GROW WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

Its quiet natural to want something better for our lives, to be uncomfortable with where we find ourselves and want to do everything within our power to see that change. Sometimes though, in search for better, in wanting to improve our lives, we miss that there is a reason for being placed where we are. That sometimes, God doesn’t want to remove us from the place where we find ourselves, He instead wants us to grow and bloom in that exact position or place that we want to leave.

Whether it is a job that you dislike, or staying in a place that you seem to hate, God doesn’t just do things for the fun of it, because He has nothing better to do with His time. At times you are placed in a situation that is uncomfortable for you, to teach you a particular lesson and at times, the lesson is not for you but those that you find around you. At any given moment, where we find ourselves could be a place of discovery for us or we could be serving as a teacher in the life of someone else, who needs a particular lesson that God may have chosen us to give to them.

It can therefore mess with His bigger plan, when we becomes so frustrated with where we find ourselves that we completely miss to take in and embrace the lessons of the moment. When we become so consumed with growing to the next level that we miss that which God is trying to do in our lives or the way in which He may be trying to use us for the benefit of others.

 

 

Last year I found myself attending a college that just seemed to rub me off the wrong way. I had won a bursary competition on a local radio station and felt obligated to ride this wave out. But everything about the place, the lecturers, the way things were run, even just the Headmistress breathing seemed to work on my nerves. I felt trapped and given, I was unhappy to be there. Waking up every morning to attend classes was sheer torture; it was just something I didn’t want to do. As miserable as I was, I also felt slightly guilty for those feelings. I had been given an opportunity that many would kill for and here I was, taking it for granted, not in the least appreciative for it. It felt wrong to complain and so I kept attending classes despite my lack of interest in anything that was taught.

About a month into things, I sparked a friendship with 2 young ladies who were both younger than me but already married. It was our conversations about men and marriage that brought us together but ultimately I would learn that, as young as these ladies were. They were somewhat despondent about their lives and the situations that they found themselves in. I think back to all the chats we had, on life, school, the dreams we had, our families and where we wanted to see ourselves.

I eventually quit the college at the beginning of the year, without notice or anything. I just woke up one day and decided that I wasn’t going there anymore. It was a random message from one of these ladies that reminded me that a situation may be insignificant at the time, frustrating and stressful but it may just be a part of God’s bigger plan. When you having innocent chats with people, you don’t know how something that you say may be the lifeline that they need to make a change in their lives. You don’t know how sharing the story of your struggles may be the motivation and hope they need to say, it gets better, things do eventually work out.

The frustration I felt at the time, being stuck in a place and situation I despised clouded the fact that God was using me at that time. To touch someone else, to give them hope and to encourage them to change the things about their lives that they were not happy with. I think most of us miss that, miss that nothing ever happens without a reason and that God always has a purpose.

Whether it’s His plan that we become mature, that we grow in our faith or that we relay a message to someone who needs it at the time. We should live in the truth that, not all situations are meant to be left, sometimes, the very place you don’t want to be in, is where God is going to use you for His glory. Sometimes that place that seems hopeless is exactly where He plants you and wants you to grow.

Wherever we find ourselves, we should always listen to the voice of God because He will whisper to us that which we need to do. It is only by listening to His voice that we will know if we are meant to bloom where He has placed us or whether where we find ourselves now, is just a pit stop, a stepping stone to something bigger and greater that He has planned for us. Whatever the situation, open up your heart and be willing to embrace the lessons and teachings that come with being where He has placed you now.