The Lord fills in the gaps

Failure, lack, inadequacy, all these characteristics can be hindrances or they can actually be tools for our spiritual growth. So why any discontent among believers? And when one is discontented, has a gap so to speak in their soul, what next?

I've lived long enough to have had this happen a few times now (the situations will remain anonymous to protect the innocent). My first bout with discontentment lasted way longer than I ever could imagine. I was thrown off guard and didn't know what was happening. But I was just blind, immature. Yet in it all, God's grace washed over me and in time I learned to take those opportunities to grow spiritually.

When I'm tempted to be discontent with something, I must ask myself, is this a real or a perceived problem? Just a thought from experience: Deal with real problems by seeking God's wisdom, but drop perceived problems, and always, always be in prayer (I Timothy 5:17). Like anything, maturing takes time, but those long gaps of silence and ambiguity have a way of tempting us to saying or doing foolish things. The book of James is a great one to meditate on to hang in during any tough time.

When my soul is unsettled, the following has never failed me: Pray, get close to God in fresh study and do my best to listen to others without filters from past experience. What has never helped me is to think that if I could just change others/a situation [using my present understandings of Scripture without bringing my new unsettled situation to God in humble study and prayer], that then the world will be set aright [and a "little" benefit to me is that I'll finally be happy].

My husband John is a construction manager and a gifted carpenter. He uses the old carpenter's motto, "measure twice, cut once." I say this first for me, but feel it worth sharing. It is wise as well in spiritual growth: Think twice [as well as pray twice, study twice, meditate twice, and as John says, two ears, two eyes, one mouth so as to] speak once. And let the Lord fill in the gaps.

Further Thoughts on my piece on Doubt

In mulling over the great subject of doubt, there was so much I wanted to write but picked one tangent; that is, doubting the world over doubting God. Doubt is a great subject for sure, one that can lead us closer to the Lord or further away. With no academic authority or enough life experience on my part to say "do ABC and it will work all the time," I have nothing in my arsenal except what God's beautiful words in Jude 1:22 say, "Be merciful to those who doubt." By faith, even human understanding can grasp this concept; that is, to show mercy to others or even to myself when [one is] wavering. Square pegs never fit round holes when they're forced toward the mark, but the gentle whittling away of the edges that "don't fit," in the spirit of love, is the picture I get as to how to offer mercy to a doubting soul. I pray my attempt in my earlier piece came across in this spirit, and if not, many apologies.

The tricky part of writing encouragement pieces is not to sound like I know it all, and still sometimes I feel I come across that way. But trust me, I know I don't know it all which is why I love what God offers more than any other thing this life has. This is why I write, to say thank you to the people whom God has used in the past to build me up, like my own good husband and parents, no matter how unknown or great their name (C.S. Lewis, Schaeffer, Sproul, and others), and to those whose names will never be known save among their own. I write to add my little bit to the truth that God is the "answer for everything," He is the end of all things, the omega, the period [or even ellipses when life doesn't make sense].

And when the answer is muddy, He is in the gaps somewhere, loving, instructing, encouraging, guiding my soul to persevere during the unknown, hence, even through any doubt. Doubt in what might happen, doubt in people, doubt in organizations, doubt in life-stuff; wondering if certain things can really be done and done well, done the right way, done productively. Well, if I give up and allow doubt to swallow me, I have no chance to see if "the thing" that I doubt will play out. Only God knows. I also know if I ever doubt Him (can't remember a conscious time when I have-but don't let me sound too "perfect," since I have faults in other areas where He is growing me), He still comes through despite my little faith. How great is He and the Only One to be worshiped.

That's about it and I pray that any doubt that may come your way may become an opportunity to grow closer to Him.