A few years ago, out of the blue, my jaw started popping constantly when I opened my mouth widely. I couldn't figure out what the problem was, so I ended up going to the orthodontist. He told me that a malocclusion was the culprit. Though my teeth were mildly crooked, that wasn't the main issue. The real problem was that my jaw was out of alignment and braces were the only answer.
Braces?! Yep. Braces. Two weeks later I had braces. Sidebar: Don't ever believe anyone who tells you they don't hurt! I remember the day I got them. I went to my mom's house to have something to eat and oh my Lord, I almost broke down when I tried to chew. Talk about pain!
Anyway, after months of treatment, embarrassing rubber bands in very conspicuous places, and serious gum and candy withdrawal, everything was fixed. I had the braces removed. End of story right? Wrong. I found out that I would have to wear retainers every night for the rest of my life in order to keep my teeth in alignment.
I remember when I got that bit of exciting news. I looked up at the orthodontist with a pathetically defeated kind of look and said, "You mean forever ever?"
He just smiled and told me to relax. That meant forever ever.
"Just perfect," I thought as I laid back and tried not to gag while his assistant filled my mouth with a tray full of cold puddy to take a mold of my newly straightened teeth.
Initially I wasn't too thrilled about the idea. But after having invested thousands of dollars in having the malocclusion corrected, I figured I could learn to adjust to wearing my retainers. Over the past couple of years I've gotten used to them.
My point? There are no one-time-fix-all solutions. Everything requires maintenance. The mentality that suggests that you can work the kinks out of a situation and move on without ever having to worry about it again, is just flat out wrong.
If you want to see consistently great results in your life, you have to work to maintain and retain high standards every single day. If you're involved in a fitness regimen, you can't work out for 45 minutes one day and expect it to last for a whole year. That's ludicrous. But often, we don't apply the same wisdom in our everyday lives.
We want God to work things out, so we don't have to worry about them. But that's not His plan. What He does is this.
God shows us the areas that need correcting. He fixes the things that are beyond our control. Then, He imparts the requisite knowledge to equip us to handle the things WE can fix. But it's up to us to to maximize the wisdom He's imparted.
If you run into something that's absolutely over your head, God won't forsake you and let you drown. But once He rescues you, you're required to do your part to sustain the victory.
As I mentioned earlier, the orthodontist applied braces to my teeth, but it was my job to keep them clean and follow his instructions. Now that my jaw is in alignment and my teeth are straightened, it's up to me to wear my retainers to maintain the proper alignment. If I stop working to keep things in order, the whole process will have been for naught. And it will be nobody's fault but my own.
Today, I want you to think about what areas God has been nudging you to get under control. Assess whether or not you've been doing your part. If not, make a decision to work to get things back into alignment. You have the ability to make it happen.
God has already entrusted you with the tools you need.
As always, thanks for reading, and until next time... may you be empowered to prosper.
Dianna Hobbs
www.eewmagazine.com
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is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of EEW Magazine,
the #1 online magazine for African American Christian women. She is also Vice
President of Hobbs Ministries, an international ghostwriting and consulting
firm. She is a leading authority in business, ministry, and Christian writing.
