Do you ever wonder why God put you where you are? Maybe you live in an
area of the UK, or apart of the world where there is war and your town
is broken and you call to God and say "God why am I here?!" "I don't
understand God!?" "God please can I move elsewhere?!"
I recently moved to the lovely seaside town (totally didn't just Google to see if it was a town or city...what's the difference anyway?). After not living by the seaside for 4 years I have got to admit I am so glad to be back. Every morning when I wake up and open my blinds in my room I get the privilege of seeing God's amazing creation with the sea. What do you see when you look out the window? Maybe it's your garden where everything is orange because of the autumn breeze or maybe you see someone else's room from the flat's across the road, maybe you see a bus stop where you know at 8:36am every weekday, young people get on the bus because you can hear them chatting. Wherever you live, a town, city, countryside or in a boat find things to love about the place you live.
When I post a photo about Hastings on Instagram or Twitter I use the hashtag #LoveHastings. If you are a social media person, whether that be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat why not put #Love(InsertThePlaceYouLive). Find anything from the big to the small. It could be that you really don't like the place you live and you walk past a flower and something about it sticks out - take a photo, document it, enjoy God's creation. Maybe you love where you live - show it off.
I recently worked with a company called NCS, where I had the chance to work with a bunch of awesome young people and I spoke about #LoveHastings. When I asked them what do you love about Hastings, they all responded with nothing, to which I responded, well what don't you like about Hastings then? Oh my if I didn't stop them then I believe they might still be going on with what they don't like. The problem is, being the humans that we are, we can so often get caught up in the negative and not think about the positive of God's creation. But, we may just have to look harder for it and that is what I did with these young people. I got them to look harder for it and they spoke about the good things and it was like a domino effect. One by one they are talking about #LoveHastings.
Maybe you have gotten this far and you are like, OK I guess I can love where I live, but I still don't understand why God has put me here. Trust me when I say, I have been there too. I moved to a town called Whitehawk, in Brighton and when I moved there when I was 10 years old - I had heard bad things about Whitehawk. Basically what I heard was don't move to Whitehawk. But now 12 years later, I love Whitehawk and I am so glad God put me there, because it was there where this journey started and my faith started building. You see, I believe that where you currently live is all apart of God's AMAZING plan for your life! I 100% believe that! Jeremiah 29:11 says this;
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. "
Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understandings". This can be so hard. To trust someone else can be such a challenge and everyday we have to take a deep breath and say God, today I want to say I trust you afresh again. God's plan for your life is amazing and isn't there to harm you. Remember God wouldn't put you somewhere if he knew you couldn't handle it. When you feel like you can't handle it, you can't take where you live anymore or the thought of living in New York sounds much more amazing than living in Bognor Regis, remember that you have the God that created the Universe living inside you and he believes in you and if you feel like you can't do it then you have a God who can do anything with you.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and
do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths" Proverbs 3:5-6
So love where you currently live, enjoy where you currently. You don't know when that season will end and a new chapter will open. Be thankful to God for what you have rather than what you currently don't have in your life. Love where you live.
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