Are you stuck in a rut?

Tom Crenshaw Jan. 11, 2023

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A man walked into a fortune teller's tent at a carnival and paid his money to have his palm read. "I see many things," the fortune teller said.

"Like what?" the man asked.

"You will be poor and unhappy until you are 45," she stated.

"Oh," he said dejectedly. Then he had a thought and asked, "What will happen when I am 45?"

"You will get used to it," she said.

There are people like this man who have become used to living without any hope that their life can change.

Our expectations can play a significant role in shaping our attitude. Ben Franklin said, "Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall receive it." And how true that is. If you don't expect much from life you won't be disappointed. If you don't think change is possible, you probably will never change.

Dead-end thinking will never be the solution to change. We need to believe change is possible and that we can become the subjects of that change.

If you happen to be a person who feels you are stuck in a rut, I have good news for you. Your life can change. There's time to write a postscript to your story. Even if you believe life has dealt you a poor hand, you can walk away a winner.

The good news I have to share comes from the Good News, written by God but penned by a couple of His followers named Jeremiah and Paul. Together their words provide the solution for the change you're looking for.

Listen with the ears of your heart to the hope they offer: "For I know the thoughts I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil. To give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).

When we trust God and allow him to grow us to become more like Christ in how we respond and act then we are promised, "That all things will work together for good to those who love Him and keep His commandments" (Romans 8:28).

Stuck in a rut? Why not trust in these words, but add to them the thoughts of the late Christopher Reeve, the renowned actor who spent the last nine years of his life completely paralyzed, the result of a horse-riding accident. He said, "Once you choose hope, anything is possible."

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Tom Crenshaw serves as Connections Pastor of the New Monmouth Baptist Church (non denominational) where he previously served as a three year interim.He has been married to Jean for almost 50 years, and they have four children, all of whom are teachers.Tom loves perennial gardening, umpiring high school baseball, coaching baseball and football, fishing for small mouth bass, rooting for his favorite team, the Cleveland Indians, and listening to ‘real’ country music, the classic kind. Learn More »

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