Embracing What's Right In Front

 I'll admit it: sometimes being a mental wellness advocate can be frustrating. While extremely rewarding, it can also test my patience as there are moments when some tend to be blind to the obvious. Jaded by their own insecurities. Held back from healing by the fears that have long kept them from love and feeling fully alive. 

There have been times when I've had to take a breath and let go. Understand that they aren't "there" yet in the sense that they aren't ready to take the leap that leads toward recovery. They can sit there and say all day that they want to change - that they want the situation to change - yet still fail to take the steps necessary to get there. 

And who am I to judge them? 

After all, it's taken me years to release some things too  - to be willing to turn loose and allow God to do a new work. I know how scary it can feel. What it's like to ask if the price is too high. If it's worth the risk to open up and ask for help. 

But I'm beginning to realize that the most common struggle for us all is often to see what is right in front. We beg for clarity or answers or divine guidance or solutions...all the while missing that He could be sending what we're asking and we're simply missing it because we're too afraid or it doesn't look like what we expect. 

Maybe there's a bit of the young ruler inside of us all who, when Christ answered his question about what it meant to follow, left sorrowing because he couldn't bring himself to turn loose. 

Maybe there's also a bit of the innkeeper who, when the earthly parents of God's Son stood at his door, couldn't give up his own comfort because he failed to see what was there for his taking. Missed out on a blessing because he was too frazzled and set in his routine. 

Or maybe there's an inner Pharisee that is so focused on the rulebook that we're hesitant to change our ways...because we've always done it this way and we thus close off to His way. 

Whatever our reasons, the truth is that we come up with many excuses as to why we can't do the hard work of holy work. Why it's too much trouble to change. 

Many times, over the years that I've worked with those struggling with emotional and mental distress, I've gone through the suggestive process of what it will take to get better, to grow. And so often, rare is the one who will actually roll up their sleeves and trust the journey. Lean-in to the pain. Allow the transformation to happen. They want a quick fix but not a God-fix. And rarely does His fix come fast. 

God-fixes often come in the form of unexpected means. Sometimes they even come on the backs of great trials and heartaches. 

Hardly will He remove our distress without asking some sacrifice on our own part. Ask us to come meet Him partway. Because the process, while entirely driven by Him, also has to be cooperated with by us. 

Sometimes I think we're so blocked by the distress in our soul that we fail to see how Jesus is already ahead of us, working on a favorable outcome. We forget that He has the solution before we've even had the problem. And so, we run around like our hair is on fire, crying out for deliverance and assistance and comfort and peace, when He's standing there the whole time, pointing us calmly to the path we should take and waiting for us tire out enough to actually stop and look. 

We spend so much time chasing things we think will be part of the solution and getting disappointed when they fail us when Jesus is trying to get our attention and turn us in the direction we need to go. 

Perhaps it's time to slow down and breathe. Stop chasing after people and things that will only leave us empty and instead, remember that we've already been chased. We've already been pursued by the God of the Universe and offered the greatest love. And that same God reminds us over and over that we've been given access to "everything that pertains to life...and godliness." The cure for our distress is right in front of us. We only need to stop running around and take notice. 

Whatever you're dealing with right now, maybe God is sending you the exact help you've been asking for. Maybe the answer is sitting right in front of you but you keep coming up with reasons not to pay attention. You keep passing up the help you desperately want because you wanted it to look like something else. Or because you weren't willing to be uncomfortable and pushed out of your comfort zone. 

I don't care what form He brings aid to you. But I do care that your heart and eyes have to be open enough to see it when it arrives. To realize that yes, maybe you do need to pick up that book someone gave you instead of letting it collect dust on the shelf. Maybe you do need to take somebody up on their offer to mentor and help you through your insecurities. Maybe you do need to welcome the sage advice of somebody who's been where you're at and can show you the ropes. Maybe you do need to pick up stakes and move to a healthier space where you can get out of the negative patterns in your life and start to become who God wants you to be. Maybe you do need to go to therapy or counseling and begin the process of rebuilding your life. 

Regardless of the method, don't let insecurity or excuses come in the way of your healing. God is likely presenting you with a way out but you're too focused on the pain to see what it is. Perhaps it would do you some good to quit complaining about how bad you've got it and start getting proactive. Life is hard - don't get me wrong. But, at some point, you have to stop exacerbating your wounds by refusing the cure that will actually make you well. 

The Great Physician knows you better than you know yourself, and I can promise you that His solution to your problem will be far better than anything you could've come up with yourself. Maybe today is the day you can give yourself permission to let go. To come honestly and humbly forward and admit that you're willing to let the good in so you can let the bad out. To stop staying you can't help how you feel and realize that's actually not the case. To do the hard work of getting to the bottom of your issues and allowing God to do what He does best - restore. 

We're only here on this earth a short time and what a shame it would be if we all lived a life less than what we could've had...all because we were too prideful, too stubborn to recognize and embrace a little help when it came.