Admit it, when you saw the title, you began thinking of ice cream! Unfortunately, the only connection this post might have to ice cream would be if you happened, this past week, to witness my personal pity party being celebrated on my back porch with a bowl of caramel delight from Kroger. Of course, it doesn’t take very long for God to begin asking me what I am grateful for that Shifts the Spiral from pity to gratitude, but I admit to indulging in pity and ice cream for a short period of time.
That episode of pity this week along with a message from Charles Stanley this morning reminded me of how often I attempt to pull my surrender back from Him, and why it is necessary for me to daily re-surrender my time, my thoughts, and my actions to Him. I hope to share more about this concept in a later blog entitled Stealing Pens; but for today, Stanley’s urging for me to consider how many times I let my self-will separate me from God’s will, was a Defining Moment in a way. Stanley shares, “The biggest stumbling block is a determination to have our own way rather than following God’s path. Our pride and selfishness keep us from even asking God what He would have us do. Therefore, we make up our minds and then come to the Lord asking Him to bless our chosen path. This is a foolish approach because God doesn’t operate this way, and we are not sufficient within ourselves to determine or accomplish His will.”
Where I often find myself stumbling on this Rocky Road to a flourishing life is rooted in this idea of self-will. Because of life circumstances and the way that God designed me, I’ve formed this independent streak that tries to convince me that through force of will, I can solve problems on my own. Just ask my parents how stubborn I can be! I think they anonymously wrote The Strong-Willed Child with Dr. Dobson. However, the point is that when I find myself struggling the most, it’s usually when I claim to trust Him with an issue, but then find myself stubbornly still trying to navigate it on my own.
There is often a misconception that choosing to follow Christ will eliminate those Rocky Roads in our life; but ask any follower and they will quickly contradict this notion; however, what they can claim is that they have a belief that when we follow God’s revealed will for our life, “the road may be rocky at times, but we should not let the obstacles stop us from living according to God’s plan.” We believe in a larger purpose even when we cannot see or understand that purpose in our current circumstances.
As I ponder how we can assist in equipping emerging generations to handle the Rocky Roads they will surely face ahead, I wonder how in the world I can coach them when here I am halfway through my expected life-span on this Earth, and I’m still stubbornly refusing to bend my will to His. However, I’m beginning to consider that in developing a Habit of Awareness, I should probably include an awareness of God’s will along with an awareness of self and others. Hoping that these emerging adults already have an existing relationship with God, I desire that they seek Him when determining their major, their career, their relationships, and their futures. However, as we learned in the Pot Roast, I might need to be careful about making assumptions and instead encourage them to consider their faith as foundational to all their other choices. The road ahead will become rocky for them and I know I will have many Rocky Roads ahead for myself, but with genuine humility and authenticity, I can hand it over to the God who not only designed me, but planned my entire life out before I was born.
To close, I offer this quote from Stanley’s message, and ask you to share in the comments below times when you surrendered your self-will to follow God’s will and He was able to navigate you across the Rocky Road.
“Although the Christian life is not an easy road, it has an awesome, eternal end. In heaven we will enjoy the Lord’s blessings forever. For now, we have the Holy Spirit, the presence of God, and the promises of His word to encourage and enable us to live according to His will. If we neglect these divine resources, we could easily become fearful and reject God’s plan.”
References:
Stanley, C. (2020, October 24). “The Rocky Road to the Will of God.” In Touch Ministries. [Audio]. Retrieved from https://www.intouch.org/watch/discovering-the-will-of-god/the-rocky-road-to-the-will-of-god
Flourishing @ Life 
I found this blog entry to be very encouraging and challenging as I reflect on the very foundation of my faith. As said, it is so very easy to lean on my own self will and gumption to muster up the strength to “get” through the ups and downs of life, however, we are told to wholly and completely surrender to the sovereignty and control of the Lord as He guides us through life. So often, my thinking of life is very horizontal and internal as I think about how my decisions will affect myself and my future, rather than giving my circumstances to the Lord and asking how He might guide me according to His good will, purpose, and pleasure.
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I agree Chloe I always put all the hardships on myself and get stuck in a tunnel vision of trying to fix it myself. I always forget to turn all my obstacles and hardships to the Lord. Life is always going to be a rocky road and it is impossible to do it on your own. These hardships can easily absorb you and take over your whole life if you don’t turn those hardships to Him. I have definitely experienced that feeling of being absorbed by these hardships, but as soon as I turn to the Lord burden is lifted.
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This blog post was definitely something that I needed to hear this week as I am continuing to do my very best to trust the Lord with my own “Rocky Road” and the future roads that are to come for me! Surrendering control over to the Lord is something that I have always struggled with, and it is something that I too have had to wake up everyday and make the choice to do, but it is a choice that I am willing to make because I know that in the surrender is where I will find ultimate peace. There are many things ahead on my path, specifically involving my future career, that I have really been praying about and thinking about lately, so this message really resonated with me because I have to remember to continue to surrender every little detail of it to the Lord and allow Him to work in the ways that He wants to! Surrender is not easy, but it is always worth it. No matter how hard I try, I am never able to make things good or right in my own power, only Jesus can do that! So, I am going to trust the Lord on the good days and the hard days, down the “Rocky Roads” and the “Smoother Roads” and look to Him to work all things for His Glory!
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Back in high school my freshman year, I was at an exceptionally hard period in my life. I was becoming bullied daily on the basketball team, it felt like everyone around me was passing away, and overall my mental health was disappearing. I would compare that time in my life to a little kid being lost in a grocery store trying to find my parents. One of my favorite quotes in the bible is “Jesus wept” because it truly shows he was a human and felt sorrow and pain. That quote reminds me that even the best of people still have trouble and that it is okay. It is all in God’s will and his timing. He is always good.
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