Episode #57 Navigating Uncertainty- Intentional Living

Does it feel like you're struggling to find solid ground in your current season? Maybe circumstances keep changing, or you're in a season of transition, entering into new things or leaving old things behind. Or maybe life just feels tumultuous, like the ground keeps changing beneath your feet. If you can relate to any of those circumstances, today's episode is especially for you. Because we're engaging with God in uncommon conversations about how we can trust him about how we can embrace change and learn how to navigate twists and turns with God as our guiding source.

Hey, I'm Jen, and if you're new around here, I'm a Bible teacher and I love to help people talk with God, and we're spending a few minutes today talking about navigating uncertainty because there's a lot of things in life that are uncertain. We're focusing in this series about intentional living and intentional living in partnership with God, acknowledging that he is ready and willing and wants to participate in our day-to-day lives. And sometimes it can feel like we know God cares about us in the grand scheme of things, but like he's distant or kind of disinterested in what goes on in the day-to-day life that we navigate. And that's just not true. God is here and ever present with us, and he wants to engage with us in the things that are weighing on our hearts and minds and one of those common things happens to be areas of uncertainty.

Oftentimes uncertainty pops up in our lives because it accompanies change. Maybe you've moved to a new city or you've started a new job. Maybe you're joining a new small group or entering a new season in parenthood or in a relationship. All these different changes can bring about uncertainty because we're entering places we've never been before. We're going through things that we've yet to experience. Instead of resisting that change or getting undone by it, we get to approach it with a readiness to embrace it. Oftentimes for me, I found the difference just comes in how I think about and how I approach the area of change. This isn't an affliction that is coming against me. This is an adventure that I'm navigating. And I know not all areas of change or uncertainty are exciting or enjoyable or even leading to things that we desire. Sometimes those changes that we're navigating came from or are continuing in hardship or loss or grief or healing. But even as we navigate those things, we can embrace the opportunities for growth and transformation.

Now, if I'm honest with you and with myself, I really don't want this episode to be about navigating uncertainty. I want this episode to be about gaining understanding because I would much rather understand than be uncertain. I would much rather learn how to always find firm footing, how to figure out things enough, how to plan myself out of areas where I feel under prepared or unaware or like I'm being stretched beyond what I've known or experienced before. But that's not what God invites us into. Our lives of faith are being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. His invitation to us is not to enter into places where we have it all figured out, but instead he invites us to trust him, especially in the times when we don't know what to do.

I'll read for us today from Proverbs 3:5,6. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths."

We get to trust God with our whole hearts and not lean on, not require or depend on, our own understanding. We get to acknowledge him in all of our ways, the small moments, the big opportunities, and we get to trust him to direct our paths, to make our paths straight. Verse 7 says, "be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil."

Sometimes my desire to understand comes from a longing to be wise, in my own ability to gain understanding so that I can know more and might need to trust a little bit less. But the invitation that we receive from God today is to increase our trust in him.

We get to embrace the seasons of change, and the journeys that we're on as opportunities for growth and transformation. And that transformation can be as simple as receiving and walking in a greater measure of trusting God, a greater reliance on him to direct our paths because we're in spaces where we don't have as much understanding.

And so our question for God today is asking for him to remind us what is true. Sometimes when we are navigating seasons or circumstances of uncertainty, we can find ourselves left with too many unanswered questions. And if you're anything like me, I will sometimes get bogged down in concerns or doubts or kind of fixate my attention on the things that I'm concerned about instead of staying mindful of what I know to be true; about what I know to be true about God and who he is and what I know to be true about me based on what he's told me. And sometimes I can even lose sight of promises that he's already given me, direction, or instruction, or hope that he's given me for that very season of uncertainty.

And so, our question for God today is simply to ask him to bring these things to our remembrance. Maybe he'll remind you of something about himself or about you. Or about the season that you're in. Even when there's a list of unknowns, you are also already equipped with a list of things that you know to be true, and God wants to talk with you about them.

Here's today's question:

God, will you remind me of what is true?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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