Good Morning Church! Do you ever feel like giving up?
Just letting it all swallow you up — crawl into your bed and pull the covers over your head?
I had a moment like that this week.
I had three things hit me within 30 to 45 minutes — nothing terrible but it was the one-two-three punch that got me.
I wanted so badly to give in. To walk away from the situation.
But I didn’t.
And the reason why matters.
I didn’t have any other choice.
If I had given up — as I wanted so badly to do — I would have missed out on income my family has to have.
Leaving and giving up was simply not an option I could consider.
So I prayed and focused on each moment. Before the day was over everything was fine — nothing had changed — but in my spirit I was fine — because I believe as Paul did when he wrote to encourage the early church that all things work for the good of those who love GOD and who have been called according to HIS purpose.
And even though I know that the things I was hit with may not turn out as I hope — I know with certainty they will all be opportunities for someone — hopefully me included — to grow closer to God.
I often write and blog about the circumstances we find ourselves in as a nation — and even though I go down many different roads my conclusions are always the same — that the greatest mistake we have made as a nation?
Is taking our eyes off GOD.
The experiences I have had over the last few years — especially while working at my church and surprisingly while I was selling cars — has taught me a great deal about the people we have become in America. We aren’t what we use to be.
We use to let God walk us through the tough moments in life. We would work through our problems and take responsibility for ourselves — now we look primarily to the government for that guidance — robbing us of our need to TRUST — KNOW — AND BE STILL.
And the concepts of tough choices or limited choices is unheard of these days.
It’s simply another layer of who we are and who we are called to be that is slipping away from us.
Because giving up was not a choice for me this week— I made new friends — learned new things — and earned income I needed.
But giving up — just like giving in — is always easier.
For the moment.
Just as giving in to temptation only satisfies us for a brief moment —
giving up comforts us only until we face the morning.
We have all heard the mantra give a man a fish he will eat for the day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.
Unfortunately we have gotten so busy being busy that those who have the knowledge to teach others how to fish — hire or elect someone else to do it — but they end up being someone that has a good theory on fishing and can’t actually teach anything — so they save money by hiring a fishing company to catch enough fish for everyone! Until the line of people wanting fish starts to grow — because once word gets around that there is free fish a person would have to be crazy not to get in line. Right?
The whole process robs us!
- First of the experience to push through hard times and see what we learn and grow into during the process.
- And second it robs us of the chance to experience and really feel what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ when we teach our fellow citizens to fish.
Don’t get me wrong — good works need the generous hearts that fund what they do — but the wealthiest among us will admit that writing a big check does not compare to the way they feel when they actually get their hands dirty and become a part of the causes they support.
But when we rob ourselves and our fellow citizens of the choice to not have any other choice we undermine the very spirit that makes us who we are.
We have forgotten it was God — not political power that made us who we are — and only by looking back to God rather than the government when life gets overwhelming — will we once again be the nation we were founded to be where GOD IS AGAIN OUR KING!
God Bless!
LaVern Vivio
October 30, 2016
