“I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good.”
Psalms 54:6 NIV
Very recently, like within the last four weeks, my husband and I came to the realization that we were being nudged to downsize our worldly belongings. Even our new home.
Last year we bought and moved into a beautiful home just minutes from the Georgia coast. It’s been a wonderful year filled with celebrations, laughter, tears, peace, and heartache.
During our time in this house, we’ve established a foundation for our marriage, and at the core of everything is our relationship with God. With every decision we’ve made, we’ve been prayerful and open to the path that opens for us.
That doesn’t mean the decisions are easy, but we’re told that choosing to follow Jesus means sacrifice and hardship. With this move, our geographic distance in relation to people we love will shift. With the shift, we have both blessing and sacrifice, excitement and heartache.
However, my sister reminded me that if it isn’t in God’s time, you can’t force it, but when it is in God’s time, you can’t stop it. So in less than four weeks, we’ve gotten our current house under contract, and are under contract for our new home.
We plan to continue going to the church we love and we will still get up early and drive just a little further to watch the sun rise up and greet the world. Where the world leaves holes, God will always plant new seeds.
So often, in our fear-based reaction to change, we hunker down and wait for things to get awful. We wait for the unknown to bust forth and tear our souls to shreds. Sometimes it does just that, but even then, God will provide a way to rebuild a beautiful mosaic with those shreds.
There are many examples throughout the Bible of the manner in which hardship and change is meant to shape and strengthen our faith. God promises to provide everything we need, yet we still find ourselves creating back-up plans for HIS plan. Think about that for a minute. We are going to plan for ourselves because we fear that God will fail.
I don’t believe we intend to do that, but when we worry and when we make choices based on our self-interests or fears, we’re certainly NOT trusting God. We’re trusting ourselves to try and fill His shoes.
I don’t question how smoothly and efficiently the changes in my life occur, because I know God is driving my bus. I still get afraid and I still feel sad at much of the coming loss. However, I don’t question the path, and I will not hesitate to walk it.
I had a realization last night that hit me pretty hard: I told my sister that I just want to always do right by Jesus. The reality is that my humanity prevents me from honoring Him as fully as I desire.
The realization is both humbling and comforting, because I know He understands, and He loves me all the more for the righteous desire, regardless of the weight of my humanity.
“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
Psalms 51:17 NIV
Love the Hand of God 