Choose! Who Will You Follow?

This scripture is so good at pointing out what choices we have before us each day and why we have them. We may not even realize that door we keep choosing and why. 

1) Childhood! The door that was the way we were raised by our family and childhood. What we were taught by our surroundings as we grew up. This is ingrained into us through our generations from beliefs and knowledge passed down to us.  UNTIL we become old, wise, mature enough to start to question if this is what we want to believe? Or what we have been told to accept is our belief? Do we even really agree with it? 

2) Circumstances today! Are we conforming to where we are living right now? Again are those decisions being made for us by not by what we grew up with, but what is now going on around us. Are current circumstances choosing for us how to think, behave, believe? 

 or option number 3?

3)  Choose for yourself! Look at the 3 choices you are presented with. What your childhood told you, what is going on around you now, OR what God says, thinks, believes, desires for you. This 3rd option is there for you make a choice for yourself after you have been given all the facts, opinions of others. What are you going to choose for yourself? 

In 2 Kings 17 God asks His people to know that He had brought them out of slavery, delivered them from door number 1, and is asking them to NOT conform to what is around them, door number 2, or even to live in a place where they are going between the two. But to choose Him. 

We tend to stick with what we know, what we are comfortable with. Even if that is slavery to defeat. Being enslaved to feelings of discouragement, loss, unworthiness, rejections. It really hurts, but its comfortable because we already know the answers, we already know the feeling. 

But when we are asked to step out of that comfort and hope of being loved, accepted, found worthy, we don’t want to take the risk because stepping out in hope is a risk. “What if I put myself out there and get hurt again? What if I dared to dream that I really was worth being loved, valued, accepted and found out again that I was not? I don’t’ want to take that risk anymore. 

 It takes courage and bravery to put ourselves in that  harms way. BUT when we are going through the risk when God has placed that opportunity before us, that is different. Because while He doesn’t promise it won’t hurt, or that it’s going to be all joy and roses, He does promise that its for our good! He is the ONLY one that can make that promise to us and keep it. 

So, when we are struggling through that pain of denying flesh, facing fears, worries, while we ARE struggling, we are also rejoicing because we trust in His ways, and HOPE in His direction for us. We KNOW that it’s for our benefit BECAUSE of His love! We don’t have that kind of assurance and guarantee with ANYONE else ………EVER! 

I shared in my video below, some of the areas that we can walk through everyday and not even realize we are doing it because it’s just become the normal way of life for us. Ways we have been taught to think and feel about ourselves, or even ways we have come to accept through circumstances that we chose for ourselves. 

We can easily follow the direction of fear, unworthiness, insecurity, rejection and feel safe following that each day because of one thing. No surprises. No set up for being hurt even more than we are. It takes a lot of courage to step out and put ourselves into a place where we can get hurt even more than we are now. 

But that is not the place God wants us to be, the place of being so afraid of being hurt or suffering, that we would rather live in defeat, live in a lie, live with something holding us from Him. God wants us to trust Him to the point that we are willing to take that risk!

Choose today to take that chance and let HIM open that door and lead you! 

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Standing with you,
Sheila Hollinger