Hello and welcome back to another Transparency post. This one may be short, sweet, and to the point but nonetheless I know it’ll help you should you find yourself in the dumps mentally, spiritually, or both. I pray this uplifts you and helps you to initiate a shift in perspective for you:
Earlier this week I was wrestling with the typical things that attempt to disrupt my peace, feelings of inadequacy, despondency, and feeling lost in my walk. I think the monotony of life had gotten to me, and admittedly I’d allowed my thoughts to wander instead of casting down the vain imaginations as the Word tells us to. These emotions culminated into a type of sorrow that plagued my car ride home from work a particular evening and I remember not even knowing what to pray as I was too busy fighting the sob trying to rise in my chest. I had on worship music, and I sang to the best of my ability to fill the silence, and as I did I remembered a video I saw years ago of a little boy and his father watching an approaching storm. They were excited and they both yelled out “Jesus show us some lightning!”. A heartbeat later lightning sprawled across the sky and the little boy squealed in delight, and from that video I began to articulate the need within me to my Father. I prayed “Lord, I could use a sign…reassurance really, of Your love for me. A sign I’m in the right place, doing the right thing. I’m trying my best Lord, but I could really use some reassurance of Your love. Please, show me some lightning”. Now it had rained earlier that day, and the rumble of thunder helped boost my faith that maybe the conditions were just right for some lightning, so I waited. The entire car ride home I fought the doubt creeping in as I drew closer and closer to home until I finally pulled into the driveway and put the car in park. No lightning, not even a single rumble of thunder, but I held out a tiny glimmer of hope as I still needed to take the trash to the curb. So I did, all the while asking the Lord to show me some lightning as a sign I was still in His good graces, but as I opened my garage and pulled the bin to the curb I stared into the dark skies above waiting. Nothing. I let out a disappointed sigh and as I set the bin at the curb I muttered “Really God? You couldn’t have thrown one little bolt of lightning across the sky to remind me You loved me?”. Almost immediately I felt convicted for evening feeling disappointed and frustrated and asked the Lord to forgive me. I felt ashamed to have felt anything negative toward God just because He didn’t immediately answer my prayer, He owed me nothing. Yet as I turned back toward my house I stopped and instantly I recognized something: I didn’t need a bolt of lightning in the sky to be reminded of God’s love for me. I have a house to come home to, food to eat, clothes on my back, the finances to pay for my car. This realization hit like a splash of cold water and I smiled as the evidence of the love of God stood before me in the blessings I didn’t immediately see. For a moment, I took for granted what so many in this world don’t have, the Lord has provided me. Outside of this, however, I recognized that there was overwhelming evidence of God’s love for me from my past to my present. I thanked God for shifting my perspective in that moment, I had no reason to doubt His love for me, I had all the evidence I needed right then and there.
Sometimes we get caught up in the large miraculous signs we may see online or even in person that we forget the less flashy miracles that we experience every day. No matter what our situation, limitation, or frustration, we always have something to be thankful for. If nothing on this side of eternity, we can thank Him for the work Christ put in on the cross the assure us of salvation, and the daily opportunity to pursue a relationship with Him. We have the honor and privilege to seek the face of our Heavenly Father and are entrusted with His Spirit on the inside of us. In Him we truly lack nothing; let that be your perspective from here on out.
I pray this post blessed you and inspires you to be more mindful of your perspective in the midst of turmoil; we can choose to be miserable or joyful, angsty or grateful. Choose to shift your perspective and align it with the Word of God and the evidence of His love in your own life.
Until next time
– JB
Rnt with JB 