On Signing a Lease and A New Season

Yes, I am moving.

It wasn't really planned quite this soon but then God spoke over and over and over again—and eventually I had to listen. I am excited and scared and sort of freaking out and it is all to His glory!

We were on the beach when it all started and I think the sand and the sun just does something all funny inside. You start talking crazy talk, that is. The real world it buried in voicemails unheard and emails unopened. You remember how to dream big, outside of the mundane. It was close to my birthday and my adopted mamma and dad took me out to celebrate. We talked serious for awhile and we all left encouraged. Everything seemed to make sense and looking back a year, God has worked miracles—and still continues to do so. We all agree my time in their home has been purposeful and life-giving. Maybe next fall it will be time for the next thing—back to Lightbearers or back to India or something else.

The next day he is driving me to the airport and we have more then an hour uninterrupted to talk while the kiddos are watching a movie in the back. We are just sitting and he is off dreaming like always. Sometimes I get so frustrated because I can't tell if he's just processing these dreams or counseling me to act on them. And if it is the latter, does that mean now or ten years from now? He watches my face pale and my eyes flood and he slows down a minute.

He tells me it makes sense to walk out a season before the season. It makes sense to return to the Lightbearers community. It's safe and full of fellowship. And it makes sense to meet a practical need of a friend in need of a roommate and to do life together. It makes sense that there is sweet accountability in this friendship because we need each other and words shared as I pour into her apply to me too. And it makes even more sense because during this car ride a two bedroom opens up.

The lies swoop in like a pelican plunging for a fish and I am blindsided.

You guys don't want me anymore. I'm not really a part of your family. I knew someday you would get sick of me. I am not welcome anymore. I'm gunna move out and you guys are never gunna talk to me again. It was all too good to be true. I can't do this. I'm not ready...blah blah blah. 

He repeats the lies out loud as though he were reading my mind. I see grace and I am so thankful for him. He hears me even when I don't talk and it is a gift. The lies are exposed and it leaves room enough for breathing.

So I do. I think about what he is saying and I am scared that he is serious.

Am I really ready to spread my wings and fly? Am I really healthy enough? Am I really equipped to walk though life with another?

By the time we get to airport he tells me I'm kicked out as of January 1st. Half way joking, I think. Half way not at all.

I start listening to voicemails and responding to emails and celebrating my birthday and somehow the dream begins to become less a remnant of my tanned-skin high and more so a very alive reality and it's not me doing a thing. 

It's funny to look back and see the speed of some prayers being answered so abruptly, like my move to Arkansas two years ago. And how others seem to be unclear still—like my husband!

Four days after the dreaming began, we signed a lease and God just did it all. Little doors seemed to open every hour throughout those days, and confirmation and affirmation were overwhelming wisdom of those near.

This transition from one of a dozen to just one is going to be a challenging one but oh so good. Obedience is a sweet place to be and I know God is preparing me for a season of further refinement and walking out life outside of my country, one of a dozen bubble.

I would not change this season for anything in the world. I continue to gawk in awe of God's faithfulness through my dozen and my time under there protection. To some degree, it won't change.

And in other ways, everything will change. I love change. I actually despise it.

January 1st, 2013. Bring it on, for my God is faithful. 

For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. -Isaiah 52:12

{I hope you will stick around and walk out this new journey with me.}

What is Faith Anyway?

Well, it seems that I have pretty much abandoned blog world this week…sorry for the silence. Life has been busy and going, going, going. What a blessing it is to be surrounded by so many precious friends and family as my summer spent back home comes to an end—all too soon, I might add.

I am not going to lie—this week has been challenging. I am tired and weary. You know, I just don’t think I will ever fully embrace change in my life. Yes, I know the Lord is in control…I know His plans ALWAYS end up being sweeter then anything I could work up on my own…I know His timing is perfect. As I was relaxing by the pool with my best friend today, I realized that while I know such truth—I would even go as far as to say I genuinely believe such Truth—there is a point where knowing and believing end; this is where faith begins.

Knowing and believing are easy—you know something is true because you have experienced it in the past—simple, it just is. Out of that knowledge comes belief—it just is, so you believe. No further analysis needed. But faith—well faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. As another translation says, it is the conviction of things not seen. (Heb. 11:1)

When we cannot see past the hurt, the insecurity, the fear, the doubt, the chaos and confusion, the changes…when we cannot see what will actually happen if we do that or when we go there, have we still faith that He who promised is indeed the faithful one? Scripture says that not only is faith being sure of the unseen, but that faith GIVES us such assurance of the things not seem.

Knowing and believing may graciously satisfy our black and white, over-analyzing, always doubting, wondering minds—for there is proof that sets us at ease. While we may not have the ability to FIND such proof in regaurds to faith, I must argue that perhaps faith is even easier—we don’t need to find proof for faith, when faith GIVES us more then proof—assurance and conviction.

I can prove to you that when I mix blue and red, I will get purple. I can prove to you that dogs bark and cows moo. I can prove to you that 2 + 2 = 4. I don’t understand these concepts necessarily. I couldn’t tell you why such things happen as they do—I just know they do. Simple as that.

I don’t know why I am moving back to Fayetteville next week—but I am sure that God has a divine purpose for me to be there. I cannot prove that an intentional courtship without years of dating is the way to go—but God has given me this conviction for my life. I never saw Jesus heal anyone…I never saw Him die on that cross…I never saw Him rise again—but I have assurance and conviction that He did and that through those actions, my life has been made new. I don’t need to know that these things happened—I simply rest in the assurance of things I have not seen. I simply have faith.

Truthfully, it is not that simple for me. But it should be—I don’t even need to bother finding the proof for faith like all the other things in my life, for I am assured of the unseen. In fact, it would only make sense for me to be more sure of the things I have yet to see and yet to understand then the things I have seen, the ones I can prove. Faith sounds so effortless—so restful. Lord, help me to rest in the assurance and conviction of things not seen as everything I see now begins to morph into the unseen in the upcoming days, weeks, months, and years. Oh what a faithful Master you are.