God is at work everywhere in our lives. When things don’t go our way, we are often angry that He doesn’t always respond in the way we want. We often respond like children and say, “why aren’t you taking care of me God?” We complain to Him about terrible things happening to us. We want Him constantly but refuse to hear what He is saying. If we refuse to listen to Him and choose not to hear what he’s saying, how can we ever expected to learn from His teachings and grow from them?
We always want Him to be on our schedule, not for us to make time for Him. We get ourselves so busy with everyday life that we quite easily forget to make time for Him. We think of how much stuff we have going on in our day to day lives that we forget to spend time with Him until something happens. We might offer up a quick prayer of asking for safety as we drive somewhere or thank Him for getting a good word in from our manager, but is that really spending any quality time with Him? No. Quality time is reading His word, time spent in reverent prayer, thanking Him for all He has done and for the things He is yet to do for us and with us in our lives.
How can we grow spiritually and grow closer to Him if we don’t tune ourselves in to Him and to His ways? While we wait He is always working. If we don’t allow ourselves to grow in faith, we are only missing out on wonderful things in life.
The good news is that God is at work every day of our lives. He is at work behind the scenes even when you can’t see Him or hear Him. He is at work in your life even when you don’t think He is.
There are so many times when life gets us down. We feel as though the weight of the world is crashing down on our shoulders and there is no way to pull us from the turbulent waters. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Even through troubled times God is at work. He is using the people around you and even the circumstances around you, to strengthen your faith and to help strengthen other’s faith. It is important to stay positive as much as you can, especially when life gets you down.
People ask my dad how he stays so positive throughout his life. His answer has always stayed the same: “I’m blessed. Life is too short to be anything but happy and content. Focus on your blessings even in the middle of your struggles. ”
God is at work through your children. Look at your life through the eyes of a child- they normally don’t see the problems of the world unless their parents tell them that there are problems. Even still, when kids have an argument with one of their friends, they fight and then within 5 minutes they are playing together again as if nothing ever happened. If only we can and could always forgive each other the way children forgive each other. If only we could learn to always forgive each other the way God forgives us every day. God also uses your children to teach us to be more compassionate and patience with one another. They also can teach us to be more patience with God and to trust Him the way our children trust us.
God is at work through your relationships. He is at work through your relationship with your spouse. He uses them to teach you valuable lessons, to bring you back to basics, and to help strengthen your relationship with each other. He also uses them to bring you closer to God. You can both teach each other so much and help strengthen each other through every trial that may come your way. He is at work through the annoyances of your boss. Through those little instances He is teaching you tolerance and how to take criticism better. He is at work through your parents. He teaches you how to better spend your time with them and how to cherish them as they get older. Through them God has placed many instances in your life as a child and an adult to learn how to be a better person. You learn and you learned so much from them. Why stop now? Be thankful and grateful for the things you now know from your parents and their guidance.
God is working through your friendships. Through your friendships, God has shown you how to be a friend, how to be there for others and how you should be treated. He also showed you how you should treat others the way He has treated us. We didn’t and do the deserve it but He freely gave up His life for us. Through your friends God has also shown you who belongs in your life and who doesn’t. Even though some of it is very hard to understand nonetheless accept, God is guarding your heart soul and mind from future pain, sorrow and disappointment.
Think about it for a few minutes, what ways is God working through your life?