Saturday, January 21, 2012 - Disorientation (dĭs-ôr’ē-ěn-tā’shən)

Disorientation (dĭs-ôr’ē-ěn-tā’shən)

dis-o-ri-en-ta-tion. The definitions on dictionary.com are:

1. Loss of one’s sense of direction, position, or relationship with one’s surroundings.
2. A temporary or permanent state of confusion regarding place, time, or personal identity.

My response to these definitions: yes.

I find it necessary to include that under the “Related Words” section, the website listed “freak out.”

Haha. YES!

Everyone deals with disorientation. Either you’re currently in a season of disorientation, you just got out of one, or — sorry to break it to you — you’re about to head right into one.

I’ve been sitting on these thoughts since my grad school program’s retreat last weekend, and I’d love your insight. In order to keep this post somewhat concise, I’m going to share the two main things I feel God has revealed to me as I reflect on past seasons of disorientation in my very brief, but very blessed life thus far. And, just as a disclaimer, the seasons on which I’m reflecting include both periods when I was walking with Christ and also very far from Him, in a very dark place.

Idea Number 1 may come as a shocker to you, or you may be much, much wiser than I and you’ve already figured it out: God knows when we are in a season of disorientation.
If you’re anything like me, it doesn’t cross your mind that God is fully aware of which seasons we are settled in at the moment, and He doesn’t need human revelation to grant Him this knowledge.

And here’s another interesting fact: while God is very in tune with every emotion we feel, our season of disorientation does not place God in a season of disorientation. It does not alter God’s ability to work on us, in fact, it MAGNIFIES God’s ability to work on us. God does not lose His sense of direction when we are confused. Instead, disorientation forces us to seek God as we should, and it reminds us that He is in control.
Have you needed to be reminded of that recently?

Our dependence on the Lord, our willingness to surrender to Him, is what affects our relationship with Him and allows Him to do a mighty work in us.

I think once we realize that the Lord is not thrown off when things don’t happen according to our plans, we can find true comfort and security in allowing Him complete and sovereign rule over our lives, trusting Him to take care of us.

Idea Number Two: our seasons of disorientation are vastly prolonged by our insistence on shortening them.

Whether it is because we don’t want to wallow in our distress, we feel we should pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, or whatever the case may be, we too often try to escape the very place in which God has put us. Reminder: He knows where we are, and we are not here by accident.

How can I say that in the face of tragedy? Because I am a living testament that God, who does not create evil, uses what has been intended for harm and transforms those things into good, into glorious works. Rest assured that nothing in God’s kingdom is wasted.

That being said, I know all too well how pressing the desire to flee from the state of disorientation can be. But I find that we often stay in this season far longer than God intends because of our desperate attempt to climb out of it. In doing this, we miss the lessons (or as I read somewhere that I have now forgotten, the “Blessons”) that God is giving to us. We miss what He is giving us — or what He is taking away — while we are frantically searching for peace and joy.

Please don’t misunderstand me: I am certainly not saying that we should not seek joy and peace, especially in the midst of our trials. That is a fundamental principle of Christianity and to say otherwise would be remiss. What I am saying is that searching and seeking are two different things. We cannot search for these things. We cannot receive them through Bible studies or podcasts. Joy and peace are gifted to us from God, through whichever avenues He chooses, and we must accept them in whatever form they arrive for them to mean what He intends.

What He revealed to me about this shook me to the core: Just like our salvation, it is not our efforts that move us to the next level in the cycle of (dis)/(re)/orientation, it is God’s almighty grace. Yet another gift.


Does that mean that we are off the hook and we have permission to sit around and wait for God?

No.

Yes.

We have permission to wait for God, and when He gives us permission to act we should promptly get off our butts and do so.

So what are my action steps? These come straight from one of the professors at the retreat:

1. Claim your deaths.
2. Accept your births.

I find these to be very difficult and very, very necessary.

Claim your deaths. You are not supposed to be who you were before, or else God would have left you that way. He wants you to be more like Him.

Stop holding on to the past.

Claim whatever He has stripped from you.

Name it.

Become aware.

If it hurts, good. You’re headed in the right direction.

Accept your births. God is taking things away to make room for blessings that are infinitely better. This, too, may hurt. And I have no words of consolation other than God will take care of you.

“being confident of this, that He who began a {good work} in you WILL carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
-Philippians 1:6, emphasis added.