BD: The Pre-Season in Retrospect
There are certain seasons in life where you find yourself at a crossroad, and you know that the decisions you are faced with in that season are going to change your life in one way or another. You will never be exactly the same person you were before you were faced with that break in the road. However, "what" happens to you in life is not what defines you in the end; what defines you is what you decide to do about it. And even then, once the decision is made, your attitude will shape the outcome of your decision, regardless of whether the decision was a good one or a bad one. (But more about that later!)
I believe there are "pre-seasons" that we all go through when we start to sense that there is a shifting in the path ahead, and what we do in those times can be a big determiner of how prepared we are for what's coming. Just like how it goes with major league sports, sometimes the pre-season build up can strengthen the relationship between the coach and the team, and even set the tone for how well teams will do in their efforts to bring home the big win.
During "pre-season," if we allow Him, God will guide us into areas we need to apply our focus, He'll plant seeds of truth that will later be cultivated for a harvest, and even offer correction over the weeds in our lives that really need to be uprooted. Whether or not we choose to be an active participant in the "pre-season line-up" is up to us, not God; just like a coach can only do so much to prep and guide a player to maximize that player's abilities and prospective to the game plan--in the end, it's ultimately up to the player to apply it all.
So, I'm going to be titling this part of my process as my own personal pre-season time as "Before Diagnosis" (or BD). Once that diagnosis came, I was in the game, and I was using however much of that prep I received from the Holy Spirit in pre-season to make sense of what exactly I was faced with and how to go about this fight of faith.
**This blog was written in October 2012, but chronologically happened in May 2012**
I believe there are "pre-seasons" that we all go through when we start to sense that there is a shifting in the path ahead, and what we do in those times can be a big determiner of how prepared we are for what's coming. Just like how it goes with major league sports, sometimes the pre-season build up can strengthen the relationship between the coach and the team, and even set the tone for how well teams will do in their efforts to bring home the big win.
During "pre-season," if we allow Him, God will guide us into areas we need to apply our focus, He'll plant seeds of truth that will later be cultivated for a harvest, and even offer correction over the weeds in our lives that really need to be uprooted. Whether or not we choose to be an active participant in the "pre-season line-up" is up to us, not God; just like a coach can only do so much to prep and guide a player to maximize that player's abilities and prospective to the game plan--in the end, it's ultimately up to the player to apply it all.
So, I'm going to be titling this part of my process as my own personal pre-season time as "Before Diagnosis" (or BD). Once that diagnosis came, I was in the game, and I was using however much of that prep I received from the Holy Spirit in pre-season to make sense of what exactly I was faced with and how to go about this fight of faith.
**This blog was written in October 2012, but chronologically happened in May 2012**
