Discontent With Being Content

I've been struggling to write another post, not because I'm busy or anything, but because I'm very un-busy( I'm sure I just made up a word). My life is very stagnant right now and it's very frustrating. I have a job....and I have a job. Other than that I'm just living life waiting for the next good thing to happen...and to know me is to know that patience is something that I struggle with, so waiting is not something I'm particularly good at.

So instead of keeping myself busy and thinking about how I can make the best of my time, I started doing what you should never do...comparing my life to other people's lives. Don't get me wrong, I'm very blessed. I have a degree, I have a job that allows me to live decently, I'm content. But I've started to become discontent with being content. I want more. I want new and exciting and I don't have that right now. And that's when the comparing began.

Last week I was scrolling through Instagram and Facebook (I'm positive social media is the #1 killer of peace) and I started seeing all of these people announcing engagements, getting married, announcing that they're having babies, getting these awesome jobs, going to school and I started getting upset because none of that is happening for me right now. I want to get my dream job, I want to get married, I want to have babies so WHEN IS MY TIME? I want everything all at once. I know it doesn't work that way, but my wants began to outweigh what I knew.

My peace became interrupted, once again. I live my life to please God. When I lose sight of that, I tend to stop doing things that are pleasing to Him, and in turn, I lose some of the ammunition that I need to fight the devil. That's when the devil goes to work and my peace is diminished.

I'm still struggling with it at the moment, but I felt drawn to write about it because I'm sure there are others out there who feel the same way. Something that I know, but I temporarily lost sight of is that other people's lives aren't what you see them post. That is why I make an effort to be very transparent. I know that I can post things and make my life seem so amazing and perfect, but that's not how it is in the slightest. I'm constantly growing and I want to share my journey with others so that they can hopefully learn something from my experiences.

Psalm 37:3-4 - Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. (NIV)

Something that I've started to ask myself when I get discontent is "what is it that is stopping me from receiving my blessings?" I want God to do things in my life, but am I doing everything that He is asking of me?

I think that we tend to get so distracted by our lives that we forget that God has a purpose for us. God knows what He needs to do for you, but sometimes there are things He needs you to do first or a place He needs you to get to before you can receive what is meant for you. He longs for us and He wants us completely and totally so that we can fulfill the purpose He has for us. We go through hard times so that we can learn to trust him completely. We experience good times because of His grace and mercy and so that we can see His love for us. But whether good or bad, God still wants us to cling to Him always.

Through my experiences I've learned that God will do whatever it takes to get your attention if He sees you drifting. He will start removing everything that is taking your focus away from Him until you realize that you are nothing without Him.

It doesn't matter what you think you need in life. If you are obedient, and you trust God, He will provide, "exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever ask or think." Obedience is hard, but obedience brings blessings!

Whatever you may be going through, know that it is all going to work out exactly how God intended it to! Listen to what He is asking of you and just do it! It's so worth it in the end!

Love,

JayCherie

Facing Failure

When you fail at things in life, sometimes it can feel like the end of the world. It seems like everything around you is falling apart and you can't seem to stop it. You don't know where you went wrong because maybe just a couple of years ago, you had a world full of opportunities. Opportunities that are now obsolete, or they seem to be in your eyes. 

So what happened? 

You fail to realize that there's more to life than what you can see. That's where faith comes in. It may appear as if everything around you is falling apart, but really God is working to tear down the old house that you're currently living in so that He can build you a new one. But you can't see that. All you can see is everything that you're losing. You don't see the new foundation that is waiting to be laid. You don't see the wood that's being treated to give the house a stronger frame than the one before. You don't see the new walls and the new flooring. You can't seem to let go of all of the old memories that were in the old house. 

You can't see that God is molding you to be the person He needs you to be. You don't think you're ready. 

One of my struggles recently is trusting God's timing.  In the past, everything has always worked in a seemingly orderly fashion and seemingly easy for me. But now He's taking things away and closing doors.It feels like nothing I do makes anything better. And honestly, most times it's really hard for me to sit and wait for Him to work. I always feel like there's something that I need to be doing or something that I should be doing so that I can fix everything that I feel like I messed up. But what if I really didn't mess up anything? That's the question I keep asking myself. The closer I get to God, the more I realize that everything happens for a reason. Although I may have acted irrationally or didn't prioritize like I should have and I feel like I've messed up everything because of the place that I'm in now, I'm exactly where I need to be. 

Sometimes God has to strip you of everything to mold you and to prepare you for what He has planned for you.  

So just wait and trust God and know that He's working all things out for your good. Believe that better is coming. Storms don't last forever, even if it's been months, or even years. It will get better! 

Romans 8:28 (NIV) "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." 

My life is not about me

My whole life I've been taught that if you do well and you do what you're supposed to do, good things will come. Although that is true, I began to do what I "thought" were the right things just in an attempt to get what I wanted. But my heart wasn't always in the right place. I've been living this life, thinking that I was doing what God wanted me to do just so I could get what I wanted from Him. 

How wrong is that? 

It's not something that I ever realized I did until everything that I wanted got taken away and things started falling apart. I began to sit and reflect on my life and take a deeper look inside myself. I began to see that I was attempting to please God so that He would bless me and not because that's what He deserves. I wasn't doing it intentionally, but I was still doing it. I would tell God that I would give up certain things and that I would stop doing certain things if He would just give me things that I wanted. How inconsiderate of me? How dare I ask the One who wakes me up everyday and allows me to live that life that I live to give me more in return for doing what He asks me to do? He doesn't owe me anything. 

After 22 years of being on this earth, I finally get it. God will bless me however He wants to whenever He is ready. But in the meantime, I need to live a life that is pleasing to Him because that is what He deserves. I want to see Him one day and when I do, I want Him to be pleased with the life I lived. 

My life isn't about me. It's not just about the things that I want or that I feel like I need. Yes, there are things that I want that I don't have, and there are things that have been taken away that I don't understand why, but God's will is bigger than anything that I can see or understand. God is a God of restoration and He can do things that we could never imagine.

So for now I rest in Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

And with this I am finally able to understand the scripture that I've been replaying in my head over and over again for the past year and a half, Philippians 4:6-7. 

Learning to rest in God

This year has been hard for me. I don't really like to admit that because despite how hard I feel it is, I am very blessed. I like to talk about things that are on my mind because if I hold them in, I'll drive myself crazy. I write a lot and writing helps, but talking to somebody else and getting their perspective on a situation really helps me figure out what I want to do about a situation. I only go to people that I can trust and divulge my inner most thoughts, fears and feelings. If I feel like I can trust you and that you love me, I'll share with you. Sometimes I come off as complaining about my blessings. That never is my intention with anything. 

Sometimes I get overwhelmed at the blessings God is giving me and to some that may sound silly, and may think that I'm saying I'm too blessed. I'll never be able to thank  God enough for all that He has given me. But I realize that with what He has given me comes a great deal of responsibility. As the last part of Luke 12:48 (NIV) says: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."  Or as you hear people say "To whom much is given, much is required." 

This is what overwhelms me. I know that I owe God my whole life and I constantly struggle with whether or not I'm doing what He wants me to do. This year has been a constant battle with "What is my purpose in life?" "How do I take what God has given me and use it to bless somebody else?" because all I ever want to do in my life is make a difference in somebody else's life. 

I am a very loving, and caring person. I'll do almost anything for anybody that I love. Just ask me and I'll make it happen. I'm a doer. I don't like to sit around and wait for things to happen I like to try and make them happen and that's been the biggest problem this year. I've been thinking that all a long I've been making things happen when really it's just God's blessings and His favor over my life. 

I've never been in control and it took this season of change that I'm in for me to finally understand that God just wants me to rest and have faith in Him and His plan for my life. He know's I'll always work hard because I've worked hard for everything in my life because "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." - James 2:17 (NIV) and with that I had become too focused on working and doing the actions that I began to lack in faith. Like I mentioned previously, I felt that I was making things happen so I tried to "make things happen" in all areas of my life and in turn I hurt one of the best parts of my life. And now I have to have faith that God will restore it. But it was a lesson. A lesson that I had  to learn. God took something that was very near and dear to me and made me realize that I can't keep trying to "fix" things. I have to rest and let Him take over. I can't get so caught up in "working hard" that I forget to consult God or when things get tough I try and "fix" them. Faith and trust in God is what will "fix" everything because you'll eventually realize that nothing is "wrong", it's just a part of the plan. 

If you're like me, you get so caught up in "doing the right thing" or not making mistakes, but the truth is we're human and we're constantly going to mess up, but if we don't lose the faith, we'll never lose. God has a plan and He know everything that we're going to do before we do it. So when you feel bad about messing up, just know that it's all a part of God's plan. 

I'm learning to rest in God and know that He'll reveal His plan for my life and my purpose to me when He feels that I'm ready to fulfill it. If you trust in God, He will always make a way. 

With Love, 

Cherie Amour

But I Love it God. . .

Faith: 

(1) complete trust or confidence in someone or something
(2) strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehensions rather than proof 

Having faith in God seems so simple right? Let's be completely honest, our faith could be a little bit stronger. Like the definition says, faith is having "complete" trust or confidence in someone or something. How many times do we find ourselves thinking we can handle a situation or a problem on our own? Probably a lot. Then we'll say "Look what I did!" or "Look how far I've came!" rather than "Look what God did!" or "Look how far God has brought me!"

It is in our nature to think that we can handle situations on our own and when they don't turn out how we want them to, we're quick to ask God "How did this happen?!" or "Why did this happen?!"

How many times does God try and protect us from things by showing us signs and taking things away from us, but we ignore them because of what we "want", or I should say what we think we want. Always remember that just because the answer is no right now, it doesn't mean the answer will always be no. Whether it's a job, an opportunity, a relationship, or whatever, what's meant for you will always find you. 

God is preparing you for something greater! He may take some things from you, maybe forever or maybe just for a little while, but He wants you to trust Him and know that if you trust and have faith in His plan for your life, He's going to give you something better than you could ever imagine! God has the power to change any situation. Even if it doesn't look like things are going exactly how you want them to, know that He is working it out for you! 

"For we live by faith not by sight." - 2 Corinthians 5:7

Happy Friday!