Flooded: The 5 Best Decisions . . . (Bethany House, 2021)
Nicki Koziarz wrote Flooded: The 5 Best Decisions to Make When Life is Hard and Doubt is Rising in 2021. Currently Nicki ministers as an author and speaker with Proverbs 31 Ministries. Right off the bat, Nicki underscores what happens when hard days leave the lingering effect of doubt in your eyes. It’s still you versus you. Consequently, you decide your response. Above all, hard seasons often cause us to look at God in unhealthy ways. But it’s not our questions for God that create problems. It’s our questioning of God. However, even when there’s doubt, hope still exists to provide the way to rise. For God displays His kindness in the midst of much hard in the most unusual ways.
Most significantly, Nicki counsels, doubt represents the dangerous place we linger in the midst of our battle between belief and unbelief. Therefore, we must deal with disbelief when it brings doubt to our souls – before it leads to unbelief. And the way we show up before God reveals our placement in this process. Although disbelief isn’t necessarily wrong, it must be dealt with by faith. Or it will wreak havoc on your soul. Also, each of us has a Why, God? we must deal with. Because it creates a why-wedge between you and God. Thus, that why-wedge needs to be gone. So, like Moses, we need to remove our shoes to humbly clear the way for whatever stands between us and God. Even though it feels uncomfortable.
Therefore, like Noah, make the decision to walk with God on a daily basis. Next, decide to listen to God and what He says. For when God speaks a word, that requires a great act of obedience on our part. Yet, the greatest peace comes after surrendering the hardest things. When we feel flooded, our hearts need a place to land where we don’t try to make sense of God. Instead, listen to the whisper of faith that God knows what He’s doing. Furthermore, to consistently defeat the mountain of doubt, we need silence as an integral part of life. Silence before God = a source of strength. Also, with God, the reality of hard always hold the perspective of hope.
In conclusion, Nicki exhorts, we always possess the ability to rise above doubt. Faithfulness is built through days, weeks, months, hears of showing up with expectancy, hope, and belief. Hence, the opinions of others impact us without defeating us to the point it causes our disobedience. And time test the faithfulness of our hearts through the long and the short. So, as you enter this holy, sacred place with God, you must allow Him to close the door on Satan. While God’s in charge of the plan, you’re in control of your obedience. The more you remind yourself of this, the stronger you’ll get. As one season ends and another begins, be fully present before God. Release the need to control your situation by looking for a promise rather than a plan.
