Jump Over the Mud!

Hope all of you are enjoying a nice August day! As some of you know, I teach a children's Sunday School class at my church.  This past Sunday was promotion Sunday which means all of the kids moved on to the next grade level.  I had a fantastic class this past year.  We all grew close and just really made some great memories and bonds! It was very difficult to see them move on.  I was excited to receive new children moving into my class but so sad to see my old ones go.  That whole situation reminds me of how sometimes in life, we don't want to move on.  We like our comfort zone and to get out of it takes a huge amount of effort.  But in the situation of my new Sunday School class, God is ready to use me in different children's lives this year.  My role and time of ministering to the old group during Sunday School is now over, and God has blessed me by allowing new children to move up into my class.  It will take time and effort to build relationships with each of the new students in my classroom, but God has placed them in my life for a reason and I want to be the best Sunday School teacher I can be! I want these kids to remember God as they grow older and as a teacher, I can help lay foundations to Biblical doctrines and a relationship with our Heavenly Father! What a blessing! However you do not have to be a teacher in order for God to use you, He gave you special gifts that He wants to use! So when God places new people, new opportunities, new places in your path, embrace them! They are not there by accident, but by divine appointment.  God wants to use you in every situation, every day.  Don't be stuck in the old ways, but be willing to travel a new way with Jesus! So often, we try to live in the past in a situation that is gone, and we don't move forward because we are stuck back in the mud.  The mud could be the devil telling you that you are unable to complete the task, the mud could be a past situation that now just won't leave you alone, the mud could be fear, but God doesn't want us stuck in the mud! So, jump over the mud and move on with God's help! When God begins to place new situations in life, He wants us to trust Him and be willing and ready to be used wherever He plants us! I'm not telling you that it is always easy to do, but it is always best! If you try to stay in the same place you have been in, you will never go anywhere.  God wants to use you in His timing, where He places you! I must start over training these new Kindergarten students who just moved up into my class, and I must learn new tactics to relate to them.  God wants us to be willing to restart at times, and jump into a new ministry opportunity! That could be witnessing more openly and more often, it could be serving in a new ministry, it could even be helping a co-worker and showing them the love of Jesus! Whatever it is that God is calling you to today, go ahead and just jump over the mud and keep staying on track with God!
Psalm 37:23, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way."