My life has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and people, many who have had my best interest in mind. I have no doubt that my life story would be completely different if God was not part of it. My life story is one of God’s work and Him choosing me to fulfill a specific purpose. God blessed me!
However, I have experienced events in my life that have taken me to less than extraordinary places; these are ones filled with deep anxiety, gut-wrenching “this is not right” moments, and a few “Dear God, please get me out of this place” events. I will admit I made bad decisions that put me in many of those situations.
I look at those bad times with two trains of thought:
- I was not listening to God (which I connect to my gut-feelings) at those times. I went astray from His plan for me, yet through His amazing grace He redeemed me,
AND/OR
- I needed those extreme Earthly events to help me gain a clearer spiritual perspective of my life here on Earth, of right and wrong, and of learning from sinful mistakes.
Remember, everyone sins; no one is perfect!
When I was younger, I mentally beat myself up with the belief that I had to somehow be perfect and when I was not, it meant that I was less valuable. If bad things happened, they were all my fault. As I drew closer to God’s Word, I began to realize my negative self-talk was defeating the very purpose that I was being called to do for God. That negative self-talk was Satan knowing about God’s plan for me and him wanting me to fail. Don’t fall into that trap. You are good enough according to God’s plan for you.
“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” ~Psalms 139:14 NKJV
We each have our own ‘gut-feeling’ of what is right or wrong, what should be okay or not. I encourage you to listen to your gut, but more importantly to pray to God. I believe the key is that we don’t continue to ignore those gut-feelings.
God wants us to make good spiritual decisions, but He also does not expect (or even allow) for us to be perfect. Learn from your mistakes, mentor others, read God’s Word, and follow God’s special purpose for you!