Feeling Stuck? Maybe It's Time for a Reset

One of my favorite Proverbs in the Bible is Proverbs 3:5-6. It is a scripture that many of us are familiar with. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.”

The Passion Translation says, “Trust in the Lord completely and do not rely on your own opinions, With all your heart rely on him to guide you and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go.”

I like how the Passion Translation uses the word opinions. I think our current culture of advice, such as “follow your heart” and “trust your gut,” this scripture shows that our understanding of current situations and our opinions about them cannot always be relied on. Why? Because we are not God. Our sight is limited. He alone can see the big picture.

Sometimes, the Lord asks us to step out in faith and trust Him. Sometimes, what He asks us to do does not seem to make sense to us, but He always has a plan if we choose to follow Him in obedience.

A few years ago, I found myself in this type of situation. I was feeling stuck and desperately needed a reset. I had enjoyed a long teaching career, but because of many different circumstances, I was feeling burned out. Truthfully, if I had been honest with myself at the time I was feeling stuck in many areas of my life, and it was becoming unhealthy. However, I didn’t know how or maybe even lacked the courage to get myself unstuck.

An opportunity came along for me to possibly move from elementary school to middle school. Even though I was certified to teach middle school, a specific Language Arts for middle school state test would be required to be able to apply for the job. So I found out when the next test was, paid money for the test, studied briefly for the test, woke up early on a Saturday morning, drove to a testing site, and spent my day off taking a test.

This was not exactly how I wanted to spend my time or my money, but I think sometimes these situations require investment on our part.

When I received my test results, I couldn’t believe how high I had scored. I think I had been doing my job so long and was dealing with quite a bit of pressure to perform coming from all sides that I had never really stopped and evaluated and told myself “Hey, you are good at this. You do know what you are doing.” This process of applying for a new job also led me to put a resume together. Again, seeing my career on paper the realization came that I actually had accomplished quite a bit in my career.

The ironic part of this story is I never did move to middle school. Some circumstances shifted at my current school, and it wasn’t the right time for me to move. However, because of the process I went through, I gained the courage to take some steps to get unstuck in some other areas of my life.

Someone or even me could look at my life and say well, trying to get into middle school was a complete waste of time, money, and effort. But I know that to not be true. I took a step of faith, and in that step of faith many other doors in many other parts of my life opened. I could liken it to someone opening the doors and windows in a stuffy house, and fresh air is allowed to come in.

That one step of faith set into motion other steps of faith, leading me to reset other parts of my life. I believe the Lord invited me and called me to just take one step with him, and in doing so allowed me to have the courage to take many others with Him.

Luke 12:6 in the Passion Translation says, “Jesus responded, “If you have even the smallest measure of faith, it would be powerful enough to say to his large tree, ‘My faith will pull you up by the roots and throw you into the sea,’ and it will respond to your faith and obey you.”

Jesus encourages His disciples that as long as they are following Him, they need just a small measure of faith—other translations say faith the size of a mustard seed. Jesus is saying all I require of you is the smallest measure of faith, but then you must act on it. Recognize that the faith you have has a purpose.

So what about you? Are there areas of your life where you feel like God is asking you to take a step of faith? Are you trying to logically reason out why you should or should not follow the path He is asking you to take? Don’t wait for it to make sense. He alone can see the big picture and knows what that step of faith can do for you in your life.

Remember, friend, God is always for you, never against you. You are here on this earth for such a time as this. God wants to partner with you in all areas of your life. Ask Him if there is a step of faith you need to take. He will be faithful to answer.