Let’s talk about total frustration for a minute. The dictionary records frustration as “the feeling of being upset or annoyed, especially because of inability to change or achieve something.” Maybe the most frustrating thing most of us are wrestling with is not being where we want to be. We could be waiting for the right job to open up. Or waiting for an injury or illness to heal. Maybe it’s waiting for the right time to do something or be a year in the future when you have it together. Maybe it’s even waiting for the right person to come into your life. Or perhaps you’re like me, waiting for everything to just line up already.
While I’m wrestling with this feeling of being frustrated, I’m reminded that where I am is further than where I was. So while I might not be where I want to be, at least I made progress from where I used to be.Because if we don’t have a goal pushing us forward, then we wouldn’t have something to strive to. And my next brainstorming moments remind me how I relate to Jonah again. How frustrating would it be to be cast into the sea only to be consumed by a fish? Talk about being annoyed because of the inability to change something. But even the fish’s belly, Jonah turned to God in prayer.
But let’s go back to the current state. It’s frustrating not being where we want to be because the grass looks so much greener on the other side. Except just because we aren’t on the other side yet, doesn’t mean we aren’t on the edge of something great.If we take all of our energy to focus on where we haven’t gotten to, we miss everything about where we are right now. We are exactly where we are for a reason. What opportunities are we missing out on because our focus is set somewhere else? Maybe we are surrounded by people to witness to or to serve. Maybe someone around us in our current state needs our encouragement or prayer. God doesn’t waste a single moment.
My challenge for you today is to acknowledge what it is you’re frustrated about. Whether you know it right away or you need time to think, acknowledge it. Then pray about how God can use your state of frustration. Who knows maybe someone close to you is secretly frustrated about something and you can open a dialogue by admitting to them what you’re frustrated about.
“When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord. And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” -Jonah 2:7-10
“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” -Romans 8:20-21