom.
We must utilize all the opportunities we get to create life-changing opportunities every day to impact our homes and communities. Wanting things to be different nullifies our blessings, causing us to miss out. As children of God, we must stay focused and in tune with what we are here to do; therefore, our actions are more important than our possessions. At the end of the day, when we must give an account to our Creator, we will want to talk about the intangible—the intangible is what makes life more meaningful. Pause here and think about that. It is the unseen good things that have a significant impact on the people in our circles. It is what makes good experiences and memories. The smile on the face of the elderly that lights up the room whenever we visit or the hug received from a child are all blessings, believe it or not.
Our positioning in life is not by chance. We are positioned perfectly for what we are to do and we are all given the capacity to carry out what we have to do.
… I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us (Romans 12:3). Here we can surmise that we all possess varying capacities to be us. I always think about missionaries—would you do what a Missionary does? Think about that seriously. As a missionary, you leave your country to go live and serve in challenging circumstances. Could you do that? There is also the flip side, but the flip side comes with its own challenges.
The point is…
We are where we are to make the impact we must and to live life on God’s terms, not ours. We are blessed differently for a reason. May we accept these blessings graciously. And when we pray for more blessings, may our prayers be free from comparison and covetousness.
Lots of Love & Amazing Light
