Circumstance

"Don't allow your circumstance to affect your view of God. Allow your view of God to affect your circumstance." That's what Pastor Tom said this past Sunday in church. And it has been resonating in my spirit over the past several days.

Things happen all the time that cause us to be discouraged, to question whether we can keep going, and generally put us in a funk. That's a given. It's always going to be that way, as long as we live. Disappointments are going to come. People are going to let us down. We are going to experience failure and contemplate quitting. We are going to stumble, and sometimes fall.

But it's what we do in the face of that circumstance that determines who we will become. Will we stay mired in the depression and despair of the circumstance? Or will we rest in the knowledge that God is never surprised by anything that happens in our life, and that He has a plan for our future? And that oh, by the way, He is God.

His plan has always been better than my plan. I'm confident of this, having tried both paths in the past. Repeatedly :-) His plan isn't always easiest, but it's best. His way isn't always the most comfortable, but He has forged it for me. He intends for me to walk it....with Him. But it's my choice which way to go. Will I walk with my eyes on Him, or will I stumble with my eyes on the circumstance?

"Don't allow your circumstance to affect your view of God. Allow your view of God to affect your circumstance." Powerful words that Pastor Tom spoke, as he was facing a circumstance of his own. His wife sat a few rows in front of him, having been diagnosed with colon cancer just a couple days before. I didn't know of their struggle until well after the words pierced my heart. Now they have even more surgical precision.

Reality. Discouragement. Life. Death. Uncertainty. Crisis. Sickness. All are circumstances that can cloud our vision, and impair our walk. Will we focus on the what, or will we focus on the Who? (no, not Roger Daltrey) He is able to affect our view, change our outlook, and give us hope. Psalm 42 & 43 remind us "why so downcast, oh my soul? Put your trust in God". "Send Your light and Your truth. Let them guide me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You dwell."

As the old saying goes, "you can't see the forest for the trees". So where will we choose to focus? It really is that simple.