When feeling distraught, frustrated, and overwhelmed by decisions and their outcomes, it's essential to take a step back and analyze how and why those decisions were made.
What were you pursuing? What was the expected end, and why did it matter in the first place? Even the most incredible ideas can lead to unexpected outcomes that leave us pondering what happened and why. After all, you began with a vision filled with hope, striving to achieve something remarkably astonishing.
Perhaps your goal was to create change in the world around you, even if just a slight shift, and make a lasting difference. Or you aimed to improve your personal life, and if you inspired others along the way, that was a bonus. Regardless, you started with a purpose that fueled your passion and guided your efforts toward the desired outcome.
What Happens Over Time?
As you journey forward, you encounter challenges that seek to deter, distract, and dissuade you from your path. Initially, these obstacles may seem minor compared to the vast results of your journey, allowing you to continue pursuing your vision. With each challenge you overcome, you gain strength and build resilience, revealing the greatness within you.
This journey shifts from being solely about the end goal to a more profound discovery of who you are. Along the way, you uncover your courage to embrace new experiences, showcasing traits like wisdom and insight. These gifts demonstrate your capacity to foresee not just the present but also the future. You become a problem solver, willing to test theories to tackle any challenge and inspire others to do the same.
You realize that whatever lies before you is not greater than what resides within you. You exhibit tenacity, demonstrating your ability to persevere even in the face of challenging times. You are a fighter who refuses to give up easily and does not accept defeat.
The further you move along, the challenges become greater, yet you still press on, leaning on what has been revealed. But you never realize that you are doing so automatically.
When this happens, you are instinctively applying what has been revealed, yet never intentionally taking stock. Thus, when more significant challenges become present, the steps to overcome feel more difficult to apply and move forward.When you unconsciously utilize newly acquired knowledge or insights, you are demonstrating a natural grasp of the information. However, the absence of deliberate reflection on this application means you are not consciously registering the learning process. Consequently, when confronted with more complex obstacles, the strategies for resolution, though inherently the same, may seem harder to implement and progress becomes more arduous. This is because the underlying principles and the mechanics of their successful prior application have not been internalized through conscious awareness and analysis (or taking stock).
In such instances, you endure “a few more punches” that seem to hit harder, causing greater damage to your ability to see hope and continue pursuing your vision. While you may eventually get it together, it’s undeniable how much harder this process becomes. Without reflection, you risk losing hope, fearing what obstacles might still lie ahead. This can lead to the unfortunate desire to give up, leaving your vision unfulfilled and abandoned.
You may find yourself gripped by feelings of resentment, discontent, and unfulfillment, feeling stuck and uncertain about what to do next. The thought of pursuing what could be next feels like an impossible dream, further diminishing your motivation.
Questions invade your mind: How did I end up here? What happened to my vision? Was it ever a true vision, or did I simply stumble into this place?
Envisioning the future has felt like believing in a fairytale, and it’s time to confront reality.
What Is Real?
Well, the reality is that you’re here and didn’t end up here by chance.
When faced with opposition, we too often focus on the pain of the challenge rather than the joy of having overcome it.
We often go through life without truly taking in all the moments, leaving us feeling empty and disemboweled, lacking what we need to prevail during the most painful experiences. As a result, we become utterly depleted and fundamentally weakened, stripped of the very resources—whether emotional fortitude, mental resilience, or tangible support—that are essential for successfully navigating life’s most arduous trials. Without these crucial elements, we are rendered vulnerable and ill-equipped to endure periods of intense difficulty and prolonged hardship, exposing us to the potentially devastating consequences of such deprivation. This lack of inner strength and external aid can hinder our ability to cope with significant adversity, ultimately affecting our capacity to overcome challenges and emerge intact from the most painful moments we encounter.
When we overcome challenges, we often fail to celebrate and appreciate the journey. So focused on reaching the end, we overlook the greatness that emerges within us along the way. Consequently, when faced with what seem to be impossibilities, we disconnect from the tools we have to move forward.
By taking time to reflect and celebrate, those moments will instinctively remind us when we need them most, highlighting our capabilities, how we can achieve our goals, and why we can succeed. You have tangible occasions to encourage yourself.
Shift of Faith
“Psalms 42:5 (AMP): Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become impatient and troubled within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” This verse from Psalms reminds us to encourage ourselves in the Lord.
But what does this look like?
Well, we are to start with reminders of how we were able to pursue and overcome previously. When we initially started, we connected to the vision given by God as we moved forward with purpose and intentionality, walking the path He laid for us. Faced with difficulty, we armed ourselves with what He gave us, starting with purpose. We grew closer to Him along the way, and He began to reveal not only more of the vision He entrusted us with but also what He placed in us long before we began this journey. We know we can draw on His strength, wisdom, and courage, but the further we move, He lets us know that because we were created in His image and likeness, we have strength, wisdom, and courage deep within. He has just been working on us along this journey to encourage us to see and connect to what was placed in us and allow it to be revealed and utilized. This is why over time our posture before Him changes. Rather than begging and pleading for His help, strength, wisdom, and courage, we shift to automatically applying these gifts as needed when needed because we shift from unbelief to belief to fully knowing who we are and what we are. Therefore, we can encourage ourselves in the Lord, or encourage ourselves in who we are as it relates to Him… son, daughter, friend, and heir.
When we encourage ourselves in the Lord, we have intentionally taken stock of who He is and who we are. We come to realize that we can never be defeated because He is undefeated. Therefore, no weapon formed against me shall prosper. I can endure all things through Christ Jesus as long as I stand in not just what I believe but what I know. We may believe until changes occur, but what we know for certain becomes like an impenetrable force field around us that is unshakeable no matter what comes our way. When we stand in what we know, those hits no longer weaken us and our ability, yet we press forward as we witness the results of standing in what we know to be true, as what we know is continuously proven the longer we stay the course.
Hope and belief are wonderful, but knowledge is power. When we move in knowledge—proven knowledge—we walk in unshakable faith as we are rooted and planted in who God is and who we are through Him. You can conquer every mountain in your path, never feeling lost or stuck again along your journey. You know you have what you need because you have spent time taking stock of what He has been revealing in you and through you, and most importantly, who you are IN CHRIST Jesus.
Today, take stock. Take stock of what God has been revealing to you along this journey to shift you from hope and belief to unshakable faith in what you know to be true.
I would love to hear from you about what God has been revealing as you reflect on your godly inventory, allowing Him to guide you with greater intentionality and authenticity in who you are in Him.
Be blessed and stay encouraged.
