It’s Your Turn
When I was growing up, my family played cards. Dad taught my brother and me to “riffle shuffle.” A common phrase during those card games was “it’s your turn.”
I’ve been thinking about that phrase lately from a different perspective. I’ve often approached issues or problems by over-analyzing, try to make sense of it, praying, and feeling helpless. Have you ever felt annoyed that God isn’t answering your prayer as you think He should?
In his book, “Extravagant,” Bryan Jarrett describes a repeated pattern in scripture: command, obedience, and miracle. Jesus asked the people to roll the stone away before raising Lazarus from the dead. When the multitudes were hungry, Jesus used what the people had, a small amount of fish and loaves of bread, to feed thousands.
When faced with a difficult situation, instead of assuming God is going to perform a miracle as I sit and over-analyze, a better approach is to ask myself what do I have right now to begin facing the problem. It’s easy to say when (fill in the blank) happens, then I will begin to deal with issues, or then I will pursue my dreams. There is almost always something that I can do today to begin facing down the scary, intimidating “monster” problems. There is often action involved, something I can do today to pursue my dream of starting my own business, getting healthy, getting out of debt, improving a relationship, or whatever.
Several years ago I faced an intimidating, overwhelming situation. In this situation, my first step was obvious and I had knots in my stomach as I began to take that action. As I pushed through the emotional barriers and worked through the small part that I could do to begin facing the problem, the intimidation and fear began to crumble. My first step didn’t completely resolve the problem, but moving and doing something instead of allowing myself to be consumed with fear, started the process of facing the situation and eventual resolution.
What do you have in your hands today to begin facing the giants in your life? There’s probably something, even if it seems insignificant, that you can do today. Push through the doubt, fear, and overwhelming feelings and take action. It’s your turn.
