Highs, Lows, and Everything in Between... Impact Meeting 3/25

Icebreaker: high, low, buffalo. What’s going on in your life?

What are the highs in your life?

How did you get to the highs?

Do you remember how God got you here?

My Highs-

Sometimes during the Highs you can feel like there is nothing that can stop you. The highs feel amazing and sometimes we can be on highs for a long time. Personally I feel like the Lord puts us in highs so we can see that He is good and that He was working from the beginning.

Before a High there is a low. But the lows never last forever. While you’re in the high remember where you previously were and take moments to thank God for them

No recognition

⁃ Sometimes it is hard to realize that you are on a high. We tend to differentiate the highs and the lows by how our day, week, month, or year is going. Look at the mundane things. Look at the mundane things and figure out that you are doing great and everything is going good. While you realize this it helps you redefine what your highs look like.

⁃ You can be injury free, scoring points each game, have consistent grades in the classroom. You could be having free time to rest . All of these things can contribute to the high.

⁃ A high shouldn’t fully depend on how you feel nor should it fully depend on the circumstances that you are in

⁃ Since we still have life, breath, friends, and family. THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD CALL A HIGH.

WE NEED REDEFINE WHAT OUR HIGHS LOOK LIKE

Philippians 4:11-13

11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

the lows

• Phil just told you about the highs of life. God uses the highs and is most definitely in them showing his goodness and mercy that we don’t deserve. sometimes we need to redefine our highs and see past our circumstances to the God who gives us every victory through his son.

• I’d like to dive deeper into two things. 1. God doesn’t waste the lows in our life. 2. How we treat the ordinary will determine how we experience the highs & lows.

• I think we get it backwards sometimes. We tend to take credit when things are going well, and question/blame God when things aren’t going according to our plan. Emphasis on our plan. The truth is that our life never strays from his plan, he is found in the midst of the highs and lows if we truly seek him.

• God will never waste a low. My theology of what God sends our way is in process. I do believe that there are difficulties or trials that God uses to prune us or shape us into His image. He is not beyond taking something we love for the greater purpose of understanding who He is and what He desires for our life. However, there are some things I don’t believe God “causes”. Instead they are a result of living in a fallen world. People die. Sickness is real. We lose our jobs. We can get hurt. The person we “like” or “love” might not feel the same way. Unexplainable things can happen, and just because we believe in God doesn’t mean we get a free pass from hardship in life. But. God will never waste a low.

• How we respond matters. If we respond in anger, disappointment, and feel the need for God to give us an answer we are likely to delay or miss what it is we can learn from what we face. Take for example Job. The first 30 chapters of Job consists of him and his friends making odd accusations and guesses as to why these things have happened. Maybe it’s because Job wasn’t faithful? Or maybe it was because the world is simply evil? Or is God unjust. Than God arrives and asks the questions to Job. Where were you when… Job has no answers for these questions and chooses wisely to repent and lay his hand upon his mouth. Sometimes, we need to just be still before God and remember who He is above any other circumstance.

• What are some things that can grow in the lows? It depends on the circumstance. I know that answer sucks because I’ve heard it. But it’s true that our situation and responses are unique. Two people can experience the same thing and learn two different things. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some commonalities. Two classic scriptures on the fruit of hardship.

• Romans 5:3-5 [3] Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, [4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, [5] and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

• James 1:2-8  [2] Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, [3] for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. [4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing [5] If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. [6] But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. [7] For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; [8] he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

the in-between

• Did you know that most of life is ordinary? It’s a Tuesday. I know it doesn’t always feel that way in college. Some semesters feel more “intense” and formational than others, but much of our life is lived somewhere in between the mountain-top and the valley. There will come a day where you go to work in the morning and come back home to your family in the evening five days a week. And how you show up every day will matter to not just your formation, but the lives of those around you. That’s true today as well, but even more so as responsibility increases in our life.

• So how are we to steward every day? In light of the knowledge that God will bless us with moments beyond our imagination and teach us in the midst of our darkest days. It’s simple. Be prepared for both.

• Simple Practices: 1. Be faithful in prayer and reading of God’s word. 2. Surround yourself with a community to celebrate the highs and carry you in the lows. 3. Be aware of your own tendencies (know yourself). 4. Know God (how you see God is the most important thing you will ever do, and will determine the way you see your life and the world around you).

Scripture: Galatians 6:7-10

[7] Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. [8] For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [9] And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. [10] So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (See also: James 5:7-18).

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the highs and lows in your life right now?

2. How did God lead you to the highs?

3. What is God teaching you in the lows?

4. How can you be faithful where you are in the ordinary? (Wherever you find yourself, whether it’s a high or low, how can you align the patters of your life to create a sustaining structure when the day of trial comes and a framework of celebration and gratitude in the day of rejoicing).