Don't settle!

          For the past few weeks God has been using people’s testimonies to minister to me and to give me something to write about. One afternoon, I decided to sit down and watch the 700 Club because I enjoy listening to the various testimonies of what God is doing in the lives of different people. As I sat and listened to the program my attention was caught by a young girl who was unable to taste or smell. When she was born her olfactory nerve was not connected to her brain hence the inability to smell or taste. No one even knew she had this problem until around the age of five when her parents started to realize that something was wrong and when they checked with the doctor found out what had taken place. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to fix the problem. So, the young lady had to live with it.
         I thought to myself afterwards of life in general. So many times, we choose to live with it, live with situations, circumstances that we feel we can’t change. And so, we go through life “living with it.” But suppose there are those impossible things in our life that God wants to change, even can change. Suppose He is just waiting for us to look to Him instead of looking at the impossibility of our situation? 
         It’s so ironic that even her mother said that they were not even praying for that problem. They never gave it to God. Instead they chose to focus on her problem with asthma and that is what they were believing God to heal. You see, in their minds, the asthma was “do-able”, God could handle that but the other problem? That was just too big for God. Sometimes we do the same thing. We give God – without realizing it – the things we think He can handle but the other stuff we keep to ourselves and simply choose to “live with it.” It’s as if God isn’t big enough, strong enough, capable enough to handle this particular problem. Sometimes maybe, we have been going through that situation for so long we actually believe that maybe this is our lot in life. And maybe it is… But what if it isn’t?  
         I am reminded of Abraham’s father, Terah. He was on his way to Canaan but stopped in the land of Haran and guess what? He never completed his journey. He stopped and stayed right there in Haran and I believe he simply chose to “live with it,” to stay right where he was because he actually believed that that was where he needed to stay (Genesis 11:31-32). He was comfortable, too comfortable and never continued his journey and therefore did not receive God’s best for him. His son, Abraham, however, received “his father’s best” instead because he chose to follow God’s instruction all the way and finally made it to Canaan. He did not settle for less just because it was easier or more comfortable.
         How comfortable are you with where you are? Your situation may be stressful, downright painful, but for some reason you feel stuck. You have actually started believing that maybe this is where you need to “stop and stay”; this is probably as good as it’s going to get so you may as well learn to “live with it.” We may feel so stoic, so noble with this attitude but in reality, this stoicism can cause us to miss God’s best for us.
         In my own life, I have to be honest, too many times, I have chosen to settle, chosen to “live with it,” because that seemed so much easier to do. I think sometimes I get so discouraged that the situation is taking so long to change that I start to believe that maybe, that’s how it’s going to be and that maybe I just have to learn to make the best of it. But after listening to this testimony I realize that Jesus came so that I could have and live an abundant life in Christ. It is true that my life will not be perfect, but there are some things that I have chosen to “settle” for that maybe God doesn’t want me to settle for. Maybe He just wants me to be patient; my dream will still come to pass, my situation will change for the better, but I just have to trust His perfect timing and His ability to do the impossible. 
         So today, if you don’t have a relationship with the God who is able to pull you out of your stuck position, invite Him into your life and see the amazing things He is going to do for you. And if you do have a relationship with Him, please don’t believe anymore that the God who loves you so much would ever want you to settle for less than His best for you. 
          By the way, God did of course, supernaturally heal that girl without man’s help. Now she can taste and enjoy food and smell everything life has to offer. But that’s not all. Sometime after, doctors found a cure to treat her specific type of asthma. God even took care of that. That’s two for two. He healed what her family was believing Him to heal as well as what they were not even praying for. Only God!