I am the Queen of “what ifs”. In case you are unsure of what that means I will provide you with some examples. In the course of a day I may ask myself these questions. What if this happens? What if that happens? What if she? What if he? What if I can’t? What if I can? What if they do this? What if they do that? What if I can’t control it? What if I was wrong? What if they don’t like me? What if they do like me? What if this is God’s plan for my life? What if this isn’t God’s plan for my life and I just made the whole thing up? What if I can’t get past it? What if no one understands? What if it kills me? Ok, I will stop there as I am sure you now get the picture.
My mind is constantly working overtime. It’s something that has been a struggle in my faith life for years. I was recently having one of these moments. A moment of complete breakdown before the Lord. I was in the middle of asking Him a series of these “what if” questions when I was interrupted by the Holy Spirit asking me, “April,’ What if’ He is faithful?”. It was such a strong word from the Lord, I felt completely undone. My mind instantly began to turn in another direction.
What if He is faithful? What if He is good? What if He has a good plan? What if He really can comfort my broken heart? What if He can forgive? What if He is my strength? What if all of His promises are true? What if He loves me? What if grace is real? What if He can melt a heart of stone? What if He is sovereign? What if He is the healer? What if He will never leave me or forsake me? What if I’m beautiful? The answer to all of these questions is simple; He is and I am. Why? Because He said so.
“God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.
Has he ever spoken and failed to act?
Has he ever promised and not carried it through?”
Numbers 23:19
I love this passage! The great news is that I don’t have to question Him, because He is always faithful! Has he ever promised me something and then failed to act on it? Has he ever lied to me? NO! This may seem like such an elementary truth for some of you, but for me this was a huge lesson.
A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with my mom and was throwing out a lot of these “what if” questions. She finally stopped me and said, “Why are you sabotaging yourself?” To which I responded, “I don’t know?” But, deep in my heart I knew the answer was because I was afraid. This world that we live in can be so uncertain and for control freaks like me that can lead to worrying and questioning everything. Fortunately though, I serve a God that is unable to fail or change His mind about me and that erases every question in my mind.
The enemy longs to keep us in a place of confusion and unrest. He wants to see us overwhelmed and frantic because it renders us completely ineffective. I think Satan loves to see me question things because he knows it’s turning my attention away from who God is and only on who I am and what I can accomplish. When we question and worry we stay in the same place, too afraid to move. But, when we trust God and who He is, we find the strength to move forward into the incredible plans He has for us!
Today I pray that you would live in the freedom that God is faithful, loving, kind, forgiving, strong, mighty to save, relentless, patient, and abounding in love and grace. To every question that races through your mind today, let that be your answer!
April Brazelton
Lean into Jesus Ministries
#aprilbrazeltonblogs