Have you ever thought about what God's will for your life really is?? Think about it. Before we were even born, our Almighty God already knew the steps that we would take and the things that we would do. (Jeremiah 1:4) As much as our inward desires of the flesh fight back, God created us to worship and serve Him according to His will for our lives.
But that doesn't mean that life is a calm sea; letting us sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Far from it! Sometimes life will be easy going, but other times it will cause us to stumble and fall. 2 Timothy 4:7 reminds us of that "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." A life that is reflective of the gospel and being the light of Christ to the world will not be easy, but it will be a fight worth fighting. God's will for our lives will cause us to have a myriad of emotions from being ecstatically joyful to unbearably crushed.
I recently have gone through a time that caused me to fall at the foot of the cross and in someways I am still struggling my way through it. Because of being in a state of confusion and uncertainty, I sought counsel from others that would help me think through and understand the situation. The best advice I got was from a person that I have only met a couple times, yet I have a lot of respect for this man. He said that I needed to stop carrying the burden, the issue I am dealing with, and I must lay it at the feet of God and pray that the Lord's will be done. He proceeded to help me understand that it makes no sense for me to try and carry the burden around with me because it doesn't belong on my shoulders. Yet, I am not supposed to lay the burden down and walk away, absolutely not! Just because we may take a burden off of ourselves and lay it and the feet of Jesus, we still have a huge responsibility. We are to pray, pray, and pray some more. Pray for the Lord to continue to work in the situation according to the will He has for you. Pray that you are able to leave that burden at His feet and not attempt to take it back upon yourself, which is one of the hardest things to do. Pray for the Lord's will to triumph over our personal desires.
So, I think that I am finally at the point of fully removing the burden from myself and laying it at the feet of Jesus. Though it is a very hard battle somedays not to pick it up again. It is a struggle because I am the type of person that likes to understand issues and resolve them. But when I laid this burden down, I gave up my right to try and figure it out on my own. I gave it to God, saying that I can't do anything in my capabilities to resolve this, so I give it to You. Now I just pray, pray, and continue to pray. Multiple times a day I find myself asking my Heavenly Father for perseverance. Don't get me wrong, I have my personal desire of how I want the issue resolved. My prayer has become that God would change the desires of my heart to coincide with His will for my life.
As much of a comfort that Jeremiah 29:11 is for times like this, sometimes I feel that this verse shouldn't be used alone like it usually is. The two verses that follow are so, so powerful and they say "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart," (Jeremiah 29:12-13a) Yes, the Lord does know the plans that He has for our lives, but it isn't until we pray and seek Him that we will see where He is guiding us and understand what He is doing in our lives.
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