Been
a while since I last blogged. I’ve been very busy. I mentioned in my last blog
(Like a baby) that my
colleagues and I have been organizing an event which went down on Monday. We got
the chance to minister to key influencers in the creative industry in Kenya,
and tomorrow we get to minister to another group of people. A day before the
event, one of our service providers called us to tell us that there’d be a
delay in the folders she was making for our 20 delegates, as her people had messed up the inside design
and were redoing. She wasn’t sure if they were going to be done on time. Two of
our delegates then called and said they wouldn’t be coming due to various issues.
We didn’t have the balance to clear with the venue and the videographer, by
Sunday the only money on us was to go towards the delegates’ refreshments. It then
rained heavily on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, and we’d planned for
some activities to be done in the garden area. The four of us were then hit by
fatigue, anxiety, worry and a feeling of intimidation since the people we’d invited
are key influencers in their different areas in the creative industry in Kenya,
and we needed to make a kingdom impact on their lives. Because of the morning
rain, there was mad traffic and our delegates were running late, some delegates that had confirmed attendance never showed up and then we
had a few issues with the lady in charge of catering. Talk about things going
wrong!
There’s
something that my counseling psychology lecturer said yesterday. He said that,
when a Lion spots an antelope it remains focused on hunting it down until it
gets it. As long as the lion remains focused on the antelope, it’ll get it. As
he pursues the antelope, there’ll be dashing squirrels crisscrossing on his
path. The lion should now not allow itself to get distracted and start pursuing
the squirrels for by doing so, he'll miss out on the antelope. Every one of us
was created for a specific purpose. Like
I’ve mentioned before, it is in our intimacy with God that we get to know what this
purpose is, and how to go about it. As we pursue this purpose, there’ll be many
dashing squirrels on our path. It is imperative that we remain focused, so we
don’t miss out on God’s plan for us. The dashing squirrels come in many forms;
family, friends, work, money (the lack of or abundance), bills, health issues,
the voice of reason, different circumstances etc.
The
enemy preaches through circumstance and will take every opportunity to make you
so conscious of the dashing squirrels than focusing on God. Within us is
everything we need to face ANYTHING we face. God dwells in us and NOTHING is
impossible with Him! (Luke 1:37) Like I mentioned in my blog ‘The right kinda journaling’, the devil
uses accusation, intimidation, fear, anxiety etc. in order to make you so
conscious of the problem you are currently facing, that you can’t even
recognize the tools/solution that God has placed in your hands. He causes us to
shift our focus from the reality of God in us, to the dashing squirrels (circumstances).
The disciples saw Jesus walking on water, and Peter said “…if
it is You, command me to come to You on the water”, so Jesus beckoned him to
get off the boat. Peter began walking on water towards Jesus, but then the
dashing squirrels stole his focus and he begun to sink (Matthew 14:25-30)
When
my team and I realized that this is what was happening, we decided to refocus
our attention on Him and trust that all would go according to His plan, despite
all that was going wrong. It is with that decision that we experienced God’s
peace as the day unfolded: We got the perfectly done folders on time; the sun
came up and because the grass was soggy, we moved the garden activity to the
car park; our delegates made it to the venue despite the traffic; there was a replacement for the delegates who never showed up; refreshments were up to standard and enough and despite starting our program
late, God enabled us to finish on time and the delegates were fully impacted! They
didn’t even want to leave when the event was over. They hang around for one
more hour.
I mean, when you focus on God, there’s no striving, everything falls
in place, but when you focus on the dashing squirrels you begin to sink in
worry, fear and anxiety. We’re still looking for money to settle certain costs
that we incurred for that event, and there are other challenges we’re facing as
a unit and as individuals, but we’re no longer focusing on the problems but on
God. Focusing on God gives us peace that even though we don’t see a way out, we
can trust God to see us through, and He NEVER disappoints.
Am
sure there are many things that are calling for your attention. Things that make
you feel like your life is spinning out of control, or like the world is
crumbling down. Issues/dashing squirrels will always be there as long as you’re
in pursuit of purpose (plus the enemy always contends whenever you’re in
pursuit of God’s will). The key is to focus on God: on who He is, on what He’s
capable of, on what He has said and is saying and on what He’s doing. To not
allow the dashing squirrels to steal our focus.
Graham
Cooke says “The place we must mature in is our internal discipline to
remain in tune with God on the battlefield.” He then goes on to say
“Maintaining our inner
compass means that no matter how much life spins us around (or no matter the number of dashing
squirrels), when it stops spinning
(when they stop
crisscrossing), we always know where God is" (Like the lion, our eyes should remain on the
antelope)
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