It is amazing to me how many people face life without direction. I see tons of people still stuck in a "season" of their life, though they are meant to be in the next. There are people that walk aimlessly through life without dreams, without purpose, and without feeling it at all.
When I was in highschool, I went crazy... from my testimony and past entries, we all know this. I did everything under the sun, but then again, MOST people in highschool are a lot more immature and carefree then they are when they are adults. Again, in college, I wanted the EXPERIENCE. I wanted to eat cookie dough for dinner, buy alcohol at the liquor store, and party all night. And I'm not gonna lie, I had an awesome time!
BUT, that was but a season. Though seasons fade, pain and scars do not. You can leave a moment in your life, you can give up things, you can move on from relationships, you can even try to wipe away the memories like a tear falling down your cheek-- but the destruction you've done, damages you for a long, long time.
When you hand your life over to God, and seek Him in everything, He starts to speak louder and louder into your ear. You can KNOW when He's saying "no," and even more than that, you can hear Him give you direction.
When I moved on from college, I sought Jesus harder than I ever had before. I got into my Bible, into a devotional, and into books by Christian authors that God used to move me out of that season of life and into a new one- The Career Woman.
I had to box up the things I thought were fun, turn habits into old ways, and let the Lord go through deep and dark places, I would have like to kept hidden.
At Charlotte One, a Christian speaker, Vodie Baucom, told a story about having the pest control man coming to get out all the rats, all the cob webs and all the pests that lurk in the dark to be able to restore your house into a comfortable and cozy home. That we need to let Jesus shine the light on even our most embarrassing secrets, until it almost hurts. I knew that there were secrets I had hidden, hurts I tried to conceal, things I had done that I never wanted ANYONE to know about, much less confess to JESUS. But I had to let him REMIND me of hurtful things people did to me, I had to cry, I had to remember the pain, the guilt, the SHAME of things I thought I had forgotten.
People get stuck in a season of life when they don't know where to go next, when they're not ready to take responsibility for their past, or when they don't feel grounded. I can see it all around me, and I have definitely been there. Without God, you are fearful, you are questioning everything, you are always in search of reasons and things that will fulfill you, you stay independent because everyone else has hurt you or left you and you just don't trust anyone anymore, you have a heart that has been badly bruised, a body that's hardy been hugged or touched or loved, you crave the mere sound of someone in the room because you're dying just to know that someone is there, you ask questions just to get someone to respond... Outside you appear to have it altogether, you're fine on your own, you're happy with who you are, but inside you're wondering if anyone cares, if anyone truly loves you and if anyone would even care if you left this earth. You want something more... but you don't know what it is, exactly, and you don't even want to ask for it. You don't want to let anyone into the deep dark you. You don't want to expose the shame, the guilty, the awful things people have done to you, and the judgment it may bring...
BUT I HAVE NEWS... God wants to LOVE you, He already KNOWS the REAL you and wants to HEAL you, He wants to pull you closer to himself and let you cry. He wants you to realize that you need HIM. He's the only one that can fill that void, that can make you feel whole, that can give you the confidence and the security and the healing to enter in a new season of life. He wants to tell you His magnificent plan for YOUR life!! He created YOU for a very specific part of his kingdom! He NEEDs YOU to fill a very special hole in HIS heart that only YOU can fill, too! He DESIRES to bless you, to cherish you, to COMFORT you, to ENCOURAGE you!
Without realizing that, and letting him into those deep dark places, you may be the college partier when you're supposed to be a wife. You may be the drunkard when you were supposed to be a dad. You may be the career woman when you're supposed to be a grandma. You may be the child when you're supposed to be an adult. There is a SEASON, a time for EVERYTHING... there are going to be just as many great things in the NEXT season as there are now! There are going to be lessons learned, character growth and maturity increased with every season and there are going to be GREAT things at every step of the way!
So don't get stuck in the place you are now, draw closer to HIM and HEAR where you're going! If you've JUST realized you are wanting OUT OF the season you are in, and you don't know HOW to be in the season you are supposed to be in... start PRAYING. Draw close to Him and he will draw close to you. Seek him and you will find him. Ask and it will be given unto you. It's His will for you to come to him, to seek him and to need Him, that's ALL you have to do, and he will take it from there!
And don't be so eager to get to the next stage that you miss out on everything this season has to offer, either.
"TO EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven" Ecc. 3:1
