1866 Now Live Different

BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

Just how perfect do things have to be for you to feel happy? What is required for your motivation and inspiration? Are you waiting for a list of things to be bought, a list of things to come together, and a list of confirmations to make life better?

What if we’re waiting on things we were never supposed to wait on. And what if while we’re waiting, life is passing.

Time in Bali is truly life changing. You simply can’t be in the middle of the raw beauty here and not see the fingerprints of the Creator. But of even greater impact are the people. People God made. People God loves.

The Balinese way of life shines a light on our own way of life and stirs a desire to change. I see God here. I hear the Holy Spirit here. He whispers, “My girl, you are precious, but this life has become unprecious to you. It’s time to change.”

Has life become unprecious to you? It has to be perfect before you’re truly happy, and honestly perfection is really hard to obtain and impossible to maintain. Overflowing happiness is reserved for radically special days, so the ordinary days you go into robot mode, and robot mode has your face looking like you’re either quite miserable or you’re quite disgusted.

Honey, you don’t look happy. Your energy doesn’t reflect a girl who recognizes the preciousness of life all around her.

Have we become the girl who needs to have a plan and for that plan to be working in order to be happy?

Have we become the girl who is wrapped up in the details and missing the whole point?

Have we become the girl who is always trying to rush everything? We’re rigid, negative and nit picky.

Have we become the girl who cares more about how it looks than the purpose of it? We’re fake, we’re superficial, and we are forever in a hurry about something.

I make my own self want to gag, quite honestly. Oh how I’ve strayed. Have you strayed too, my sister? Want to come back to a better way of living where life is precious, God comes first, people are loved and we’re back in balance?

Me too. Let’s do this together.

1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

Can I get an AMEN?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a life moto! This is a daily guide to living. And this is what I see in Bali. I see people living this command in our Bible far better than us. The Balinese people are Hindu, but before you dismiss them, I assure you they are not so unlike us in faith, and they are lightyears ahead of us in living out this command.

Here in Bali, they are truly always joyful. In some living conditions we can’t imagine, they overflow with joy. With daily hardships beyond our experience, they exude genuine happiness.

They pray continually. God is their priority in every detail of life, not just in word but in action. We learned yesterday that at noon when the sun is high above you and you can’t see your own shadow, it is a call to pray. Oh let that set in for a moment – when you can’t see your own shadow, you pray.

But even deeper than that, we learned to pray in gratitude for not just the things that are good, right, working and coming together, but to pray in gratitude for the undesirable things, the hard things, the uncertain things, the painful things. Be grateful in everything because you trust God knows precisely what he is doing.

Yesterday here at the BIG Life Bali Retreat, we spent the day with our local drivers who taught us the deepest life changing lessons. Their teaching words were powerful and left us each deeply moved. But it was the behind the scenes moments we witnessed that hit me the hardest.

While driving down a tiny street in Ubud, we came upon a ceremony at a village temple where dozens of mopeds were parked on the road. There was literally only inches on each side of the car to pass – until there were no inches at all. You couldn’t pass. A moped was carelessly parked, blocking the road to our Retreat house. Our driver hops out of the car, carefully moves the moped and parks it correctly, and literally smiles as he returns to the car and says with undeniable joy, “Now we can pass.”

Perhaps this is the greatest lesson I will take with me. Truly unbothered joy. A natural free flow of happiness regardless of obstacles.

Imagine that scene for a moment on our streets. Imagine the frustration. Why? Because we were delayed in our rush? Because we were inconvenienced? Because we are so precious everyone else should know we’re coming through?

We forfeit our joy over the tiniest of things. We rush our prayers and we limit our praise. We live out of balance and wonder why things fall apart.

What if our mission today became living out 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

It is not God’s will for you to be so rigid. It is not God’s will for you to be so rushed. It is not God’s will for you to be so frustrated. It is not God’s will for you to be unimpressed by the beauty of his creation.

What is required for your praise? Really, how good do things have to be in your life for you to wake up with praise on your lips? Are you waiting for your problem to pass, then you will praise? Well let me tell you a little secret … GOD INHABITS YOUR PRAISE.

Your problem needs God in the middle of it, and the way to get him in the middle of it is to praise right here while the problem is still prominent and the answers are still unknown.

Praise him in the middle of this problem and you will literally feel the shift in your spirit. Unleash your creativity in the middle of the chaos and see what good can be created. Decide happiness will be your chosen mood even when things are so far from perfect it’s ridiculous, then you’ll be amazed by all the reasons to be happy.

Cut the strings and drop the expectations of what’s required. You’re giving all your power to circumstances. You’re putting too much importance in the “vibe” or the “feeling” when none of that is needed. What’s needed is your consistent action and your continual praise.

God is living inside of you. He doesn’t need circumstances to change to show his power in your life. He needs you to stop giving power to circumstances and stop waiting to feel different, and start doing something different. Start living different.

Make joy your default from which life flows.
Never stop praying. Wake up praying and talk to God about everything.
Be thankful in every single circumstance – yes, all of them.
This is God’s will for you.

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