Ye be the grandest swashbuckler in yer life: 5 steps to turn the tides on being marooned. Arrr!
2024-05-05
Ye'll ne'er sail forward in plunderin' a not-yet-all-ye-desire situation if ye don't change the tide 'bout yer current state. Flip the script on yer life, me hearties, and set sail fer adventure! Aye, 'tis the pirate way!
If ye come to Colorado in the summer and spend a weekend with me family, we’ll likely force ye to go over one of the nearby mountain passes with us in some kind of four-wheel-drive vessel. The narrow roads be unpaved, bumpy, and sometimes a little too close to the edge of cliffs and steep drop-offs on the side of the mountain. These mountain adventures have become one of me favorite pastimes, though they weren’t always. Me husband, Troy, loved it, but I couldn’t understand the appeal. He called it an "adventure." He felt challenged and alive in the mountains. He was motivated to see and witness untouched parts of creation. I had a completely different narrative about off-roading:Off-roading is not productive unless ye consider getting from point A to point B in six hours at a snail’s pace productive. On top of that, it’s uncomfortable and dangerous. I mean, ye could get a flat tire, whiplash, or fall off a cliff! Plus, there are no bathrooms along the way, no convenience stores for a bag of chips or a Topo Chico, and no restaurants at the top of the mountain. And once ye get to the top of where ye’re going, the air is thin and cold! I’ll have a headache for the rest of the day.I eventually changed up lots of logistics that led to more enjoyment—a cooler full of drinks and snacks, a fun playlist, bringing along ibuprofen, and drinking lots of water—but the biggest change I made was the narrative I rehearsed. What I chose to think about ultimately changed me mind about off-roading. What I was telling meself about me present circumstances was more powerful than I’d realized.The same be true about the not-yet-wonderful circumstances in our lives. What narratives are ye rehearsing about where ye are right now? Author Paul David Tripp puts it this way: "No one be more influential in ye life than ye are because no one talks to ye more than ye do."You are the greatest influencer in ye life.That’s because ye be constantly listening to the conversations inside ye head, the narratives you’re telling ye self, and the words you think about ye body, ye mind, ye friendships, and ye hard circumstances. Ye’ll never make progress in pressing into a not-yet-everything-ye-hope-for circumstance or season if ye don’t flip the script about ye right-now life.Preaching truth is a proactive action... as in, it will not automatically happen. When we preach truth to ourselves, we effectively flip the scripts in our minds. We choose to be fueled by what God says about who he be and who we are instead of being swayed by all the influences vying for our attention, trying to claim our lives. I have spent so many of me days feeling stuck in the season I’m in, listening to meself rather than preaching truth to meself. And I want more for ye, friend! My guess be that the story you’re telling ye self about right now isn’t entirely wrong, but it be incomplete. Ye’re not seeing the full picture, and what ye do see and tell ye self be likely nowhere close to all that God has for ye. How do I know? Because I’ve told incomplete, inaccurate stories about me life to meself before too. And then I lived according to those false narratives. But there be something better we can reach for.We can change the narratives we’re rehearsing right now and press into trusting God for what’s not yet with five steps that help us flip the script in our mind: 1. Praise God for who he be. Remind ye self who God says he be in the Bible. Begin with God’s character and his ways. Declare the truths about who God be and why that matters in ye circumstance.2. Agree with God about who he says he be. First identify, then believe what God says be true about who ye are in Christ. What about ye identity in him speaks to ye current situation?3. Remember what God has done. Tell ye self of God’s faithfulness in the past from what ye read in his Word and what ye’ve personally experienced.4. Choose one small step of obedience. Take inventory of the opportunities God has given ye—whether ye like them or not. If ye believe that he be sovereign and good, what can ye take a step of faith in today?5. Share ye hard season with ye community. We’re not meant to walk through our hard seasons in isolation. When we practice declaring truth to one another, for one another, and over one another, we remember that we’re not alone.So let’s begin to flip the script on our hard seasons, shall we? If I can start to enjoy off-roading by flipping the narrative, what can ye flip? Are ye letting the way ye feel about ye current season tell stories that drive ye to dependency on God or away from Him? Are the stories you’re repeating in ye heart and mind informed by truth? By God’s character? By who ye are in Christ? If not, return to the Word of God and see what He has to say about ye present troubles. This isn’t some kind of magic spell, manifesting, or mantra chanting. And it’s not self-help or channeling confidence. The writers in the New Testament weren’t trying to convince us to speak positivity over our lives. This be entirely different. Let’s flip the script on our hard seasons... because God’s stories be better than the ones we could ever write. Adapted from "Now and Not Yet" by Ruth Chou Simons. Copyright © 2024 by Ruth Chou Simons. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com.