Are You Ready for What's Next?নমুনা

There’s more

After graduating from Boston College, I applied to many entry-level jobs that I thought I was qualified enough to get an interview. With each application submission, came the harsh reality of rejection. I couldn’t understand how I wasn’t qualified enough to simply get an interview for these sales positions. Eventually, I would get a phone call asking if I was interested in being a teacher's aide and coaching football. Desperate at the time, my answer was yes. I never thought I’d want to become an educator, because I didn’t feel qualified to work with kids in schools. 7 years later, I would become the district's youngest and first black administrator. As comforting as playing football was, it was a dead end for me. Each time I tried to rekindle my football career, God would gently redirect me. What I didn’t see at the time was God taking control and not allowing me to settle somewhere outside of His will for my life. This could be you! How God picks up the pieces to your life, may look completely different from how you’re used to putting the pieces back together. This could mean that your healing looks different, your relationships start to reflect His will and you’re beginning to find peace in areas that used to bring you chaos.

After being cut by the NFL and rejected for employment opportunities, I thought my life ended. What I didn’t know was that my life was just getting started. God was closing doors that I wasn’t meant to walk through. Ultimately, He opened the door that brought me to walk in His will. God showed me that there is more to life than what I was settling for. I thought my life would be spent making millions of dollars while playing the sport I grew up loving. In this season, God blessed me by allowing me to become a father. He also revealed to me that He needed me for His will, working as an educator and using Him to be the person so needed when I was young.

You might not be able to see it right now, but when you’re in a season of transition, don’t allow what’s unknown to try to distract you from the picture that God is painting. What you’re going through, is only a snapshot of the masterpiece that God is painting for you.

Mosaic artists have the ability to pick up hundreds of tiny broken pieces of glass and use each broken piece to create a beautiful work of art. Knowing that these masterpieces can’t be rushed, these artists intricately use each broken piece, rarely allowing any to go to waste. A huge component of this process is the grout that is used to hold each piece of broken glass together. God is the artist and the grout that holds all of our broken pieces together to create a beautiful masterpiece. We see our broken pieces and we can categorize them as damaged goods, but God takes those broken pieces and finds them to be beautifully crafted and just what He needs to create His masterpiece.

Think of your story from this perspective; how is God repurposing each broken piece of your life to recreate a masterpiece through His mercy and grace? Whether or not you can answer that question, the good news is that God is already at work in your life. God is also working in the middle and at the end. Trust God with all of you. Trust is saying, “God, I don’t need to see the full picture, I trust that your hand is at work in my life.” Hebrews 1:11 reminds us of this:

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

We don’t measure our faith by our circumstances, rather our faith is measured by the trust we show to God during these seasons of our lives. God has never left you and He never will.

Action plan

In the end, everything will be okay. If everything isn’t okay, then it’s not the end. Each broken piece of your life tells a story. A story that one day will give God the glory. Every broken piece serves its purpose. We’re children to a good Father. In Ephesians 3:20, scripture reads, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” Are you ready for what God is about to do through you? You might be feeling like God has forgotten about you or that He’s rejected you. Those are real feelings, but I want you to lay them at the feet of God. Let Him carry them for you. Ask God to reveal to you His will for you. Ask and be patient with Him, and know that He’s never late!

Prayer for today

Father God, I thank you for your consistency, your mercy, and your grace. You comfort me when I am in the middle of a storm. Thank your gentle reminders of your promises. Lord, I look to you for guidance, strength, and wisdom through every season of my life. As your vessel, I ask that you will continue to pour into me. I pray that you will finish what you started so that I am fully prepared for what’s next. Lastly, I pray that by receiving your favor, your blessings don’t stop in my hands, but they will flow through and to my neighbors. In your name, I pray, Amen.