Maybe you’ve been going through a tough time lately.
The day just got started and you’re already wanting to go back to bed.
You’re drowning in your to-do list and calendar.
Things just feel off.
Or maybe life has never been better.
You feel on top of the world.
Everything is working out just like you want it to.
You can’t say it enough—you’re doing great.
Maybe you’re somewhere in between.
No matter where you are today—mountaintop, valley or hill—here are five things we all need to hear from God; five things that no matter where we are or where we’ve been you (and me) need to hear this week.
1. Chill Out.
Relax. Take your foot off the gas. Stop trying so hard to make life work out exactly the way you want it to.
You’re not in control.
This is sometimes a super hard thing for me to realize, but it’s true. No matter what I do or don’t do, I’m not in control of my life.
And that’s okay.
God is in control. And he is good. So chill out.
2. God’s Plan Is 1,000x Better.
Speaking of control, God’s plan is so much better than ours will ever be.
We may not see it now, but God has a plan for our lives. And get this, it’s amazing!
Our plans? They’re flawed, imperfect and change every other day. God’s plan? It’s been written from day one. We can’t do anything to mess it up.
God’s plan is always so much better than the plan I could come up with on my own. I’ve seen this over and over in my own life. Trust that his plan is so much better.
3. God Doesn’t Look for the Qualified.
God doesn’t look for the talented, the blessed, the rock star, the celebrity or the guy with millions of followers.
He looks for the willing.
The simple.
The available.
He looks for me, he looks for you and he calls us to do some amazing things for him.
4. God Can Use This.
Whatever you’re walking through today, God can use it.
This valley.
This pain.
This season.
He can (and will) use it all for good.
Nothing is wasted when it comes to God. Whatever you’re going through right now, it’s not pointless. There is a reason behind it, even if things don’t seem clear right now.
5. God Doesn’t Want Anything From Us.
He just wants us.
For us to love him.
To spend time with him.
To talk with him.
To worship him.
To show our love in any and every way we can.
God doesn’t ask us to pass a test, jump through hoops or complete a million weird tasks to earn his love. He doesn’t want anything from us; he just wants us.
So often we feel like God is asking so much from us—for our money, our church attendance, our good deeds—but really he doesn’t want anything from us. All he’s asking for is that we love him. When we love him, the other things will follow; not to earn his love, but because we love him.
These five things were life-giving to me this past week; challenging, but things I needed to hear from God.
Sometimes we don’t need big, dramatic events to wake us up to what God’s doing in our lives. Sometimes it’s the simple reminders, the seemingly easy truths that change our whole perspective.
Adam Weber is the founder and lead pastor of Embrace—a church that has six campuses in South Dakota and Minnesota—and the author of Talking With God: What to Say When You Don’t Know How to Pray (WaterBrook, 2017). This article was originally published on AdamWeber.com.