Completely honest moment for you.
I’m sitting here, writing this post, and I can hear my coffee brewing.
But, you know what I am also doing? Stressing out about whether or not I should but UNSWEETENED almond milk in it.
You know the kind of milk that has about -20000 calories. And I am stressing about it because of the “Extra 10 calories.”
Clearly, I am still working on my food issues. Which you all know I have, since these Sunday reflections have been kindasorta ALL about them.
Anyway. That leads me into today’s post.
Sermon: “Why Do Our Stories Struggle?” By Pastor Orlando of City Bible Church Northsound.
What is was about: Pastor Orlando talked about how we are writing our own life stories but, a lot of the times, those stories struggle. We face hardships and trials and don’t know what to “write” next. He gave a few main reasons for why this happens.
- We write ourselves as the main character, when we really should just be a great, supporting role. Jesus needs to be the main character in our story, or it will always struggle.
- We struggle because sometimes we just don’t want enough. He didn’t mean that we should want a bigger house, nicer car etc, but that we don’t have as high aspirations for our lives as God does. We “just want to be happy” but God has so much more planned for us, that we aren’t aiming to achieve.
- Our stories struggle because we “want to skip scenes.” Usually the most important part of developing a good story is the hard stuff. The stuff that makes you grow and change. If an uncomfortable scene comes on in a movie and you fast forward, a lot of the times the movie doesn’t make sense. If we try to just peace out during the hard parts of our lives, our stories struggle.
My thoughts: I’ve talked about point 1 a lot here. I am really working to put God as the center of my life. Clearly, I still have work to do, but I can tell you that it’s getting easier.
I really loved his point on number two. I totally find myself getting caught up in “just wanting to be happy and free.” I mean, these are definitely good desires to have. But what if I am missing something? What if I am still struggling because there is more to getting through this struggle than just gaining happiness and freedom? I don’t really have any answers to all of those questions. But, they’re something I have been thinking about. And maybe God desires more out of life for you too? Great food for thought there.
I also loved his last point. SO many times I have thought “I wish I could just gain some weight, get healthier and just have no more food issues overnight.” But, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I wouldn’t have these issues without going through my eating disorder way back when, but I also wouldn’t have the faith that I do then (I really found Jesus in that time.) So, I am trying to be happier about going through this hard time (without telling myself it’s a good thing and I should keep it forever, of course.) and trying to change my mindset.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this!
P.s I had the almond milk. Because God writes my story and he would want me to have yummier coffee 😉
P. P. S We tried a church last week and LOVED it! A really young crowd and pastor with a great message! We are definitely going to go back and look into small groups there!
Happy Sunday!
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