When Your World Falls Apart…

When your world falls apart, who do you look to?

One morning when I was standing at the kitchen sink with my hands in dishwater, my husband told me that the company he was working for was going under. Everyone was laid off. At that time in our lives, I was staying home with 4 small children ages 6, 4, 2, and newborn. It was not a good time for me to go out and find a job.

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Who Do You Look To, When Your World Falls Apart?

When something difficult happens in our lives, it’s easy to go into “fix-it mode.”  We try to figure out why something bad happened.

Fear Looks Down, Faith Looks Up

It’s appropriate to examine our lives to learn from our mistakes.  Yet if we aren’t careful, our heads hang down and we magnify the negative of the circumstances as we try to figure it all out.

Fear looks down and magnifies the negative.

Faith looks up and magnifies God.

Faith compares the circumstance to the mighty God of the Universe. God is not only able to help you learn from your mistakes, He is able to transform you in the process.

Your Set Back, Can Be God’s Set Up

All those years ago when my hands were in the dish-water after hearing about my husband being laid off, my heart was suddenly filled with a gift of faith.  God dropped in my heart these words that I said to my husband,  “Honey, it must mean that promotion is around the corner for you.”

Those faith-filled words, helped change my perspective. Rather that fearfully looking down, I looked up to God in faith. Over the years, I have seen God use my difficulties and the difficulties of others as a set up for His promotion.

Preparing for Promotion

If you are in a difficult situation, this is not the end of your story. God is for you. Here are some things that we can do to position ourselves for God’s promotion:

1. Humble Yourself

True humility is rightly seeing yourself and rightly seeing God. C.S. Lewis, a great Christian Theologian said this,

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” C.S. Lewis

Walking in humility is not having poor self-esteem. True humility is the opposite of both pride and insecurity. Humility is seeing things with God’s perspective. God hates pride. 1 Peter 5:5 NLT says,

“God opposes the proud
    but gives grace to the humble.”

Humility is not thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think… nor thinking more lowly than you ought to think. Humility chooses to walk in God’s grace.

2. Dare to Dream

Seeing things God’s way calls you to look up. God is great and mighty. He has created each human being in His image. He invites each one of us to dream His dream. He is the master-designer and He created you on purpose. Ephesians 2:10 NLT says,

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

 

God has a plan. His plan is for your good. His plan is far more that you can hope for.

It’s at those twists and turns in your journey, that you need to remind yourself that this does not take God by surprise. It may be that he is preparing you for the next stage in your adventure in life.

3. Say Yes to God

At each transitional point in our lives, we have a fresh opportunity to say yes to God. I have found myself at a number of these turns praying these words:

God, I will go ANYWHERE You want me to go!

I will do ANYTHING You want me to do!

I will serve ANYONE You want me to serve.

I surrender. Show me and I will follow you.

God Promotes

God’s Promotion doesn’t come from the hand of man but from God Himself. He prepares you for His promotion by preparing your character to completely trust Him.

Your setback, can be His set-up for promotion.