It’s easy to get so focused on a problem that it smothers our joy. I spent time talking and praying with a woman whose husband had left her, and her desire for reconciliation had become the only focus of her life. It was as though she’d stopped living, and there could be nothing new in her life until he came back. I told her, “Listen, you can’t stay stuck this way. Keep believing, but don’t wait for this prayer to be answered and then you’ll have joy. You’re too valuable. You have gifts and talents. Be the best you can be, make plans for your life, and take on the new challenges that God has for you now.”
I could say that to her because several years ago I had gone through a long period of feeling overwhelmed by a challenge that was so discouraging and wasn’t changing. There were times when all I wanted to do was hide away at home, and I went through many days when I did all I could do to push through feelings of defeat. Have you ever felt that way? Finally, one day God spoke to me and said, “You can’t live this way. You were made to shine. You need to look out beyond this problem because I have new opportunities. I am still working in the middle of your difficulty.”
If there’s a problem in your life that is holding you back from living in God’s joy, you have to receive what God spoke through the prophet Isaiah: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18–19). God is saying, “Do you recognize the new thing I’m doing in your life? Don’t wait to have faith when the problem takes care of itself, because I’m doing some new things right now. Look for it! Watch and see what I will do. It is a new thing.”
Are you shining today, or are you a bit dim? Is there a black cloud over you? I believe that God has a word for someone who is reading this today. Don’t focus so much on an area of your life that needs to change or on something you want to happen. Don’t waste your precious time, your precious life, when God has already put “new things” into motion. He’s making a way for you through the wilderness right now. New opportunities, new growth, and new ways of doing things are springing up for you today. Can you see it?