Proverbs 3:6
“Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

Have you ever felt stuck in life? Like everyone around you is gaining ground and achieving great things while you struggle to make even a simple step forward?

I’ve been there; to be honest, many days I’m still there.

I was recently playing the game Candy Land with my older boys when I realized that I sometimes feel in life like the game was playing out before me, with my little plastic guy essentially going nowhere fast. Pathetic? Perhaps. Honest? Yes.

If you are not familiar with the game, it is quite simple. Each player receives a small plastic figure of a person to be their player. Everyone then draws a card and moves the number of spaces that the card instructs. You might move ahead two blue squares, one green square, you get the point. The game gets really crazy though when the “super special” cards are uncovered. These cards change the game all together as they might send one person light years ahead to the pink popsicle square, or almost back to the beginning to the sprinkled cupcake.

As I sat and played the game with my boys it seemed as though I was struggling to move ahead more than one square at a time while they zoomed right along and finished in record time.

Isn’t that how life feels sometimes? Like a bad game of Candy Land, we struggle to make any kind of advancement. We often feel like it is one step forward and two steps back; meanwhile, we see others around us seemingly fly through life, reaching their goals and accomplishing great things with seemingly little effort.

So what do we do in those times of discouragement when we feel that no progress is being made? The best thing I know to do is seek God.

Consider the Biblical example of David. Yep, that David, the one who defeated Goliath. David was a simple shepherd boy who was anointed by the prophet Samuel as the next King of Israel. While David knew what his future would hold, he did not immediately lay hold of his kingship. Rather, from the time he was anointed, he spent the next decade plus running from King Saul, the current King of Israel who wanted David dead. If David had known about the game of Candy Land, I am guessing he would have been able to relate. Just saying.

During his time of waiting, from the many Psalms he wrote, we know that David ceaselessly sought God. As a result, God taught David many valuable lessons that better prepared him to eventually become King.

The same is true for us. When we go through times of waiting, when we feel as though we are not making any headway in life, we need to seek God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Proverbs 3:6 says, “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

God is sovereign and His plan and timing are always best. While you may not feel that you are making much progress, trust in God and that He may be using this time in your life to shape you for future work. Further, He may be at work behind the scenes in ways you cannot begin to imagine.

If you are discouraged today over your lack of progress, rejoice always, pray continually, seek God, follow Him. He has a plan and purpose for you. Hold on.

*If you have been encouraged by what you read today, please pass the encouragement along and share it with a friend!