I have a good friend that will often say that he is proud of his Pentecostal background and heritage in his denomination. I have no problem with how my friend feels. That’s his journey and his life experience. We do not share the same experience.
Sometimes we look at people’s lives from the outside and judge them on what we see. People tend to fill in the gaps of what they don’t know with their own assumptions. The truth is that we don’t know every details of someone’s life or their journey to who they are today.
The Bible says that the steps of a righteous man are ordered by God. (Psalm 37:23) There are times we aren’t so righteous and we order our own steps with the choices we make. Sin in our lives certainly distort those steps but God is still faithful and in the times we have veered off the path, His GPS gets us back on the right path.
It’s funny how in recent family reunions that several relatives don’t really know me. They still see me as the person I was when they last saw me. Some haven’t even seen me since I was a child yet they still only know me as that person. People are not frozen in time from the old family photos or the class yearbook. Life pushes us on to becoming who we are.
Our journey is not a straight line from point A to point B. Events happen in our lives that change us. We make the choice on how those things affect us. There are some who believe in predestination in that God already knows what our end will be. My take is different on that. I do believe God knows all and sees all but with our free will, we can change the outcome with our choices. Today He may see the outcome on my current path but if I alter it with my free will, that outcome could change. Yeah, don’t think too much about that because it could make your head hurt.
We shouldn’t look at a person and think we know their story - we don’t.
As many of you have experienced, we don’t know what tomorrow will be. We may get a negative report from a doctor’s appointment or your job may decide to lay you off without warning. Even as a believer, we can’t assume that God will do things as planned but that isn’t always the case. The truth is that God will be with us through whatever we go through today, tomorrow or in the future.
I have always had an anxiety about making decisions and stressing about making the absolute right decision and so worried I would make the wrong one. I think I have done better with this but it is scary when you have to make decisions without a safety net. I have learned that you can only make the best decision on the information you have and trust God that things will work out. Even if you make the wrong decision He can certainly work it out for your good. (Romans 8:28)
No, I’m not proud of my Christian heritage or my Pentecostal upbringing but I have learned from it. I was hurt by it, judged by it and oppressed by it but I have grown on my journey. It is my story. Only God knows what I’ve been through.
Don’t let others make you feel bad about your journey. Everything you’ve been through are the things that have made who you are today. The good, the bad and the ugly have all worked together for your purpose.
Sometimes we look at people’s lives from the outside and judge them on what we see. People tend to fill in the gaps of what they don’t know with their own assumptions. The truth is that we don’t know every details of someone’s life or their journey to who they are today.
The Bible says that the steps of a righteous man are ordered by God. (Psalm 37:23) There are times we aren’t so righteous and we order our own steps with the choices we make. Sin in our lives certainly distort those steps but God is still faithful and in the times we have veered off the path, His GPS gets us back on the right path.
It’s funny how in recent family reunions that several relatives don’t really know me. They still see me as the person I was when they last saw me. Some haven’t even seen me since I was a child yet they still only know me as that person. People are not frozen in time from the old family photos or the class yearbook. Life pushes us on to becoming who we are.
Our journey is not a straight line from point A to point B. Events happen in our lives that change us. We make the choice on how those things affect us. There are some who believe in predestination in that God already knows what our end will be. My take is different on that. I do believe God knows all and sees all but with our free will, we can change the outcome with our choices. Today He may see the outcome on my current path but if I alter it with my free will, that outcome could change. Yeah, don’t think too much about that because it could make your head hurt.
We shouldn’t look at a person and think we know their story - we don’t.
As many of you have experienced, we don’t know what tomorrow will be. We may get a negative report from a doctor’s appointment or your job may decide to lay you off without warning. Even as a believer, we can’t assume that God will do things as planned but that isn’t always the case. The truth is that God will be with us through whatever we go through today, tomorrow or in the future.
I have always had an anxiety about making decisions and stressing about making the absolute right decision and so worried I would make the wrong one. I think I have done better with this but it is scary when you have to make decisions without a safety net. I have learned that you can only make the best decision on the information you have and trust God that things will work out. Even if you make the wrong decision He can certainly work it out for your good. (Romans 8:28)
No, I’m not proud of my Christian heritage or my Pentecostal upbringing but I have learned from it. I was hurt by it, judged by it and oppressed by it but I have grown on my journey. It is my story. Only God knows what I’ve been through.
Don’t let others make you feel bad about your journey. Everything you’ve been through are the things that have made who you are today. The good, the bad and the ugly have all worked together for your purpose.
