Chosen Grace

Hello Everyone!!! March is here, and spring is on its way! Aren’t you excited, because I am!!  But as we wait for the spring flowers to bloom, here’s a blog post to keep your spirits up. 

To begin this blog post for today, I’m gonna start off with a story.

A few weeks ago, a friend and I were taking a trip to Walmart. Since we are college students, and we do not have a car on campus, we take the transit. It was night time, and we’d made the trip so many times, it was routine for us.

But on this night, as we were walking to the bus stop we saw that the bus was almost there……and we were not. Deciding to try and make it, we ran. And we caught the bus just in time.

Soon, my friend and I were settled in and we enjoyed the familiar route that the bus took us.

But as I sat there, a small voice in my head told me this: Check your pockets. And so I did. And when I checked them- my wallet was nowhere to be found.

It was then that I turned to my friend and told him what I had done. Both surprised, we checked the bus and it was not there.

Fast forwarding to 20 minutes later, my friend and I were back outside of the bus stop looking for my wallet. We checked everywhere: the bus stop, the grass, the dorm, my room…..and it was still nowhere to be found.

It was then that I got really scared and nervous. But in the midst of my confusion, I indeed felt like God had allowed my wallet to get lost for a reason. And that’s what I want to talk to you guys about today.

You see, sometimes we get so caught up in life that we miss God. We get so caught up in a routine that we fail to see God’s promises over our life daily. We can be so focused on the things we see (people, places, things)- that we completely disregard Who’s we are.

And when that happens, sometimes God will allow certain things to come to pass that will make us seek him. He’ll sometimes make us go back to certain things to see Him in it.

That’s why I told you the story of me losing my wallet. You see, when I lost my wallet, I had to retrace my steps carefully and tediously.

And when I did that, I noticed things that I hadn’t noticed before. I noticed that there were four bushes per eight feet. I noticed that there was a discoloration in one of the buildings that I pass every day. I could recite more, but I want you to see that when I slowed down and truly looked, I began to notice things that God had always saw.

God will make us retrace our steps so that we can see something that we missed the first time. He does this so we can not only learn something but to also see how He works things for our good every day.

Aside from that, God also allows us to retrace our steps so we can hear His voice. God is infamous for this: He will separate us from the things we think we need and want so that He can effectively talk to us.

It is in those moments that He leads us beside the still waters so that He can restore our soul (Psalm 23:2b-3a ESV). And when He has restored our soul, trust that we will be even better than what we were before.

Notice though, that as I told the story- I used words like ‘routine‘ and ‘familiar‘. I did this on purpose to get you to see that I had a routine that I was all too familiar with that God disrupted.

He did the same for many people in the Bible. But one person, in particular, was Job. Job was a man with so much success and wealth. He was blessed beyond measure. But one day, God allowed Satan to come down and destroy it all. And Job was left with nothing. And although God had disrupted his routine, Job still remained faithful. Job was so faithful, that he speaks these words:

“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” –Job 13:15a NIV

This statement was written long ago, but it still holds true to us today. And if God can restore Job, he certainly can and will restore you. Just trust in Him.

Whatever routine God is disrupting in your life may not be as extreme as Job’s or as interesting as a lost wallet, but I encourage you to keep trusting God. Even when it’s hard, keep trusting Him.

As I bring this post to a close, I pray that you all look at life disruptions as something special now. I know that I have. I encourage you all to embrace God when He decides to disrupt your routine. Because something amazing is going to come from it.

Oh yeah- I can’t just forget to tell you what happened to my wallet. My wallet was returned to me the next day by a good Samaritan, and I’m truly thankful for her.

With love and a new embrace for disruptions,

Malaysia 😉