We tend to show up and cry out to God and say, “God, make it better.” We want God to fix the situation, change the person, calm the chaos, give us peace. Then we go on with our lives doing the exact same things we have always done. 

I think God wants us to start taking responsibility for our lives, for the decisions we’ve made and the place we’ve ended up. I think He wants us to be actively pursuing Him and actively engaging with Him.

I believe God has equipped us with the power of the Holy Spirit in us to help us. I believe the Holy Spirit is always available to us, always just a breath away waiting for us to acknowledge and connect with Him. I also believe that we have to do some of the “work.” We must engage. We must be intentional about the choice we make in our lives. We must practice thinking and living a new way if we want to experience change. We must practice making choices that create the life we want. We cultivate calm and peace with our thinking and our choices. We must realize that our old negative unhelpful thoughts will never be completely eliminated but we can choose not to ruminate on them. We think, believe, and act as if we were, until we become, trusting God through it all.

We practice trusting God, with everything. We choose to spend time in God’s Presence, soak up His shalom. We choose to vent verbally or by journaling in prayer, all our frustrations, pour out our emotions, to God believing that He will help us. He will make a way when there seems to be no way. We ask Him to reveal Himself to us, to teach us, to transform us. We pray for eyes to see and ears to hear. We ask for His help to see Him, and hear Him, and notice Him working. Then we practice paying attention.

We keep showing up believing that as we spend time with Him, and as we get to know Him better, and trust Him more, miraculous things are happening inside us. God expands our capacity to handle and experience all of life as we spend time with Him! And then we come to know life to the fullest! No matter what is happening around us. This takes intention and practice and time!

You will most likely be unaware of the changes that are happening and possibly may even feel like it is not working at times. Keep showing up anyway! Keep doing the work anyway! Keep believing in God and in yourself! And eventually you will experience significant change, often known as The Compound Effect.

The compound effect refers to how making small behavior changes can compound into life-changing results over time. Small changes maintained consistently over time lead to unexpectedly dramatic results. And changes in one area of life can compound with other areas having a ripple effect. It is often uncomfortable to do the work, the simple disciplines, consistently overtime but they become easier later and lead to realized progress and success. Simple errors in judgment are often comfortable in the moment but become uncomfortable in the future and lead to more negative results.

Let’s think about it like this, if I show up at the gym each day, and I walk in sit down on a piece of equipment, but I never actually engage my body on the machine. I walk from piece of exercise equipment to piece of exercise equipment sit, wait five to ten minutes at each, then walk away. I do this every day. Then I am mad after a month of showing up at the gym that nothing has changed. Whose fault would my disappointment be?

If I want the benefits of exercising, I must do the work and engage my body in the exercise. I must show up each day believing that as I do the exercises consistently over time, I will get stronger and healthier. I intentionally do the work of exercising my muscles on each piece of equipment. I am willing to endure so pain to experience the change I desire. I am willing to practice the disciplines. I might not see any results after a month, or three months, but if I consistently show up and do the work in a years’ time, I will begin to see significant results. If I stick with the exercise routine, I will continue to get strong and see the compound ripple effect benefits of exercising regularly in multiple areas of my life.

If I want to experience God’s transformative change in my life, I must do some “work”. I must engage my heart, my soul, and my mind with God. I must consistently spend time reading His Word, seeking His counsel, coming to know and trust Him more and more. I must intentionally practice thinking Truth thoughts. I must believe in the power of the Holy Spirit in me helping me change. I must practice and practice daily. I must renew my mind repeatedly on His Truth, every time my brain offers me a lie, or a distraction, or a negative story.

I must practice believing in God’s power to meet all my needs. I must practice believing in His abundance. I must practice letting go of people pleasing and performing as ways of finding my worth and value. I must receive my worth and value from Jesus Christ who loves me completely. I must practice seeing with His eyes and asking Him daily for His help in all areas of my life. Talking to Him throughout each day. And as I consistently engage with God something miraculous happens in me overtime! I know and experience love and joy and peace because I know how to cultivate these things for myself with my thoughts and actions. I learn how to self-regulate my emotions. I am no longer afraid to feel what I feel. I trust the power of the Holy Spirit in me! I rest in God’s love.

In either of these cases if I do not engage, I do not grow, there is nothing to integrate into my life, no ripple effect. The same is true for you. You must consistently be engaging with God with your heart, soul, and mind, if you want to experience His life-changing work in your life.

I recently heard a minister say it like this, “It is my experience, and the experience of many others, that the more we create time and space to turn towards the Breath of God, the Giver of Life, the Divine Presence of the Spirit, who dwells within us, the more balanced and aligned we experience ourselves, our lives.”

We practice living embodied faith! Then, we live embodied faith!

Practice engaging your heart, and your soul, and your mind with God!

Show up to God’s Presence expecting to meet Him there. Show up to God with open hands willing to receive whatever He gives and release whatever He takes away. Show up to God trusting that He is for you, and He loves you, and He is working for your good! Show up expectant and in anticipation for how He will surprise you!

Keep seeking and discovering!