Have you ever felt lost, not the in the wrong aisle at the grocery store lost but the kind that no matter which way you turn, left or right, you will still be lost. What I know about being lost is that we are often in search of something to help us and when we can’t find what we are looking for we fill our hearts with a lot of other stuff. Fake stuff. That’s kind of the way I have felt these last two months. It’s funny, being on this journey gives you a lot of time to think, sometimes too much time and that’s not what I expected.
There is one word we all say on the Race far too much: “processing.” We use it a lot and at times to get out of things. Asking each other, “Hey, how are you doing?” and replying “I’m good, just processing a lot of things.” We never really open up to each other. Usually the person asking the question just accepts our answer with out any rebuttal. This last month I noticed that I do this with God more than I thought. Filling my heart with fake stuff over what God has for me.
Have you ever tasted a Coke outside of the U.S.? It’s the best thing in the world. It’s far better than anything back at home. I took notice one day the ingredients on the can of coke I was drinking. Can you guess how many ingredients it had? Five! That’s all; five simple ingredients and you know what made it even better? They are all natural ingredients like natural sugar in it, nothing fake. That’s why it was the best Coke I’ve ever had in my life. Back home we pump in all this fake stuff that it doesn’t need instead of using the natural ingredients.
Do you see where I am going with this?
We do this with God everyday. God wants us to be real with him and not fake. He wants us to talk to him in a real way, as a child would to a father or we would a friend. We fill ourselves with all this fake stuff that we don’t need trying to escape that lost feeling. However, smiling like a father would, God shows us that we already have all the ingredients we need and the best thing about it is that they are all natural, no fake ingredients needed.
The Lord has shown me that I have all the ingredients I need to become a strong man of God. It’s nothing big, it’s actually quite small, but it is special and important. All I needed was to believe. That’s it, simple right? But just because its simple doesn’t mean we will always see it. I often overlook it. God showed me if I want to be a leader I am a leader, not that I could be a leader but that I am because He has already given me all the ingredients I need. If I want to be a better husband, I am. If I want to become a nurse, I am. God has given us all the tools we need but it’s up to us to believe he has.
My friend Zach prayed over me last week. He told me God sees me as unformed dough, risen, flowered and ready to go. He rolls me out and is not afraid of my dry edges or misshapenness, but instead he smiles and re-rolls me into perfection.
No one is perfect and we all make mistakes but don’t be afraid to believe, because once you believe what God has for your life you will never be lost.
I have learned to trust in God’s plan for me and stand in the authority he has given me as a son of God and because of that, I can turn left or I can turn right, but I will never me lost again.
