Originally published Tuesday, 15 January 2013.
I dislike unanswered questions. I've been known to badger those who have answers to my burning questions to the point of annoyance. It's not fun to stand in the middle of a bunch of question marks floating around, sometimes spinning around me like a tornado. Swirls of life uncertainties makes me feel vulnerable and exposed. Lack of control gives me the jitters! Anyone else?
After an interesting blog conversation last week with THIS POST I realized that many of us live in unanswered questions about life, about careers, about faith. I thought I would share a reader email with you (with permission from the reader, of course). This question surrounds the topic of finding your dream job and navigating careers but it also encompasses what many of us are experiencing –– that we are standing in the middle of questions.
Here is part of the reader's email:
I don't know what my dream job is right now and that's frustrating because it's hard to work towards an invisible target. I'm ok with not having my dream job right out of college. I mean, if I obtain my dream job at 23, what am I going to do with the rest of my life? (Besides get married and have children which is my real dream job but presently unobtainable). While I'm definitely grateful for these last 10 months here, I'm ready to move on. But where? How? What are my goals, long-term and short-term? What do I want to do with my life or even just my single years? Where do I step next? Those are questions I can't answer right now and for a goal-driven planner, that's aggravating.
Raise your hand if you ever feel like this about life in general? ME! It is difficult to stand in the middle of questions--frustrating. I invite you today to not run away from those questions swirling around you but instead stand still right in the middle of the questions –– even if answers are nowhere in sight. It is when we stand still in the middle of questions that God grows and builds our faith. Our questions don't aggravate Jesus (in fact, I believe He strongly welcomes our questions and doubts). Though He doesn't always provide clear cut answers right when WE think we need them, the Lord is ready and willing to pour out His peace upon us so we live in contentment of our present circumstances rather than in turmoil.
I love the Bible passage where Jesus and His disciples were out on the boat in the middle of a wild storm. Jesus was sound asleep, not worried about a thing. The disciples woke Him up, begging for Jesus to "save them." Check out what Jesus did,
But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:26-27)
In the middle of the storm and in the middle of our tornado of swirling questions, Jesus brings calm and peace. Of course the winds of the storm obeyed Him, for He is the creator of the universe –– the winds are at His command.
Let's take time to embrace the swirling of questions in our life knowing that by standing still in the middle of the storm (life's uncertainty) we find our powerful and awesome Creator, Jesus, who is in control.
Standing still in the middle of questions means we...
~take the opportunity to build up our prayer life. Pray harder and enjoy real conversations with God.
~take the opportunity to build up our trust in God's timing and His plan.
~take time to be grateful for the "now" as we ask questions about the future. There is life to LIVE in the now and lessons to learn that bring us closer to God and strengthen our belief that He is in control.
Answers to the questions will come. I think that it is in the journey of standing still in the middle of questions which is more important than the actual answers. This is hard to see at the moment...the moment when we feel overwhelmed by the storm of questions. It is hard to just stand still. I encourage you to pray today for God to pour out His peace upon you as you trust Him while you stand in the middle of questions. He is faithful to calm the storm.
Would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment...let's chat!
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