It’s not written anywhere that trouble will never knock on your door. It doesn’t matter how positive your mind set or how prepared you are trouble will always be exactly that TROUBLE. It will come at the most inopportune time either to kill or make you stronger depending where your focus is about it. It will take the shape of that promotion you were so confident was yours but is given to the slacker in the department.
It will appear in that business plan you painstakingly put together only for the rate to shoot up and devalue your projections. It will be that child you want to live vicariously through who has no interest in fulfilling the dreams you couldn’t. Trouble is inevitable no matter where you are on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It doesn’t discriminate but it can be better dealt with when taken to the right authority for management. We need saving, people, and nothing saves quite like God does.
Turn your eyes on God, cast your burdens on Him because He cares for you
I can’t find an answer to the question of what is more powerful in any geographical location than God on my side? Laws may be different, neighbours may be different, climate may be different, opportunities may be different but God is not. When I say God’s got you it’s not motivational speak it’s just the truth and we’ve long since been taught that the truth will set us free.
Since the downward spiral there have been days I’ve left home tank on E both physically and emotionally but because I consciously spoke to God about it a way has been made for me. Like Psalm 23 He has been my Shepherd and I have lacked no good thing even in the midst of my own carelessness or lack of foresight.
I’ve done bad all by myself but God has shown me the better path to walk. Not because I’m so much better than anyone else but because He is good and that is what it means to be His kind of good. He doesn’t force rules down our throat He is sovereign and allows us to choose.
Acknowledge your humanity but do not allow it to bring despair
Like so many others right now I’ve also contemplated selling everything I own and seeing how I can make a relocation plan before the ship capsizes and the elite take up all the seats on the deliberately few life boats. This thing has been teetering over the edge for a while now and as a coping mechanism we’ve had to become avid message forwarders, some ultra-horders, while some professional queuers and others have just become impatient far uglier versions of themselves.
Personally I’ve had to eat this weirdness for breakfast every morning, face the ridicule of “never going to make it in this environment”, force down the doubt and fear during business hours like yucky vegetables and then deal with the lingering heart burn throughout the day.
Come bed time I’ve even had to give it a grudging “goodnight!” seeing as its still there and that’s the only way I can get some sleep. Faith is not a onetime magic pill it’s a grizzly fight but it can be done.
Push past the discomfort of uncertainty to align yourself for a better tomorrow
This uncertainty is a persistent and cheeky opponent who is worse than social media because he extends beyond your WIFI or data bundle. He shows up in your bank balance, on your outstanding bills and in your family disagreements which are really just masked fights about money (whose money to throw at the problems, whose money to budget for the groceries and who to disassociate with because speculation shows they will likely ask you for money soon).
My creative ideas have had to jump through hoops before my mind allows them a small space on a piece of paper where I can write and develop them further but even then fear induced perfectionism hovers like a hawk ready to tear them apart.
This has been the continuous risk of thinking creatively but you know what? I’ve done it anyway and I know my breakthrough lies on the other side of fear. The point isn’t to get tangled up in fear, it’s to acknowledge it like a spectator in the terraces but not an opponent on the field. Fear can be harnessed and used counter intuitively for good.
Change your story
It’s worth investing this time to reinforce good seed because from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and the power of life and death is in the tongue. What you sow in this time is what you’ll be reaping when things turn around. Those taking matters into their own hands will have only that as their reward but those trusting in God will never be put to shame.
