Making the Most of Every Opportunity

            Writing this post has been a long time coming. I’ve sat in front of my laptop for countless hours creating the perfect background and making sure the colors are flawless. I want to help others through the written word, but I’ve been too much of a perfectionist to actually begin. Many days I find myself not finding time to write a blog. Having to have everything perfect and not having enough time are the two biggest lies I allow into my mind. This spring break, God exposed those false truths for something else they are—excuses. These excuses are not only keeping me from writing a blog but also from obeying God.

            One day, I was reading when the Holy Spirit compelled me to open God’s Word. At first, I pushed against His leading because I was about to find out if the heroine ended up with her prince and besides, it was a Christian novel—I was learning about God. Soon, I couldn’t stand it any longer; reading God’s Word had become a need as imminent as my next breath. So, I opened to Proverbs 14.

            Until I read verse 23, I didn’t understand why the Holy Spirit had led me there. Now, the morsel of wisdom still echoes in my mind: “All hard work leads to a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (New International Version).  I realized what I had been doing—talking. I’ve talked about the blogs and books I’m going to write and the deeper relationship with my Creator I long to have, but I haven’t acted. Sure, I’ve planned out each step; planning is my strong point. But, as the verse says, talk leads to poverty, deficiency, insufficiency, death.

            Ephesians 2:10 declares that God has a specific work for us, but talking about what doors He has opened will hand us nothing but poverty. We must work hard to have a profit. Papers can’t be written, lives can’t be changed, and calls can’t be answered without hard work.

            God hasn’t desired for our lives to end in poverty. He has good plans as Jeremiah 29:11 states, but we have to step through the doors He opens and make the most of every opportunity. People’s lives are at stake because if we as Christians merely talk, many people may never know the grace of God and we may just miss out on part of that good plan.

Living Life Together,

Rebecca Thomas