Mindset Shifts to Thrive in Hard Seasons

Speaker A: You might be going through something in life right now that you wish would just go away. You've prayed about it. You've asked God to remove that thorn from your flesh, but he hasn't yet. Maybe that has caused you to lose hope or even question God. And if that is you, I believe that God wants to encourage and strengthen you. In today's episode, I'm going to share how God used some of the hardest circumstances in my life to prepare me for where I am today and why God wants you to take a different perspective on your situation. Hey, friends. Welcome to the Jolie Harris show. Let's dive into today's episode. So many times we have a promise from God. We have a vision of what he wants for our lives, right? A prophecy, a word from scripture, Something that the lord has embedded in our hearts. And we know that it's from God. We know that. We know that. We know that. That God has spoken to us and given us a promise. But then we find ourselves in a season that looks the complete opposite of that promise. And we start to question the promise. We start to question God. We start to question why those things are happening. And this happened to a man named Joseph. In the book of Genesis, chapter 37, God gave Joseph some phenomenal dreams about his future. Starting in verse five, it says, joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, listen to this dream I had. We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field, when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it. His brothers said to him, do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us? And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. And then he has another one. It says, then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. Listen, he said, I had another dream, but this time the sun and the moon and 11 stars were bowing down to me. When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, what is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you? His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. And so when you continue reading the story, his brothers, uh, were super jealous of him. Ended up framing him, throwing him in a pit, selling him as a slave, lying to their father that he had been killed. And Joseph goes through some really hard times. I mean, he's a slave. He's put in prison, he's wrongfully accused of abuse. All of these different things that had to happen. But those situations framed the perfect environment for Joseph to get promoted and for God to fulfill that vision that he had many years before. So, ah, at times God shows us the vision, the dream, the end result, where he's taking us, but he doesn't show us what we're going to have to go through to get there. He did not show Joseph what he was going to go through to get there. Can you relate to this friend? I remember years ago, in my early 20s, I had some big promises from God. One in particular was that the Lord was going to bless me with marriage, that he was going to bless me with a family. And it's something I had really wanted for years. I had prayed for and I had this promise from God that it was going to happen. But God didn't show me all the things that I was going to have to go through between that moment and, and when I would receive that promise. And even when I would receive that promise, some of the challenging things I would go through. Still, God never showed me that homelessness would be part of my journey, that I'd be jobless, that I'd get married one day and face an eviction notice and live on a shoestring budget before I ultimately got to my dream job. He didn't show me those things. And I remember that season I was a new Christian. I was homeless. I was living in Airbnbs day by day, trusting God for my daily manna, trusting God to provide my next meal. And it felt scary and uncertain and uncomfortable and so many moments. I just couldn't wait for that season to end. I just couldn't wait for God to bring me to a better place and just settle me in life. I just wanted to have a good life. What I didn't understand is that all of those things that I went through were shaping my character. They were pushing me and framing me into the person I am today. Helping me to trust God for daily provision so that in the future I wouldn't trust in, uh, his blessings, that I wouldn't trust in material things right in my blessings, but that I would continue to look to him as my source and my provider. Had I not gone through those situations, I wouldn't know the value of hard work or being frugal or how to be a good steward over my blessings. I would have been like the prodigal son who squandered my blessings. And so you find yourself in this season and you don't understand. You don't understand why you're going through what you're going through, friend. But here's the thing. God is faithful. So what are you going through today? Maybe you're going through financial struggles, or it could be relational struggles. Challenges in your marriage, challenges with your children, challenges with your health. There's so many things that we go through in this life, but God has the answer. And, uh, perhaps in this season, God wants you to trust him for your daily manna, your daily manna of peace, your daily manna of endurance, of joy, to just get through one more day. And if you can relate to any of this, I want to share with you four mindset shifts that you can make today that are going to change everything for you. Because God doesn't want you to just endure this season, but I believe he wants you to reap from this season. There are things that he wants to do in you. There are things that he wants you to gain. He doesn't want you to just spend the time, but to be intentional with this time. So I'm going to give you four quick mindset shifts that you can make that are going to help you change your perspective on your situation. Okay? Number one, ask God what he wants you to learn. Yes, I know you're focused on how bad things are, how difficult things are. The last thing that you want to do is look at the lesson, right? But. But the thing is, there is a lesson. There's a lesson in it. There's something God wants you to gain, and it's for your own benefit. And if you can make that shift in your mind that you're going through this for your own benefit and also for the benefit of others and for the kingdom of God, it's going to help you change your perspective as you're going through it. Will it make it easy? Not necessarily, but it's going to work in you the endurance and patience that you need to keep going. So ask. Take some time and pray to the Lord and ask him to show you what is it that he wants you to learn from this situation. Number two, ask God how he wants to get glory from your story. Some of the things that we go through aren't about us. It might be for someone else. I can look back on my story of homelessness, and yes, God used that season of my life to teach me some things. But also I know that God could have taught me those things in a different way. But I'm going to be able to relate to people in a way that maybe some others can't because of my story, because of some of those hard things that I went through. It makes me relatable. When Jesus came to earth, right? He made himself relatable. He allowed himself to go through so many hard things and be mistreated when he didn't have to, but it made him relatable to us. And so there's parts of your story that may be for someone else. Maybe God wants to use you and glorify himself through your testimony. And so ask him. Ask him to show you more. Here's the thing, friend. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says, and he died for all that. Those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again. I read this verse recently, and it really convicted me that, you know, I'm not here for myself. And sometimes we do get caught up in what we want for our lives, our goals, our dreams, all the things. But not everything that happens to us is for us. And so if we have given our lives to Jesus Christ, there are some amazing promises that come with that. But also we have surrendered our lives to him and he has the final say. Okay, mindset shift number three is see this as an opportunity. When we're in hardship, we have a unique opportunity to grow spiritually that we do not have. When times are good, when you choose to worship and to believe God, when you're in a hard spot, your spiritual muscles are getting stronger. And the thing is that once God brings that breakthrough and that promise, you don't have that same opportunity. Yes, you can still grow spiritually. Yes, you can still worship God. So I'm not saying that spiritual growth can't happen. You can still pray and seek God and read your Bible, but there's this special oil that's released over your life when you worship through hard times. And there are windows of opportunity that you have to take advantage of because obviously we don't control our circumstances, right? So when things are going good, you know, we may not have that same window of opportunity. Yes, we can still worship God through good times, and we should. But. But like I said, there's a special anointing oil that's released over our lives when we worship God through hard times, when we worship him through our tears. And I remember this being true for me when I lost my mother a few years back. I lost my mother, and it was a very difficult time. But during the time of her sickness, before she passed and went on and went on to be with the Lord, I Had a special window of opportunity to worship God and to pray and believe God in spite of what was happening. And let me tell you, that season of my life, as challenging as it was what was going on with, with her, I was like on a spiritual mountain. It felt like. Because the. The way that I was experiencing God was so powerful that I truly believe it had to do with the situation that I was in and the grace that he gave me to be able to worship through that and pray and believe through that. And so whatever it is that you're going through, see it as an opportunity. If you do that, friend, you will experience God on another level that you may have never experienced him before. Mindset shift. Number four. See this as preparation. God often uses pain for our purpose, pain for our promotion. I don't know what God has for you in the future, but whatever it is, what you're going through today, whether it's in this life or the next life, right? This could be preparation for something that he has for you here on earth, or it could be preparing you spiritually for eternity. It could be working in your character. The Bible talks about in James how we should rejoice in our suffering when we face trials because it's working patience and endurance in us so that nothing is lacking. Remember, friend, that God has your best interest at heart. He cares about you, he loves you, and whatever hard things he allows, he's going to work it out for good. The Bible says he works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Okay, so as we're wrapping up, there are four mindset shifts that you can make today that are going to help you through the situation that you're going through as you are waiting for the promise of God. Number one, ask God what he wants you to learn. Number two, ask God how he wants to get glory from your story. Number three, see this as an opportunity. And number four, see this as preparation. Hey friend, I know what it's like living paycheck to paycheck and feeling like you are stuck. You can't see a way out. You've tried it all and your money stress consumes your mind all day long. One of the things God did to bring my husband and I out of that situation is using the skills that we already had to make extra money and get into better careers. If you want to learn how, check out my side hustle launch plan where I walk through the exact steps you can take to use skills you already have to make more money so you can reach your goals. Get it for free@ah, joliejharris.com plan that's joliejharris.Com plan and I'll leave that link for you in the show notes. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next time.