Hey all, got this today and thought it had some very good advice for all of us.
Quote:
Have you ever been somewhere you didn’t want to be? Maybe it was a job, a town, or a marriage. Maybe it was a stage in life, like singlehood, or a state in life, like a disability. It’s very possible that as you read this, you’re wishing you were somewhere else – anywhere else – living a different life, but you know it’s not likely that anything is going to change any time soon.
God has a word for you. It’s the same word he gave a group of people when they were stuck in another country, exiled from their homeland. They’d folded their arms and said, “We’re going to wait this thing out, and when we get home, we’ll start living our lives.”
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told them, “You’re not going home any time soon, so start making your lives here. Plant gardens, buy homes, let your children get married, and pray for the peace and prosperity of the place where you’re currently living because, by doing that, you too will be blessed with peace and prosperity” (Jeremiah 29:5-7).
Don’t invest your energy in hopes of leaving; instead invest your energy in the people around you. Don’t be physically present but mentally somewhere else, thinking of the future or the past, thinking of someplace else. Our journey with Jesus requires we be fully present in the present.
You may feel like you’re in exile too, but God is still working in your life; and his message to you is: Dig in and fully embrace the life around you.
We could all use this. We need to live our lives as they are RIGHT NOW. Not holding back because we are hoping for a different situation in the future. So what are YOU going to do to start living the life that you have today?
BFM
There is only one person who could ever make you happy, and that person is you. David Burns, Intimate Connections
Thanks BFM, for the message I needed to hear today. Good post!! I, for one, struggle with making my H an idol even though I know where the focus of my life should be.
Everything happens for a reason, maybe Dad needs to find that it isn't better out there, he needs to realize how good he had it here. Maybe he will find God and that is the most important thing when he finds Him he will know he is supposed to come home.
