Resting

Last week, we started hosting a small group through our church, which is something new for us. While we have to find our groove with it yet, we enjoyed the opportunity to do it and came away feeling encouraged by what we learned from our group even that first night.

Since I'm the one with the time in the schedule to do so, I create the outline for our evenings and since I'm an utter nerd who once wanted to be a teacher, I also create handouts for everyone. {Sigh.} The picture above is actually one of the handouts for this coming week, so if you're in our group, SPOILER ALERT!!!

I ran across this quote by Susie Davis last week and just loved it, because I think it's a truth that is frankly ignored.

Last week - actually the same day as our small group - I watched a webinar hosted by a well-known and well-respected Christian gentleman. His topic focused on how to transform your goals into reality, and now that I'm working on my own, I figured I could benefit from his thoughts. He had many great points, I took pages of notes, and I plan to implement some of his principles into my new season of self-precribed work.

However...I was disappointed that he made no reference to the truth that sometimes life is not about making your goals happen. Sometimes life is about seeing nothing come to pass and being confident enough to settle back and realize that just because you can't see something at work doesn't mean God isn't working behind the scenes for something yet to come.

Sometimes forcing your goals to come to reality means you risk colliding with God's quiet plans.

As Ryan and I have had discussions over the past week regarding where we see God leading us in these next few weeks and months, we come back to this truth: we're willing to work hard and do our part, but we're unwilling to force something into being if God has other plans.

God has actually been showing us, in interesting, sometimes amusing ways, that when HE wants something to happen, HE can make it happen. All our self-induced effort means nothing if God's power is not behind it. Our efforts can drain us of all our energy and yet produce NO results. {And my goodness, haven't we seen that happen!!} And yet sometimes when we relax and rest, God surprises us by jumping forward with proof that His effort is what matters.

I wanted to share this with you now because many of you have probably been pursuing a list of goals or a set of resolutions over the past few days, and as the month rolls along, you might find yourself hitting that frustrating time when you don't see the results you thought you should, given the amount of effort you've put forth.

But what if that's the moment God wants you to just keep being diligent, yet rest in understanding He might be at work behind the scenes, creating results you'll one day see?