By Chris WittsThursday 4 Aug 2022Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
Is your life stuck in a rut at the moment? If you like, you’re going nowhere. You can get stuck in a rut for many reasons. Sometimes life can throw too much at you. You can’t cope, and it leaves you unprepared to deal with everything that’s going on.
And other times you can simply be unsure of where you want to go next. But there’s one thing for sure. You can’t stay still because life continues to change, whether you want it to or not. The way to successfully have the life you want is to create a plan. Follow through with it. But plans don’t always go the way you want them to and so I think that everyone gets stuck in life once in a while. Even the most successful people have been through times when they got stuck and feeling lost in life. You’re not alone.
Counsellors deal with this problem. People come to them with issues and say, I feel like I’m stuck. I can’t move forward. Past experiences can hold you back. Many of us travel through life on autopilot, making decisions that are based not on reality but on past experiences like our upbringing, all those preconceived notions that will actually keep us back and stop us from moving forward. The reasons we stay stuck is because we continue to accept the status quo, whether that works for us or not, and we say, “Well, I can’t do anything else.” – I don’t think that’s a good idea because sometimes in life we need another perspective to challenge our way of thinking.
How we think results in how we live
So why not challenge your intellect and knowledge? Spend time with people who are different, who have a different life experience. Unfortunately, we tend to also dwell on the negative things in our life because they create a more lasting impression on us. But look, if you want to break out of the rut, you have to fight.
Focus on your successes. Failures stick with us because they can make us feel overpowering feelings of shame and disapproval. And we can take those failures as a reason not to do something rather than learn from them. And when you’re stuck in the rut, you often lose a sense of freshness and creative thinking.
You want to try new things, but you’re not quite sure where to begin, so it’s important to step back and ask yourself, Who am I? If someone asked you to define yourself to them, what would you say? Would you like the things you believe yourself to be?
The true way to change from being stuck is first, to recognise the beliefs that you hold about yourself and then tell yourself a different story. The way you think is a big influence in the way you live. Don’t sink into your pain, do something different, and often that will mean reaching out for help. It brings me to another principle here. Who we turn to for help makes a difference. Now look, you’re not alone here. Maybe a friend who has overcome a similar situation to you can offer the right sort of encouragement.
Or confiding in someone that you trust. In some situations, it’s good to turn to someone who has training, such as a mental health professional or a pastor at a local church. Now, look, there’s no shame in asking for help. We’ve been created by a God who loves us, who is with us, who made us for a purpose, and that’s an important theme to lift you out of that rut.
The purpose of God
We were created by a loving God who wants to share life with us and to give us a sense of direction, hope, joy and purpose. And that includes placing passion in our hearts that will delight us and God. So that when we pursue our passions and fulfil our purpose, we move out of the rut. And you can trust God to provide help when you bring your feelings of ‘being stuck’ to him.
And the way to do that is by prayer – telling him what’s in your heart and how you feel. Remember what you say and do does matter. Even taking a small step towards fulfilling your purpose is a good thing, and God may want you to do something new. What will you do today to get yourself out of that rut?
Rely on God’s power to renew you through his son, Jesus Christ, and then you’ll move forward. It was Rick Warren, the respected American church leader, who said the number one question that is asked of him is, Why can’t I change? He says many of us don’t want to stay the way we are. We yearn for something bigger and better. And that, Rick Warren says, can only be found in a living and vibrant relationship with Jesus as your Saviour.
So God wants to do a new thing in your life.
Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, this message can often ring a bell for many of us today. We feel that we get stuck in some sort of rut. Can’t move out. Holy Spirit, may you be the one to move us forward even through the little things in life and to embrace what’s new and exciting that’s ahead for us each. Make that happen for me today, I pray, Amen.