Travel Safely into the Unknown

Fear is thinking that the future will not be good. (my definition)
Fear is a distressing emotion aroused by a perceived threat. (dictionary definition)

Pink from Tuesday

I have tried to cast off the mantle of fear all my life, ever since I can remember thinking thoughts. Fear of no one liking me, fear of will I get into college, will I graduate, does he love me, will I be alone, will my baby be healthy, will he follow God, will he choose the narrow road, can I walk the narrow road, will I be alive next year...

Would you want to have a written schedule for your entire life, telling you what choices to make each day? You check your schedule right after waking up - today do yoga, then grocery shop, call Mary and then sign up for the photography class. Then after lunch you go to your desk .... follow the schedule.

First of all, I would be a little freaked out having a written schedule appear every morning on my bedside table. WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?

No, you don't want to be told everything, just the big things.  You want to plan your fun minutes, and let God take care of the serious moments.

Well, it doesn't work that way. Every hour in our day is what makes us who we are, they bundle together to create us. The hours congregate to form our days, which all strung together forms our lives, our souls and bodies.

If we had that schedule laid out for us every day, we wouldn't need to keep our eyes focused on God all day long.We would keep our eyes on the schedule. The key to life abundant and joyful, my friend, is keeping our eyes on God.

Keep your eyes on God, lean into Him, stay in the light of His presence. Sounds so easy.  But the trick is, you don't just do it once, you have to keep choosing to do it every minute of every day. Just like holding in your abs while you do yoga. If you don't think about it even for two seconds, they release. HA!
Keep your eyes on God, then fear is a non-issue.

Follow God's will. Oh yes, really simple eh? But what are the details of doing just that. Ask people how they know what is God's will for them.  I have been asking people for decades.  I want to know. How do you know?

Mankind has been struggling with knowing God's will for over five thousand years, so I do not pretend that I can solve this for everyone. I am working on figuring it out, life is a journey. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55

We have the Bible, inspired by His Spirit. Any choice I make won't go against the Bible. Not nitpicking the words, but the wisdom imparted in the pages.

We have prayer and meditation, listening to Him and talking with Him. BE STILL.

We have other people who walk closely with Him to shed light on our path when our flashlight battery is flickering.  These advisers I choose carefully. We have churches, communities of others who are trying to walk a similar path as us.

We have the peace of the Holy Spirit inside us, that grows and flourishes when we are walking in the path God intended for us. And feels prickly to me when I am straying.

Good news, God loves me so much that when I veer off the path, He will do all He can to redirect me and get me back on track. Even let me get cancer. That's a lot of love.  He loves you everlastingly too.

So how will I stay on this path from here on out? By looking upwards, every step of the way. I can't do it by myself. Trust that He loves me so much that He will gently show me the way.  Be Still and Know that He is God.

This was handwritten on a slip of paper found in one of Mike's Great-Grandmother's Bibles upstairs in her home in Midland Michigan. It is part of a poem by Louise Haskins, quoted by King Edward in 1937 in his Christmas radio address. It is beautiful. It hit me when I found it in her bible ten years ago, and it still stirs me.

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
Give me light that I may travel safely into the unknown.

And He replied,

Go out into the darkness
and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light
          and safer than a known way.

His Majesty, King Edward of England 1937

Listen and Cooperate

Proverbs 3: 5,6 
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

 for this sermon says, God is less interested in what we are doing than in who we are becoming. Mull that one over while you cook dinner tonight.

I used to think that there were lessons I needed to learn in events. You know, why do bad things happen to good people? Why do we fail sometimes? Then it hit me, first of all, not every event (good or bad) is about me. Maybe something happens because God is working in their lives, and I am a bystander. Secondly, I might not be learning a lesson, God might be working on my character, or refining me in a way I will never know. But He knows.

God is interested in who I am, not as much as the actions outside but the love inside.

Discerning God's Will was a question I have asked of people. HOW DO YOU KNOW GOD"S WILL. For me, He gives me peace. Not just that feeling of  "If it feels good, do it", but the peace that settles right into me, into my thoughts, my heart, my spirit. I am settled in my thoughts , in prayer, in going into the Bible. Peace is there.

I ask Mike and I ask friends (who I respect, choose who you ask carefully.)

I read the bible.

I pray.

I ask a minister (on big issues.)

But the absolute way I know a decision is what God wants is, He gives me peace. I feel settled. I think around the issue, and the negatives are not there or fade into the background verses the positives. It makes sense in light of God's strategic plan for me. I don't always have knowledge of God's will right away... but eventually it comes.

Do you start walking, and then hope you are on the right path? Or do you pray, wait until God shows you the path, then start walking? I think it is a little of both. I need to be in line and infused with God's spirit, which takes being still and looking to Him. Then I take that first step. He is so powerful that if I am wrong he will correct me. I don't want to be too still and not do anything for Him. But don't want to be too jumpy and busy and not do what He wants. It is a balance. Isn't that the answer to so many questions....

I am certain that if I choose against God's will, He loves me so much that He will somehow pick me up and put me back on the path He knows is the best one. I am also certain that it will be easier for me if I choose in line with God's will the first time.  A huge incentive to do the work on the front end.

When I know His will, I listen to it, and I try to cooperate with it.
If its not what I want to do, I ask Him to change my heart. And He will. He's awesome, isn't He?