Lighthouse on the Coast

Choose Your Best Life Today

posted in: Inspiration | 0

Lighthouse on the CoastThe phone rings.  You pick it up.

“The company would like to offer you a new position, with greater responsibility, a better title, and a significant pay increase, but we would like you to move your family across the country to a new city to fill the role.  You are welcome to stay in the job you have, but we are ready to give you greater leadership and influence if you want it.”

Life is full of tough choices.  Your kids are in school and have friends where you are.  You have a house you love in a neighborhood you carefully chose to raise your family and give them all the best in life.  You have a strong professional network in the city where you live and don’t know anyone where you will be going.  And yet, this could be the opportunity of a lifetime.  The company is finally offering you a seat at the table and recognizing your years of service with the kind of compensation package you have always dreamed of.

What are you going to do?

The answer may surprise you.

Jesus actually called it out when He said,

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” – John 14

The answer is unique to you.  The answer is between you and God.  The answer you are looking for is discovered in the gift that Jesus is offering to you — peace of mind and heart.

Pausing for the quiet moment to pray, to reflect, to release, and to let go is the key to discovering the answer that is right for you and that will take you to that next level of success.

Choosing your best life today is not about always taking the path that is offered.  It isn’t about always saying “yes” or always saying “no”.  It isn’t a static rubric or a magical paradigm like so many promoters of the power of generic positivity would suggest.

Choosing your best life today is about pressing through the noise, the fantasies, the illusions, the greed, and the desire that so often can cloud your path with misleading cues and obscure promises, and instead listen for the still, small voice of God bringing you peace of mind and heart.

Discovering confidence in your relationship with God instead of chasing the approval of the world or your own constrained sense of what you are owed or what you have earned is at the very heart of the best decisions.

You may know deep down in your heart of hearts that the siren song of your established life is just that, a persuasive voice calling you away from your destiny.  Or you may realize that you already have true things of such great value in your life that no promotion, no compensation, no incentive should take your eye off the ball of living your best life now.

The best decisions can’t be observed from the outside, they are uncovered from the inside as you listen for the voice of God revealed in the confidence in your relationship with God and the peace of mind and heart that the best decision yields.

Sometimes what appears to be the most logical or promising option is actually the path to destruction and defeat.  Sometimes the most insignificant opportunities open the greatest doors.

The Bible tells the story of one of the most powerful prophets of all time, Elijah, feeling lost and alone immediately after having one of his greatest victories.  He felt the impact of everything that he had accomplished and realized the power of the people he had angered and suddenly looked around and realized that in the natural he was outnumbered and the odds were stacked against him.  He had this moment of fear and doubt as he faced one of the greatest decisions of his life, the decision to press forward and continue the work that God had given him to accomplish.

The Bible tells us that Elijah ran away from his problems into the wilderness and holed up in a cave to pray to God.  And when He prayed, God answered,

“‘Go out and stand before me on the mountain,’ the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?'” – 1 Kings 19

What are you doing here?

Elijah had lost his connection with God.  He couldn’t feel God present with him.  He was worried and afraid.  He had hard choices to make and couldn’t see clearly the answer.  And God asked him, “What are you doing here?”

I imagine Elijah was really excited when God answered the first time and told Him to stand out on the mountain.  I’m thinking he was even more excited when the windstorm hit, thinking that God was going to destroy his enemies and clear a path for Elijah to lead in easier times.  But God’s heart wasn’t in the windstorm.  His peace wasn’t in the earthquake.  His answers weren’t in the fire.  As each passed, I can hear the silence of Elijah echoing in the despair and the fear rising.  Why isn’t God in the windstorm? Why isn’t God showing up to shake the earth and scorch a path to victory in front of me?

And then God shows up.  His heart is revealed.  A gentle whisper.  A still, small voice.  Deep down Elijah knows that God has arrived.  He feels the presence of his creator and savior and the peace and the opportunity that God is offering.  And so, he discovers the answer and finds the confidence to follow God to make a difference and continue his leadership.

In the quiet moment of reflection, prayer, and consideration, God will show up to give you a gift — peace of mind and heart.  And when God whispers the promise over your life, it reveals the choice for your best life today.  You don’t wonder, you know.  You aren’t afraid anymore.  You aren’t troubled or concerned.  You have a peace, a confidence, and a direction that opens that door to super-natural favor, super-abundant blessings, and the elevating pathway to the life that God has promised.

So, the next time the phone rings, the next time you are presented with the tough choice, look for the pathway to peace of mind and heart.  Let the windstorm of doubt, the earthquake of fear, and the fire of alternatives pass you by and listen for the quiet whisper of the choice for your best life today.  When you do, God will take you places beyond your biggest and best dreams.

 

 

Follow Steve Simons:

Bible Believing Follower of Jesus Christ. Preacher. Conservative. Republican. NRA Member. Chevy Truck Guy. "God's Answers Are Always Simple. God's Answers Always Work." #GraceRevolutionGeneration #IAmNotAfraid

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