Doing Good Without Growing Weary

My Pastor preached a phenomenal message at church this weekend and I just have to share. It is too good not to. The way he breaks down scripture and brings it to a practical level is nothing short of amazing. It is a gift from God that I wish I had (without coveting, mind you). Our church has been going through the book of Galatians over the last several weeks in a message called The New Normal and it has blessed me beyond words. This particular message, however, spoke specifically to where I am in life and I thought I would share just in case you are there too.
Personally, I have been in a season of transition which is why you haven’t heard from me in a while. I started a new and exciting position at work, got married in October (woohoo!!!!), have been struggling with different challenges with the kids, and have just been in a place spiritually where I don’t feel like I am hearing from the LORD. Have you ever been there? Just feeling dry spiritually and desperately needing to hear from God. That is where I have been for some time now. I have been stuck in several areas of my life and want desperately to hear God’s direction in those areas. It feels like I am literally begging God at this point. So what do you do in these times? Do you wallow in the pain and silence? Do you beg as I have been doing? I know many of us, including myself, allow seasons like this to literally freeze us right where we are. We do nothing, either out of fear or discouragement or other nasty little emotions that we let control us. For me, it has been all of the above to the point where I have felt trapped and unable to move forward.
So what am I going to do now? I am going to do what my pastor preached this weekend. Like Emmett Smith, who ran only 2 yards his entire first game but ultimately ended up breaking the record for longest yards, I am going to put one foot in front of the other until the momentum has me moving forward. I am not going to let my emotions control my life as I learn to obey the law of Christ no matter how I feel. How? By doing good as it tells us to in Galatians 6. We do good by helping others (v 2), doing our best without comparing ourselves to others (v 4), taking responsibility (v 5), being generous (v 6), and listening to God (v 7). Once I learn to do good by following the word of God, I am going to keep doing good by implementing a system that makes
doing good repeatable. I hate systems, but they make just about anything replicable. Even though they go against every fiber of my unstructured being I hope by implementing a system I will be able to live out God’s plan, even when I am not hearing directly from Him. Here is the one my Pastor uses with the acrostic BLESS. I think I am going to give it a try:

B – Bless others – x3
1. Bless someone in the faith
2. Bless someone outside the faith
3.Randomly bless someone else

L – Learn – x3
1. Learn something new from where you are in the Bible
2.Learn something new from somewhere else in the Bible (Proverbs is a great place)
3.Learn something new from some other source

E – Eat – x3 (great things happen around food, we have 21 meals on average per week. Pick 3 times this week that you will be intentional about who you eat with.)
1.Eat with friends
2.Eat with people outside the faith
3.Eat one on one with someone that you can be intentional with

S – Sense – x3
1.What is God saying to you? (hint: are you spending enough quiet time with him to find out)
2.What are you saying to yourself? (does it line up with what God says about you?)
3.What do you believe about what others say about you? (does it line up with what God says about you?)

S – Serve – x3
1.Serve 1 person inside the faith
2.Serve 1 person outside faith
3.Serve another person randomly

(By the way, a little suggestion here: If we are not hearing from God and are in a season of dryness we need to continue reading scripture. Scripture is the very breath of God and we will always, always hear from Him there.)

So, I feel like I have a good plan for moving forward and I plan on enlisting my accountability partners to help me with it. If you don’t have an accountability partner, I highly recommend one. I have 3. It will change your life. One of my precious girls texted me this morning asking me to read Psalm 143:8 reminding me to simply let God show me his unfailing love and as I trust Him, and lift my soul to Him, He will show me the way to go. Thanks Maria for your friendship and accountability. I know that I can always count on you.
So what about you? Are you struggling with something? Do you feel stuck? Are you feeling dry spiritually? I believe that if we learn to do good according to Galatians 6, allow God to love us as we pour out our souls to Him according to Psalm 143 and find an accountability partner to walk with us along the way we will be a lot less likely to grow weary in doing good and we will reap a harvest as God directs our paths.