Perspective Prescription.
Maybe you’re at your breaking point, too. Maybe nothing is looking like it used to. Maybe you’re buying into that blurred, jarred image of yourself and your circumstances—and you are convinced that it makes up who you really are.
There’s nothing like coming face to face with the lies that seep through to your heart and harshly whisper to you that you are inadequate, incapable, worthless, useless, inconvenient, insignificant. Your perspective on your life becomes scratched, broken, and distorted by these lies. Imagine looking through a pair of outdated glasses--that you’ve had since like third grade--and the world in front of you is hindered by the scratches and smears on the lenses. For those who often wear glasses, this can be horribly frustrating. This affects all the things that you can see, and in turn, it affects how you react to what you see.
Going into college, I was so overjoyed to have a major and minor I was passionate about. I was stoked to meet new people and to become as involved on campus as I could. At first, I drank in all the information I could with my major/minor classes. I made a lot of meaningful connections with peers and professors that I was confident God had purposed. I was ecstatic that God was teaching me how to be intentional with Him and those who He brought into my life.
But, this year (my junior year of college) I have been so exhausted. I have been so ready to quit. Like the Israelites on so many occasions, I have forgotten those passions, connections, and promises that God has carefully knitted together over the last couple of years. The enemy has known that I have been at my breaking point. My perspective has been fogging. And lies have been scratching at my sight. I’ve been believing that the world I have been seeing is how the world is. I’ve been believing that the blurred, jarred image of myself is who I really am.
With that perspective prescription, I would have told you that I am inadequate in my major and minor. I would have told you that I am depressed, anxious, and worthless. I would have told you that it was about time that I just gave up.
Thank God for those dear friends who give perspective check-ups every once in a while.
A dear friend of mine was bold in reminding me that the lies that whisper don’t come from our Heavenly Father. While the enemy is all talk, God is all action. He betters our prescription by replacing our sadness with joy. He takes our anxieties by rebuking it with His Almighty authority. He makes us worthy out of our outdated unworthiness.
Ask yourself:
Why does God have me in this place (school, work, internship)? Why at this season in my life?
Do I believe that God has intended for me to be in this place? Why? Why not?
What all has He done while in this place? (a good reminder for our Old Testament Israelite-like minds)
What lies am I believing? And what Biblical truth debunks these lies?
Ask, answer, and pray over these questions to combat the lies that exhaust us of what God has intended in our current season of life.
Ultimately remember that He takes our out of date perspective prescription and updates it to even better than before.
“Look to the Lord and His strength. Seek His face always.” Psalm 105:4
words by Kayla Scott and photo by Clara Espe