"That did NOT go as planned…"
We've all been here. We have something in mind…some big idea. We act on it. Plan it. Prepare for it. Then the big day comes and it doesn’t go as planned. Could there be a bigger tragedy?! LOL Obviously there can be, but that doesn't take away from the fact that you’re bummed out. It doesn't take away the thoughts of "Why didn’t that work?" Often times we concentrate on what went wrong. “What didn’t I do right?” “What am I missing?” “What the heck happened?!”
These are dangerous thoughts… I think, in our society, it’s necessary to look at things that need work. We need to review aspects that are not perfect. This is tough, but in order to do better, you have to spend a little bit of time in an uncomfortable position of surveying your effectiveness. Most times there are things that need to be tightened up. The danger that lies in this is where you allow your mind to go from here. Too many of us quit on our calling or LIMIT our calling because of a few failures. We look at everything that didn't go right and we judge ourselves too harshly off of what we were unable to accomplish. What a blow to your ego! What a blow to your faith!
I get it- Your thoughts are probably: "How can I trust God for more when I can barely make it through the day with where I am now?! How can I trust God for more than what I see when what I see already appears to be too much for me?!
My answer: Perception is everything. In High School, I had a teacher tell our whole class to hold our hands up… he then asked us: “What do you see?” We answered: “fingernails.” “Knuckles.” “A mole” People began to speak of various blemishes that they had. They made references to whatever they could see on their hands. The more we answered, the more confused this teacher began to look…. After everyone had finished, he replied “I don’t see any of that… I see some fingerprints. I see a few lines in this hand. This one DOES have a mole… but it doesn't look like the one you guys were talking about.” He went on for a little while… but the lesson was that we were looking at the SAME hand from 2 different points of view. What I saw WASN'T what he saw… In the same way, God doesn't see out situations like we see them. God sees us differently, often times better than how we see ourselves. God is not bound by time. He’s not even bound by our mistakes. He has a plan… everyday that we live is contained in it. When things don’t look like what God says, it’s not because it doesn't exist… it’s because he sees us at our best, beyond the limitations that we put on ourselves. the promise is there... it's just beyond all of the stuff that we have to get through.
The mere fact that something doesn't go as planned, doesn't remove the power that God has to supersede whatever the failure is. It’s on us to look at what didn't work and see what DID work. Learn from it and pray against the spirit of distraction that could allow us to become so consumed with the failure that we forget that god can make it appear as if that failure never even happened.
Rejections, failures, shortcomings, imperfections are NO match for the power of God. The Bible says that “ALL things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 KJV)
You love God. He has called you. He has forgiven you… whatever happens, God can use it so that you can ultimately reach the greatness that He has called you to. Trust Him. He’s with you… and as long as He is with you, nothing on this earth can keep you from where He has for you to go… except you. Don’t be fooled or distracted. God is not controlled by human failures or standards… He’s much greater than that!
PS: If you aren't sure of your relationship with God, drop me a message. I'd love to pray for you! Scratch that- We can pray together.