Perspective Changes Everything

I recently picked up a study I started several years ago but never finished called “Changed Into His Image” by Jim Berg. Stumbling across this book was not simply a reminder of my bad habit of starting and not finishing books, but rather a timely message I needed to hear.

In one of the chapters Mr. Berg, using the example of being stuck in a traffic bottle-neck, states that wisdom is not having “some kind of birds-eye-view of all that God is doing in the world – and particularly in [our] lives,” but rather having “God’s perspective about what next response will honor Him while keeping us still usable to Him.” The birds-eye-view he calls the “helicopter view” while the next-response view is the “dashboard view.”. What a practical lesson for me today.  

How often do we ask, plead and sometimes even scream at God WHY this or WHY me, or WHY them?  Most of us want the helicopter view and some may even feel that the helicopter view is necessary to make sense of the pain. But what the Lord wants most is to gather us up to Himself; to walk with us, guiding, helping and comforting us as we navigate the right next steps.

He may one day show us how the trauma we have endured is being worked together for good. But until then we can rest in the fact that we never walk alone, because He tells us “He will never leave us or forsake us.” Deuteronomy 31:6  

He is with us in those stuck and hard places. David, in Psalm 16:5-6, testifies “O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.”  Our dashboard view needs to be reminded that God is our portion and good inheritance. He will sustain us through the hard and bring us to a more pleasant place.

So are you thinking “I just can’t see how this could ever be worked for good; my situation or circumstance is just too awful, too broken?”  I ask you. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Luke 1:37  

The Lord is faithful and present as you take baby steps toward Him for healing. He really is our eternal HOPE!

NEXT STEPS

1. Choose to trust Him in the “dashboard view” as you wait on the right next steps.
2. Ask Him to help you surrender your longing for the “helicopter view.”
3. Purpose to walk in Hope based on His character, power and might, not your current circumstances.
4. This is a faith walk and He is trustworthy.

Sanctuary in Trauma offers SiT Sessions throughout each month to give women tools to process through the hard and ultimately release the burden to God. If you want more information contact info@sanctuaryintrauma.org.