Going along for the ride

Last night on Signal Hill I had a deep convo with a friend of mine about dreams and life and stuff. He recently got retrenched and is feeling pretty over the fact that nothing seems to be working out and that God seems to be giving everyone else what they need like food to eat, but not him.

I told him about how I had been unemployed for about 6 months. I had to let go of a lot of pride during that time, and just rely on friends for help.  I was moving from friend to friend every couple of days, eating their food, and getting given cash from them to buy potatoes. It was all pretty dis(couraging). I was pretty angry with God for not making everything work, and I let him know that I thought he wasn't being a good God.

One day I got mugged and just felt like everything was going to heck. I was on the edge of giving up and packing it all in. I said to God that if He wanted me in the Cape that he had to make a way. I had tried what I could, but nothing had worked out. I really wanted to get a job as a writer, but hadn't studied it, didn't have a lot of experience, and so when I tried to a job as a writer I wasn't surprised that it didn't work. There was no way I was going to get a job as a writer, except I did and God came through.

What I told my friend on Signal Hill was that as uncertain and easy and Christian-y as it sounds you actually have to give over to God and stop trying to do it in your own strength. I told him that he won't reach his dreams as long as he's alone in trying to make it work. It is God that gives dreams, and God that leads us to our dreams. All we do is listen to him and get taken along for the ride. We can get all amped and try lotsa different avenues, but actually we need to lose some pride, realize its only God that can do it, and follow him. We can't do it on our own, with our own understanding and strength.

Proverbs 3 v5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight"

This all doesn't mean that you don't do anything. You need to be trying different proverbial doors, seeing which ones are open and which are closed. It doesn't help to sit on the bench waiting for a booming voice from the heavens, nor does it help to try and bash down a door that won't open. Both leave you standing in the same place changing nothing. Sometimes you just need to listen to God and move forward.