In today's episode, I go over navigating through life changes with God by your side. I'm going to go into some of the life changes that I've been going through in the past few months and 4 things that I've learned while trying to navigate through these changes. I also pair this with scripture. I know that there is someone out there, and that person may be you, that is going through a lot of life changes right now and I know that this will help them.
First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up our hearts, our minds, our eyes, and our ears to you Lord. You know exactly what it is that we are going through right now. You know our thoughts, our hearts, and our intentions, You know everything LORD, and you still choose us every day and love us unconditionally. I am beyond grateful for You LORD. Please continue to lead, guide, and direct us through every aspect of our lives. I pray that whatever it is that each person is supposed to receive from this episode, they receive it and they implement it in their daily lives. I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.
So in the past few months, there have been changes in literally every aspect of my life. Most of these changes are great, but as a person with anxiety and as someone that has struggled with feeling like I have to be in control of every aspect of my life, change is very difficult for me. So I have had to really rely on God through this season of my life.
Here are the 3 big aspects of my life where I have experienced changes lately:
1. My career
In the past few months, I have gone a completely different route that I didn't think I would ever go as far as working and trying to find a career for my life. With going down this new career path there have been a lot of changes and a setback. I did all of this studying, took exams, and did all of these things to be licensed to do the job that I thought I would be starting very soon. Then come to find out now I have to wait a few months to be fully contracted and all of that so it's just a little bit of a setback. Honestly, I feel like, with all of the stress that I've been putting myself through lately with studying and trying to be a perfectionist with everything and trying to get it all done quickly, I wasn't really focusing on the very most important things in my life. The most important things in my life are my relationship with Christ, spreading the gospel, using this podcast as a ministry to teach the truth of God's words, and helping you guys with your God-led journey. I think this setback was very good for me because it has made me realize that I have to focus on the most important thing, focus on my relationship with Christ, and then everything else will fall into place.
2. My personal relationships
Recently I met someone in person that I had been speaking to for years but never met in person. Since then our relationship has been progressing. I'm not going to go into the details of that, but that's been a big life change for me that I've been having to navigate through.
3. Self-realizations/ personal development
With all of these life changes, I have come to some self-realizations of the way that I handle and cope with things and the way that I look at things. I've really just had to navigate through some self-doubt, anxiety, and just all of the things that kind of get uncovered whenever you are going through these life changes and trying to figure it out. I've had to dig deep into myself and see how I deal with things and then just let go and give it all to God and strive every day to be more like Jesus.
Oh hey friend, sorry to interrupt this blog post, but I just wanted to remind you guys that "Christ Transforms Me," my 90-day journal is available for purchase on Amazon. To learn more about the journal or to purchase one, go to www.faithfuelsmyfire.com/journal
So here are 4 things that I have learned through these past few months:
1. I am nothing without God
- Throughout these past few months there have been times when I've tried to just do things on my own. When things aren't going my way and I'm feeling overwhelmed and stressed, I will try to take control of the situation and just try to figure out how I can do it on my own and I've really had to sit back, humble myself, and realize that I NEED GOD. I cannot do life without God.
- Whenever I try to tackle things on my own and try to figure out how I'm going to do certain things without making sure that is what God wants me to do, that only leads to heartache, destruction, more exhaustion, and more overwhelming feelings because I am not taking the time to realize and recognize that I am nothing without God and I have to have Him every step of the way.
- I have to lean on God through every aspect of my life, know that He's in complete control, and know that I cannot do anything without Him and I need Him to help me navigate through every aspect and to give me that strength, peace, and everything that I need.
Here are some scriptures pertaining to this:
4 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." -John 15:4-5
This is what Jesus was saying to His disciples. So Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches. We have to remain in Jesus and apart from Him, we can do nothing. We are dead in our sins and alive in Jesus. I've had to remind myself this daily that I have to remain in Jesus and know that I can do nothing without him.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." -Matthew 6:33
"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." -Colossians 1:17
5 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
-Proverbs 3:5-6
So the other day I was going through and doing my daily Bible study, (lately I've been going into the book of 1 Chronicles and reading a chapter of that a day and then also a chapter of Proverbs, on top of doing my daily devotional with my journal) and I got to these verses in Proverbs I just started breaking down uncontrollably crying. It hit me so hard because these are some of my very favorite verses and ones that I've reminded myself of so many times throughout the years, but it's something that I have to constantly remind myself of. The way that I am I feel like I need to understand everything. The changes that I'm facing in my life, the different things that are happening, I feel like I need to figure out why they are happening, what's going to come from it, just every single aspect, and these verses really just hit home for me because we have to just trust in the LORD with all of our hearts. We can't lean on our own understanding, we have to acknowledge the LORD in every aspect of our lives, and He will make our paths straight. We cannot do anything without Him and we don't even need to try to understand why things are happening in our life or why the things that we thought were going to happen aren't happening. We just have to know that we are nothing without God, trust in Him completely, and acknowledge Him in all that we do.
2. In the same way that God chooses me every day and loves me unconditionally, I also have to choose to pick up my cross every day and follow Him wholeheartedly
- Jesus Christ died on the cross to forgive us of our sins and He chose us. He chooses us every day and loves us unconditionally. He knows everything about us, He knows that we are sinners, and while we were sinners He still died for us to forgive us of our sins. We have to deny our flesh daily and pick up our cross and follow Him.
- This is something that I've had to learn throughout these past months because I can get so caught up with the different things that are going on in my life, my worldly desires, temptations, and just all of the craziness in the world. I have to remind myself every single day and make that conscious decision to pick up my cross and follow Jesus wholeheartedly. I have to choose Jesus every day and know that He is more than enough for me
- If on some days we fall short and we don't make that conscious decision and we are just really struggling and we sin, that's okay it's going to happen. When that happens we have to repent, acknowledge our guilt, and seek to truly change our ways, but we have to make it a point every single day to make that conscious decision to pick up our cross and follow Jesus.
Here are some scriptures pertaining to picking up our cross daily and following Jesus:
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." -Galatians 2:20
Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." -Luke 9:23
So I've had to come to that realization and learn through every day I have to make that conscious decision to deny my flesh, my worldly desires, the sinful nature, let the Holy Spirit guide me, ask God to reveal the fruit of the Spirit in my heart, and pick up my cross and follow Jesus every single day.
3. Quiet moments with God are not only necessary, but they are crucial when navigating through changes in life
- I've noticed throughout the past few months that whenever I am super overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed out, and I just don't understand why I have to just sit there and think and realize that I'm feeling like that because I haven't taken the time out of the day to really have a quiet moment with God. Even though every morning I always do my devotional, Bible study, and pray, there are times when I don't take the time out to be still and have those quiet moments with God to just be still and listen to Him and to have Him speak to me and show me the truth.
- Through every aspect of our lives it's crucial for us to have those uninterrupted moments that are just quiet time to not only just pray to God, study the Bible, and all of that, but to really listen to what God is telling us and to just sit and rest in the presence of Jesus, be filled with the Spirit, and have those quiet moments to rest our soul in Jesus and to hear the truths that He's speaking in our life.
Here are some scriptures pertaining to this:
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
-Matthew 11:28-30
10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
-Psalm 46:10-11
"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
-Matthew 6:6
So we have to make a point every day to have those quiet moments with God, to rest our weary souls in Jesus, to learn from Him, to just be still and know that God is right here with us, and to have that uninterrupted quiet time to just really sit in the presence of the LORD. We need to have that conversation (prayer) with God and then just have that quiet time to be still, sit in His presence, and listen.
4. I can grow through anything with the strength that God gives me
- I'm not going to lie, these past few months have been a struggle for my mental health and just for everything. What I've told you guys about the different aspects where I've been dealing with life changes is just scratching the surface of the whirlwind of emotions that I've gone through over the past few months. There is no way that I would've ever been able to grow through it without the strength of Christ. I know now more than probably ever before, that there is literally not one thing that I can't grow through with the strength that Christ gives me. He gives me every single thing that I need to grow through life and He also will give you that same strength and peace, and everything that you need to grow through every aspect of your life.
Here are some scriptures pertaining to this:
"I can do everything through him who gives me strength." -Philippians 4:13
"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:19
"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." -Psalm 73:26
So throughout these past few months, there have been many times when my heart and my flesh have failed and I have just felt so defeated, but God has given me that strength every single time to grow through it. I've just had to lean on Him and humble myself, know that I am nothing without Him, make the conscious decision every day to pick up my cross and follow Him, have those quiet moments with Him, and He has given me strength, peace, and everything that I need to grow through these past few months.
So I know that right now you are going through some things in life, you are going through some big changes, struggles, or just different things that you are facing right now. I hope that these 4 things that I have learned throughout these past few months, that you take these things and implement them and that they help you when you are navigating through changes in your life and going through all of the different things that you are facing. I hope that you know now if you didn't before, that God is always right here with you and He will help you through every aspect of your life. He will give you that peace, strength, and everything that you need, you just have to lean on Him, build on that relationship with Him daily, and make that conscious decision every day to pick up your cross and follow Jesus.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, spiritual growth, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes daily.
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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights