Have you ever thought about how different life can be when you look beyond what you initially see? There is a beauty that can be found when we take the time to look beyond what is right in front of us. I think that it is easy for us to overlook the things that we don't immediately see. We don't take the time to look beyond what is readily available to see what is ahead.
"Trusting God means looking beyond what you can see to what God sees." - Charles Stanley
I love that concept, and it holds so much truth. When we trust God and we begin to trust in His plan for our lives we often begin to see things from a different light. The world begins to look different the more we rely on our Creator instead of ourselves. That's not to say life won't be hard at times and you won't face storms, cause you definitely will. Your going to face lots of storms and life will be hard at times, but there will also be so many amazing and beautiful things.
Something that I have been learning lately is that so often we place limits on ourselves and limits on those around us, even when we don't realize we are doing it. We often see things that look hard and declare them to be impossible even without trying them first. We place limits on our potential, which in turn keeps us from growing and achieving.
"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them." - Albert Einstein
I honestly believe that if we can go beyond the limits that we place on ourselves we will begin to see change happen around us. We often place these limits out of fear, fear of the unknown, fear of the future. Let me tell you, there is no room for fear in your life and scripture is adamant that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of courage and a sound mind. Remember that!
I love the picture that is painted in the first chapter of John. We see the world coming together simply by the spoken word. Order is brought into the disorder, creating a beautiful creative mix.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything that was made." - John 1:1-3
I love that wording, if you read through the four gospels you'll notice that they generally start with the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus all leading up to his death and resurrection. However, the book of John takes a different approach it starts at the very beginning. It goes beyond what had been mentioned before and looks closer at the beginning of it all.
I would encourage you to take some time to read through the book of John and really contemplate the words you read. It is a favorite book of mine and holds many verses that have helped me through trial after trial. I want to encourage you to take some time to find verses that you can cling to when faced with some of these storms in life.
Remember life doesn't always make sense, but no matter what may be going on around us God is always in control and he is always right there with us. My encouragement for you this week is to remember you are not alone and I challenge you to look beyond what you see to what is often hidden. Remember you have a uniqueness only God can given and you are enough!
Remember you are enough.
Much love,
- Alianna C.