Auto Repair Shop Owner's Daily Dose 63: Faith Struggles (Faith)

Faith Struggles by Rick White, President 180BIZ

Today is our faith edition as it is a Sunday. I want to talk about a couple of struggles that I have with faith. Yes, I have struggles. We all do, don't we? I have two struggles.

1. The first struggle I have is understanding that God doesn't want me to be a slave. He doesn't want me to think of myself as a piece of worm crap. He wants a relationship with me. He wants me to have a relationship with him. I have found the only way to do that is to surrender myself. When I'm able to let go and realize there's nothing I can do or deserve this relationship.
   
   And it's hard because this is somebody that I don't see. It's somebody that I must read about. And the hardest part for me really is that surrender. I am used to being in control, which we all know, now especially, is such a fallacy. Yes, you have opportunities. Yes, you had a business in mind, and you created it. But where did that come from? Where did the situations and events line up?
   
   I need to step back. I need to recognize that every good thing that comes into my life is a gift. One of my favorite sayings is that God takes care of the birds, but he doesn't throw worms into their nest. They must go out and work for the nest. I believe we must do the same thing too. But we must surrender ourselves so that we have a sense of security, a sense of peace.  When I'm saying we, but I really mean me. I must learn to let go. I must learn to listen a little bit better. Okay, a lot better.   I must quiet myself down enough so that I can hear what he wants. The toughest part for me is the surrendering part.  It’s recognizing that I can't do anything to deserve or earn that relationship. I just need to let go.
2. A couple of weeks ago I asked what your favorite Bible story was. I have several. I narrowed them down that my favorite story which is the one about the prodigal son. Here's a guy that was arrogant. He wanted his inheritance before his father dies and his father gave it to him. He goes out and squanders it. He ends up working on a farm taking care of pigs. The stink is unbelievably bad. His life got so bad that he was taking care of someone else's pigs and living with them and sleeping with them.  You’d think that was as far as he could sink.  Nope. It wasn’t. I don’t think it was a statement on his physical condition but more so an indicator of his emotional state, of his worthiness.
   
   That is the second thing that I struggle with. It’s a feeling of worthiness. I really struggle with feeling like I'm worthy of a relationship with God, with Jesus, because I fall all the time. I fall short of my expectations, on what I believe, and being a good Christian. You need to see the prodigal son story all the way to the end. The son is living in absolute squalor. I don't know what gave him the thought to go back and even just being a servant for his father, but to go back and not even knock on the door.
   
   His father was actively looking for him every day waiting for him to come back. And when he came back there was no judgment. He came home to open arms and tears of joy. That's what God is. And I have such a hard time wrapping myself around that for different reasons.  For how I was raised, not by my parents, but through the church. We had to be good or God would punish us. For some of us, we don't have a role model for a father. And it makes it hard for us to identify with someone that is ultimately and completely love. And I think that's what we're supposed to be tapping into.

You see, when I'm not in a relationship with God, I am focused on me. I'm focused on what I want. I really believe it's all about being either self-centered or others-focused. It’s about seeing others and being tapped into that love. It’s about being tapped into peace and security through that relationship. It's not about religion. It's not about being right or wrong. It's not about this one is the right religion and that one's the wrong religion. It's about being in a relationship. It's about talking and listening. It's about being his hands.

I step back and look at everything that was done for me by God, not only through Jesus but every day in my life.   I woke up this morning. I'm getting older, but I still woke up this morning. There are people younger than me who died.  I realize that I've been given the gift of another day even though I piss him away so often.

So, I ask you now. What are you looking at? How are you enjoying your day? How are you making a difference in somebody else's life? Are you focused on the past and all the mistakes? Are you focused on the future and how scary or how exciting it is or are you focused on right now? This is where the rubber meets the road. Just let it go and say, you know something, all I can control is in here. God, I'm going to give you everything else out here and I'm going to do my absolute best to make a difference, to be your hands, to be your eyes, to be your, your heart.  Because I honestly believe we are all meant to be angels here on earth using our own unique special gifts.

 There has never been another you and there never will be. You have a special gift and I think this is just a weird concept I have. I think that love is a big diamond. Each one of us is a facet of that diamond. Each one of us makes up this concept of love and I want to let each one of you that are watching these videos know that I love you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sticking around. Thank you for sharing the videos. Thank you for making a difference in your family and your community because that's the gift you have. So, I hope you're going to recharge today. And at the same time, I hope you step back and make a difference in someone's life today.

We all have our struggles. Mine is surrendering and feeling worthy. But you know something? God loves me. I am an amazing child of God. My name is written on his hand. That's what the good book says. So, I want to say thank you to everybody again and I want to end it in prayer.

Father, I want to thank you for this day, and I want to thank you for the opportunity. I want to thank you for never giving up on me and everyone else. Thank you for being there for each of your prodigal children. Please give us the wisdom and the sight to see you every moment of every day in our lives. Help us to see the God-winks where you just completely love us and even when we're going through tough times, you're there with us to help us, to protect us, and to teach us to be better versions of ourselves. Please help us to see an opportunity today and help us to make a difference in someone's life. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for your love and thank you for your son, Jesus. Ask this all in his mighty name. Amen.

You all have an amazing Sunday. See the gifts in your life today and be a gift in someone else's. God bless.