Watch what you ask for.
Let me paint a picture for you—a little while ago, I was running a trail at sunset. I've been running for ten years, and I've never seen anything too crazy, just some deer and a couple armadillos or snakes. Because I'd never been any reason to fear the wildlife, I was running loudly. I was being cocky, and if I'm being fully honest, I was disrespecting nature. As I ran, I got more and more tired. I started asking God for motivation to keep going, but I didn't feel like He was giving me any. I took that as a sign that God wanted me to find my own motivation.
Just as I thought to myself that God wasn't giving me a reason to go on, a bobcat walked onto the middle of the trail.
Bobcats don't usually attack people, but I was so tired that I thought it was a tiger. Then, I realized I was in Texas and that was a bobcat, and bobcats are a lot quicker than me. When I saw the bobcat, I said, "This is your trail, this is your house, so I'm going to just respect you and turn back around." I ran the fastest time back that I ever had that day, but I ran quietly. I turned my music down and respected nature, but still ran the fastest time of my life, all the way back to my starting point. When I finally made it back to the beginning of the trail, I was more out of breath than I'd ever been in my life. I said out loud, "God, you did motivate me, all right, but next time, would you mind sending a deer?"
In life, God often sends us mysterious signs. He doesn't always communicate directly, but He always sends things our way that allow us to get where we need to be. The lesson here is to understand what you're asking for—I hadn't asked for a bobcat, and was definitely not pleasantly suprised to see it. However, the bobcat made me more motivated to run than I'd ever been before, even though it scared the life out of me. If you're in a place of pain, I want you to remember that God helps those who help themselves. If you feel like you can't win, I want you to remember that although things suck, there is always a bright side. You might wish you were somewhere else, because it's human nature to assume that the grass is always greener. That being said, the grass is sometimes a bobcat. Sometimes, it's better to find your own motivation than beg for something you don't truly need.
It all starts with you.
