FAMILY MATTERS: Ancient
wisdom for midlifers facing crisis
_ I am 53, and my life has not turned out at all like I expected. I was let go from my job of 22 years when our company sold. My wife and I have a very casual, distant relationship since our last child left home. And even my roles of deacon and Sunday School teacher at church provide no real fulfillment. I feel like a total failure.
___ How you feel this minute does not determine the significance of your life. Its value was established the moment God created you and laid out a mission for you. There is built-in worth in your life. Jesus gave his very life to underscore that.
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MARY STEDHAM
Family Counselor
Abilene
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___That said, your feelings do have purpose. They are pushing you toward change and growth. Afraid that you will be inadequate for the next part of your mission, you are hesitant and afraid. Many others are fighting a similar battle in midlife. They, too, are asking, "What's it all about? What's the use?"
___I offer a word of encouragement from the Bible. In 1 Chronicles, a single verse records the prayer of Jabez, a good man God blessed and used--when he asked for help.
___We know Jabez came away with the designation of "honorable." And we know the simple prayer he prayed: "Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain" (1 Chronicles 4:10).
___Those words could easily come from someone in your position, who is discouraged and uncertain but also aware God is in the business of blessing and using his children.
___Your job and family situations may be in a state of change, but God's desires for you are unchanging. I am convinced that when we are bold enough to seek his blessing and commit ourselves to his use, he will show us amazing things.
___You are at a crossroads. You can live in fear with a sense of failing, or you can live in faith with a sense of expectancy of what wonders God can work in your life.
___And you can choose to rely on God's blessing and leadership in a way far beyond what you have in the past, or you can believe God expects you to "pull your own weight." Your choice!
___As a midlifer myself, I offer thanks for God's faithfulness, and I offer thanks for the little book "The Prayer of Jabez" and Bruce Wilkinson's gifts of insight and witness to me and--perhaps--to you also.
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