Author: naesnotes

There are so many things each day that arise to get us distracted. Most of the time our first response is to complain about the disruption. Many of them are meant to keep us off our path, which makes our attitude towards these things instantly negative. What if we chose instead an attitude of gratitude?

Since this is not our first reaction to a situation, we struggle to get our minds back on track to focus on the task at hand. The holiday season is full of plans and tasks but also prime for disruptions. Instead of focusing on the delay, focus on God. Be thankful that you have places to be and people that want to see you. So you get stuck in traffic along the way. Keep some scripture cards in your car and meditate on those. Find a new worship song to listen to in the car. You have to wait in a long line to check out or find a parking space. Take a deep breath and slow down to thank God you arrived safely and found what you needed to purchase. These are not usually our natural reactions to situations. A few adjustments to your thoughts during this time will help you thrive-not merely survive!

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thess. 5:18 (NIV)

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you,” (Isaiah 26:3 NIV). Doesn’t that sound easy? When you look up the word “perfect” in the dictionary, these other words are listed also: absolute, total, unequivocal. Those words give a feeling of comfort, completeness-like nothing can disrupt your peace. Jump to our imperfect world and into the reality of distractions, disruptions, and disappointments. Where is the perfect peace now? It becomes lost in between all the things this world throws at us. Then the struggle begins to recapture that peace, so you make a plan to get back on track because the tendency is to forget what comes next in the verse: “whose mind is steadfast”.

Steadfast is a word not commonly used in everyday language. Instead, insert the following in place of steadfast: firmly fixed in place; immovable; firm in belief, adherence or determination (Webster’s dictionary). The only way to do that is to look to God to recenter you. Those are the times when your normal routine with God will not seem like enough to help you remember His words. You may have to say no to something that is not essential for a short time in order to focus on God and find your peace again. Then put in place some things to help you stay steadfast the next time challenges arise. Find a scripture that helps maintain your focus and put it in the notes of your phone. Make a worship song playlist to listen to when you are driving to work or running errands. Find a friend who shares your faith and offers words of encouragement. God’s desire is for you to live in His perfect peace. Focus back on God and His promises so you can thrive-not merely survive!

Airplanes make it to their destination eventually. On the runway are several planes waiting for takeoff but not all of them can go at once. They wait for their turn-proper instructions and permission from air traffic control because they see the whole picture of what lies in front of the planes. There are restrictions and rules in place to keep the planes from going off out of order. If they all tried to go at once, there would be a crash with damage or ensuing delays. When they finally get the green light to go, they make a turn, pause, and accelerate rapidly. They move quickly toward take off and their destination. What happens during the waiting? During this time, all obstacles are removed to allow the plane to move through a clear path, without interruptions, so they arrive safely. Without the waiting period, the obstacles remain and create delays.

This is similar to the way God works in our lives. He gives us a vision, a destination if you will. It may feel like it takes a long time to get moving towards the destination, much like waiting for takeoff in an airplane. Even though the waiting seems long and is difficult, it doesn’t keep you from getting to your destination. Waiting on God is also difficult when He’s given us a vison or task to complete. However, arriving at your destination is actually accelerated when we wait. The plane could start moving forward before its time, but it would have to move slowly and wait at some other point in the journey. You are not allowed to take off until the appointed time. It’s the same with God. We are not supposed to arrive before His time, even though that’s not usually our time. We must give God time to remove the obstacles between where we start and where He wants us to land. We will survive rushing to our destination without direction. We will thrive on the journey to our destination when we wait for God to tell us to go and accelerate us in His time!

“Wait for and confidently expect the Lord ; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for and confidently expect the Lord .” Psalms 27:14 (AMP)

Do you ever feel like you need to be strong all the time and never show weakness? It would be hard to find someone who admitted they love to show their weaknesses in front of others. Most people do not like to show others that they cannot do something or are struggling to stay positive. God is the only one who does not have weaknesses. We are human and are naturally going to have things that we cannot do because we were all made for a different purpose. God knows what that purpose is even when we do not. It is the times when we do not have it all together that He comes in to build us up. Isaiah 40:29 says, “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength,” ESV. The Common English Bible states, “giving power to the tired and reviving the exhausted.” Tired and exhausted do not sound as exciting as “power to the faint” but are words that are more common in daily language. God anticipated the fact that we would have times when our strength was weak, and we would need to lean on Him because those words were not written recently. We can survive trying to lean on our own strength. We will thrive when we lean on His!

“Entrust your efforts to the Lord, and your plans will succeed,” Proverbs 16:3 GW translation.

This makes it sound like you will succeed in whatever you do if you give it to God. But what if what you planned for the day isn’t what God wants you to do for the day? The extra words added in the Amplified version help add some clarity.

“Commit your works to the Lord (submit and trust them to Him), and your plans will succeed (if you respond to His will and guidance). “

When we submit our actions to God, our plans and His plans align to make our days more successful. You have to be committed each day to what God wants us to do in order to avoid feeling defeated-like the day was wasted. We all wake up with an agenda of what needs to be accomplished and get frustrated if the list is not complete at the end of the day. This verse reminds us that the days don’t really belong to us. We are here for the purpose set forth by God and need to honor Him with our efforts. You don’t have to abandon those things you want to accomplish. You just need to commit your efforts to Him and follow His agenda as He leads throughout the day. We can survive each day trying to make it through our list. We will thrive throughout the day when our efforts are committed to Him to accomplish what He has for us that day!

Distractions: “Confusion from a multiplicity of objects crowding on the mind and calling the attention different ways.” (Websters 1828 Dictionary). That was written almost 200 years ago. Think about the amount of distractions in the world today compared to when that definition was written. We have created and become involved in so many different things today that could not even be imagined by people who lived in that era. Yet that 200 year old definition is exactly where many of us find ourselves each day.

On the surface, distractions do not seem to be a big deal. So we did not accomplish everything today we set out to do. It will still be there tomorrow. However, what do distractions do to our lives that we may not initially realize? They can bring about negative emotions and frustrations when we do not make it to everything we wanted to accomplish. Items that did not get addressed get moved to another day, crowding that schedule and causing us to feel we are already behind before we get to that day. What else can distractions do to our lives? Ultimately, distractions keep us from not only accomplishing our worldly list but also our Godly list. God has us here for a purpose, one predestined for us before we were created. Our daily distractions keep us from fulfilling that purpose, which causes us to feel unsettled or unfulfilled. It is important to renew our minds daily, as we are reminded in the following scripture, “Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]”, Col 3:2 (AMP). I love the use of the word “habitually” in this version. Make a habit of setting your mind on Godly things, so you can do more than survive–you can thrive!

There are many places in the Bible where God tells people to write down what He says to them. Habakkuk 2 is one passage where we read the following instructions,

‘And Jehovah answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay. (Habakkuk 2:2-3 ASV)

Why does He tell him to write it down? There is usually a delay between when God gives the vision and when it is actually fulfilled. When we write it down, we are able to stay focused on what God is going to do for us or through us. When we don’t write it down, it is easy to lose focus or give up on what we think God told us. Those are also God’s words to us, which don’t return void. Isaiah 55:11 in the Amplified Version says, ” ‘So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. ‘”

God will not go back on his word. Distractions from this world come to get us off track and try to make us forget what He promised. Writing it down will keep us focused and hopeful as we wait for the fulfillment of the promise or vision He gave us. He wants us to remember His words and hold tight to them. Even when it looks like things are going in the opposite way, we can go back to what we wrote down and renew our vision. You can survive if you don’t write it down, but you will thrive when you have those words to keep you focused on His plan for your life!

Some people thrive on making sure every last piece is in place, so there is nothing left to chance. That is a great quality to have. No matter how much we plan and try to anticipate everything needed, there will usually be something that comes up to interrupt the plan.

For example, your morning routine is something you have worked hard to perfect. After all, not much usually changes in our mornings from day to day. You have it timed down to the minute when you can leave and still make it to work on time or even a few minutes early. What you don’t know is that today is the day the city decided to fix the potholes in the road and all traffic has been funneled from two lanes down to one. Unfortunately, no one else knew that either. Now all the people who would be on the road way before you are now delayed too, which makes twice the traffic. Not the end of the world, but frustrating nonetheless.

The same can be true for the course of our lives. We are headed in the direction we are supposed to go and something comes up to get us off track. Thankfully, we serve a God who loves details! The last chapter of Ezekiel talks about how the land is to be divided between the tribes of Israel and all the details for the temple in the holy city. God explicitly lays out where each tribe’s inheritance is supposed to be and all the details of the size of the temple, even down to the gates. He left nothing to chance or interpretation. The same is true for our lives. We may get off course due to traffic and have to take a detour, or we spend too long on something that was supposed to be completed quickly. God has all the details already figured into our lives. He hasn’t left anything to chance or circumstance. Our part is to seek Him and stay focused on the details He wants us taking care of in the moment. We can survive the circumstances that arise and still finish our race. We will thrive when we seek God and let Him have the details!

Psalm 138:8, “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me…” (NIV). It does not say might or could-it says will. One of the definitions of “will” in the Webster’s’ 1828 dictionary is “divine determination”. When applied to this verse, it can be said that God is divinely determined to fulfill his purpose for us. Are we just as determined to fulfill his purpose in us as he is to fulfill it? Sometimes we lose our purpose and forget why we are here. We are not here to live a life that pleases ourselves. We are here to fulfill the purpose God has for us. We get caught up in the world and pursue things that are not in his purpose or want things that other people have. God did not create all of us to have the same things or do the same jobs. The only job we have is to seek Him, obey Him, and work each day to honor Him in all we do. We can survive trying to find our own purpose, but we will thrive when we decide to fulfill God’s purpose first!

Do you ever feel like your life is paused? I am not referring to times when we feel overwhelmed or unsure and need to take a break. I am talking about when you feel like you are not moving forward in some areas of your life. Some people might refer to this as a crossroad where you don’t know what path to take next. If you are a planner and like to know what is coming, paused is a frustrating state. Paused does not mean you cannot keep working toward something. There is always something in our lives that needs to be adjusted, but those things sometimes get lost in our day to day lives. If you find yourself in a paused state, take the time to examine the little things that you could improve to make your life more efficient. The Bible says,

“In the morning, O Lord, hear my voice. In the morning I lay my needs in front of you, and I wait.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬ ‭GW‬‬

If we put our needs in front of the Lord each day, He will make sure our paused state is not wasted. Do not just survive your pause…fix your eyes on God and thrive!