For Your “What Is My Life?” Moments

I’ve had a few What is my life? moments lately.

I shared that thought with my husband a few nights ago before bed. Sometimes life just doesn’t work out like we thought or expected. Often we are surprised, shocked, even resentful of what we face in life.

The next morning I read more of the story of Noah. When Genesis 8 starts, Noah had been in the Ark at least 150 days, maybe longer. I would have felt forgotten and slightly claustrophobic and tired of those people on the Ark with me. Then Genesis 8:1 says, “But God remembered Noah.”

So rescue, right? Noah got off that Ark then? Nope. Noah sat on that Ark for months longer. Now, if I were Noah, I would want God remembering me to be synonymous with God getting me out of that Ark. Move, change things, come fix this. But Noah was right where God wanted Him and he was not forgotten.

That’s tough. Sometimes life’s just not going not look like what I expect or want and God is just as much at work in those circumstances as He is when I’m crossing items off of my 2017 goals list. I am not forgotten.

You’re not forgotten either. No doubt, you’ve had some what is my life? moments of your own. Maybe you’re in a stage like that right now as you’re reading this. Maybe there was a phone call, a diagnosis, a breakup, a job loss, a move across the state. Maybe you’re sitting somewhere you didn’t expect to be trying to figure out what to do next. Maybe the end isn’t in sight. Or maybe it is but it’s months away and you aren’t sure how to live in the meantime. Maybe everyone else seems to be going on with their happy normal while you stare at it on Facebook (log off, please).

I don’t have all the answers. But here’s how I’m navigating my what is my life? moment currently.

Be honest with God.

You can tell God anything because He already knows. Often we think we’re fooling God the way we can other people. But here’s the secret: God is your safe place. Tell Him you don’t understand. Ask Him questions. Ask for help. Reaffirm your trust in Him. You can be real with God in ways you can’t always with people. Go to Him; don’t retreat from Him.

Recognize there will always be something.

The other night I was browsing back through Twitter (which I rarely use now) and read a tweet of mine from August 2016. You know what it said? “This has been a really difficult year.” And it had been for a completely different set of reasons. We’re not waiting for this one circumstance to change so that life will be perfect. When this is over, there will be something else. We have to be prepared for that. Don’t let circumstances dictate who you are.

Don’t wait for life to get “better.”

I get emails from readers telling me about their problems and you know what I frequently tell them? There is no getting better. Happiness or joy or purpose aren’t things that come down the road when you get married, or find a new job, or move to a new city, or have a baby. You are still the same you. We either train ourselves to look at the amazing things in our lives, to see the way God is always at work, or we never see it no matter where we are. When life gets better, instead of seeing that we got what we wanted- a baby, for instance- what we see is the something else that comes too- the colic, the unexpected diagnosis, the sleep deprivation. Stop waiting for life to change. You change.

Do today.

What I can’t do is decide that the next few months are too much for me. I can’t push pause on my life. I can’t decide I don’t have purpose just because life isn’t what I asked for right now. You can’t get stuck not knowing when you’ll get a boyfriend or have a baby or find a job that you like and decide not to serve God right where you are. Do today. What has God given us to do today? We probably know; we just don’t always like to admit it. Do those things. I know it seems small. I know it doesn’t answer your questions about what next week or next month or next year looks like. I know it doesn’t solve any of your problems. But it is a fine way to get through life, doing something besides twiddling your thumbs and staring at the wall.

This season is part of your story. Maybe you wouldn’t have written the story this way but you’re not the author. God can see what you can not and you have to trust Him. Lean into Him. Learn more about Him. Trust in what you can’t see.

*I left out the specifics of my “what is my life?” moment right now on purpose. You’ll hear more about it, I’m sure, but we have this tendency to compare our hard or unexpected moments to other people’s. Then we either think that we have a really bad life or we think that our problems aren’t so bad and shouldn’t be bothering us. Can I say something? If you feel “What is my life?” (not in a dramatic-didn’t-have-my-size-shoes-at-the-mall but in a real question of what God is up to) then it’s a “what is my life?” moment. And God cares about those. *