Not to Muscle It...
As the year closes out,
We naturally want to tie up loose ends,
To put a bow on the last quarter,
The final numbers,
And have a grand finale,
To say TADAAAAHHH!!!
Personally, my business has been VEEERRYYY interesting the past few years.
As in... God turned all my human habits upside down and inside out,
One of the things that went out the window was GOALS.
Yup, you heard me... GOALS.
I've been in a LOOOONGGG season of NO GOALS,
Only DAILY BREAD.
I wasn't always this way, mind you.
I loved creating goals,
I loved having big goals,
Reverse engineering the results,
Dialing down on the key metrics,
To establish yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily GOALS.
And execute like a smooth operating machine.
I loved lining up all the details of a well-planned goal,
It felt so reassuring,
So comforting,
It was like the formula to success!
And theeeeeen there's the last 4 years of my life.
SPPLLAAATTT....!!
Goal's go POOF!!
Yup...
Goals go POOF when NOTHING seems to go as planned,
Goals go POOF when everything seems to be out of control,
Goals go POOF when you're ready to throw in the towel.
But God had other plans.
He was getting my attention,
Because I had nowhere else to turn.
I exhausted all my HUMAN methods,
And God was the LAST lifeline,
And I FINALLY took it.
"God, help me figure this out."
"God, only You can help me now."
"God, what is YOUR will? I'm tired of my own."
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
I feel like that's what God was waiting for.
For me to finally let go of the wheel.
For me to STOP trying to MUSCLE it,
For me to SURRENDER to Him and let Jesus take the wheel.
So for the last handful of years,
I've had NO goals,
NO plans,
Just the DAILY bread.
The only for me to do is,
To show up in excellence,
SEEK God with all my heart,
And get my DAILY bread,
And take it one step at a time.
It was veeerrryyy WEIRD at first.
I felt like a loser,
I felt like I had NO direction,
But God was literally training me to get my DAILY bread from Him.
My logical mind wanted to scream "We have no plaaannn!!!",
"The sky is fallinnngg!!!",
"This is so messed uppp!!",
Yeah, I didn't take it well at first.
Looking back I was like a crying baby,
One that needed a nap,
Just cranky about everything.
However...
God gave me everything that I NEEDED,
Even though it was not all that I ASKED for,
He walked me through the slim and tough times,
He comforted me through the fears,
He led me through confusion,
He carried me through the valleys,
And I'm still here,
Pluggin' away,
One step at a time,
And I didn't have to MUSCLE it.
The learning and re-training I had in the last 4 years is something I would have NEVER planned.
As a matter of fact I would have probably paid money NOT to have gone through it.
But God had other plans,
Because He knew better,
He knew what I NEEDED,
Versus what I WANTED,
And hand crafted a custom plan to GROW me,
To show me how to not MUSCLE it,
And I am sooooo much better for it.
By learning how to not MUSCLE it...
I have SOOOO much more peace,
My whole BUSINESS has SOOOO much more peace,
Each team member has SOOOO much more peace,
It's a heavenly peace you just can't buy.
By learning how to not MUSCLE it...
I actually care for and love my team members more than I thought I was capable of,
I've been more soft, caring and generous than ever before,
I've been more excellent in more areas than I have ever been,
My whole business is becoming more like Christ bit by bit.
Never in a million years would I have put that at the top of my list.
But God knew better.
After a few years of this,
I kinda thought I was getting the hang of not MUSCLING it,
It was like I was running on a new gear I didn't know about.
Then something happened a couple months ago...
As a couple of big long-term projects were close to completion,
I got excited,
It seemed like it should be done before the end of the year,
So we started talking about that as our end of the year goal,
Without even asking God,
Because it seemed obvious and logical.
Then we got busy,
God was growing our business,
He opened up a new season,
And it became harder and harder to keep our man-made "end of the year goals".
Without knowing it,
I started MUSCLING it,
I started putting pressure on my team,
I started getting wound up,
I started getting into my old ways.
After a few weeks of this,
Holy Spirit tickled my brain,
He asked me what fruits I was bearing,
And when I looked,
It was NOT pretty.
The fruits of trying to MUSCLE something was pretty STANK.
It definitely was NOT fruits of the Holy Spirit.
My fruits were aggression not gentleness,
Anxiety not peace,
Frustration not patience,
And definitely NOT peace, self-control or love.
Yeah...
All of God's fruit got tossed out the windows,
As I fell back into my old ways,
Oh how quickly I fall when tested in the smallest way.
Oh how I thought I had truly changed,
But my old ways are still in me,
Oops.
After noticing this...
I INTENTIONALLY choose not to MUSCLE it,
To fall back into God's pace,
Which is NOT my pace,
To FOLLOW His plan,
Which is not my plan,
To bear HIS fruits,
Not my stank ones,
To be gentle, loving and patient,
Not stressed, aggressive and rash.
I hope this can be a reminder for you to NOT muscle it also...
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
It's easy to forget but we must remember that,
"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways' declares the Lord... 'My ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
When I was trying to MUSCLE it,
I lost God's peace,
But once I surrendered it all back to God,
And I laid it down at Jesus' feet,
And I submitted my desires UNDER God's desires,
God's peace came BACK!
YESSS!!!!
I would't trade it for ANYTHING!!!!
So what are YOU trying to MUSCLE before the end of the year?
What are YOU trying to MUSCLE for NEXT year?
What is costing you God's peace?
Why don't you ask God what HE wants for you?
You might find it surprisingly DIFFERENT! ^_^
"Dear Heavenly Father,
Help me not to MUSCLE it,
Help me to let go,
Help me to take my DAILY BREAD from You,
For Your ways are higher than my ways,
But I keep forgetting that.
I keep putting my ways above Yours,
I keep putting my desires before Yours,
I keep taking the wheel,
I keep kicking you off the throne of my heart,
I'm so sorry... AGAIN!
Create a new heart in me,
To keep my eyes on You,
To be willing to work with Your Kingdom principles,
Which can be UPSIDE DOWN from earthly principles.
Grant me the desires of YOUR heart,
And make all YOUR plans succeed,
Grant me a HOLY hunger to want you even more,
Grant me child-like faith and curiosity,
Grant me Your grace, love and mercy,
Because I need all of YOU that I can get.
Lord, You know I'm a hot mess and I need You.
Lord, be my everything.
In Jesus name, Amen."
Cheers to NOT muscling it and resting into God's pace this year end and next year!
Wohooo!! God's got you! ^_^
Have a great week and a Happy New Year!
