Life is Filled with Surprises

As recently posted in the Emma Joy Weekly Newsletter

To Compare or Not to Compare?


Life certainly does not make sense. Some people appear to have a promising future and end up shamefully failing, while others live for years as a seeming nobody and then God uses them in incredible ways.


You never know how someone's life will turn out, so it would be wise to focus solely on the time, people, and responsibilities the Lord has given you, knowing that life could always be a lot worse and just having breath is a gift from God. We are deserving of nothing and yet if each of us were to examine and list how much God has done for us, spared us from, blessed us with, delivered us from, brought about, used for our good (Romans 8: 28), etc. we would joyfully give Him praise.


I am in no way saying to just deal with it if you have suffered greatly in life (especially at the hands of other people in situations or circumstances that were not your fault), nor am I making light of anything you may have been through and the pain you suffered that others might not even be aware of.


I am only meaning to say that often times, the way we view others or assume what they are like or think we know how their lives will turn out is an illusion. I'd even venture to say that the way we strive to make ourselves appear to other people is a mirage, like smoke and mirrors, that we hide behind because instead of acknowledging God as our source of value, we too much look to other things for our significance when they are bound to fail or let us down, leaving us disappointed or feeling like the life we want is out of our grasp.


"We all have chapters we wish to leave unpublished," as one quote states it.


I'm convinced that if we were to know others intimately; their darkest secrets, their most worrisome fears, how they sometimes treat others, their thought life, and so much else, our perception of them would instantly change. We would quickly realize that the qualities they exhibit are only a small portion of who they are as a person (and we all have a past, every one of us).


In the game of life, the choices we make matter. They matter for the sake of our future, they make up our present, and they are what our past holds; for better or worse.


It always saddens me when people live by the motto, "Let me learn from my own mistakes." It upsets me when people who have great families and the ability to learn about God turn away from both with the belief that something or someone out there will bring about a better result than close knit relationships or a life of devotion to the one true King. It angers me when people take luxuries for granted while other people are truly thankful to just have a roof over their head.


Oh, the ways we justify poor choices and make excuses for living lives that do not reflect our status as a child of God! How blind and numb we allow ourselves to be! How ungrateful! How foolish!


Our example matters. Our words matter. How we treat others matters. What we do with our time matters. The little sins you justify today are turning you into the monster, addict, or person you are becoming tomorrow. Please repent of your pride, your willful ignorance, your complaining, and the sin you so deeply love. Truly consider if how you live is honoring to God or if you wish to call the shots with little regard to honoring Christ in all your ways.


I hope this newsletter finds each reader well and focused on what really matters. I pray that God is or will become your top priority and that you do not waste or spend your life on what might exalt self while separating you from the Lord and others. Each day we are building our legacy. What will you be remembered for? Are you content to continue living in sin with little desire to repent fully or pursue the Lord with renewed fervor and thanksgiving? Do you realize what God can do with a heart fully surrendered to Him? Will you be pleased to part with this world as one having made little difference or impact or can you see the importance of saying to God, "Spend me as You will..."?


Selfishness and sin bring people to ruin. How I wish I could turn back time and have followed Jesus beginning in my earliest days! Sometimes I hate the person I am; my envy, my rage, my insecurities, my past regrets and consequences I am still suffering to this day.


Other times the forgiveness of Christ and His continued work of sanctification in my life fills me with an exuberant joy that who I have been need not and should not define me.


No matter where you are currently, I hope you will choose on a daily basis to believe God's word and realize your true worth comes from Him alone.


How exhausting life is otherwise!