February 18, 2019, my 91 year-old grandfather passed away. His health and well being was a major concern of mine after my grandmother passed 2.5 years ago but I respected his independence and determination to live alone.
I find peace in knowing he’s in heaven with my grandmother but death is never easy. Even when you think you’re prepared, no one is every truly ready to lose a love one.
February was a pretty rough month for me. I found myself feeling mentally drained and struggling to just get a “decent” night’s sleep. I started being more intentional with self care by doing acupuncture and massages regularly but I found myself having great difficulty with just turning off my brain for a second. I’m supposed to be relaxing but I was going through my “mental to-do list.”
March 11, 2019, I was walking down this pathway at work that has a design on the ground that reminds me of a maze and I heard God say, “Patrice, I haven’t forgot you…TRUST ME!” It was in that moment that I realized I was going through the maze season.
Webster’s dictionary defines a maze as, “a confusing intricate network of passages. Something confusingly elaborate or complicated.” I believe that God has us endure complex but necessary events to make us stronger and help us realize just how much we truly need God. Sometimes you may feel like a mouse going through the maze of life trying to find the piece of cheese (blessings) but God will direct our path if we allow him too.
The maze season allows God to take you through a path that will help you reach your ultimate goal. We all experience pathways and walls full of hurt, disappointment and pain but we must remember that detours are simply a delay and not a dead-end. God takes us through rejection to redirect us to our purpose in life. HE turns setbacks into stepping stones so we can experience our destiny.
The key to reaching your goal while enduring your maze season is faith. Hebrews 11:1 (KJV), “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
The maze season will force you to exercise your “faith muscle” under pressure. Even when we can’t trace God, we must still trust HIM.
James 1:2-4 (MSG), “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
With all the obstacles we face, we have to understand that they get us further away from ourselves and closer to God. Everything happens for a reason! Even when it doesn’t look good, it works out for our good. Sometimes in life our blessings come early and some come late but they ALWAYS come on time. God may change your direction but HE never changes HIS promises.
We make a request known to God and try our best to understand it’s a part of our journey. We wonder did God get our request or we waiting in vain. We must make sure we keep our heart in check while we wait. God requires us to wait because we must trust HIM with our need. Don’t give up nor give in while you’re waiting.
If you’re looking for somebody to be your everything don’t look around, look up! Remember, just because God seems quiet doesn’t mean HE’s not working. While you’re waiting, God is working!
When we’re desperate and cry out to God, HE will come through. Cry out to God with a tiny mustard seed of faith and you will receive a blessing in the maze season. Instead of attempting to make sense of everything, release your questions and doubt and place your hope in God. HE will heal your heart, lead you through the maze and forward into a path of blessings.
1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (MSG), “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”
I pray that as you endure your maze season, you will knock down those walls and walk boldly into your ordained purpose! Don’t lose the joys of life with hesitations, fear nor regrets. Live in the moment with anticipation of great things and positive reinforcement. Your thoughts, deeds, actions and people in your atmosphere are critical driving forces that can align your destiny with prosperity or demise.
I pray that you stop focusing on your past and walk like you’re getting a miracle tomorrow. Remember as you walk through your maze season, God will use obstacles to launch you into your purpose. Allow God to search your heart and reveal areas in your life where you may be running or hiding. I pray that you stand in faith and invite God to move mightily on your behalf.
God does not bless anyone in their comfort zone. Don’t allow your fears to block your blessings, step out on faith! God’s blessings are waiting for you on the other side of fear. Allow God to order your footsteps to walk through the maze.
I pray that God will help me to always refocus when necessary; managing my life properly and not allow my life to manage me. I will continue to make decisions by faith because I know God will never leave me. For All I Trust HIM because God continues to help me remove any toxic issues that are hindering my walk with HIM.
Hi Patrice. Thank you for these beautiful words. I too am in a maze or circle. I am focused on the time that is given and making it quality time full of love and laughter and Prayer. Love you.
Praise God! This message was needed very much!