Yesterday, a friend of mine asked me what I would say if God came to me and said He wanted me to convince everyone to turn to Him. What a challenging question! I would have loved to say I would respond with “Yes Lord, whatever you want, I will go do it.” but I couldn’t. Why? Because, I know God has told me to do things that I put off. I start doing it and then I hit an obstacle and put the task aside.
So, although I would love to be able to say I would hop right to getting done what He wants me to do, I know that isn’t what I would really do. Although many of the things I am asked to do I complete right away, it is easy to push off those things that you don’t really want to do or you hit an obstacle when doing them. Being persistent in spreading the wonderful news of our Lord isn’t always easy. We run into obstacles and although we know that God will move those obstacles out of the way, sometimes we procrastinate helping to get past the obstacles.
What did I say to my friend? I told him that God would never ask me to do that. That God knows that I would never be able to convince “everyone” but if He did ask me to convince “everyone”, He would be with me and give me the resources to do what He was asking me to do. God gave me a gift of writing, He told me to put positive things into this world and for the past year, I have been wandering in the wilderness trying to figure out what to do and how to do that.
I get motivated to do something and do a little bit, but then an obstacle comes into play and I procrastinate. Geesh – what am I going to say to God when I meet Him face to face someday: “I was waiting for someone to help me. I was waiting for direction.” What an awful answer, I would be the servant who went and buried his one talent from the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. I don’t want to be that guy! I want to be the good and faithful servant.
God told me what to do, put positive things out into the world and all the help I need is right here – God, His angels and the saints are all here waiting to help me. I just need to ask for help and keep taking steps!
Yes – God will remove the obstacles in our lives. Sometimes we need to pray, the answer will come. I think God had my friend asked me that question because I needed to hear the answer I gave. God keeps reminding us when He wants us to do something and the question from my friend was a reminder. I most likely will stumble and fall again but Lent reminds us that Jesus fell three times on His way to the ultimate sacrifice of love for us, but He got up three times and kept going.
Follow Jesus’ example and keep going. If God wants you to do something, He will give you the resources to do it. If you fall, remember you are not alone, pick yourself up, Jesus loves you and is with you!
“fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” Isaiah 41:10