Learning when to just pause and look around

I love how timely the Lord is when it comes to things He is trying to teach us.  This whole year the Lord has really been changing my perspective on how I look not only at my life but life in general.  I have been amazed at the things that are becoming less important to me and things that I continue to become more passionate about.

This past Sunday we went to church with my sister at her church, which is is the church I grew up in here in Salt Lake.  However, the church is so very different then it was when I attended almost 13+ years ago.  As we sat and enjoyed the worship and the sermon the Lord really grabbed me with one passage the Pastor was teaching out of.

"He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, 

who opens and no one will shut, 

and who shuts and no one opens, says this..."   

Revelation 3:7b

In this verse the Bible is talking about the Lord and the fact that only the Lord has the ability to truly open a "door" or close a "door".  This verse is also talking about that when the Lord decides to open or close a door nothing we or anyone else can do to change the Lord's decision.  What struck me about this verse was when the Pastor began talking about where the Lord has each of us in our lives.  We may be in the middle of a rough patch and so desperately want to change our circumstances or we may be in a period where we feel truly blessed and don't want anything to change.  In either circumstance it does not matter how much we pray, ask or beg, if the Lord has us in that place for a reason then our circumstances may just remain the same.  Many times we don't like that answer, but as I listened I heard the Lord point out to me that He may be waiting for me to learn something, interact with someone, change something about myself or just realize that there are times we need to wait and trust Him and Him alone.

I know the thought of not truly being in control is not a happy thought,  trust me there are times where I am a complete control freak.  However, I am learning more and more that many times my perspective on my circumstances is not the Lord's perspective.  I am also learning that many times the Lord is waiting for me to pause from my selfish perspective and allow him to show me his perspective.  When I allow that to happen it never fails to amaze me that I have missed something or am about to miss an opportunity to bless someone else.

We may not like where we are, we may not like our job, we may not like _______ (fill in the blank) but when the Lord has something he wants to show or teach us this verse reminds us that nothing we can do will change our circumstances until the Lord is ready to change them.  Many times I think he just wants us to pause from ourselves because he has something for us to do and we are letting our selfish nature get in the way.  Our life and society has programmed us to be even more selfish than we realize and I think many times the Lord has to yank our chains to get us to stop and look up.  I don't want to live my life at such a great speed that I miss an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with someone.  I don't want to miss an opportunity to teach my girls to see God moving and working in the world around them.  Our children follow our examples and if we are so caught up in ourselves that we miss what God is doing around us, our children will end up behaving the same way.

The other day when I was thinking about my blog title I realized that part of my desire in living off the beaten path is helping not only myself but my girls to realize that there is so much is this world that is not important. There are so  many things that the enemy will use to distract us from ministry opportunities the Lord has put right in front of our noses.  Most of all I want my girls to know that this world is not our home and we are only here for a temporary period of time.  When I am before the Lord I not only want the Lord to look at me and say well done good and faithful servant, but I want to know I did all I could for my girls to receive the same statement.  May our lives be such that no matter our circumstances, no matter how much we want them to change or not change, I want people to look at me and see the love of Jesus in all I say and do.

So if you are struggling, remember that if you keep asking the Lord to change your circumstances and they are not changing, pause because there might just be something He is trying to show you.