S2 Episode 22 | Pushing through rough seasons

S2 Episode 22 | Pushing through rough seasons. In this episode Leon encourages folks who are dealing with tough seasons in life. Please take a little time, and share this with someone who needs encouraged. Thanks!

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the Unqualified Podcast with Leon Wilson. That's me. Thank you for joining me. I know I missed last week. I missed y'all. Really did. I was on a cruise. Just a second. I don't have a technical guy here. It's just me. There we go. Anyways, we were on a cruise last week and uh enjoyed it and needed the rest, needed the relaxation, the respite. Um, and and we had a blast. And um I'm super, super grateful for that. Um, thankful to the Lord for the opportunities that we've had to save up for something like that. And you know, when I was growing up uh thinking about a cruise, even when I got grown um earlier in my adulthood, I was like, man, you know, a cruise is something that only rich people get to do. And um never thought in a million years I would be able to do something like that. And um, it literally truly was something that I felt like, man, um, you know, there's no way I'm gonna be able to go and on a cruise um because it who can afford something like that. And um just a quick testimony. When I me and the wife first um got married, we were we started planning our first cruise, and um and I had lost my job, and um, and I was like, man, I'm not gonna be able to go on a cruise and or whatever, or what are we gonna do? And I I just somehow I was just like the Lord's gonna make a way. Well, after some time, over some time, my wife was like, you know, we're gonna have to cancel this cruise. And I I was I kept telling her, we're not canceling the cruise. And it was like three months I was without a job, and she kept saying, I've got to cancel the cruise. I started working at this grocery store stocking the dairy um for a friend of ours, and it was we were still bleeding money. I mean, we we couldn't afford, you know, a whole lot. We were balancing bills and everything else, trying to make ends meet, and you know, it had to be God. My wife was a nervous wreck, and she was doing the best she could to try to balance the bills and everything else, and and you know, she was making more money than I was, um, and just doing the best she could to try to keep keep the lights on and keep the roof over our head and everything else. And I was putting in applications, searching, doing everything I could, working, like I said, stocking the dairy. And uh she was saying, I don't know how we're gonna pay for this cruise, and and I knew where she was going. I was like, You are not canceling that cruise. We're gonna go on that cruise. The Lord's gonna make a way. Well, then here comes, you know, getting closer to the time for this cruise, and um a job opportunity came, and it was making more money than um I'd ever made in my life at the time. Um and so we were able to pay the cruise off, and it still didn't feel like it was gonna happen. Well, anyways, we get closer and closer. Um I had lost my actual driver's license, the card. I had my driver's license was legit, but I had lost the card. Well, I had made a copy, a photo, I had taken a picture of my license, and I just printed off a copy of that. So I had this big copy of my driver's license and my birth certificate, my social security card, my um adoption papers, because I'm adopted, and my military um ID or veterans ID. And so we finally get to the uh cruise ship, and I was a nervous wreck. I was thinking, man, I'm not gonna be able to go on this cruise. God, you know, like what is gonna happen? You, you know, we here we are, we're going, you know, we got here to the cruise port. It was in Jacksonville on the ship we just went on last week. And um I was like, Lord, you know, what what kind of testimony would it be if I wasn't able to go on this cruise after you'd made a way for me to get this job, and you're you know, here we are. Well, long story short, uh, you know, I'm the next person in to talk to the ladies at Customs, and I mean, I'd I've got this sleeve, it's a folder of all my paperwork. Everything that said I was me was in this paperwork. Even I had some letters, I had some bills that were in my name or whatever I think it was, mail that was in my name in this folder. Like everything that could basically say I was a real person. Get up there and I'm I'm being as sweet as I can to these ladies. Hey, I love your hair. You have beautiful hair, blah, blah, blah. Trying to yuck them up. And the lady's like, I uh I gotta I gotta call my supervisor over here. I was like, oh great. Those are words you never want to hear. And I had told my my son and I, we were, you know, uh like everybody, you know, I'm like, just y'all just go. So they had all gone through customs, everybody's through customs, and they're all looking back here, looking at me and watching me yuck it up with these ladies, trying to sweet talk them and they'll let me through. And the supervisor comes over and I'm like, Lord, I need you. And I'm just like, hey, how are you? You know, being sweet. And she said, Oh, yeah, that's fine. Everything's fine. Checks out, looks over everything, everything's fine, gone. Get through there, link up, you know, with everybody. We get photos, they have these backdrops set up. We get these get in the photos, everything. It's a party of like 23 people. We start walking up the gameway thing. I look over at my son, he looks like he's a nervous wreck. I'm like, what's up, buddy? He said, it just don't feel real. It just don't feel real. Like, it feels like something's gonna happen, we're not gonna be able to go. I said, Man, I feel like that. I said, because stuff like this don't happen for me. Nothing good happens like this for me. I said, come on. And I held on to him, he held on to me. And as we walked, stepping over the threshold from the gangway onto the ship, the carnival elation. And it's the that's the ship not everybody likes. Like they they avoid the carnival elation because it's a little older. It's a tried and true ship, but it's one of the smaller ships, and it's a little older. And the ship everybody wanted to avoid, everybody wants to avoid, nobody likes the carnivalation. It was like my dream coming true. We step from that gangway over the threshold onto the carnivalation, and it was like finally, here I am standing on the blessing that God had already ordained that we'd be able to enjoy. And if it wasn't for the Lord giving fruit and bearing fruit through our faith, the statement, stuff like this doesn't happen for me, would still have rang true. Whatever you're going through, wherever you are in your life, I said all that to say this. Hang on. Your blessing is coming, your time is coming. Stay faithful, stay true. No matter how bad the earth shakes under your feet, no matter how bad the wind blows around you, no matter how bad the storm wails and howls all around you, no matter how much and how rough the wind gets, stay put, stay in the faith, because the Lord is going to come through for you. That's what he does. He comes through. He's gonna take care of you. And, you know, like I I'm I'm no stranger to storms in my life. I'm no stranger to that. I'm, you know, I I'm not I'm not afraid of change. I'm not afraid of issues. I know that in some way, shape, or form, problems are gonna happen, troubles are gonna happen, and there's nothing I can do to avoid some type of storm in my life. The the problem is where you think all you can concentrate on is a storm, and you think, man, this is it. This is the one that takes me out. And I'll be, you know, I'll be honest with you. I've I'm, you know, I go through that kind of stuff too. Um, I'm no different. I'm I'm not anyone special. All I'm gonna do is attest to the the fact that the Lord always comes through some kind of way. May not be in the way that I want, and and thank God for that. Because if he had answered all my prayers in the way that I wanted them answered, then I I'd be stuck in a in a in a dead-end job doing dead-end things in a dried-up place that I had no business living in. Because sometimes he leads us from what looks like a camping spot to a permanent dwelling. You know, and and look at the children of Israel. When he led them from Egypt and they went into the wilderness, they lived in tents and camping spots, and they called them tabernacles, but tents. And all of their stuff was was temporary. It was it was just temporary dwellings. They were they were a nomadic people. But he had given them a promise that at some point they would have stability in their lives. At some point they would have something stable, that they would have foundations they could put down, that they would have permanent walls and a permanent roof, and a place that they could count on and call their own. And look what happened. A whole generation was killed off because their faith was so shaken and and that they were just such a stiff-minded people that they wouldn't, they wouldn't allow them themselves to step out from the blinders and see what the Lord had already done. And we're no different. We act that way too. We totally do. You find yourselves looking at at your current situation thinking it cannot get better because this is what I had, this is where I live now, this is what my life's like now, and it's not. It really isn't. The one thing consistent in my life from the earliest that I can imagine to even now is change. That the Lord has always provided some direction, some growth, and it isn't always where I thought, you know, or thought it was going to happen. It wasn't in the way that I saw it happening, and uh I certainly didn't sign off on it. He brought the growth where he brings the growth. And we don't have to understand that. The only thing that we have to do is be faithful because he's faithful. And if you think that you're any different, if you think that your life is the exception, then you're sadly mistaken. Because it rains on the just and the unjust alike, and uh he's no respecter person. So just because this isn't a season of that you're seeing the the world bloom around you um doesn't mean that it ain't coming. And just because the it seems like stuff is falling apart doesn't mean that that's permanent either. Um, you know, because the the blooming season is a season and the the dooming season is a season, and those seasons that are in between are are seasons. People come into our lives and it's temporary. It's not a it it not everybody's meant to be a fixed asset in your life or a fixed staple point in your life. And we get wrapped up in an idea that you know, where the way it is um is I should be getting comfortable in the current conditions, and and that's not the case. We should never be comfortable in the current conditions. We should always be searching for a way to improve and to effect positive change to the glory of the Lord. And that's the chief um aspect among all of these is that what we're doing ought to bring glory unto God. And if it doesn't, then I mean, you you've got to make some kind of change to fix that. And um I I prayed with the young man today, and uh, and that was his thing, is he just needs prayer. You know, it seemed to me um that his life was um spiritually in disarray and that he needed he needs guidance from the Lord. And I mean, I I'd love to tell you, hey, you know, go to your nearest preacher and and you know you'll get guidance and it'll be specific and you know he'll he'll be able to tell you, hey, this is where you need to make your changes at. Um I'd love to be able to tell you that, but I'd be lying. Because oftentimes we don't want to hear where the changes need to be made, anyways. Um and you know, there's there's a lot of people who think they are ready to hear that until they hear it, and then um, you know, and then they get mad. I said it today, um and I'll I'll say it on here, I'll just echo it. But you know, there's no preacher that wants to that that just wants to stand in front of your face and and point in your face and say, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. I'm going to throw it with you, I'm gonna help you out of it, but you brought this on yourself. You know, there's no preacher that takes any pride in being able to say something like that. But we might say those exact same words in a different way. Um, you know, hey, I know you're going through a lot, um, and I know it's tough, and I know that in some kind of way you got to take some kind of responsibility for why you're in this condition. But I'm gonna help you, and we're gonna walk through it, but you gotta do your part and ensure that we don't end up back here. And that is a very sweet, kind, loving way of saying the exact same thing. But no preacher wants to have to say those either. We we would love, I would love, let me just put it this way, I would love to be able to say, hey man, I'm proud of you and everything you're you know, you're doing it. You're I can tell you're praying, the Lord's working in your life. Love to see you on this side of of everything. And and you know, you know, God, God just has poured into your life, and you know, man, what a season. I want to be able to say those things. I don't I don't like seeing someone broken. I don't like to see someone hurt, I don't like to see someone, you know, spiritually hemorrhaging because their, you know, their their life is in disarray and in shambles because of mistakes that we make. But just like I said this morning at church, you know, who has two thumbs and gets in God's way? This guy. And if you're honest with yourself, you do it too. And we find ourselves tripping over ourselves and fighting God tooth and nail so that we can do things our way. And sometimes that's where our problems lie. And no matter what you're going through, and I, you know, I'm I'm just saying, no matter what you are going through, this is not the end of the story. This is not the final chapter of your story. And if it is, God wins. But wherever you're at right now, it is the perfect time to give it to the Lord. It's the perfect time to say, Lord, I I'm tired of putting myself in bad situations because I'm leaning on my own understanding, I'm leaning on my own abilities, I'm leaning on my own wisdom, and I need yours. I need your understanding, I need your knowledge, I need your power, I need your strength, I need your help to get me on the right track because I've made a mess of things. I mean, we said it when we came to faith. And if you haven't come to faith, then you know that's a whole nother story. You have to recognize that you're a sinner and that you were born into sin, that there is a curse, that you're under the curse, and that the only answer, the only cure for this curse of sin is Jesus. And it is through him and what he did on that cross, um, how he gave his life for all of us, shed all of his blood for our sins, and so that he was the perfect sacrifice so that we could be saved and not be separated from the Lord, that we can forever live and be with Christ Jesus. And what he did on Calvary is enough and is always going to be enough for all sins, past, present, and future, and and that with his guidance, our life can change. Now you you believed it when you got saved. What changed between when you got saved and now? Are you leaning on your own understanding? Are you leaning on what you can do? Are you are you concentrating on how much control you have over your life? Or are you giving it to him? Because if you're going to give it to the Lord, then give it to the Lord. I mean, don't get me wrong, the work's not done. When you give it to God, the work's not done. There's always something to do. You have to make positive uh progress and forward progress. But I made the analogy of the shovel. Lord, I need a I need to dig this trench from here to wherever. And I need your help to do it. And the Lord says, Okay, you get the shovel, I'll give you strength, and I'll even show you what direction to dig in. You gotta dig. I'll give you all the strength in the world, the stamina and and all that, and I'll even make sure your shovel never dulls and never wears away and your handle never breaks. But you're gonna have to dig. And we want God to give us everything we want without having to dig. And the truth is the digging still needs to be done. And yeah, that's the work. That's that's what we have to do. Now, that doesn't keep me saved. Work doesn't keep me saved. I'm saved unto good works, not by good works. But it is those good works, the labor for the Lord, that pays dividends down the road, that um goes into my uh into my, we'll call it my account in heaven, that is being my treasure in heaven that Jesus talked about, and and a crown of of righteousness and with stars in it that that for the people that got saved, and that I can cast that crown at the foot of the Lord and tell him how unworthy I am to have it and how worthy he is. But I cannot expect to sit idly by and watch God dig the hole, God dig the trench, God save the people, God use all this other, and and you know, me not provide any kind of good works unto the Lord. There are people who believe all they that they've done everything they they needed to do by getting saved, and that they come to church and they sit on a pew and they might tithe and they might throw extra money in the offering plate. But that their work is done, their their whole everything is done. That they they are not called to do anything more than that. And I'm sad for those people because they could be doing so much more. I mean, we're all witnesses. We're all called to witness and bear witness and and to be a witness to the goodness of God and to the glory of God and to bring people into the fold, into the family of the Lord. And I think what breaks my heart the most is that there have been generations upon generations of Christians who are occupying graves and during the short lives that they lived, or long lives that they've lived, didn't do anything to move the needle forward a kingdom. And if we're not trying to move the needle while we're alive, it's too late once we close our eyes for the last time. So I said all that. Just trying to give you some hope. That problems, troubles, issues, concerns, they're here for a season. And what you do through those seasons, how you worship the Lord through those seasons, and in spite of those seasons, is part of your testimony and pays dividends to the testimony of how good God is, and that he has us in the palm of his hand, that he loves us, that he's here for us, and that if you give it to him and give your life to him, and just be the hands and feet for him and be a mouthpiece for him, speak on his behalf, and share your testimony, and show your testimony. My goodness, that's hitting closer to the mark. I loved our cruise. We had such a good time. There were some rocky seas coming back. And the carnival elation might be people's last ship that they ever wanted to go on. But it holds a special place in my heart. Might not be everybody's ship, but it's special to me. Because before the carnival elation, I was thinking stuff like this don't happen for people like me. And somebody's worst case scenario ship was my dream vacation. And my wife, my son, and twenty-something friends all got the joy of being on that ship and enjoying each other and having just an incredible time. And we just got to take the whole family on that same ship out of Jacksonville. And we had such a good time. God loves you. This has been the Unqualified Podcast with Leon Wilson.