God is Directing Your Movie

Last week, I wished you a week of finding a book that will help you learn and grow in an area of your life that you felt you needed to pay attention to right now. What book did you find and why did you choose that book? I’d love to hear what you’re reading.

I happened to listen to a radio session from Joel Osteen. He made an interesting analogy to our lives and a movie. Think about this. “God is the director of our individual movie. What if we knew how the “movie” ended first?” Wouldn’t we then be able to “stay in peace” if we knew that a setback or block in the road was ok since we already knew how our movie was going to turn out?

Think about it this way. If you know you’re going to miss a football game, you may record it to watch later. You are ready to sit down and watch the game, however, your spouse sees you’re starting the game and inadvertently tells you who wins the game. Now, watching the game takes on a whole new meaning. You aren’t going to get upset when the team is behind at the end of the first quarter, you aren’t worried when the ball is turned over, you aren’t even upset when the game is on the line with only two minutes left. After all, you know the end. You watched the game without jumping out of your seat when the ball was turned over, you aren’t biting your fingernails with only two minutes left, you know your team is going to win.

Knowing the final score and who won the game allows your enjoyment to be totally different despite all the negatives that happened during the game. From the Joel Osteen message, he suggests that if we trust that God has made a great “movie” for each of us, why don’t we trust that the detours, the setbacks, the change in direction, are all just a part of our movie? It’s up to us to keep the faith and to understand that a setback or block is only a “scene” in our movie.

If we are truly paying attention to the events in our lives, then we can look at setbacks really being a setUP for our full destiny. Can we “stay in peace” since we know that God is our director? I believe God gives us many gifts, talents, skills, and confidence from the very beginning of our lives. The actual environment of our beginning does not have to determine our destiny. It’s our focus, it’s learning and being more faithful that God is in control throughout our life.

I believe that God is a loving God that made us in his image and wants only the very best for us. Can we begin to stay in peace if we believe God is directing it all? WE are in control of our mindset, we are responsible to stay faithful no matter what gets in the way. It’s NOT our decision when something should happen. It’s God’s time. If things don’t happen just the way we think it should happen, how do we respond? Do we understand that we must have more to learn, we have more experiences we need to have, we haven’t met the right person yet, we need to handle our finances on a smaller stage first in order to handle more money later?

These are all a part of someone’s movie. God is in control, but we are the ones needing to listen and pay attention to the clues. Are we listening and willing to take the detour that God is directing us to follow or are we getting in our own way and “fighting” that detour?

We are the ones that need to understand everything is part of our movie. Do you get that gut feeling that a certain person really isn’t right for you, but you try to rationalize those nagging questions? Are you ignoring that gut and nagging feeling that something isn’t right because you want to be in a relationship so badly that you’re willing to ignore those clues? Though we don’t always understand it at the time, I believe that “gut check” is God “talking” to you.

Do you ignore the monthly bills piling up and that uneasy feeling every time you see a bill in the mail? You rationalize that all your friends have credit card debt so it must be ok. Then you have the book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker recommended to you. You can decide you’re not a reader or you don’t have time or you can believe that this is God “talking” to you. The questions is are you listening and willing to take a detour by actually reading the book and changing your financial blueprint?

As Joel discussed, our “movie” has its high points and low points. That’s life. Then there are those times we seem to just be cruising, we aren’t getting any messages. What do we do? Are we suppose to keep going? Did we miss something? Think about a GPS system. You put in the address for a particular destination. A voice tells you to turn one way or another, take a certain exit etc. etc. As long as you’re hearing the voice giving you directions, all is good. However, do you begin to get nervous if you haven’t heard that voice for a while? I know I do, but what is usually happening? This is the time to keep moving forward. That’s part of the movie too.

Here’s my challenge to you. Can you accept that God is in charge, that He has your “movie” already written, and he has an incredible ending for you? Can you trust that all the setbacks are there for a reason? Can you trust your gut and truly listen to those clues God is sending your way? Can you stay upbeat and focused on moving forward despite all the detours?

If you’re truly a believer, I hope you know that God gave you self-confidence, God gave you all the skills, talents etc. you need. But somewhere along the way, you took a detour and lost your way. You’ve wondered if you deserve the successes or you wonder if there is anyone special “out there” for you.

Can you accept that everything that has happened to this point is all a part of your “movie?” Can you accept that your “movie” has NOT ended? God is in control of that ending. It’s your responsibility to turn back on your inner GPS! Listen to those clues, listen carefully. Believe that this loving God has a beautiful ending to your movie.

Just like watching the football game knowing the outcome, you can be calm and unflustered when you seem to be behind, or when it appears that things aren’t working out the way you had planned. You have God as your director. You have God in charge if you’re willing to listen, learn, move forward, not be deterred during the low times and be patient for that next direction from your inner GPS.

I wish you a week of taking stock of your “movie” so far. I wish you a week to begin to learn how to listen carefully to all the clues around you.