There is a saying that goes, “Tell God your plans and watch him laugh” and if I’m being frank with you, I realised subconsciously last year that this was something I was subscribing to
E.g. when things didn’t always look 100% for Media Magic, I questioned God.
In so doing, I realised I didn’t question God’s power or ability but I did question His will and His desire towards me
In other words I didn't question if He could bless me but I did wonder if He would. Can you relate, sis?
What this really comes down to is past disappointments
As Nigerians say, life will show you "shege" (trouble or hardship), leading us to believe that what we want isn’t always in the cards
But, I think that what I came to realise is, as cliche as it may sound, delay is not denial
If you ever find yourself not wanting to engage in something or give up because you’re not sure whether it’s for you:
Firstly, remember that “God’s thoughts for you are of peace and not of evil, to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29)
It doesn’t always seem like life is working in your favour or that all things work out for good for all those who love the Lord, but there is a scripture in Ecclesiastes that says, “He makes all things beautiful in its time”. What I’ve learned with the journey to launching Media Magic and other life experiences is that, if it’s not yet beautiful, it’s not over. So, in those moments of self-doubt, you need to dig deep to ensure that you don’t lose your hope and faith because these things will keep you moving forward and light the way to make sure you get to the other side.
Secondly, resistance or things not immediately going your way isn’t a sign that you should give up or call it quits
One of my favourite quotes is by author and minister, V. Raymond Edman: “You have to believe in the dark what you first heard in the light”. A lot of the time we get these revelations/downloads and we get so excited, we immediately want to charge forward. When it gets hard and it’s not fun anymore, though, we start to question ourselves and self-doubt tries to seep in- but we have to keep on going.
A powerful and entertaining reminder of how we need to challenge our self-doubt came from a play I saw just before the New Year with my mum: Hadestown
If you haven’t seen it, definitely do. If not, the soundtrack is on YouTube.
The most famous song from that play is "Wait For Me" but, in the reprised version, Hermes (the messenger god) has this whole dialogue with the main character, Orpheus, where he says that self-doubt is like a fierce dog in your mind that you have to overcome by sticking to the plan to achieve your goals
Which brings me to the third thing that I learned: Look for evidence of good/success
When self-doubt and life circumstances start to present you with reasons to give up, it’s very easy to focus on those things. You lose hope and you don’t want to keep going. In those moments, it becomes imperative to look for evidence of good. To look for evidence that things will go your way, even if that evidence is simply your dream, God’s direction and/or your will to go on
Because a plan minus hope or belief is doomed to fail