Lately, I've been examining CHANGE in my life. Earlier this year (2008), I told my wife that I felt that God was preparing my heart for something to happen. I told her, "This will be a year of change for us". We felt hopeful and encouraged that maybe God was starting to move in our lives in a new powerful way. We had been praying for His will expectantly, but up to that point nothing had happened (that we could see).
We're still waiting . . . and to be honest, life has been a tad difficult since we felt that initial encouragement. I have learned, however, that God gives us inspiration in spite of our circumstance and that true, effective CHANGE can only come out of CONFLICT. What we are always struggles with what we need to become. This is how life is designed to work in a fallen world. This is how God salvages Creation, using "all things" for His purpose. In fact, the Fall of Man and the resulting gift of Reconciliation is the supreme fulfillment of this principle.
Pain finds its purpose in Pleasure. Failure finds its purpose in Success. Conflict finds its purpose in Change. In this, our Enemy wounds himself. What he means for evil, God gives it a new purpose - to mold us to His image.
God gave me this acronym over a year ago. I'm just now finding where to place it in my life.
S - stop living in Fear of pain or failure
T - take massive action to implement right principles
A - accept each moment as an opportunity to learn and move forward
N - never give up
D - demand ongoing excellence
See, most people know what is right. In fact, the overwhelming frustration I hear when talking about this subject is the fact that we all know what to do - we all know the principles for success - but, for some inexplicable reason, can't force ourselves to do it! I have found that I fear the pain. I fear the failure. I fear the conflict. I never really get to the principle.
God is using this year to CHANGE me, and as usual, it is in an unexpected way.
S.T.A.N.D.
Derek
© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008
1 comment:
Hi Derek,
Thank you for the comment you left on my blog and for your prayers. Chris and I will keep you and your family in our prayers as well. I enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to hearing more from you!
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