How Did I Get Here?

Today, as I sit in the official visiting room in one of the many prisons where I visit and minister, I look out among the inmates wearing orange jumpsuits as they wait for visits and I think to myself, how did they get here?  I know they must have asked themselves the same thing often enough. How did I get here? Now if you were an incarcerated person you could understand asking yourself that question, but even if you’re not incarcerated in a physical jail isn’t that a question you have asked yourself at one time or another?  I think so, I know have asked myself that question many times over the years.  Even though we may not be in a physical jail there are many things that imprison us, hold us back, and keep us from moving forward in our lives.

Now, do me a favor and think back to your childhood. Remember when people, especially adults asked you; what do you want to be when you grow up? As a child, how could you realistically even begin to answer that question?  Do you remember how many different things you wanted to be?  What was on your list – a firemen, a nurse, a doctor?  In order to answer the question you had to imagine yourself doing the job itself from whatever knowledge you had about it. If you liked the image that you saw and it made you happy, then that’s the thing you wanted to be and the thing you wanted to do.  As you grow older and your interest changed so did the images of what you can see yourself doing or being. Am I correct?

How about if no one ever asked you; what do you want to be when you grow up? Where would you get the images of your future? You could probably get them from your environment, those around you, and if you have access to media outlets like television, radio & social media, you could even get images that way too!  But no matter where you got the images of whom and what you wanted to be, how you perceive those images and how you felt about them impacted your life choices.

So, I’ll ask you to ask yourself; how did I get? Are you living the life you always dreamed of? Have all your dreams come true?  If you’re like most of us, some of your dreams and goals may have been met and come true but others have not. Why is that? There are many of us that because of many life factors stopped dreaming long ago. Many people were taught never to even try.

So, how did you get here? Are you happy and satisfied with your current life and all of its working parts? Most of us would say we are happy with some parts and not happy with others. Some are not happy with any of the parts. Well, I have great news for you.  God’s plan for your life is that you and all the parts of your life be happy and satisfied! Not the fairytale kind of happy, but better than that, real-life happy!

As you already know, there are a lot of working parts to being a spiritual being, and living this earth suit assignment, but God has already laid out a blueprint for you to follow. It may look like Satan has been doing a great job (sometimes with your help) at stealing your dreams, but God has told me to tell you that if you want it, that stops today!   Check out Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against you will succeed…  All you have to do is ask God for his help, guidance and direction. Then ask for the courage to do what He instructs you to do, no matter what it looks like or feels like;  for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises] – 2 Corinthians 5:7amp.  Now if you’re not confident in believing what God has said, just try this for yourself in order to test it to see if this God thing really works.  That’s all God wants anyway, a chance to prove who He is to you!  You won’t be disappointed!

God sent you to earth on purpose, for His purpose and as crazy as it sounds, he placed you exactly where he wanted you to be because He has put in you everything you need according to your suit assignment. The process of you finding out what that assignment is and lining yourself up with it will bring your dreams to life, especially if your dreams seem dead or you never even had any!

So, cheer up and stand strong! No matter where you currently are in your life and no matter what condition your life is in, as long as you are breathing, it’s not too late to change the direction of your life and make it an amazing dream come true experience that will impact the world!

So, in answering the question; how did I get here? You should first go to God to have a conversation that will uncover the facts, both carnal & spiritual, of how you came to be where you currently are so that you and God can then develop strategies that can be put into place to avoid recurrences and can help you avoid traps Satan has designed to stop you.

So now that you know how you got here, I’m asking you another question; where are you going from here?