I’m in my mid-twenties, and I will venture to say that if you asked most people my age whether they are confused about life sometimes, everyone would probably give you a resounding ‘YES!’ Some would say they are confused because things just haven’t turned out the way they expected. They did all the things they were told to do; but success, acceptance, and happiness are not as easily attained as many have thought. Others are confused because things are going as anticipated, and they’ve achieved their ideal lifestyle, but it hasn’t brought them the level of satisfaction and fulfillment they believed it would. Many feel as though they’re not living the life they were meant to live, and this isn’t what God wants for any of us.
We’ve heard from our parents, teachers, and mentors that we can become anything we want to be and achieve any goal we set out to achieve. We were encouraged to the hilt, but one of the downsides to this is that adulthood doesn’t come with someone always cheering us on. In the Old Testament, 1Samuel 30 gives us the record of King David’s horrific disappointment, and how he had to learn very quickly to encourage himself. When he and his men returned home, they found a terrible thing had happened. His town had been attacked and raided, and the women and children had been carried off. 1Samuel 30:3-4 tells us that when he and his men saw the ruin and realized what happened to their families, they cried until they couldn’t cry any more. His men turned bitter towards David and began to talk of stoning him; but verse six says that David found strength in the Lord his God.
In Ephesians 3:16(NLT), the Apostle Paul said, “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.” This inner strength is exactly what we need. Only God has unlimited resources. Only God knows exactly what we need in order to get straightened out, and only God can empower us with inner strength through His Spirit.
Sometimes, we look for fulfillment in the wrong places, and this leads us down a rabbit hole where it seems there’s no end of disappointment. Very often we start out pursuing our own personal agendas, and it’s great to seek success and to know that it is achievable, but it is also possible that the path we’ve chosen needs to be tweaked a little bit. We need to check in with Heavenly Father and find out what He had in mind when He created us. He wove His purpose in our spiritual DNA, but He will not force us to seek it. We have to want to know it.
Inevitably, life will let us know that a U-turn is necessary to find the fulfillment all of us are created to need and seek. Our carefully laid out plans sometimes don’t involve the sacrifice and balance that is required to walk the path of destiny. Heavenly Father created the universe to be very friendly towards His plan and purpose. He tells us in Roman 8:28(NLT), “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
Yes, God wants us to enjoy life. John 10:10 tells us that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth so that all of us would have an opportunity to live a more than abundant life. This isn’t a life on our terms, but on God’s terms. It means we must follow where He leads. It will be a path where all things work together for our good, but we must learn to encourage ourselves in Him, to seek His confirmation and approval above everything else. If we are humble enough to allow Him to direct our lives, He will lead us to fulfillment and purpose through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“When A U-Turn is Needed”, written for victoryinjesuschrist.life© 2019. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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