Admittedly, this adorable alliteration is not always going to be accurate. Right? Sometimes, there will be limited time to press pause to purposely pray and process. During these times, simply crying out, “Jesus! Help!” is the absolute best we can muster while frantically tending to whatever is before us. Agreed.
However, bear with me as I explain.
Those closest to me know that my heart longs to be out on solitary hikes in the woods with Jesus, perpetually. A self-proclaimed Snow White of sorts, frequently pausing to acknowledge and appreciate the woodland birds and animals I encounter along the way. Are you tracking with me so far? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Not surprisingly, I am repeatedly asked, “Aren’t you afraid of bears?” Umm…no! In truth, I am more afraid of the attacks that come from people than from a bear. I have never been attacked by a bear and if I were, I believe I could find a logical explanation for such an attack. Like a mother protecting her young, a hungry bear protecting his food source. In my experience, albeit limited, this is not necessarily so with such human interactions. Sometimes we get “attacked” for reasons that are not as easily explained or understood. Therefore, hiking with Jesus surrounded by animals often feels quite peaceful to me.
However, as God would have it, I am surrounded by people in my day-to-day. As God would have it, I encounter new people at any given moment on any give day. As a natural born introvert, being surrounded by people is not always easy for me. Interacting with people does not always come easy for me.
As a follower of Christ, I surrendered up my life for His purposes. But, if everything in my life were up to me, I would live on a little farm. It would be called, “The Horse, Hen, and Hound.” It would be a quaint, quintessential New England farm where the hens would happily scratch at the earth as they freely roamed about searching for delicious chicken eats like crickets, grubs, and slugs. The horses and hounds would be the frontrunners of the ranch. Companion animals helping me to create a safe environment for trauma survivors to learn to trust again as they continue to walk out their personal healing journeys. The thought makes my heart sing!
However, right now, every day, God asks me to trust him with things that do not “feel like” me and I think that is because they are not me. Not in the flesh, anyway. By His amazing design, I need to trust him in order to be the me that relies so completely on him that his Holy Spirit works freely in and through my life. Uncomfortable, uncertain, sometimes terrifying, and always completely God glorifyingly amazing! (Yes, I am aware that I am using a verb as an adjective by turning it into an adverb which is not even a real word. Worse grammatical atrocities have been committed by me. Plus, you know it works.)
What I am driving at is that no matter what you think you see in other people and how they live their lives and walk out their calling, there is always much more going on beneath the surface. Yes, I emphatically believe that God has placed me where he has because he has equipped me with the gifts necessary to operate in this role. I also emphatically believe that we are wrong to assume that just because we are gifted in a specific way by the God of the universe that operating in those gifts, performing our given roles, living out our calling, would somehow be “easy.”
Gifting does not equal smooth sailing and happy trails. Gifting is not for the purpose of creating ease or personal grandeur. Gifting by God is for the purpose of glorifying God and serving him and his plans for his kingdom (1 Corinthians 12). Most of which are a mystery to us as we forge ahead into the unknown.
I have spent time I will never reclaim wishing I could be someone else, look like someone else, function like someone else, live somewhere else, earn something else, drive something else… You get the idea, right? Have you ever done this? Do you always feel like you are exactly where you are supposed to be, doing exactly what you are supposed to do, looking exactly like you are supposed to look, feeling exactly like you are supposed to feel…?
This is uplifting, huh?
Wait for it…
Jesus. Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem for all to see; humble, lowly, meek and some might even say, weak. Jesus in his high kingly moment riding into town in a lowly state on the back of a donkey (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; John 12:12-15). Jesus entering a garden to pray as he is about to be captured, ridiculed, mocked, spat upon, mercilessly tortured, crucified, and killed (Matthew 26:36-75, 27; Luke 22:39-46).
I am certain we would all agree that no part of that would have been an easy calling to walk out. Even though Jesus was perfectly man and perfectly God all at once, I am certain he experienced feeling uncomfortable, uncertain, and terrified…among other things (Luke 22:44).
I think the difference is, he did not follow those feelings or allow his feelings to lead him astray. He pressed pause, took time to pray and process to be strengthened by God, and then he proceeded forward in faith on the path God placed before him (Luke 22:39-43).
“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41, ESV).”
How about you? Do you have time to pause, pray and process, before you proceed?
With love and prayers,
Margie
Pause, Pray & Process:
- Do you sense the calling that God has placed on your life, or on this season of your life? Do you see, appreciate, and fully accept the giftings he has given you to walk out that calling?
- OR Are you wrestling with God about your calling, or season of life, as you feel uncomfortable, uncertain, and terrified? Are you allowing these kinds of feelings, or others, to leave you doubting and unstable, wavering in your faith?
- Dreaming and hoping are not bad things. They can very much be “God” things if we refuse to allow them to occupy the driver’s seat of our hearts and lead us astray. As soon as a thing we hope for becomes a motivation of our heart, it takes over a space that can only be rightly occupied by God himself. Have you allowed a seemingly innocent desire or hope to creep into your heart and slip into God’s seat?
Then Proceed:
- What, if anything, did the Holy Spirit reveal to you during this time? What is your next step of faith right now? Turning? Confessing? Repenting? Believing? Allowing yourself to be strengthened in the Lord?
- If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God. You have access to Resurrection Power living inside of you! Praise God for the most recent time you trusted in and experienced that Power…then…risk asking him for another opportunity to trust him even more.
Faith Orienteering Services 