Navigating Our Faith - Stuck in Life

Series 3 - Navigating Our Faith

Episode 2 - Stuck in Life

Transcript

Hi Everyone, welcome back to the Living on Prayer podcast. I’m Emily and I’m glad you’re back here with me again for another episode in this series of Navigating Our Faith. For today’s episode, I want to talk a little bit about being stuck. You know, when we get stuck in life and we need that extra faith to get us through, to get us unstuck. I think we’ve all probably been in a place like this before. Been stuck if you will. I know I have many times and I’ve known many others that have so I wanted to talk about how we can navigate this part of our lives especially from a faith perspective. So let’s get started.

Like I said before, I’ve been stuck in life many times and stuck can be so many things by the way. Stuck in relationships. Stuck in career. Stuck in health, finances, future trajectory of life itself. Stuck in emotional or mental health. Really just any aspect of life we can get stuck in and I’ve gotten stuck in most of them. And at times I feel I haven’t just gotten stuck, I feel like I’ve fallen into a pit. Like one of those empty water wells, you know what I’m talking about? Have you ever had times in your life where you’ve gotten stuck like this too? Where you feel like maybe you’re in something that feels like mud and it feels harder to keep moving forward or maybe it feels like you’re stuck in quicksand and you’re being pulled under  and need a rope or a lifeline to get out of that quicksand or maybe even worse than the mud or quicksand you feel like you’ve fallen into an empty water well or a deep pit and you need a ladder or someone to reach down and pull you out? This is what being stuck can feel like. It can even start with that mud feeling and move to quicksand and end up with that water well pit. So yeah, I can relate to all of those. I’ve felt stuck in all of them and so many others I could describe as well. The desert island all alone, a sand bar with others watching but I can’t reach them, a drifting raft out at sea, you name it I can probably tell you that I’ve had the feeling. I say all of this because you’re not alone if you’ve felt these or anything similar. If it wasn’t me that’s been stuck there like you I’m sure there are others that have felt the same feeling you have too. Don’t despair though. Like I’ve said before in the second season on spiritual distractions, these negative feelings aren’t from God, these feelings are absolutely from the devil. He plants them to keep us from our relationship with God, to separate us from Him, to point the finger at God, to confuse us, to keep us from talking to other Christians and the resources that God gives us to help us get unstuck. Take heart though, you have within you the strength and ability to get unstuck and I’ll talk about how to do that here in just a bit. 

But first, let’s talk about being stuck just a bit more. What are we doing in the mud, the quicksand, the well, on the raft, the sandbar. How did we end up there? For me, I’m a feeler. I feel things first and think second. That means I go with my gut and my heart before my head. It also means I’m a bit more of a heart on my sleeve, say what I mean and mean what I say, emotionally sensitive person. I’ve realized in my experiences, especially in relationships, that not everyone is like me and that has hurt me a lot in life. So I can get stuck in my emotions due to my relationships. I don’t get stuck with other areas of life as easily or as much or maybe not even at all. Areas like my job or my health for instance. But that deep water well for me, the quicksand and the mud that gets me stuck the most, tends to be my closest relationships. It’s those people I love deeply and where I am most emotionally sensitive and therefore vulnerable to those relationships. That can throw me in a pit very quickly. And all of us are different with what areas of our lives can get us stuck. And when we get stuck what then happens to us in the well, in the quicksand, in the mud? I can’t speak for you. I can only speak for myself and for those people I know who have shared their experiences with me. But for me, when I get stuck it becomes a battle between my heart and mind. I logically know I need to get unstuck and at times I want to get up out of the pit and at other times I just want to lay there because I emotionally feel so bad I can’t get up. So there will be times that I have the strength to get up and try to pull myself out of the pit and maybe I feel like I’m almost there but I just can’t quite make it to the top. And then there are times where I feel like it’s 20 feet to the top of that pit and there’s no way I’m getting out so I might as well just lay back down at the bottom and feel sorry for myself. <pause> I assume some of you understand this feeling too because you’ve been there or maybe you are there now. And it really sucks, it does. But the first thing to understand about being stuck is to realize and accept when we are in fact stuck. I know that might sound silly or pretty straight forward but when you’re stuck you’re not thinking about anything else except surviving. So we need to stop and take as much of the emotional aspects away, which was very hard for me by the way, and logically realize what was happening. I was stuck. The emotions of fear, doubt, anger, anxiety, worry, hurt, loss, betrayal, all of those feelings and emotions I had to put aside and realize I was stuck in life and needed to move forward somehow. That I couldn’t and shouldn’t stay where I was forever. That’s the first thing I needed to do. I had to realize and accept that I was stuck and then I had to decide if I was going to get unstuck. Because look, just because I realized I was stuck didn’t mean I wanted to leave what had become my new safe space at the bottom of the pit. Maybe I didn’t want to move forward into the great unknown. Maybe leaving our mud or quicksand or pit to go into the unknown is too scary. It might sound ridiculous but we get used to being miserable sometimes. We get used to be stuck. We, as humans, are quite afraid of the unknown. It’s human nature. But staying in the mud, the pit, the quicksand, is a sure way of drowning, of dying, of being unhappy and miserable. We already know that. So why wouldn’t we have even a mustard size seed of faith to believe that not only if God would help us get unstuck that He would ensure we have better things in our future. That He would have worked out all things for our good. That He was out there in front of us aligning our future while we were sitting in the mud, in the well, with our free will pondering our decisions, lying there at times feeling sorry for ourselves, trying to climb in and out but not feeling like we had enough strength to do it. Do we really think that God is just sitting on His hands not working on our behalf, not working on our future, not aligning our path knowing that when we finally reached out to Him for help to get unstuck that He wouldn’t gladly reach out and assist us? We’re the ones that have to have the faith folks. To get unstuck, we have to realize first that we are stuck. Then we have to decide if we want to get out of the mud or the well or the quicksand. And if we do, we have to, of our own free will, and with actual faith, reach out to God and ask for help truly believing He will provide it in His timing. And then when He offers it, in His timing and in His way and resources, we have to accept it. Ok, so what does that mean? That means, we can’t sit in the pit and pray to God saying ok Lord I’m ready to get out of here send me the ladder now. And then in 24 hours you don’t get a ladder so you give up on Him. No, that’s not how God works or how faith works. God works His way not your way. You don’t tell God how to rescue you and when to rescue you. You tell Him you’re ready, you get ready for your rescue, and you go ahead and start thanking Him for coming because that’s showing God you have faith in Him. You straight up know He heard you and you know He’s on His way. And you might as well go ahead and apologize when you whole heartedly mean it for having gotten stuck in the first place because that’s repentance. You can do that while you’re waiting. Alright? Let’s just be real now. And then you wait. And like King David and so many others in the scriptures did, you continue to praise God during the wait. Why? Because you have faith. You know He’s on His way. He’s bringing the calvary. You are one of His children and He loves you. No man left behind right? God is going to rescue you His way in His timing but don’t give up on Him because it’s not your way in your timing. You’re not in control. That’s a human nature element that doesn’t work with God. God’s in control, not you. Have faith in Him. He’s the perfect one, you’re not.

Now while we’re waiting on God to rescue us let’s also understand something in the wait. This is why I walked you through my own example in the beginning of the episode because sometimes God allows us to get stuck, maybe even over and over again, until we can learn something. By learning what He is teaching us, it strengthens us. It strengthens our relationship with Christ and it strengthens our faith. And you can say, well He’s not telling me anything. I’m just sitting here doing nothing. Ok, yeah, and that can be part of the learning and growing. It says in Psalms 62:5 “Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.” And in Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying.” God is always growing us, always teaching us. Like a good parent would. He wants us to develop and continue to reach new heights. So getting stuck is not of God. That’s something Satan is doing to us. It stunts our development. It halts our growth. It keeps us from moving forward in any progress, not just our own but any we might be able to make with helping others. But God is going to ensure, even when we’re stuck, that we learn how to not get stuck again in that way, even if it takes a bit more time in that pit. He wants us to understand how did we get there. How can we stop ourselves from getting there again. It’s not just about throwing us down the ladder to help climb out of the pit. Yes, God can do that and yes He will do that in His timing if we ask for His help. But understand He wants us to learn how to avoid these same pits, these same quicksand traps in the future. Understand what God is doing while you’re stuck and listen for Him. Listen for His direction and for His development in your life. Listen for His wisdom and His teaching because He wants to better you. He doesn’t just want to rescue you. He wants to develop you into a better you, one that never ends up in that situation ever again. So while you’re waiting on the rescue, pray and listen, get those directions, develop yourself so that you can avoid ever falling into that pit again. 

And here’s the final key to getting out of the pit. When the rescue team shows up, you have to take action. You have to follow orders and do what God tells you to do. He didn’t send His resources to help you so you can stay in the bottom of the pit. Or worse, so that you can then decide how you want to be rescued. That you can then try to take control and dictate how or when the rescue is going to go. You aren’t in control. It’s God’s rescue mission and you’re the target. Get out of the pit and be grateful! If God says take the ladder and climb out and then get on a helicopter and leave. Then you take the ladder, climb out, then get on a helicopter and leave. You don’t argue with the plan. You don’t say no, I think I’ll be fine with just a rope. Or no, I don’t like helicopters, or I think I’d rather walk or take a car. Or can a get a shower and a hotel nearby. No! You take the ladder, you climb out, get on the freaking helicopter and leave. Those are the orders and you follow them. And again, be grateful. You say thank you. Keep in mind that you are getting rescued. God didn’t put you in that pit but He is getting you out of it. Wherever He is taking you is so much better than where you were and the future you have has been worked on by God the whole time you were in the pit. He was setting it up for your good. Have faith that it is good even if it is unknown to you. God is always looking out for you because he loves you. Keep that faith in Him. He wants to get you unstuck. He wants to move you forward in life. He wants to get you on your path because He knows you have so much to offer the world and He wants you to get out there and do it. Let Him help you!

Ok folks, before I close us out I want to read a quote from one of my favorite authors. Mr. CS Lewis. I just love his work and of course he was a strong Christian as well. But he was a great author in his day and his writings are some of my favorites. He wrote a book titled “Mere Christianity” and some people who have read it think it’s pretty deep or hard to read. Personally, I love it so today I wanted to quote from it. The quote reads “Nothing that you have not given away will ever really be yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.” While Mr. Lewis was talking about Christianity here, I wanted to apply this to being stuck as well. When we get stuck in life, we tend to have parts of ourselves that we need to get rid of, that need to die, that need to be absolved or fixed, forgiven, forgotten, let go of. And sometimes these can be relationships or issues or habits or maybe combinations of all of them. But like Mr. Lewis said nothing we haven’t given away will ever really be ours and nothing in us that hasn’t died will ever be raised from the dead. So if any of these relationships, issues, habits, problems, tendencies need to mended and then returned to us in some way, perhaps resurrected even, maybe in a better way, given a new life. Then the only way that can happen is if we have released them in their old form, the negatives, the not ok versions with us first. That doesn’t mean necessarily that they can’t return in some new way, in a different life, in a different look and feel. But…if they don’t return, then it’s not for us and we need to accept it and in return accept God’s peace in our lives.

So now I’m going to close out today’s episode with a scripture reference on faith from Jeremiah Chapter 29, Verse 11. I’m reading this one from the New International Version today or NIV as it’s most often known. “’For I know the plans I have for you,‘ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Thank you everyone for joining me and as always I want to remind you how much God loves you! Please be sure to reach out to Him daily, let Him know how you’re doing, ask Him for help, thank Him for all the good things in your life, and please most importantly get the rescue you need from Him if you are stuck in life right now. As a Christian, I pray for all of you and am thankful that you are out there diligently working to accomplish the goals both you and God set for your life and I am hopeful that you’re able to stay on the path God created for your life as well. 

I hope you’ll join me for the next episode in this series of Navigating Our Faith. Until then, as always stay safe! We’ll talk again soon.