My Position Conditions

I remember the time well.  I had just started a brand new job.  Honestly I think I was only about 2 months in when I tripped carrying a heavy box down a few small steps and I twisted my ankle. 

And how many know that a sprain can be just as bad… if not worse… than a break in the bone?  Oh and it was.  And I was fully out of commission for a good couple weeks.

I cried a lot in that season. 
I was mostly frustrated at the fact that I was incapable of doing much and had to rely heavily on those around me for even the small tasks of daily life.
But I was also sad for so much down time.
I don’t do “still” well, and for me this “force of the pause button” was unexpected and certainly unwelcomed.

I felt it again last year.  That same uneasiness surrounding an unforeseen, unanticipated, abrupt interruption in our family’s life.
Hard circumstances that left us in a very dry season of unavoidable rest.
And the difficult season found us sometimes in a state of worry and fear.  Panic almost.

It was a pause.
It was a delay.
A suspension.

And it was often messy and tough to navigate.
But it served a good purpose in our preparation.
Because in both instances we allowed our eyes to see with a different perspective.
We didn’t always get it right, and we may not have had the words then to properly articulate what was happening, but looking back God was pruning and cleaning and trimming.

John 15:3 says this, “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”

Jesus explains here that all of life is sustained in His voice.  In His words.  His message. 
And He is inviting us into a lifestyle where we find ourselves in a posture of clinging to Him.

We oftentimes want to put blame upon the circumstances of our life.
“If this wouldn’t have happened…”
“If that didn’t take place…”
“If I would have been allowed to do it this way…”

And the truth really is that God doesn’t bring us in to circumstances to blame the condition.  The condition is often intentioned to wake us up. 
The circumstance is simply an invitation to hear better and see clearer.

God puts us in circumstances that don’t always feel good in an effort to get us to listen. 
Why?
Because life is found in the word… in His voice.

I am ALIVE because He breathed on me.
And I am sustained in this life because He continues to speak.

And sometimes these situations I feel forced into are simply there because He’s speaking.  And the pause button on all of the noise that surrounds me allows me to position myself closer to the Savior, and ask Him to, “speak, Your servant is listening.” (1 Sam 3:10)

Do you find yourself in a difficult position today?
Are you in a season of waiting?
Do you feel overwhelmed by the conditions that surround you?
Are you in the middle of a challenging circumstance?

It could be that He’s allowing this for the purpose of speaking life into dry bones.
And if we come with yielded hearts to hear, He will lavishly provide.
The discovery is in His voice.
He doesn’t hide Himself from those who hunger for Him.