Wonder why you feel discouraged and frustrated, hindered and stuck in life? Have you almost lost hope for change?
If you say, “Yes! That is me!” Then you are not alone.
I, too, felt that way. So I began to ask “why” I felt stuck in my life, purpose, and relationships. Here is what I found.
There are many reasons why we might feel stuck in life. However, as a Christian believer, you will definitely want to check these off your list.
Here are seven possible reasons and seven things to do when you feel stuck in a rut and need some breakthrough.
1. When You are Stuck in Life, Ask Questions
Asking questions is the best way to find solutions.
And many times, we neglect to ask the One who knows all the answers. God can answer us in many different ways, and his sheep hear his voice.[1]
Simply ask “Why do I feel stuck?” “Is there something specific I need to do?” “Do I need to forgive someone?” “What do I need to know about this situation?”
Then begin to look for answers to come to you in any form.
God can speak through spontaneous thoughts to your mind, through a friend, through the Bible, through prayer, through a pastor, through circumstances, through a TV show, or even through a donkey.[2]
God is not limited in how he can get an answer to you. Simply pay attention in life for the answers to your questions.
2. Get Honest
2. Get HonestTo get unstuck, something needs to change. You will need a break from the usual way you think and perceive.
Somehow you must change from negative thinking to faith thinking.
A breakthrough moment may happen in a time of crisis or a time of questioning life. Sometimes this breakthrough moment comes as you get honest with yourself and God in a quiet moment.
Many people honestly know in their heart what they should do, but neglect to do it.
Ask God to help you think the right thoughts and do what needs to be done. Ask for grace to understand and apply your understanding.
Get honest. Ask yourself if you are still doing the last thing you feel like God wanted you to do. Have you been obedient in all you know to do?
3. Cultivate Gratitude
Ask yourself if you are ungrateful in any way. Are you getting impatient with God and His path for you?
A negative, complaining spirit grieves God.[3]
We are not automatically born thankful. Studies show developing thankfulness changes the chemistry in our brains and we feel happier. Gratitude is something we should diligently cultivate.
Our gratitude is continually assaulted by subtle suggestions of “look what you do not have.”
If you can read this article you experience an amazing and abundant life. This is not to say you don’t have to deal with very serious issues, but make sure your gratitude is working properly.
We face the same human difficulty Adam and Eve faced in the Garden: ingratitude and complacency. They lusted for more when the abundance God gave them became familiar and commonplace.
We, humans, tend to lose our gratitude quickly. When we begin to see God’s extraordinary provision as ordinary and routine, it loses its amazing qualities in our minds.
We take God and everything else for granted.
We can slip from true devotion at any time, in many ways. Ingratitude and pride are the most slippery of sins.
It is pride that says, “I do not need any help. I can fix things all by myself.” It is the same voice Eve listened to in the Garden that said she could decide for herself, that she did not need her Creator Father’s help.
We must continually choose to ask for God’s help and be thankful.
Thankfulness is a habit we can cultivate that creates a happier life.
4. Beware the Enemy of Your Soul When You Feel Stuck in Life
Sometimes we forget that simply because we are the child of God on the earth that the eternal arch-enemy of God wants to see us fail. He is continually roving around seeking to devour someone at worst or hinder someone at best.
Ask the question, “Is the enemy opposing me? Do I need to fast and pray for my situation?”
I have much to say about prayer, but since prayer is not the subject of this article, I will briefly say prayer is powerful. God hears the faintest cry of our hearts and will rush to his child in need.
Fasting is an underutilized tool among Christians that can change things we don’t even realize are hindering us in the unseen realm.
There is power to break the chains of evil in the practice of fasting; because Adam and Eve, when tempted by satan, lost authority when they ate the fruit.
In that disobedient bite, they gave their dominion and authority away. We gain degrees of authority back over the enemy when we set aside a consecrated time not to eat.
Fasting brings us more into alignment with God’s will rather than our selfish will.
Fasting mixed with heartfelt prayers will change any situation. Research fasting if you have never fasted before.
5. Beware of Other Peoples’ Expectations
Are you living someone else’s expectations for you? Your parents? Family member? Spouse? Boss? or Friends?
They may expect things from you, or for you, based on their own motivations.
For example, they may say out of fear, “I don’t want you to make the same decision I made.”
Or out of a desire to control the outcome, they may say, “I just want what is best for you.” Or they my use the guilt phrase, “I’m disappointed that…” or “I love you, but…”
Or they may believe you have the same desires and expectations they have, “We are in this together, for this goal.” “You and me, we are the same.”
Begin to look for the true motives of people who put expectations on you. Does their motivation flow from fear, a desire to control the outcome, or from their own expectation for you?
Beware, however, and don’t become angry or bitter with what you see. Forgive them for their human weaknesses.
You are not like anyone else. God made you uniquely you!
You have likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams that are not like anyone else. Take some quiet time and look at your life.
Decide what things you like, which things drain or exhaust you, which things you are passionate about, and which things make you upset.
Decide to not let other people’s expectations for you distract from what you are doing and going for in life.
It may take a process to disconnect, but you can do it! Live your dream and not someone else’s dream for you!
6. Ask for Encouragement
I remember a Bible teacher once saying something like, “I have never had a time in life when I asked for encouragement that the Lord did not send encouragement to me in some way.”
At the time I had never thought about asking God for encouragement. Since then I have had many opportunities to ask.
Recently, I felt discouraged about my progress on a project that seemed to be dragging on, and blurted out, “God, I just need some encouragement on this.”
The next day the exact encouragement I needed arrived.
Ask God for encouragement.
7. Look Out for the Comparison Trap
Are you looking at another person’s success?
Comparing yourself to other people is poisonous suicide.
It will cause you to neglect and even reject your own uniqueness.
You can learn from others around you but be confident to put your unique spin on what you do. What you do flows from who you are as an exceptional child of the Living God.
Ask God how He sees you. You will be amazed at what He shows you and how He will comfort you.
Think about things that make you uniquely you. Embrace and accept your uniqueness and God’s unique design in how He made you!
Conclusion
Any of the things listed above can cause you to feel stuck in life.
Bring these questions to your Creator who loves you and knows you better than anyone else. He will direct you in the right responses.
Finding answers always begins with questions.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11)
You may want to read the most popular article of late: 7 Things That Hinder Spiritual Growth
[1]John 10:27
[2]Numbers 22:28.
[3]Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18.
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