What's Your Normal?

Hey everyone!! I know it's been a long long time. It's been too long honestly. And I am sorry for that, but I got busy and lost track of the journey the Lord had me on. And I am so excited to be back on this to give God the glory, be here with you all, and learn and grow as an individual. Anyways, let's get into it and see where this takes us! Thank you for being here!

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I'm sure a lot of you feel the same way I do right now. The world is a bit crazier than normal and life might just seem a bit off. I can tell you right now I am seriously confused. And I'm not going to get into specifics about covid and politics and vaccines and mandates and all that other fantastic stuff because it's not necessary for what I have to say and it stresses me out, lol.

My point is, is that life looks completely different than it did two years ago. Change is scary. Change is hard. People are closed off from each other, some of us haven't been to school in a long time, some people have lost their jobs, some people have lost loved ones to suicide, some people have lost their faith, some people have lost friends, some people are so incredible lonely. Everyones life might look different right now, but everyone is dealing with something. We don't know what tomorrow looks like. And of course these things have been the case forever but recently they seem more tangible. And maybe it's because I'm older, maybe it's because I've experienced some of it, or maybe it's because of covid. But, no matter the reason, it's on my heart to talk about it and I pray that it reaches someone.

So, the idea of not knowing what tomorrow looks like. We've never known what tomorrow is going to look like. We might have an idea, like tomorrow I plan on going to work, but who knows if that is for sure going to happen? Not me, I don't. But you know who does know what I'm gonna do tomorrow? God. The future is always going to be a huge unknown for all of us. Which isn't a problem, because God's plan for your life is so much better than anything you could dream of. You just have to become content with that, which we can talk about a different time!

If you've gotten this far you're probably wondering where the heck I'm going with this. And we're getting there I promise.

After all the covid lock downs I heard a lot of people saying, myself included, things like:

- this really opened my eyes to see that tomorrow isn't promised

- we only get one life so we need to live it

- yolo (personally I used this one)

- etc

And so what? Yeah we were all a bit stir crazy and wanted things back to normal. But what's your normal? What's this life that you feel you need to live now?

If you just think about that at a surface level it's no biggy right? My normal might be wake up, go to school, chill after school until practice, go to practice, eat dinner, do homework, FaceTime my friend, shower, watch some tiktok and go to bed and then do it all over again. Not too bad right? School might suck and I might not like my coach but overall I've got it pretty good. And this life I want to live might look something like getting married, having kids, having a decent job, and traveling a bit. Sounds pretty good. But again, surface level.

Below the surface might be harder to think about. But, at some point each one of us have been asked this or will be asked this because sometimes we need a slap across the face, Is your normal leaving an impact? Is your normal the life God wants you to live? Think about it for a couple minutes and then continue on.

I'll be honest, most of the time no. A lot of the times I fall off the tracks and I sin and I turn the wrong way. And I feel like a failure and wonder why God would even want me when I feel like I'm on this endless cycle of ups and downs with Him, in and out of lukewarm Christianity, and a sinner. My normal right now is not leaving an impact. And it is not where I want to be or where God wants me to be. And you might feel this way too. But this doesn't mean there's no hope and that God is done with us. Because God is never done with us. God sent his son to die on the cross for our sins so that we could have relationship with Him. God doesn't want anything more than a relationship with you.

So, in the midst of all the chaos in the world, the unknowns, and the self doubt turn back to God. Because He is waiting for you. The creator of the world is waiting for you!! Isn't that amazing?

Then, work on your normal. Cut things out and replace them with time in the word and in God's presence. I can tell you right now that there is nothing better than feeling the presence of the Lord. These past few days have been truly hard for me and nothing has helped but laying on the floor with worship music so loud that I couldn't think about anything else if I wanted to.

Working on your normal is something I am going to be active on instagram about to keep myself accountable and hopefully help some of you out. But, I'll talk about it a bit now as well. This might look like:

- devotions

- daily prayer

- discipline in the gym or working out

- cutting out cursing

- hanging out with a better group of friends

- going to church

- building your relationship with Christ

- cutting out drunkenness or secular music

- etc.

As a Christian, your normal isn't going to look like someone's normal who isn't Christian. We are called to spread the word, make disciples, love all, and live life according to the Bible. We should be living life as faithful servants of the Lord. We should look different and make people wonder why we are different. Which isn't always easy but will forever be worth it.

So, I seriously challenge you to change your normal. And I challenge you to challenge your normal. If you think the life your living is good enough, keep improving. Your goal should be to live life like Jesus.

I'll be challenging my normal. My life day to day is going to look a whole lot different and I'm excited to see where this journey takes me!

I love you all! Thank you for reading this!

Message me on instagram and let me know what you thought!

- Maddie :)