Get out of the way! Yes, you.

Often times I wonder what life would be like if....

I'm sure you do the same. 

If I had not hurt my shoulder in high school...I never would have ended up being a cheerleader and made some of the best memories ever. 

If I hadn't of hurt my shoulder and cheered then I would've still been doing other sports that were all consuming...

If I was still playing those sports I never would've become such good friends with Trevor Bloxham...

And if I had not of ever been friends with T.L.B...well I guess you see where I'm going with that...

Idk. It just makes me think. I'm so glad God clearly allowed things to happen and led me to other decisions. He did that. Knowing the outcome and how it would all come together, God carefully hand-crafted it all. 

Sometimes I am just curious though IF things had been different then how different would they be now? 

Then I connect the dots. If I hadn't of done this at that time then that wouldn't had led me to this and so on and so forth. And God's just that good. He is.

Whenever I get to thinking like this it reminds me that God is so in control. He is in control of the tiniest of details. He is in control and knows the move we make before we even know what our options are. He is in control and not allowing anything to pass through His hands that He's not already considered to be a part of the plan. He sees us and He loves us. And if we let Him, He will lead us and guide us right where we need to be. We must have the faith to believe it though.

Sometimes it feels like where you are is exactly where you don't want to be. You feel unsatisfied in life and wondering why there's never any contentment.

Some of us are wondering why we can't break through though. WHY does it seem like we keep circling back around to the same struggle and the same place of complacency? How did we end up here? At what point will we get OFF of the struggle bus??

Our focus couldn't be anymore WRONG!

A special lady in my life said something 10 plus years ago and she probably has no idea the impact it made on me. She referenced this verse and it changed my complete outlook on life.

We all have things that make us happy. For some it's payday, for some it's the weekend and for some like me it's sitting down to a good meal. These aren't bad things.. But we should let our joy be rooted in something much great. MUCH greater. 

But before we reach joy we must have contentment. To be still and know that God has us where we need to be. To strive for godliness and live each day preparing for Christ's return. To not be anxious for tomorrow. To have peace with today. No matter what the balance of your bank account is, what life circumstances you overcome daily, the failure you're reminded of everyday, the feeling of inadequacy you can't shake, or the constant feeling of ONE day things will be the way I have pictured in my head.

If you seek The Lord on these things and listen to what He has to say I believe He will give you contentment in whatever situation you are in. If we are always comparing ourselves to others we are pushing contentment further and further.

You may not be whisking away on a long summer vacation. You may not be driving the brand new car your neighbor has. You may feel like everything always "goes right" for everyone else but you. When you're busy having a pity party for yourself remember..

1 Timothy 6:6 "But Godliness with contentment is great gain."

I know that living a life of contentment for me means that I understand that my path is not my neighbors and theirs is not mine. I CHOOSE to be content and have a heart of gratitude every single day.

But how do YOU get to the place of contentment?? Well...

God is always doing His part. It's not Him. SO if it isn't Him then....*looks around curiously*...maybe..just maybe...

I have had to come to the realization that sometimes it is ME. It's me! I am the one who is in my own way. And if I can be in my own way I would almost bet that you are in your own way at times too...

Ps. There are times where completely unfair, painful, and even terrible things happen to us in life and that is NOT what I am talking about here. That's NOT your fault and I wanted to make that clear! 

But with the thinking of being stuck and stuck and stuck and seemingly getting nowhere..and feeling so unhappy..and maybe you and I are responsible for that...

It doesn't make sense that we would want to hold our own selves back. Why would we do that? Well it seems like maybe we are focused on all the wrong things and looking in the wrong places. We are trying to find an excuse as to why this isn't happening. It would make us feel better to have something to blame the lack of progress or breakthrough on. We never take the time to look inside and see if it could be us. Lacking peace and joy will produce a life of never really feeling satisfied with anything.

It reminds me of myself from time to time about my weight. My weight has never been a healthy number and for years I buried my head in the sand and didn't even acknowledge that the weight was there. Truly, I was oblivious. Didn't want to accept it, I guess. Then once I was aware I started doing research to find what was making me so overweight. LOL I had NO idea, yall. None. I thought surely something was wrong with me. I MUST have a physical condition making me gain all this weight. *googles everything with weight gain as a symptom*

Well the joke was on me because I refused to believe that maybe just MAYBE I was the reason I was so overweight. LOL I know, right. NOT me!? Why would I be responsible for MY weight gain?! 

I was over eating, not dealing with my emotions in a healthy way, and not moving enough. So clearly the problem was me, but for YEARS you couldn't have convinced me of that. 

I say all that to say this....

If you have been trying to look everywhere and figure out WHY ____________ (you fill in the blank) maybe you should be brutally honest with yourself and see if maybe, just MAYBE, the problem is YOU.

You may be looking for blessings and a blessed life and you don't even know Jesus. You know of Him, but you don't KNOW Him. And for you that is the place to start. To have a life of peace and contentment you have to have Jesus. Open your heart and call on Him. Tell Him you want to know Him..and He will show UP in your life! 

No more wondering where you stand or if Jesus will really make a difference...

He will. Try Him! I dare ya!

You may be wondering why around and around you go on a cycle of falling off the wagon time and time again. No joy. No peace. Constant strife. Chaos. It's time to reflect and look inward at your daily life. What is your priority? What is GOD in your day? Is the god of your life something or someone other than God Himself? What is the central focus on? How do you start your day? Where does God fall in there? Or does He?

If this is you...I think you already see what you need to do. Slow down and make Him King. Get out of the way and make choices and daily actions that line up with God's word. And for starters get INTO His word! Pray, pray and pray and read His word. The rest will fall into place. 

So get out of the way. It's YOU. 

I say that in LOVE because someone has told me that out of love before when I was the one holding me back. 

Make a point to tell someone that you are making the decision to get out of your way and finally live the life you've been called to. Find someone who will help hold you to that and encourage you every step of the way! 

You're the only one who can do anything about it. You're the one who has to take responsibility. You can't piggy back off of anyone else's peace and relationship with God. You are the one holding yourself back. You may fool other people and you may have fooled yourself for sometime, but it's time to get it right and to GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Here's a post-beach pic from yesterday my 5 year old snapped and I thought it made sense to use because the path is clear and I am "out of the way"!