Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Life Is A Highway

Your life can take so many different directions. For some it never shifts gears out of neutral, due to comfort zones and fear of change. For the vast majority of us, though, we put our lives in drive and head off in various directions. Inside that group is a group that decided to not plan a course, but rather follow their Creator's directions. This takes ultimate faith and reckless abandon of your own wants and desires. Declaring that this is something you want is one thing, but choosing to be steadfast in the moments where you feel faint, that's where you really decide to give Him control. I can't even begin to tell of the moments I asked him where I was going. The conversations about what I thought He wanted and what was or wasn't happening are so raw and exposing of the rotten condition of my heart, most of you wouldn't know me if you read/heard them.
Those are the moments that made me who I am. If you're wondering, or have ever wondered how I got here (which, for the record, isn't quite yet where I want to be), it's a result of those moments. I chose to trust a God that I can't see, that I can't even tangibly prove exists. I don't know anything about science, and I haven't studied the archeological evidence of his work- although I believe both, but you couldn't ever possibly talk me out of his existence and the moving of his Spirit in my life.
I shouldn't have survived the heartache that I have. The pain and anguish that my heart has undergone should have rendered me a bitter, jaded prune of a woman, and yet... I have healing. I have an intense desire to fight for people and relationships.
I have moved more than I would ever like to- I hate moving, for the record- and I know that I will make even more difficult moves in my life. It's the path He's put me on and I wouldn't know what to do if he put me in one spot doing the same thing for the rest of my life. ha!
How can I express what a good God that I serve? I feel as though my heart may burst from the love I hold for him. A love I couldn't ever give to anyone else. Because when everyone failed me, there he was. When I didn't understand the movement of his will, I held on to the fact that he was good, and I came out on the other side, looking back seeing that faith proven well placed. Seeing even that he had been more faithful to me, than I to him.

I don’t need to see it to believe it
Cause I can’t shake this fire burning
Deep inside my heart

This life is Yours and hope is rising
As Your glory floods our hearts
Let love tear down these walls
That all creation would
Come back to You
It’s all for You

Your Name is glorious
Glorious
Your love is changing us
Calling us
To worship in spirit and in truth
As all creation returns to You

So! Here's what I have to say:
Don't live your life in neutral. Don't even live it planning your own course.
He's calling you to more than you can imagine.
The cool part is that it won't look anything like the life to which he's calling me. You could never leave the church or geographical region that he placed you in at birth. Or you could end in a place you never even thought you'd visit or working at a church that is so different than what you thought you'd be comfortable in, but he'll stretch you and you'll grow. He'll develop new gifts in you and perfect the ones you already have. You'll be exactly where you've always wanted to be and, at times, places you wouldn't even put people you don't like.
It'll all be worth it. After all, "nothing is a waste of time if it adds to the person you are,"
and in the end you get intimacy with the God of the universe who, for reasons I don't understand, just wants to be with us and tell us his plans. (see John 15)

I'll take it. :)