Originally published Friday, 10 March 2017.
Are you wondering if God will be faithful to you?
Maybe he's called you to something...
Maybe he's led you to something...
Maybe he's pushing you to DO something...
Maybe he's prompting you to change something...
Yet, sometimes, excuses can hold one captive within a fortress wall. They encircle, blocking the greater thing. I should know, I've made excuses my whole life. I am not good enough. Smart enough. Able enough. Willing enough. ____ enough.
Are you really going to work, God?
Are you really with me?
God, is it really possible that you will work - if I don't?
In this place of, God...I-trust-you-uhh,-kind-of...., there are 101 reasons why the plan won't work. Here, there visions are demise, prayers like desperate pleas and a will all about self. I should know.
Just the other day, I found myself sitting on the couch with these exact emotions. So, not knowing what else to do, I asked God to meet me and walked outside to my front porch...
Was I in a bird sanctuary? As they sounded off, something in me came alive, I was no longer trapped in my vision, my mindset, and my will. I'd pushed beyond the first protective wall. God was taking me somewhere.
I asked him for greater eyes to see; he gave them to me. First, I noticed the nest in my tree - the one neighbor called "a nest for squirrels". The thought repulsed me at the time. I could somehow imagine them burrowing themselves in my gutters and then my attics and somehow- before the clock struck midnight - right into my bed - and under my covers. Over my dead body - (literally)!
But, as I stared at that nest, it wasn't rabid squirrels that came out, but the tiniest and cutest of baby birds.
New life.
New life always exists outside our walls of our disbelief.
I ventured out more, walking my ordinary path. The extraordinary birds sang something, but what did God want me to come to?
Kelly, if I hold the world together, don't you think I can hold your dreams together?
Your life together?
Your moving parts together?
...in Him all things hold together. Col. 1:7
A bird swooped down in front of me. Not too long after, another one took a nose dive right along my path.
Follow me. Like the disciples followed me, you need only follow me. It's that simple.
Go as I go.
See as I see.
Where I go, I give new view.
"They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed." Mt. 19:20 MSG
It all sounded good. Because, seeing like me, a manipulating and self-steering girl, gets tiring. There's a whole lot of things to worry about and people to please and things to do; frankly, I'm overbearing. Just going as he goes, sounds, well? Relaxing almost. So, I walk on and try to just welcome God into my space. I want to see as he sees and to go as he goes. And, what I notice is something I haven't noticed all the other 200 times I've taken this walk. I see nests - ones almost invisible. Big nests. Small nests. Miniscule nests. Leaf-filled nests. I stop. How could I have missed them before?
Kelly, you don't always see what I am birthing behind the scenes.
But, let me assure you - where I go, I bring life.
Every time you trust by faith, I hatch something.
"Everything is possible for one who believes." Mk. 9:23
With this, God fills me up in some sort of transcendent way. He offers me His goodness - and I'm addicted. I crave more. I want more. I really want more. I desperately want more. I believe, God intends it this way, he must know: He's the best dependency.
Upon arrival at home, my fortress looks different. The drawbridge is down and the front door stands welcoming. And, what I notice out of the corner of my eye are birds giving a final salute. They jump and frolic, enjoy and bathe in the puddles. They live - happy. Unconcerned with the future.
I never celebrate what God has done - for very long.
I, so quickly, move on to the next thing.
Is God calling me to celebrate, in advance, what He'll do through faith?
Kelly, I have a flight plan for you.
Joy launches with it.
It's never a fight to be on my plight,
for my load is light.
Peace flies in. I decide to go with God. I no longer need excuses, nor fear (read more on my journey to bravery, in my upcoming book, Fear Fighting).
Quick-fire Prayer: May I celebrate what I cannot yet see. May I trust in what I do not know. May I rest in where, with him, I'll go. Fear need not be my companion, nor excuses my guide. For there is one true fact, and that is, you God, will not leave my side. Amen.
Kelly’s new book, Fear Fighting: Awakening Courage to Overcome Your Fears has been called “A must read,” “Breathtakingly honest” and a “Great Toolbox to Overcome Fear.” Read it today.
Discover how to flee from fear and fly in faith through 4 Days to Fearless Challenge.
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