I’ve kind of been in a little funk as of late. For some reason, I’ve felt like my life has been stagnant and that not much has changed even though I’ve been praying about a number of things. It’s almost as if I’ve been going to new places but staying in the same head space. Kind of like I’ve been taking one step forward and two steps back. Almost as if I wasn’t experiencing any kind of abundant life. Even though it is discouraging and frustrating to feel this way, it’s even more frustrating to admit to myself that I haven’t been doing much to correct that way of thinking.

Imagine you are in a subway station. You’re anxious and you feel like you need to get somewhere fast. You stand there and complain as train after train after train passes you by. You’re standing there complaining about all that you won’t or can’t do and how you aren’t moving forward to your next destination in spite of the fact that you’ve been given plenty of opportunities to move forward, to get on the train, and move on. You feel more comfortable standing there and pitying yourself than you do actually trying to get out of that funk…

So what now?

I listened to a Chrystal Evans Hurst podcast the other day in which she talked about taking care of yourself spiritually. One big takeaway that I got was that sometimes we have to just take the time to slow down and look at our lives. Sometimes we just need to sit down with God and have quiet time to examine where we are spiritually and mentally. It’s important to take time to be real with ourselves and to be honest about our feelings, but if this is not followed by some kind of change or action we are basically just ranting and throwing ourselves a pity party.

During my morning quiet time I was able to answer some questions for myself which were included in a worksheet that was mentioned in the podcast and can actually be found online:

In what ways have I seen God today?

What is one lie I’m believing about my life?

What is the truth?

Based on the truth, what is one thing you have learned about God? About yourself?

I couldn’t immediately think of what God had done in terms of huge or monumental things (I had only been awake for about an hour at the time), but when I thought of the small things, I realized God had been doing a lot for me! I woke up in a calm house, I had peace in the morning, I got to enjoy quiet time without feeling rushed, I got to see another morning and I felt protected and provided for. I soon put the lies that I had been telling myself against the truth of what God says and I soon realized, “You know what? My life is pretty abundant after all”.

Rethink what abundance means to you.

When we think of abundance we tend to think of money, vacations, squad goals, and basically all of the things the world says we should have in order to be and feel significant or happy. We start comparing our lives to the lives of others to see how really “abundant” it is, and, in the process, we neglect all of the small things God has allowed to see and experience.  My peaceful morning very easily could have morphed into a stressful day, but God allowed me to be at peace. I could have woken up with nothing to eat for breakfast, but by the grace of God I had more than enough available to me. I could have lost a family member, but my family is all accounted for and just as loving as ever. I could go on and on about the small things that God has done for me. In spite of the fact that I’m not rich, that I wasn’t able to experience extravagant vacations growing up, that I’m not going out every single night, and that my family has had its fair share of financial struggles, I can still wake up with a grateful heart and declare that my life is truly abundant.

It’s easy to let lies creep into our minds when we are focusing on the wrong things, but when we take the time to measure our thoughts against what God says it’s easy to see just how much He’s done for us. We can more easily see in which areas we’ve been a little lacking and just how much we’ve taken for granted. It’s not always easy to get out of a funk and you may have to talk to someone about it, but there is always hope. Even though a mustard seed size faith is small it is still powerful. In the same way, even the small things we are blessed to have can have a monumental impact on our quality of life. Even a small blessing is still a blessing.