Are You Tired of Feeling Stuck in Your Life?

Inside: Are you in a rut? Does it feel like you can’t change your life? Tips and advice to help you follow God more and stop feeling stuck in your life!

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I come from a long line of worriers and anxious feelings (more than the normal person)…there I said it.

I’m airing my dirty laundry.

The truth is, I grew into the belief that this was just how I was going to be. 

It must be in my genes.

It was fixed like the color of my hair and I wasn’t able to do anything about it!

Some might call it a generational curse, but maybe it’s just learned behavior?!

What I think happened in my family is that people didn’t know how to deal with their worry and anxious feelings.

Instead of turning to “Who holds our lives in His hands,” they turned to things to fill minds and bodies.

While of course, these behaviors were short-lived and needed constant refilling, the modeling of how to turn to God was absent.

Feeling Stuck in Your Life

Maybe you have a similar repeated behavior that could be found in your family tree.

Perhaps divorce, anger, alcoholism, anxiety, or depression?

Perchance, you’ve boughten into the idea that you are just what you are….it’s like a birthright that you can’t change.

I can almost guess that you’ve told yourself, “I am this way because everyone in my family is this way!”

And you accept this without even questioning it.

Here’s a truth for you (and one for me): You can change and transform!

I just angered Satan because he doesn’t want that truth made known.

The Evil One is happy to see us stuck in dysfunction!

Self-Help Doesn’t Help When in A Rut

Have you noticed the plethora of self-help books available lately? If you go to your local bookstore, the shelves are stacked to the brim.

Obviously many are seeking change in their lives: so head to the bookstore, grab a book, roll up your shelves, and use your willpower to try and overcome.

Here’s another lie Satan wants us to believe that we can find transformation and the breaking of chains in our own strength.

“Getting stuck is not a problem. Staying stuck is. Good learners practice getting unstuck!” ~Alistair Smith

Now, friend, I’m not saying these books are inherently evil, but true transformation can’t happen apart from God.

The idea of self-help is that by our own bootstraps we can change ourselves, but in God’s Word:

John 15:5, NLT

⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

 

The Power Of Choice

Just because a cycle has continued in the family tree, doesn’t mean we can’t be the breaker of the cycle.

When we follow Jesus, we can choose to work with God or try to go in our own strength.

One guarantees change, the other one doesn’t.

When we believe we have the self-power to change ourselves, we are making ourselves like God.

We believe we can control life, our circumstances, and our ability to grow.

It becomes all about me and self-promotion. We do whatever benefits ourselves and there’s a whole lot of pride that goes along with that!

And friend, when we self-promote, others see us and not God.

However, when we work with God, any change or breaking of chains exalts God and becomes Christ’s glorification.

It’s thinking less of ourselves and more about serving others!

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”~ CS Lewis

Additionally, as we work in tandem with God, we can share our diligence in what He is doing in our lives.

Diligence means we accept what God is doing in our lives and seek to honor Him by growing in faith and asking the Holy Spirit to transform us.

The foundational stone to getting unstuck in our lives is making God the center.

6 Questions to Ask When Feeling Stuck in our Life:

1. What sin is ensnaring me often that I need to confess and ask God for His help overcoming?
2. What lies am I believing about my situation or myself?
3. Am I spending time with God and praying for His help to overcome?
4. Is God asking me to do something?
5. Am I surrounding myself with encouraging and inspiring Christian friends?
6. And I having issues with finding balance in my life.

 

A Biblical Example

If you’re like me, I want to know examples from the Bible where people dealt with some of the same issues that I’m dealing with today.

We see in 1 Kings 19, that Elijah had warned and taken action against people doing evil against God.

Jezebel, in her anger, decided to try and kill Elijah so he ran away and hid from fear.

Elijah then prayed and asked:

I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” (1 Kings 19:4, NLT.)

I’m thinking that Elijah came from a long line of fearful people that were stuck. Maybe Elijah had thought he was going to be the cycle-breaker but at this moment, he doesn’t feel like he will be anything more than full of fear.

Here’s what Elijah became: 

•  prophet
• man who heard God
• someone who walked in obedience
•  the believer who received the Lord’s provisions
• prayer warrior
• witness to multiple miracles
• brave
• man who confronted and called out evil 
• an overcomer when life was hard
• a legacy

I don’t know about you, but with God’s help, Elijah had a pretty impressive resume. He was transformed through walking with God. 

Elijah probably wasn’t feeling stuck in his life anymore!

And so it is with us, friends! We aren’t who are ancestors were!

We can be chain-breakers and legacy leavers!

Let’s choose to change and transform by asking God to work in and with us!

Psalm 139:23-24, NLT

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

 

“Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.” ~Mandy Hale

 

 

 

 

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