What Can God Add to My Life?

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”

John 10:10 (ESV)

Everyone must start somewhere and as beginnings go, mine was pretty great. I had parents who loved and advocated for me. I had grandparents who teased that I could find a home with them if I ever wanted to run away from my parents. My birthday was celebrated every year with unique cakes that my mom made from scratch, and I have scrapbooks filled with pictures to capture special occasions and milestones from my childhood.

If there was a flaw in my well nurtured background, it happened with the very best of intentions. Passed down to me was the belief that I could do and be anything, assuming I worked hard enough. Something got lost in the translation from what was said to what I heard, and I adopted the belief that average wasn’t acceptable.

This conviction was reinforced when I expressed interest in becoming a nurse. In an upbeat tone filled with confidence came the response, “Don’t be a nurse. Be a doctor.”

As mistakes go, erring on the side of believing in your kids and encouraging them to reach their full potential isn’t a disastrous mistake, but it cultivated in me a skewed sense of what was important in life. Most important was worldly achievement, not personal fulfillment or spiritual enrichment or emotional contentment.

My childhood development included exposure to sports, music, and the arts. As for religious instruction, in my family we knew of Jesus, we believed in Him, but we didn’t rely on Him. We went to church semi-regularly, but we rarely prayed for solutions, even when we encountered big issues. We were pretty good at solving our own problems or putting a positive spin on the fallout. Sometimes there was anger or bitterness, but those wounds usually lessened over time.

When I emerged from this secure childhood as an adult, I walked into the company of my dreams and prepared to become someone great. That’s when I first encountered the prickly thorns of life in the wilderness.

Whether we admit it or not, life is a wilderness. We need to provide for ourselves. People wound us. Our health is fragile. Financial investment is uncertain. Unsavory characters lurk in the form of thieves or scam artists. Acts of nature happen randomly. Life as an adult is lived in the wilderness and it can be rough.

It might be tempting to blame God. He was the one who cast us out of the perfect garden when Adam and Eve disobeyed. All actions have consequences, and loving parents step in when kids overstep their boundaries. Like the message that I lost in the translation from my parents, maybe we missed God’s intention when he banned us from the perfect environment.

God’s design was never to leave us to our own resourcefulness in the untamed world.

Rather than deserting us in the wilderness, God’s design was to live with us.

Where does Jesus fit into your life? Do you know of Him, but you don’t know many details about Him? Maybe you believe in Him, but He is a distant thought or hypothetical help for your biggest problems.

Do you rely on Him? John 10:10 says, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (ESV)

The abundant life happens with Jesus as our guide. The wilderness is best experienced with an expert who knows the territory. He knows how to provide for our needs, how to protect us from darkness, and how to heal our wounds. Having a guide in the wilderness can be the difference between experiencing life or succumbing to death.

Stubbornly, I wasn’t interested in relying on Jesus and I preferred to navigate life on my own. Maybe you do too. Unfortunately, I was just about to encounter a thick patch of thorns in the wilderness of life.

to be continued…

Dear Lord, I don’t know what it means to rely on you. I have a lot of questions, but I also have a lot of struggles in life. Would you reveal yourself to me and help me understand what I mean to you? In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Resources to Help:

Write down the answers to these questions:

1. Where does Jesus fit into your life? Is He:

a) someone you know intimately

b) someone whose help you ask for occasionally

c) someone who hypothetically exists, but doesn’t play a big role in your life

d) other?

2. Most people struggle to completely trust Jesus with everything, especially when our idea of a solution appears to fit so perfectly. Why do you think it’s so hard to fully surrender to His will over your own? Be as specific as possible.

3. What’s something in your life that bothers you right now? What would need to happen for you to feel peace in that situation?