Motivation Monday - What To Believe When You Are Shipwrecked
“I talk to so many women, day in and day out, who are crying for help – looking for purpose, for affirmation, for friendship, for leadership support, for wisdom. Help is on the way! But first you must believe that God has not abandoned you.”
When my two-year old grandson was visiting, he would sometimes shout to me from another room in the middle of what he was doing and say, “Hel me! Hel me!” It’s not what you think – he really meant to say “Help me! Help me!” and was having a little problem pronouncing the letter P at the end of ‘help’. His cry for help was never about anything life-threatening – just to move his cars if they got stuck, or help him put on his shoes. But His cry sounded urgent, and he expected that I would drop everything to come to his aid. I would come running only to find he had moved on to something else and really didn’t need me at all.
I often wonder if that is what I sound like to God? I get into trouble more than once and yell out to the universe for someone to help me but don’t stop long enough to listen to His response or wait in silence for it. If God doesn’t show up instantly, I keep on playing at my life, performing my tasks and trying to fix things myself. I cry for help, but sometimes doubt if help is on the way.
Do you believe God actually hears your prayers and wants to answer you?
Don’t become blind to the ways God answers your prayers.
Sometimes His answers unfold over time.
Sometimes his answers look like anything but what we prayed for.
Sometimes his answers involve a great deal of risk and skin in the game on our part.
When Paul was in a shipwreck on his journey to Rome, an angel came to him and said, “Don’t be afraid, Paul…God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you”. And Paul, encouraging his fellow crew members, said to them, “So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. But we will be shipwrecked on an island.” (Acts 27:23-25)
You can be shipwrecked and be safe all at the same time.
God can and does still keep his promise to protect you while you are in the middle of a storm.
God desires to put courage into you on the journey,
God allows you to be shipwrecked in order to see that
nothing outside of you can ever destroy what He has put inside of you.
At the end of Acts 27, we are told that everyone, by jumping ship and swimming, eventually made it safely to shore. He may not fix in an instant what you are praying about, but in His time, He really will ensure you are safe and will guide you to new place to land.
I talk to so many women, day in and day out, who are crying for help – looking for purpose, for affirmation, for friendship, for leadership support, for wisdom. Help is on the way! But first you must believe that God has not abandoned you.
I believe that this is what genesis moments are made of. Simple, pure, belief. We want to see the answers appear just as we have prayed for them. Instead, in our most surprising genesis moments, a new path unfolds, something we didn’t imagine.
God has started something new in us,
while we have been praying for something new outside of us.
We are navigating some big waves in our world, in our nation. Many of us are at risk of jumping ship, thinking we will drown. But maybe we need to let go of our safety nets, pray, jump and start swimming. Maybe we need to start using all the resources at our disposal that God has provided for us, and trust that He will guide us safely to shore.
Maybe you need to be reminded of the gospel truth that what God starts in. you,
He intends to finish in you.
Maybe you need to gather with like-minded women who are also need to be reminded
of the new that God is doing in them.
Would you consider this your personal and heartfelt invitation to join us at Gather Rise: GENESIS in Calgary, November 4-5? REGISTER HERE. Would you come to have your heart and soul illuminated by the revelation of God’s unchanging word? Would you be reminded of your core identity as a daughter of God? Would you be encouraged that there is a resurgence for your faith – and that your confidence for impact comes from the resurrected Christ who lives in you?
The best time for God to reorder your world and create something new and something beautiful is after the chaos of a shipwreck. I believe your genesis moment awaits you!
“God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.”
Psalm 51:10 The Message
I believe in you!
Cathie