LESSONS FROM THE MAN UPSTAIRS
Before I begin, I would just like to say how much of a privilege it is for me to write these articles and to share God’s word with each and every one of you; it is true blessing. I got inspired to write this article from Sadie Robertson!
A lot of us in high school begin to seek the future and decide what the years after this time will hold. You and I both have been spending a lot of time researching colleges and trying to determine what our purpose is in this world. The truth is, we may think something is going to be right for us, and we continue to pursue this specific idea, when in reality, you may not have asked God how He feels about your decisions. You may be thinking it over with yourself, but you haven’t talked about it with the most important figure in your life. When things become difficult and you think you don’t matter in this world and you don’t have a purpose, you convince yourself that you are worthless. But the reason you feel this way is because we are constantly looking around us for answers and wondering why hasn’t my future unfolded itself in front of me yet and this is because you have not looked within yourself; you’ve looked everywhere in between. You need to start believing in who you belong to and who has mapped out a perfect direction for your life and who is the One who holds the future.
If you feel unproductive and worthless and like your purpose isn’t there, you’ve been looking in all the wrong places. Look within, and look up for a change. My mom told me over the summer one time that there are so many people that look down when they walk—over force of habit, of course. But we both made conscious decisions to look up when we run or walk, to remind ourselves that He’s got us.
Every morning, the sky is different, isn’t it? There are no two mornings where the sky looks the same. Every morning God crafted that sky with His hands to make the clouds appear a certain way, the rain to fall a certain direction, or the sun to shine in just the right light. These are signs that God is calling you to accept yourself for you and to allow yourself to belong to Him. He is giving you full permission to call yourself a child of God because He cares for you—in every single way possible—He cares for you.
You will not find the peace, strength, and courage from this world. It simply isn’t found anywhere but through the Lord. Once you realize the source of happiness, joy, and pleasure, you will never lose these characteristics and will be able to see the clear path He has marked out for you. God has called YOU to his kingdom, forever and always.
God is REACHING for YOU. He is reaching for your hand every day and saying, “come with me. Take my hand.” All He wants from you is for you to reach back. Reach for his hand and realize He will NEVER let go. He has every hair on your head named, every freckle on your shoulders identified, every cell in your body numbered. He loves every piece of you, and when you finally start believing you belong to the Lord, your life will begin to change, little by little.
Ephesians 5:11 — “Do not participate in the worthless and unproductive deeds of darkness, but instead expose them [by exemplifying personal integrity, moral courage, and godly character].”