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Re-Start Your Engine!!

No this is not a tribute to NASCAR Racing, which I know started the beginning of February sometime but I still can’t get into. (That is another blog for another time I suppose!)

Have you ever gotten in your vehicle, turned the key, and have NOTHING happen? When I say NOTHING I mean-NOTHING- no turn over, no clicking, NOTHING!  I guess it happens (even with routine maintenance) that the starter stops working!

When the starter doesn’t work-nothing else does either.

Here are a few questions for you to ponder-
Is the “starter” out in your faith?
Does it seem like you can never figure out what is wrong or why things happen the way they do?
Do you want to scream “How can this be happening?” more than “Thank you God for the blessings in my life!!”?
Do you want to start your spiritual engine (so to speak)?
************************
If you answered yes to any of these questions, I can’t promise quick fixes or miracle cures but I can offer the following reflection from my own life when I answered everyone one of those questions with a resounding YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!” was my response to many situations I was facing several years ago. How could it be that I was in this place in my life, knowing I was doing what God continues to call me to do and yet feel I had nothing to offer but “are you kidding” prayers? I discovered over time it wasn’t the place, the situation, or the ministry that was causing this but my outlook and attitude of all of those things that made my personal prayer regiment feel like lamentations instead of halleluiahs!

Funny how those age old sayings turn out to be true- attitude is everything, what you give is what you get, and I am sure many other sage words should have brought me back to a solid place, resting on the assurance that God would not hold me hostage for the sake of ministry- God (at least the God I believe in and praise) does not work in such a manner.

One day about a year and a half ago I came across these words “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Theodore Roosevelt said these words; I don’t know the context of them I just know that when I read them in a book of quotes I own.  They become my mantra; the way I started my spiritual engine every morning. After a few weeks I started noticing that even when things didn’t go how I expected they did not cause me to say “Why me!?!” but “Thank you God for the opportunity to see what I could do!” 

So as I said- I can’t offer a quick fix or a miracle cure. But perhaps some sage advice from one struggling Christian to another- with words that aren’t even my own-
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” When you struggle to start your spiritual engine remember that God will never lead you to a place that the Holy Spirit isn’t willing to carry you through!  Ready!
Get Set!
Re-Start your spiritual engine!!!

Comments

  1. AaronMarch 8, 2011 at 9:48 PM

    Great article Andrea, I wish I had read it a week ago. I had been going through one of those low periods where I just didn't feel the spirit and wasn't getting any encouragement or inspiration from anywhere. I knew it would pass if I would just keep going, doing what I could. Thankfully God restarted my engine using strangers and people in my church community to encourage me.

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