Are You Striving or Abiding?

God desires a heart completely given over to Him.  Therefore, He looks for US to abandon all of our creature comforts that we often depend upon. Our security should rest in the Lord alone; but when it is not, and misplaced in either situations or relationships..... He actually will use ways to remind us, appeal us and entice us back to Him- one stride at a time.

When God places us in this process, He also withdraws certain affections and crutches from us that obstruct our growth in Him.  It may at times feel pretty uneasy and at other times even painful. However, it reminds me of how a toddler is when they are discouraged from drinking from a bottle or wearing a diaper too long.  In order that they mature, they must be disengaged from these former dependencies to use the more age-appropriate cup and pull-ups. It is times like these that even we, like that toddler, may feel susceptible, weak, or powerless. We often may even fight the change in order to stay in a premature state and maintain what is most ‘common to us’ or ‘familiar’.

Even more, since I am often very engaged in what I do, am more challenged when I am detached from common settings- not because the setting is unpleasant - but because it has become very familiar to me. This conflict often becomes an opportunity for personal development, maturity and ability to see the bigger picture that God desires to do in my life.

Looking back, I have noticed that God often re-orchestrates our journey to a point that ‘what we think we need’ is moved out of our reach to provoke us to step into ‘what we really need’ over ‘what we want’. The ‘UN’common must become a willing option for us, even when we are vulnerable or unfamiliar, that we allow ourselves even when we feel inadequate to complete what the Lord has begun in us in this new state.  NO matter what! We must choose daily whether common or ‘uncommon’, to abide, and not strive in the Lord every day. Over time, if we learn to abide under his covering versus strive in our creature comforts of control, then we can mature from 'striving' to 'ABIDING' with God! I challenge you today ABIDE forward in God. It beats striving in circles.