Thursday, March 31, 2011

How Are You Doing?

 How Are You Doing?

We hear that question all day. Every time we see someone we either ask, or are asked, “How’re you doing?” Most of the time, we answer quickly, flippantly. We say, “Great!” or  “Fine,” or we come up with something clever like, “Can’t complain, no one would listen.”

The thing about all of those answers is, they aren’t necessarily true. Ok, maybe not all of the people who asked would have been safe people for you to really talk to. Or it could be that today when someone asked how you were doing, they didn’t really want to know. They may have just wanted you to say, “Fine” or “Good” or something similar, but, when they asked, did you stop to think about it?
How are you doing, really? Try something. Take just a minute and really examine yourself. In fact, don’t do this on your own, ask for God to examine you as well. Ask God, “How am I doing today?” You may want to pray this prayer found in Psalm 139:23-34:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Then, pay attention to what God reveals to you. You may find that you have come out of time where you have experienced great victory, that you are doing really well today, and when you responded, “Great!” you really meant it. Praise God for that. In fact, if that’s where you are right now take some time to thank God for giving you that victory. Celebrate it!
Maybe God has shown you that there’s something in your life that He wants you to hand over to Him. It could be a failure, a fear, a frustration, a relationship, something you’ve carried around for years or something brand new that’s crept in quietly. Now that He’s brought it to your attention, give it to Him. Now that He’s shown you how you’re really doing, tell Him about it. Ask Him to help you.
If you’re afraid, ask for peace.
If you’re frustrated, ask for resolution.
If you’ve failed, ask for forgiveness.
If you feel broken, ask Him for healing.
If you feel stuck in a hurt, habit or hang-up ask Him for freedom.
When we do this, when we present our requests to God, when we come to Him in prayer and ask Him for guidance, when we ask Him for help, the Bible promises us in Philippians 4:7 that,
“the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

So, “How are you doing?” Really.
If you find that you’re not doing as well as you’d like to be, don’t go through it alone.
Join us at Celebrate Recovery Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church we would love to have you!

2 comments:

Rochelle Wilson said...

This was truly uplifting.

Unknown said...

Great post. I grew up in a dysfunctional family and was taught when people adk "how are you" they are only being polite and don't care. My recovery family has taught me different. It took me awhile to learn that when safe people ask they WANT to know. God Bless