Damage Control: Avoiding Distance From God in Hard SeasonsExemplo

Turn to God

As Christians, we know we should turn to God and trust Him, but sometimes we forget to do so. If we examine this a little deeper, we’ll recognize that forgetfulness isn’t our issue—the issue is pride.

Last year, our pride, disappointment, and lack of faith eroded our trust and dependence on God. As a result, we “forgot” to invite God into the process of mending our broken friendship. For months, we revisited the same issues, had hard conversations, and tried to resolve our conflicts on our own, but saw no progress. Pride caused us to believe the lie that our lives and even our friendship, were better off in our hands than in God’s. In the end, we found ourselves feeling exhausted, discouraged and distant from God.

God will allow us to walk as far away from Him as we choose. But when we finally turn to him, we find a safe space to pour out our thoughts, feelings, frustration, and pain. When we turn to God, we are given the opportunity to invite him into the pain that’s been weighing us down. And as we invite him into our brokenness, He not only shows up, but does a new thing in our hearts, renews our perspective, and revives our faith.

Looking back, we realize that God had been knocking on the door of our hearts for a long time, waiting to be invited in to heal what only He could heal. Once we turned to Him, He took the broken pieces of our friendship and created a work of art - making it better than before. We believe He desires to transform every area of our lives and yours too, but this can only happen if we are willing to turn to Him and invite Him in.

Reflection: Which doors of your heart have you kept closed off to God? What’s one action you can take today to turn to him and invite him in?