Hi everybody! Welcome to the Abundant Living Blog.
Last week, we replayed our broadcast STUCK: Recognizing and Defeating the Dream Killer, featuring guest Dr. Timothy A. Williams. During the show, we referenced Dr. Tim’s series: "Don’t Get Caught in your Own Stuck-ness: Has you Rut become your Road?" (Scroll down to learn more about Dr. Tim!) The simple takeaway was...it’s not so simple. Becoming unstuck is a fight against habits, mindset, and meaningless activity. These can all be obstacles and par for ANY course...but it’s up to us to make sure they don’t define, derail, or devastate us.
When we are stuck, we often find encouragement through someone else sharing how and why they were able to overcome. For this reason, the Abundant Living Blog will occasionally highlight testimonials from our current and past clients...of course, used with permission. Sometimes, they will be a summation of an experience or scenario. Other times, they will be in a narrative form as submitted to us. This is one of those times.
This broadcast hit close to home for a myriad or reasons, mostly because obstacles can take many forms. I know for me, pushing past stuck-ness has been a steady lesson in discipline, personal forgiveness, and faith. And in conjunction with their previous blog post, “What Role does Faith play in living abundantly?”, I would like to share some of my testimony.
Years ago, I moved to a new city. It was during a time of intense grief, and thinking back, it wasn’t really my plan to move. I had no plans, no intentions. Tired and broken, I willed myself to shutdown, but God and his stewards weren’t having any of it. I was invited to “visit” a distant relative that offered me a place to mourn. Jokes on me! Because in a span of three weeks, I had a new job, and a place of my own in a strange city. God’s plan for me was already written, I just had to obey.
It wasn’t easy. The job was fine, but I was still in mourning. The evenings were lonely and filled with tears. I let the fire that got started on my behalf ignite in me, and decided to get a second job, if only to keep the dark thoughts at bay. So for the next 15 months, I worked two jobs, both of which fulfilled me and energized me in different ways. And the things that were so hard before became easy.
For the first time in a while, I was thinking about the future. I quit one job to dedicate more time to the other. I was saving money. I was reconnecting with people. I began looking forward to the idea of settling. Then, the bombshell. Four days before Christmas (the first one I was celebrating since my loss), I was fired.
So, here I was...just over a year after staving off one shutdown, and here comes another in a blaze of glory. I don’t remember that Christmas. Or New Years. I just know there were so many tears. Every feeling of inadequacy, failure, shame, and guilt hit me full force, and for months (literally) I couldn’t shake it. I tried to find a justification for what happened, and my mind lead me back to poor ole me.
I was invited to attend the church service of a former co-worker. He had invited me before, but I was too busy being sad. On the Sunday I decided to attend, his sermon was on Ezekiel 37; the Vision on the Valley of Dried Bones. I will never forget it. I walked into that building on that day a pile of dried bones. And walked out as spirit-filled flesh and blood.
A few days later, I received a phone call that was the catalyst for my next (and most recent) move. She didn’t know that I was studying the prophecy of spiritual re-birth. She didn’t know I had woken up enough know it was time for me to move. She didn’t know I had been managing my money well enough to even entertain a move. She told me she had a vision of me being there, and felt compelled to tell me.
I became unstuck in small, almost imperceptible phases, but it worked. I “unstuck” my butt from my couch to get to church, which “unstuck” my spirit, which “unstuck” my feelings of worthlessness, which “unstuck” my mind and heart. Once I was a little bit closer to whole, opportunities opened up and I was obedient.
In that season, I was devastated. I had regressed to the point of not wanting to try because all I could see was STUCK...the flashing neon sign confirming failure I spent years thinking was inevitable. And I allowed the stagnation because I couldn’t reconcile my worth and purpose.
In THIS season, I recognize it was all a setup for my Next; a series of events required for me to walk on the path He has laid out for me. I needed to be where I was for healing. Which allowed me to be where I am now...thriving and continuing the healing. Overcoming life’s obstacles and barriers no longer means trying to slay some imaginary monster on my own. Now, it means 1) knowing that setbacks are ways for me to adjust how I’m moving forward and 2) no longer acknowledging stuck-ness as an option. I just keep moving, trying, and praying.
Share with us a time where you were stuck, and how you defeated it! And don’t forget to join us Monday, September 9th at 11am for our live broadcast of Abundant Living Radio on Motor City Woman!! Our topic will be “Developing the Mental Strength for Change”.
Have a blessed week!
Click the image to learn more about Dr. Tim Williams and Tim Williams International!
