Jonese's Blog

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I feel like that cat sometimes. Trying to do one simple task and I get all wrapped up in the strings of distractions, or just overwhelmed with my own stupid silly thoughts.

I do that a lot, have stupid thoughts.

One of my biggest and most stupid thought is "was I supposed to do / say that?" I constantly doubt myself or wrestle with decisions I know I NEED to make. I have gotten a lot better at pushing these doubts out and two things have made this an easier process to grasp and put into practice.

Obedience & Patience

I am a very patient person. This is something everyone who knows me will agree with and something I am quiet proud of. Patience really is a virtue and is something that you constantly have to work on.

I am not a very obedient person. I have a hard time accepting God's will and plan. I spent 30 plus years of my life controlling it, or so I thought. So now when I do something God wants me to do I find it really hard to just sit there and wait. Because I'm not obedient I find it hard to be patient.

Yes I'm a walking contradiction.

Obedience is a BIG deal with Christians. Reality is, Obedience is what separates those who ARE Christians and those who DO Christianity, in my opinion. But Obedience is a HARD thing for anyone to do. Most struggles people have, if you take it down to the basics, are just struggles with obedience and this leads them to impatience.

For me trusting in God is easy. I've go no reason not to, so I just embrace trusting in him with child like faith. And like a good 4 year old I ask "Why" a lot. This isn't me being disobedient, it's just me being human.

We often ask "why god" because we are impatient with the current state of a problem, issue or request. When we don't see results in our time frame it causes us to doubt our actions, doubt that the outcome is really going to be what we desire.

That is where we have to stop. It's never about us. It's always about Him. If you start freaking out because this girl might not like you, or you might not get that awesome job with the corner office, or you can't sell your house, pay your bills, or any other number of issues you're on the wrong path.

I've had a few issues in my life recently which I've been struggling with and each time I got to the "stupid Eric" moments I had to stop and recenter back on Him. Give it to Him, let Him control it and be patient in His will and more importantly His timing.

"Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius." -- George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon

So you're not obedient and therefore not patient. Welcome to my boat. Guess what, we need to step out. It's time to hop out of the boat and start walking on the water.

'The way to get to know His trustworthiness is to risk obeying Him' - John Ortberg from If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat

That is a POWERFUL statement. I read it today and it rocked my world. Totally took me from Stupid Eric to just Eric. I love it when God shows up AND shows off in His wisdom. You see, I was supposed to have read the chapter that quote came from last week. But I didn't, and that's a good thing because I really needed it this week.

I see now that when I step out of the boat in obedience to Him this fear I have, this yearning to just get back into the boat, is natural. I'm conditioned to stay in the boat because in the boat the Devil wins. In the boat I never DO anything but stay dry.

I have to get out of the boat, I have to walk into my fears, I have to RISK OBEYING HIM!

When was the last time you took a risk? When was the last time you stepped out of the boat? When was the like time you did something out of obedience?

You know how you're doing something which requires a lot of obedience? It'll hurt, it'll freak you out, your first thought will be to turn around or undo what you just did.

STOP. THINK. DON'T!

When you jump out of the boat, find someone you trust. Tell them what you did or what you're about to do. Make sure they are on board with you and not someone who thinks you need to stay in the boat. This person will help you through the struggle you are about to embark on.

If you just read that and said "What about God Eric, isn't that all I need to do this?" Sure He's all you need if you are superman and have complete control over all your thoughts, emotions, and stupid silly tendencies. In other words NO God is not enough.

Yea I said it, and many of you are probably going to use it against me, or use it out of context. But you have to understand. God doesn't want us to do these big things all by ourselves. He knows we can't and that's why in the beginning he made Adam AND Eve. We all need someone to lean towards, not on. This person is someone you can text at 7am for a prayer request or someone you can get real with. In time as you get out of the boat and stay out of the boat you won't need the reassurance of this person. You'll have complete trust in God and His plan and will for you.

Together with your faith, with this person to lean towards, and with a constant adjustments you will succeed. Add in a bit of God's grace, love and forgiveness and you have the stuff to make things happen.

I'm doing it, not very well and with lots of doubt but I'm doing it and so can you.