There was a time in my life that I had recently gone through a divorce and I was waiting for the Lord to show me what was next. I had ideas, but He let me know that so did He. I was living with my parents when a job opportunity came my way. It called for me to move 4 hours away from them. 4 hours away from my security, my support, and help with my kids. It called for me to move back to a place of hurt, memories, and everything I was wanting to forget. I wanted to run far from this place He was clearly calling me back to. There were undeniable events that happened showing me this was where I needed to go. So I packed up my kiddos and we moved.
In this new season of living as a single, working mom I had responsibilities that I had never had before. I not only had to support myself, I had to support 2 small boys. I had been a stay-at-home mom for 5 1/2 years and now I was having to go back to work.
One day, my reality became really heavy. I went from living a very comfortable life to having to figure out childcare, rent, food, gas and everything else in life on a very limited budget.
I was at a stoplight thinking through my groceries trying to figure out what I was going to have to cut from the budget when I heard a sweet whisper cut through those thoughts.
“Little girl, just live.”
I still tear up thinking about it because peace immediately hushed the fear, worry, and anxiety that consumed me just seconds before. The question of “how was all this going to work?” was silenced with the assurance of God’s Word.
“I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His descendants begging bread”
Psalm 37:25
There is a peace we can have when God is involved in our lives. A peace that understands we won’t always understand. A peace that says, we can trust Him with everything. You may have felt at some point in your life that God let you down, but I can promise you, as someone who has entertained that same thought, He didn’t. His ways and thoughts for us are so different from our own. We live so limited by this world, other people’s expectations, and even our own imaginations. We mold God into what we can comprehend, but He is incomprehensible. On our best day we don’t even come close to figuring Him out.
His Word and the promises in His Word are for us. All that He has done and created has been out of love for us. The evil in this world has tried to lie to us making us think God doesn’t care, but I am a witness that He loves us more than we could ever imagine.
This is a truth I have learned on the other side of doubt. He showed me that if I trust AND obey, He will make a way….everyday. When you let go and surrender your dreams, goals, and expectations to God, He will take them and give you something 1000 times better. I have lived it. My life doesn’t make sense. It’s not what I thought it would ever look like and it’s not what it should look like either given my circumstances. But I said “yes” and He has been faithful.
I’m not sure what you are facing today, but I am sure it’s something that looks different from what you expected. Find comfort in knowing nothing is a surprise to God. He sees you. He hears you AND He has a plan for you. Not just any plan. He has a plan that will bring LIFE. There may be things in your life that have die in order to bring life, but trust God. If it is something He is putting in your heart to do, then trust He will give you the strength to follow through.
You always know it’s God when His Word supports it. Just like me. When He spoke to me He followed it up with His Word. If there is something you are wrestling with, wondering if it’s God or not, pray He gives you His Word to support it. The only way to truly live a whole life is by surrendering it to Him. He created you and only He knows what for.
So whatever He is asking of you, trust, obey, and just say…”yes”!
As He says “Talitha cumi.”