Life is a journey - come along for the ride! |
I say life is a journey, and it’s true. There are twists and turns, good times and bad, and there are lessons learned. The last few weeks for me have been absolutely amazing, but at the same time, full of epic fails. I have been blessed in so many ways over the last few weeks, but I have epically failed on some of the goals that I had set for myself. Too bad life doesn’t come with a reset button, right? For a couple of years now, I’ve wanted to hear a certain pastor preach live. However, his church is in North Carolina, and I live in Georgia. When you are on limited income, travel isn’t always an option. The few times that I had been able to go, something would always come up and I would have to cancel at the last minute. Fast forward to 2018, and this same pastor came to my church to preach a message to my pastor at Night of Worship. However, he might as well have been sitting in a room one-on-one with me. His descriptions of the struggles that we had been going through, the feelings of wanting to quit, wanting to die cause we were tired of the fight, and then the triumphant joy when things are starting to work out – he might as well have been describing my life for the past two years. But then he talked about the blessings that were coming, and was talking about not running from them. Very powerful message, very powerful in so many ways. Let me tell y’all – my pastor is cray-cray-crazy! The week after our Night of Worship, our pastor had a tree brought into the sanctuary and wired onto the stage. He then proceeded to preach about being in position – and actually climbed the tree to preach! Again, another message that might have been just for me on so many levels. I have also been reading and studying two new books – and both of them are teaching me so much. They are raising my expectations in my prayer life and showing me that no matter how I fail, God is still there. Then, when all seemed lost financially, I found out that God had provided for some of my bills to be paid, provided food and other necessities that I needed, provided a new microwave since mine was about to kick the bucket, and provided some new clothes for me. Okay, now to the epic fails – I set myself a ton of goals for the month of February…and so far, I’ve reached NONE of them. Part of it is due to laziness (yes, I said it.) Part of it is due to lack of motivation. Part of it is due to fatigue. Part of it is due to the “I just don’t wanna do it” bug. But another reason is because I’ve really been trying to ponder and consider what God is showing me, and how I can apply what He is showing me to my daily life. However, I have reached one of my goals, but it wasn’t a goal for February – I re-enrolled in Bible College, and in the class I am taking on Chaplaincy/Chatplaincy (chatplaincy is a fancy word for online chaplain,) I am getting an A average. I should have this course completed by the end of the month. Things aren’t always easy. Life gets tough. Blessings come. Failures come. But how you react and what you do with it is ALWAYS a choice! I could choose to berate myself and concentrate on my failures – and that will affect my outlook on life and how I view myself. Or I could choose to learn from this and move on – and take it as a lesson learned. I choose to take this road. I’m not perfect. I never will be. But I am always willing to learn. I am willing to grow. I am willing to make mistakes and grow through the process. And that is what makes me happy – what keeps me from hating myself when I have failed as epically as I have failed so far this year. Today is a new day, and I can choose to start over. Like I said, life is a journey – enjoy it and learn from it! |