Today I determined that, being in a place I have never been before, it would be wisdom to at least try and journal all that is going on that I might least attempt to leave a log for in the future when hindsight is once more 20/20 and the world is rose colored again.
Right now, I am in Southampton, staying with friends, unable to work and just trying to find my feet in what feels like very shifting sand transition times. I returned from America two weeks ago exactly and from Mozambique Africa in September. 2007 has established itself in my memory archives as one of the most packed, head spinning and crazy years I have ever known. My feet barely touched the ground and what an exhilarating ride it was! However it leaves me here, through incredible highs and lows, I now find that I have finally stopped.
The place I am in now has been called so many things by people I speak to, wilderness, barren place, furnace, hard place, a new season..who knows. They are all great spiritual phrases and all valid in their own right but the thing is, none of them totally fit. The place I am in now is one of complete stopping. It is as if God has totally immobilised me, not given me the tiniest hint as to my next twist or turn, the next direction or step. He has pretty much completely pulled the carpet from my feet on every front. Every thing I ever thought was certain, my last remaining strands of permanence whether physical health, job, ministry, location or closest friends...has been ripped from me and I am left knowing only three words. He is here.
How I move from this place or even stay and reside in it, I am unsure. What to do next is an unknown and yet what to do now is no more clear. I adore my beautiful God who is so faithful and true. I trust Him for He is trustworthy. I just don't understand Him. In time I will, I know that. This is not a permanent season and as I lay things down and choose to let go even the most precious things to me, I know that some will be restored and some will leave forever. Which ones are which I do not know and I just choose to trust God with the things most precious to me and the people that I would give my life for in a heartbeat. Nothing is certain anymore. No-one is certain, all are human and whatever God's plans and purposes and design, we all have our choices and desires. All I can do is open my hands and look back to Him expectantly, desperately hoping that at some point, letting go of them will hurt less and He will guide me as to what is next, and whether or not He will restore all that He ordained and established.
I don't expect anyone to understand what I write, it doesn't matter how this reads except that it is on paper, it is written that I might remember this place. I do not want to forget nor despise the place I am in, this place of so much and so little. I know that God is teaching me contentment, He is teaching me who He is again, His place. As my jealous husband, as my everything. His faithfulness is beautiful, His jealousy is unimaginable, His love is off the scale and His grace and forgiveness knows no limit. I am undone by Him and am not worthy for Him to take the time to not just give me another job to do but to strip all away and see what is left, to purify for Himself a bride of His very own who is eager only to do what is good (Titus 2:14) and is His. So here I will stay until He tells me to go elsewhere. Not just because I am trapped and unable to decide to move, but because I trust Him and I know that He has a purpose.
All I need to know, is that He still has a strategy...and I am in it.
Right now, I am in Southampton, staying with friends, unable to work and just trying to find my feet in what feels like very shifting sand transition times. I returned from America two weeks ago exactly and from Mozambique Africa in September. 2007 has established itself in my memory archives as one of the most packed, head spinning and crazy years I have ever known. My feet barely touched the ground and what an exhilarating ride it was! However it leaves me here, through incredible highs and lows, I now find that I have finally stopped.
The place I am in now has been called so many things by people I speak to, wilderness, barren place, furnace, hard place, a new season..who knows. They are all great spiritual phrases and all valid in their own right but the thing is, none of them totally fit. The place I am in now is one of complete stopping. It is as if God has totally immobilised me, not given me the tiniest hint as to my next twist or turn, the next direction or step. He has pretty much completely pulled the carpet from my feet on every front. Every thing I ever thought was certain, my last remaining strands of permanence whether physical health, job, ministry, location or closest friends...has been ripped from me and I am left knowing only three words. He is here.
How I move from this place or even stay and reside in it, I am unsure. What to do next is an unknown and yet what to do now is no more clear. I adore my beautiful God who is so faithful and true. I trust Him for He is trustworthy. I just don't understand Him. In time I will, I know that. This is not a permanent season and as I lay things down and choose to let go even the most precious things to me, I know that some will be restored and some will leave forever. Which ones are which I do not know and I just choose to trust God with the things most precious to me and the people that I would give my life for in a heartbeat. Nothing is certain anymore. No-one is certain, all are human and whatever God's plans and purposes and design, we all have our choices and desires. All I can do is open my hands and look back to Him expectantly, desperately hoping that at some point, letting go of them will hurt less and He will guide me as to what is next, and whether or not He will restore all that He ordained and established.
I don't expect anyone to understand what I write, it doesn't matter how this reads except that it is on paper, it is written that I might remember this place. I do not want to forget nor despise the place I am in, this place of so much and so little. I know that God is teaching me contentment, He is teaching me who He is again, His place. As my jealous husband, as my everything. His faithfulness is beautiful, His jealousy is unimaginable, His love is off the scale and His grace and forgiveness knows no limit. I am undone by Him and am not worthy for Him to take the time to not just give me another job to do but to strip all away and see what is left, to purify for Himself a bride of His very own who is eager only to do what is good (Titus 2:14) and is His. So here I will stay until He tells me to go elsewhere. Not just because I am trapped and unable to decide to move, but because I trust Him and I know that He has a purpose.
All I need to know, is that He still has a strategy...and I am in it.
posted by Claire at 11:07 PM
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