No! Slow! Grow! Go!

Sunday, July 25, 2010 / Blog, Motivation To Change

Are you, like me, often waiting for answers to those puzzling questions of life; the answers you are sure will make your life easier and help you find the clarity you are looking for? Why is it that some people seem to get all that things they pray for while others seem to face only increasing adversity? How come life very often doesn’t seem fair?

I watched the Hour of Power this morning on TV and Dr. Robert Schuller gave a sermon that I loved. The topic was one he gave over 40 years ago and he said it has been one of the most helpful and significant sermons he has ever given both for himself and for those who heard it. The topic addresses the places in life where we are looking for direction but can’t quite find our way. He focuses on the assurance that God is in every story, even when we don’t like His answers. So, whether you believe God is the designer of your life or whether you believe that life unfolds some other way, consider his ideas and see how they might relate to you.

Sometimes God and life answers a firm and clear NO to your request.

Sometimes things simply don’t work out because, in the big picture of your life, they aren’t in your best interest. God often has a bigger plan that you can’t see and your request simply isn’t in line with where He wants you to go. It isn’t about God not wanting to give you want you want but that He actually has something even better in mind for you. He needs to say NO to your request so he can say YES to what you need.

Sometimes God and life answers “SLOW” and encourages you to wait much longer than you would choose.

When things you want to happen seem to be delayed, stalled, or hitting multiple road blocks, it often means that God needs a few more things to happen in the sequence of events before your request will be granted. It isn’t that you won’t finally find your dream but that you simply have to learn to wait. Waiting is a skill to be cultivated and one that this difficult for most of us!

Sometimes God and life answers “GROW” and calls you to stretch and experience more things in your life before your dream will be granted.

It might be that you need to learn more lessons, change your attitude, take care of some other pressing issues first or gain some other valuable experiences before your dream will appear. God’s time is not our time so sometimes we have to simply look for places to expand who we are and trust that all in good time our dream will arrive.

And sometimes God happily shouts, “GO”!

Our time has arrived, the pieces we need have been collected, we have grown to a place where we can handle what He is asking and everything seems to magically fall into place.

As I reflect on these 4 words, I can see places in my life where I am at each of these stages. In my work, I am gratefully aware that God has said “GO”. I have spent a lifetime gathering all the experience and the wisdom I need to write a book on Food Sensitivities and children. I am privileged to work with many amazing people who share the joys and challenges of their lives. I know God is saying GO because I love every minute of it. The work is challenging and I love that. The people all bring unique stories and issues and I love that, too. I would do what I am doing for free just for the pure joy of it.

However, in other places of my life things aren’t quite as easy. My health story seems to have embraced all of the answers of NO, SLOW, and GROW. No, God has not healed me. How frustrating is that. I prayed that he would and he didn’t. The process of getting better has been painfully slow. It was 27 years ago that I first got sick! The answers have come in bits and pieces but I certainly could have used them many years before now! And, this journey has resulted in more growth than I ever could have imagined. I have experienced every emotion in the book over and over and it has forced many relationships in my life to grow, as well. I can see the growth when I look back but it has been a difficult journey.

How do I make sense of it all? Most of the time it is easy. As I now embrace God’s GO in my business, I can see how even that journey has had its places where He said NO, SLOW, and GROW. He said NO, don’t go to graduate school. You don’t need it and it isn’t part of my plan. He said NO, you can’t have your mother alive to be at your side to help you navigate your way. He said NO, I won’t give you perfect health to make it easy. All the NO’s were difficult but now I can see the power of them.

God also said SLOW in many places. I tried to go back to school, to do a little work, to carve out more space for myself, to find ways to improve my health and energy and each time an obstacle appeared in my way that slowed me down. However, each of these NO’s and SLOW’S caused me to grow. As I grew I learned more about myself, about the topic of food sensitivities, about life, about people, about business and slowly gathered all the bits and pieces I would need for success. Then God offered me a few special people and some wonderful circumstances and my dream took flight. God finally said GO!

Because of this story in my life, I am able to embrace that God is there through all the stories. I can trust that the NO’s, the SLOW’S and the GROWS of today will be the stepping stones of the GO’s of tomorrow. My challenge is now to live every day in the faith of all of this. When I get a NO that I don’t like or an invitation to GROW that I would rather not have, it is difficult sometimes to remember the bigger picture. I am hoping God will help me GROW here, too!

So, what about you? Where is God saying NO, SLOW, GROW and GO in your life? Are you listening and having faith the the invitation to GO will eventually come or are you sitting in the ditch of despair? Are you able to celebrate the places in your life where God is asking you to GO and find the courage and conviction to take bold steps? Are you accepting responsibility to GROW in who you are rather than blame others for the challenges you are facing? Are you able to find the patience to go SLOW and wait when all you want to do is leap ahead and get what you want right now? And, what do you do with God’s flat out NO’S? What do you do when you simply can’t get what you want, no matter how hard to try? Can you embrace the idea that perhaps God has a bigger plan for you and shift your focus to listen for that?