“Our difficulty (and unhappiness) is not that we don’t know God’s will. Our discomfort (and unhappiness) comes from the fact that we do know His will, but we do not want to do it.” Henry Blackaby, paraphrased

Enough about God … when’s it my turn? 

I can’t tell you how many friends ask this question or claim that now is their turn,

… and I get it. 

I tried hard with family and friends whether my motives were good or not. No matter what God wanted, I desperately wanted to look and feel good, so I turned people into projects and made them my purpose, and then complained when I didn’t get my turn.   

After my daughter got engaged, I mistook her busyness and fewer phone calls to mean she didn’t want me to help plan her wedding. When would I ever get my turn to be happy while dealing with uncomfortable emotions?

When we straightened out our misunderstanding, we had a lot of catching up to do. When would it be my turn to do my life with so many details to decide on for her?  

During the deliveries of her two babies, I wanted to help. But when would I meet my own deadlines since hers were more important?  

This is my short list. I could go on about how I sacrificed for my husband and my son even though they didn’t ask me to, and neither did God. 

I fluctuated between how important I imagined I was to my family to how important I thought it was to have my turn. I ignored a lot of stuff about God and what He wanted. 

All the while, I whined about not being happy.

It took five decades to figure out that my purpose wasn’t about trying hard, nor was it about getting my turn. My purpose began with turning my will over to God so He could turn my life around.

And now it’s my turn to live for Him, which means …  

• Make time for people without making it about me.  
• Do something daily for someone else.   
• Turn out my manuscript because He said so. 

It’s your turn too … not to go off and live anyway you want, but to list what His will is for your life and go do that. Trust me when I tell you that when you do, you’ll get your turn to be happier than ever before. You’ll be happy to be you.

In This Together,
Kim

FYI: I’m blogging my book titled On The Other Side of Trying Hard: Healing, Happiness, and Holiness. Because the blog posts will eventually be an entire manuscript instead of stand-alone stories, some posts may leave you hanging. I hope you’ll hang in here with us anyway ‘cause a happy ending is coming. Each blog post title includes the chapter title first. The phrase in parentheses is one subheading within the chapter. I’d love to hear your reflections, questions, and suggestions. I’m over-the-top grateful you’re here.