Do you ever feel like your straining at rowing a boat because the hard winds are against you?
DO you struggle in your marriage, with one of your children, a present job situation, finances or with details of a personal dream?
Straining=Tire, Exert, Effort, Tension, Tense, Uptight or Forced.
This weekend at Northridge Church we had a GREAT worldwide known speaker, Tim Elmore, did an amazing message on the 3 Buckets in our lives.
The Buckets represented the 3 ways we respond to the SUBJECT TO CHANGE moments in our lives.
Things in life will and can CHANGE and if we do not respond appropriately we will be STRAINING against the winds of life.
Many things in life are OUT OF OUR CONTROL. For example an older child that is causing tension in the family, an unsaved spouse, loss of job, sickness, car accident and so on.
Other things are in our area of INFLUENCE or IN OUR CONTROL.
The way we respond with our emotions, attitudes and wisdom are within our control. If we are struggling with the tension of an unsaved family member or an unexpected bad thing that happened to us the past week, we must remember that only God can cease those winds of frustration in our lives. Are you struggling with a loss of job due to a lay off? remember that only God can cease those winds of stress and anxiety.
Our job is to manage what we can control and that is our response! When we spend time with God, He is able to help us ROW upstream even when the rowing gets tough. He is able to control our emotions and attitudes when we experience a "SUBJECT TO CHANGE" situation in our lives. Most importantly, He is able to give wisdom for what is ahead. WE may be straining against the worries and tensions of the days winds BUT God is working upstream on your behalf. I love that He comes to us when we are straining in the boats of life and says "BE OF GOOD CHEER, IT IS I, DO NOT BE AFRAID."
God wants us to be GREATLY AMAZED at His power, that is why we experience a subject to change type day!
When God can take our STRESS and TENSION and allow us to be amazed beyond measure while marveling at HIS power, then our bad situation has become an ILLUSTRATION of His greatness!
Remember with me friends that it's all in the way we respond and the way we CONTROL our responses! I need to remember that for this week. It is only MONDAY and things are SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
WE all have 3 buckets in our lives. Things in our control, out of our control or within our influence!
You may no longer be able to control your 31 year old child but remember that God is in control and your child is still within your influence.
Prioritize and manage your buckets this week and the rowing may become easier as Gods word ceases the winds in our life! Visit Northridge online for this GREAT message by Tim Elmore.
Happy Rowing friends!
Heather
