The New Normal!

Sometimes life happens at a rate of knots that you are not quite ready for.

No matter how much you prepare yourself, it seems to hit you like a steam train, knocking down everything in its path….including you!

Generally there are 2 ways you can handle this:

1. Climb into bed, pull the covers over your head and refuse to surface OR
2. Face it head on, fighting in His strength, taking charge as you are swept away.

What you once considered “normal” is no longer and so this leaves you searching for a “new normal”

To be honest, I don’t know that there even is a “normal” What may seem normal for me, may be completely foreign to you. And what’s normal for our family may not seem so normal for yours.

This last season, I am learning what my new normal looks like. In the last couple of months, we have shifted towns, shifted house and settling into life as Leaders of a Church.

My down time, which I cling to ferociously (being the classic introvert that I am) no longer seems to be my own and I am torn with my own needs and the (many) needs of those around me.

God is opening my eye’s to those needs in a big way. From a purely selfish perspective, I am trying to keep my eyes shut tight, so I don’t have to see all the hurting people. Keeping them closed so I can just live in my safe little comfortable world.

But I am discovering more and more that the world can be a cruel place and there are so many hurting people just trying to keep their head above water. Not just the ones you see on tv, but in our own community, our friends, our neighbours, people walking down the street, all dealing with the pressures of life. Some dealing with the consequences of bad choices, and others trying to deal with the cards life has dealt them. All just trying to breathe and taking one step at a time, one foot in front of the other. Some days not even being able to do that.

All trying to make sense of a broken world and where they fit in. All trying to find their place in life. All trying to make a difference in their own way. All just wanting to be normal.

I am learning more and more that God is calling me out of my “normal” and into a “new normal” One where I am called to sacrifice my own time and needs for those around me. One, where my selfish tendencies are pushed aside to help the needs of the broken and the lost. One where I am out of my comfort zone, feeling like I am sinking in a sea of people, yet knowing God is my lifeline and knowing I can do all things through Him.

God has broken my heart and is now rebuilding it stronger and tougher so I can talk to people without the tears streaming down my cheeks, as my heart breaks at what they are facing. So I can stand boldly and confidently while praying for people, knowing that God is the Healer. God gently taking the burden from me, that I need to fix everyone’s problems for them. God is the one who fixes and it is just my job to stand with people in faith, adding mine to theirs, to believe God’s word for them.

It is my job to live a life that honours God in all I do, even when I don’t feel like it. Even when I am tired, overwhelmed and feeling like a failure, it is my job to love people, to show them God loves them and to give them hope. I am now beginning to understand when Christ wrote about dying to self.

But there is a fine line between serving God, and becoming a martyr. God is not asking me to give up everything I love and serve 24/7, but He is asking me to puts others before myself and look outwards instead of naval gazing. It’s still ok for me to have some time by myself. It’s still ok to watch Christmas movies and lie on the couch with a bag of chips and a coke zero. But instead of this being the norm, it is now a luxury I don’t take for granted. This Blessed life I am living is one to be thankful for and as I extend my hand to others, it’s my prayer that God would increase my capacity to serve Him and love others.