Keep Walking

I've been searching for a career for months now and nothing. I don't want just any job, I want a career, something I can invest in, the thing God has called me to do. The problem is I'm not quite sure what it is and so I apply everywhere I can think of but still nothing. I pray, read my Bible...nothing. It's hard on your faith and it makes you want to quit.

When I think of quitting, I think of working out. Since I was 17 I've been working out then stopping, then starting again. Most of us have worked out at some point in our lives whether it was a yoga class, running, a sport, something physical in order to lose weight or get in shape. And most of us have tried and at some point got discouraged and quit. We didn't see the results we wanted or not fast enough or something happened in our lives where we missed a few times then never got back to it so we just quit.We do this on our walk with God too. I think that discouragement comes from unmet expectations and unmet expectations come from a selfish place in us. Something we think we deserve but don't get. Ok, I know the Old testament can be tricky to read for some of us but we all know the story of Job. His story is about a man's response. We have to let go of expectations and maintain our faith. That's all God wants from us. It's hard, even Job became angry and disappointed with God but he repented and God forgave him. It's our human nature to desire an explanation because if we know why then we can fix it. God gives and He takes away, simply. God allowed bad things to happen to Job because He knew Job could handle it and God promises to never give us more than that. He demands our best though and sometimes our best is hard to give. This is why all the little choices we make everyday are so important. We have to make a choice every moment to do the right thing and consistency is a lot harder than accuracy. It's easier, most of the time, to do the right thing in a disaster...injury, death, loss of a job, divorce. Those big defining moments are tragic but it's easier to know what to do. And it's always easier to talk about the great things God does because we like happy endings. It's nice to say after a tough situation that it was "no big deal" or "it's fine". Why does everything have to be fine all the time? Why do we think we need every moment of our lives to be fine? What about all those hard, tiny moments of choices that had to be made to get there? When every moment of a day, a week maybe months or years you have to choose not to take another drink, to hold your tongue with a boss, a friend, a family member, to forgive, to not walk out the door and stay married, to give when you had nothing to give. And maybe you made a few wrong decisions but for once you make the right one. I think if you string together enough right ones, it can become a habit and before long, you've overcome it! But God, like any other good trainer, wants to push you so if a workout becomes too easy then you have to change it. And other trials come, other discouragements; we focus on step by step to overcome, and before long we have a habit of faith. So keep walking, whether on a treadmill, a track or with God, keep walking and don't quit. Psalm 33:4 says "He is faithful in all He does" Just like when children ask, "Why?" and adults tell them "Because I said so", it's the same with our relationship with God. He wants our character to succeed over our circumstances and He'll continue to cause a circumstance until our character succeeds in it. "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Pv 16:3