False Guides

The world screams for your attention. Your job, your spouse, your kids, your own needs and desires. Everybody wants a piece of you. And everybody wants to tell you how to live. Television. Facebook. Google. Friends. Family.

Who do you listen to?

Who really matters? Is it your boss? Your spouse? Or is it you? Who will lead you to where you need to be? Not necessarily where you want to be. Where you need to be. There is only one answer.

His voice never lies.

If you listen to anyone else, anyone of this world--including yourself--you follow a false guide. The only true guide is God. His Holy Spirit, our Guide and Counselor, speaks only truth. He tells us what is right, what is good. His advice never fails. Listen to anyone else, and maybe it will work out. Maybe it won't. Are you willing to take that chance?

I have been lead astray many times.
 

I have listened to those other voices. I have walked the path of selfishness. I have been down the road of the world. I listened to those false guides, and before I knew it, I was lost. Often I was far away from where I needed to be before I ever realized I had strayed. 

It is so easy to get distracted. The world is so very loud, including that inner voice that is not of God, but of myself. I want. I envy. I desire. I think I know what is best for me, and I go after it. I listen to the worst false guide of all: Myself.

He does speak!

God reaches out to us. He speaks to us from within, that small, quiet voice that is so easy to ignore. We allow ourselves, or the world out there, to drown Him out. He lets us chose our way. Not because He desires for us to be lost, but because He desires us to seek Him. Were there no choices for us to make, faith would not matter.

We do make a choice, though. Every day, every second, we chose. Will I listen to God, or will I listen to those other voices. Truth, or false guides? Who will I follow? Do I desire what feels good, or what is best? The choice is mine. And yours.

What guide have you chosen?

Have you chosen to listen to Him to show you the way? If so, tell us about it!

Never Give Up!

Times come when you want to give up. It doesn't seem worth it. Nothing is going your way. You can't see how things could get any worse. Or better.

Don't give up!

Things probably are not as bad as they seem. Tomorrow, or next week, life will straighten out. If you give up, you cannot succeed. If you keep fighting, you will overcome. What you accomplish may be different from what you set out to do. Your endgame may look a little different from what you first imagined. But that's OK!

Plans change!

The only guarantees in life are death, taxes . . . and change. Life is not static. The world continuously moves, morphs, and evolves. Nothing stays the same. Your goals must change, or you may never reach them. And if you do, without new goals, you will accomplish nothing more.

In becoming an author, I thought I was almost there. I got signed by a great agent. I had a really good manuscript, one my agent said was publisher worthy. I had several publishers interested in my work. Everything was falling in place.

Until everything fell apart. In an instant, with a single email, it all came tumbling down. Christian fiction has changed . . . you have to have a platform. Platform? What is a platform?

It's change, that's what it is!

New Goals mean new strategies.

In order to obtain this platform, I have to come up with new strategies. At first, that was overwhelming. Marketing, networking, outreaching . . . blah, blah, blah! I am an author, not a marketer! I'm an introverted, disorganized, undisciplined creative! How am I supposed to market that? It'll never work.

But that's what Moses said. Nine times he failed with Pharaoh; then God succeeded. That's what Peter said. Then Christ rose again. That's what Satan says. Do you believe him?

We, you and I, can change. We can do things differently. We can overcome the doubts of Satan and realize the plans God has had all along. We can do whatever it is we feel we have failed at. All we have to do is change.

I am on that road. I am changing. It is hard, and I don't like it . . . But with God, all things are possible.

What about you?

What challenges have you faced that required you to change? I'd love to hear about them!