Are You Ready for What's Next?Sample

You’re not alone

When we’re navigating through the darkest seasons of our lives, it can feel like we’re alone. I am here to tell you that you are not alone in this season of transition. Wherever you are in your faith journey, it's important to know that God will always comfort you. He’s never left you and He never will.

A few years ago, I was going through a season of transition and preparing myself to address several areas of uncertainty. During this season, it felt like God was putting me through the fire. I was moving into a new house, in a new town that I wasn’t familiar with. I was used to being comforted by my family and leaning on them for support when I needed it. But this season, it felt like each day I (metaphorically) lost a family member or a close friend. People began to grow distant and too busy for me. Everywhere I looked, I felt like I was alone. I remember reaching out to my family members for a place to stay before my new house was ready to be moved into, and there was no response. I felt alone. Although this feeling of being alone hurts, I wouldn’t let it break me. I leaned on God for guidance and strength and He provided it for me. Looking back now, I know that God was removing the people I thought I needed so that He could get me to focus on who I needed. HIM! It’s seasons like this that taught me how Sovereign God is. He loves His children so much that He gives us what we need and not always what we want. I had a way of idolizing the comfort that family provided and it resulted in me not being obedient to the assignment that God was leading me to. As my mentor told me, “It can feel like God is isolating us, but actually He’s insulating us.” He is stuffing us with more of Him and less of the unnecessary.

In the book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, because they refused to bow down and worship the king. As a result, the king threatened them to be thrown into a blazing furnace. In response to the king's threat, these men responded by saying, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve can deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.” ‬ Subsequently, the king had his men make the furnace seven times hotter than it usually was, as he had the three men thrown into the fire. Expecting the men to be killed in the fire, the King was stunned by what he was witnessing in the fire. The king saw four men walking around in the fire, unharmed and unbound. The king described the fourth man as looking like the “son of the gods”.

As the three men walked out of the fire, noticing that these men didn’t smell like fire and were unharmed, he began to praise the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Let this story remind you that you’re not alone. When you feel like you’re alone, walking through the fire, God is right there with you. He reminds us that the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, is the same spirit that lives inside of you. Neither your circumstances nor the challenges of life will scare God away from you. There’s nothing that can separate us from Him. Furthermore, when you feel like you’re alone in your anxious thoughts, your fears, or any other thoughts that speak against the truth of God, remember that He is with you in the fire. Every one of those lies will bow down at the feet of Jesus. The fire is whatever you’re dealing with, but rest assured that Jesus will protect you and deliver you out of it, just like He did with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Action plan

When you feel like you’re alone, it’s time to lean on God. In times like this, I’ve learned that God begins to separate us. When we’re in this season of transition, only God can fill the void. When people decide to leave you during these seasons, they’re leaving you in God’s hands and that is exactly where you should be. At the moment it may feel like He’s isolating us, but He’s actually insulating us. He’s protecting us from the inside out. The more we seek Him, the more we’ll receive. In this season, are you connected to a church? Are you choosing to participate in a life group within your church community? Has God sent you someone unexpectedly to comfort you? Are you aware of why God is removing things from your life? These are all examples of how to insulate yourself during these seasons of life. We are social beings but when it comes to seasons of transitions, areas where we don’t know what’s next, there’s nothing more crushing than feeling like we’re alone. Feeling like you’re alone is a tactic of the adversary. Ask God to make you aware of His presence and stand strong in His truths.

Prayer for today

Father God, thank you for your mercy and your grace. Thank you for your truths that serve as guides and reminders that you are with your children. Thank you for what you’ve done, what you’re doing, and what you’re going to do. Lord, I believe that I am not overcome by the fire because you’re my protector and my deliverer. Lord, I declare your truths over my life, my children, my family, and the paths that you’re walking me through. Lord, may you soften my heart towards you during this season. I pray you will keep me in your hands. I love you and thank you for loving me. In your name, I pray, Amen.