Let me preface this by saying that if you have not heard “In Over My Head” by Bethel Music, stop what you’re doing and look it up right now. I could honestly just stop here and this would be enough because this song is that good. When I’m searching for answers/guidance/help, music is a big way the Lord reveals these things to me. It may be a single sentence or the whole song, and often it comes when I least expect it. This song was no different. It was a normal day of me getting ready to go sit and study for hours and hours, and then I heard this song and it stopped me in my tracks. The honesty, the purity, the genuineness of the words just wrapped around my heart and stopped me right where I was. So here are my thoughts:
How many times have you felt overwhelmed? How many moments have been filled with doubt and insecurity because you find yourself in an unfamiliar place, way outside your comfort zone? Think of those times, or maybe you’re in one now, and say this:
“I was (am) exactly where God wanted (wants) me to be.”
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I think we have all (especially me) become too quick to cry out and question why God would put us in a situation/season of life where everything just seems so difficult. Where we just don’t understand why we’re having to deal with everything happening in our lives. Why?
Because we don’t have the perspective our God has. We aren’t all-knowing. We don’t know what’s going to come out of these hard times, and it’s in these moments that we have to remember that we are exactly where we are supposed to be.
God has planned each moment of your life and purposefully laid it out before you, preparing you for each step before he reveals it.
So while you may not understand the purpose behind you walking through some kind of heartache or sickness or all around stressful time, God knows that in order for you to appreciate what is in your next step you must walk through this first.
God may call you deeper into a place you’re not entirely comfortable with to help you break down the human-sized box you’ve tried to fit him in.
He may have you walk through a little fire today to truly appreciate the joy you’ll find tomorrow.
Or He may even take you to a point where you feel like the waves are crashing over your head and you can’t catch a breath and you would do anything to just make it all stop. No, this place isn’t pleasant, but it is purposeful. God may allow this season to continue because he realizes the need for you to trust him in every aspect of your life. He may know that in order for you to accomplish the amazing life he has set before you, you have to come to a place where you finally give up the control you’ve held so tightly to and are willing to follow him wherever he may lead.
Whenever you find yourself in one of these overwhelming phases of life, remember that the Lord is sovereign. Remember that he is with you through all of it. He knows how you will come out of this phase and what you will find in the next. Trust him. Give him control. Allow him to to take the lead and follow him wholeheartedly down the path he calls you to walk, even if he leads you to a place where the waters are deeper than they’ve ever been before.
Every moment God is preparing you for something. Whatever that may be, wherever that may lead you, my prayer is that you come to accept these moments not as a punishment, but as a place where God is beautifully, carefully, and lovingly molding you into the person he created you to be.
I pray you see the beauty of these “in over your head” moments as God works in you to become your sole desire, your only source of hope and joy and peace, and where he reveals himself as the only one worthy of such a title. Don’t feel defeated by these moments, see them for what they are: a beautifully broken place where you find yourself lifting your heart to the One who strives so hard to protect it, saying “I’ve lost control but I am free.”
The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand. -Psalm 37:23-24
“Let the whole world bless our God and loudly sing his praises…We went through the fire and flood, but You brought us to a place of great abundance.” -Psalm 66:8,12
The One who formed you says, “Do not be afraid for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” -Isaiah 43:1-2