When the wrestling of our heart grows intense, know that the answer is in the process of being birthed. Keep being faithful. Keep showing up.
With each move over the past seven years we have sorted, cleaned out, and packed up in preparation for another life change.
Each location represents a move, a transition, an adventure, a new season, and an inner longing to be home.
The deep wrestle over “what’s next” intensified in my heart as time edged forward towards another crossroad in our lives. The question flooding my mind: What is next? Another transition God, really, how many do you think one can handle?
Circumstances mixed with frustrations can make us question where we are, what God is doing, and then blind us to what he’s given us right where we are.
In my quiet time with God I could hear the whispers, “You’re Next”. Next for what? What does that mean? “You prepare while I work.” Ok God, I will prepare, but what are you working on?
“I will give you a resting place.” Where’s the resting place? Am I really hearing you speak in the depths of my heart, or am I making this up? Why is the wrestling so intense? God, HELP, I need an answer!
When the wrestling of our heart grows intense, know that the answer is in the process of being birthed. Birthing is painful and far from peaceful. A minister recently shared in a message, “I know you have “a next” because the breakthrough always comes right after you feel like you’re about to have a breakdown.”
Yeah, I was feeling the breakdown and if you’re human, you probably have too.
God does not lie, however, we do not always understand what he is speaking over our lives, deep within our hearts, or the timing in which he operates and fulfills his promises.
I’m in good company as the twelve disciples did not always understand what Jesus was telling them when they walked together on earth. We are human, not super-human; it takes us a while to catch on to God-Time, God-Ways, and God-Purposes.
Through periods of transition and loss, we can find ourselves walking in situations, or being faced with decisions that do not make sense. Wrestling, questioning and wondering where God’s peace is.
Peace does not always lead the way as it has before, but God does. Peace will eventually follow as we yield, and trust God with full abandon.
Time passes, keep showing up.
The loss is difficult, keep showing up.
The transition is frustrating, keep showing up.
Stretching is painful, keep showing up.
Making the decision is hard, keep showing up.
Follow wisdom and keep showing up.
Trust God fully and keep showing up.
The good plans God has for us will flourish if . . . we keep showing up!
Acts 1:21-26 tells how the eleven disciples chose a new disciple after Judas was gone. They considered two men and the criteria by which they were chosen was that they had been there from John’s baptism all the way through to the resurrection of Jesus.
In other words, the criteria was that they KEPT SHOWING UP.
The disciples prayed asking God for direction, as He only knows the heart of man, and then they cast lots and the lot fell to Matthias. God honors a pure heart, right motives, and faithfulness, so keep showing up.
The newness of spring brings a fresh reminder, God does all things well. The trees remember how to grow new leaves, but sometimes we, as humans, forget how to stretch forth in fresh faith.
Stretching and stepping out in unchartered territory is uncomfortable.
Christianese says, “You will feel God’s peace and you’ll know what to do.” There are moments in time that we do not know what to do, or sense God’s peace at first.
God calls us to take a step of faith, trust him, and in our trust, he will give us peace along the way. Believing God all over again can feel shaky and uncertain.
Keep showing up friend!
You may not feel him or see him, but God is there. He is the same yesterday, today and forever, but the methods He uses are not.
His ways are not our ways, they are new like the bright green of new leaves sprouting up in spring. He’s forming a new thing, do you see it?
“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think” (Isaiah 55:8-11).
My heart is grateful for mentors and real-life friends, who open a window for us to peer in and see through their eyes of wisdom and experience. We may KNOW things intellectually and FORGET what we KNOW, during the intensity of a wrestling match.
Sometimes we just need a person with “God-skin” to point out the way.
[Tweet “Sometimes we just need a person with “God-skin” on to point out the way of God-wisdom.”]
What a relief to know that God wants me to be in His will even more than I do. God does not get off course, it’s me who loses my way so easily. So once again I learn that the battle is not mine, it’s God’s.
It’s so much easier to yield, walking with my hands wide open fully trusting – it’s just hard getting there sometimes.
When the truth is spoken breathe it in, ponder it, pray, and communicate it. As my husband and I did this we begin to SEE the path to take. We were making the decision harder than it had to be. Our circumstances did not change, our perspective did.
Having to be out of the home we were leasing was the trigger, or you might say the open door for a new season. When you have experienced many transitions it can be hard to recognize and believe a new season of restoration is in front of you.
Paul and I made the decision as he said, “We are planting roots here, we are home.” The peace flooded my soul like a wave of hope washing over my heart. After three moves in seven years our family was finally home. Home is where the heart is, but sometimes the heart needs to know it’s home.
[Tweet “Home is where the heart is, but sometimes the heart needs to know it’s home.”]
Sometimes we do not know, until we decide that we know.
Peace follows as we walk with hands open wide, trusting fully. A synonym for transition is transformation. God allows transition so that we can be transformed into a conduit for his power to work in and through us.
Whether your “next” is moving on as you leave something behind, standing strong in the waiting, or moving forward and planting roots – walk in it, keep showing up, and God will refresh your soul. “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” [Psalm 23:2]
In It With You friend!
With much love and grace,
Joelle Povolni
