The start of summer is always a refreshing time for me. Summer league swim team starts again, and so I start up the one hour (each way) commute three times a week to be able to coach with Youth Swimming. I grew up with that team and love it, so I wouldn’t have it any other way. Plus it gives me time to roll the windows down and crank up my music as loud as possible. On the way back from practice tonight, my favorite band, Mumford and Sons’ song “Below My Feet” came on, and some of the lyrics really stood out to me this time.
“Let me learn from where I have been.”
I started thinking about what I’ve learned from where I’ve been. The past 2-3 years haven’t been easy on me. They haven’t been terrible, but they’ve been tough. I transferred to UGA, and let the stress of maintaining a high GPA consume me. My four and half year relationship ended. I had no idea what I wanted out of my future anymore, and any opportunities that excited me were quickly thrown out the window. I realized I was graduating college with absolutely no idea what the next step would be, and I didn’t feel any guidance from God. I was living my life in a state of “just getting by.”
By the time I graduated, nothing excited me. I wasn’t sure the last time I had felt happy, or even had a good laugh. Even though nothing had gone horribly wrong, nothing had gone my way in the 2 years leading up to graduating. NOTHING. I felt like a puppet in God’s scheme. People kept saying “God has a plan” and all I could think was, “Yeah, He has a plan to screw with me.”
And I was going to church through this time. In fact, I was more actively involved in church than I ever had been before, and my relationship with God was growing. But I eventually reached my breaking point. I eventually started questioning whether or not God loved me, or let alone cared about me. Because it didn’t seem like He was taking care of His daughter. I didn’t feel loved, or cared for, or comforted. I felt hurt, scared, and alone.
So a little over a year ago, I decided to see a counselor. Mental health is important, and I was not mentally healthy at this point in my life. It helped – a ton. I started seeking that connection with God again. I started realizing that even though I wasn’t sure where my life was heading, that I should trust Him.
Fast forward to now, and I’m amazed at how much I’ve changed in the past year. Like I said, I had been upset because nothing had gone my way. But seriously, thank God it didn’t. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 3:20 that God can do infinitely more with our lives than we could imagine.
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” – Eph 3:20 NLT
And I believe it, because God did. God did infinitely more with my life than I could have ever imagined.
And He can do infinitely more with yours.
Today, I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life. I am more excited for my future than I’ve ever been. I crave finding ways to glorify God, because He has done infinitely more with my life, and I owe all the praise and glory to Him. Because he loves me, and cares about me, he broke me down. From my breaking point, He pulled me from the ashes.
So don’t be afraid of the rough patches. Turn your life over to Him and surrender.
Give Him the chance to do infinitely more.
“If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.” – Matthew 10:39 MSG
