He Can Be Trusted

Trying to find the words to write this blog have been a little harder than they normally are. Not because I don’t know what to say, but because there is so much to say.

Just a few weeks ago I had the honor and privilege of leading a breakout at the Pillars Girls Conference in Canton, GA. When I originally decided I wanted to lead a breakout I thought I knew what I would want to teach on—calling. It’s one of my favorite topics (next to relationships) that I enjoy speaking on. I want people to know that God has called them to something. They have purpose. They have gifts. They have talents. God wants to use them regardless of their past or even present—God see’s past what we see and sees our potential. He sees where He want to take us if only we will surrender and trust Him.

I got pumped up just writing that paragraph

But as I prepared and prayed something about that topic wasn’t sitting right in my spirit. It wasn’t that what I wanted to talk about was wrong, it just wasn’t what the Lord wanted me to talk about at that time and at this particular place.

The whole theme that weekend was UNTANGLED: Throwing off whatever hinders or entangles us and pressing on to finish the race the Lord has set before us.

What is something that can hinder and entangles many of us? Heartbreak (of any kind)

That is where I sensed the Lord wanted me to land. To share my own journey of heartbreak and how the Lord brought me through. Again, my journey was 3-years so how does one condense 3-years into 45-min?! Well, I typed and re-typed my talk. Even up until the week of the conference. Finally, I just sat before the Lord and said there is SO MUCH TO SAY AND SHARE! WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN?

As I sat there and re-read over my talk I began to notice a theme in each point—surrender.

That was when it became clear.

Every situation is different. Every heartbreak is different. God knows how to minister to each heart uniquely. There isn’t a one-size fits all cure for heartbreak. There isn’t a certain time frame someone should be able to “get over” something or “be healed.” For each person it’s different. So I can’t stand up there and say “this is why you’re heartbroken.” Even for me, my heartbreak went much deeper than even I realized at the time.

But what I did come to is these two things that God brought me back to over and over again…

Let them know I AM is near. Their tears and heartbreak have not been lost on me. I see them, I hear them.  

Like Hagar in the desert, I SEE! He is the GOD WHO SEES!

Sometimes that’s all we need. To KNOW, not just believe, but KNOW that God really is near and sees us. He sees the tears, the hurt, the pain, the sting that rejection brings, he know us better than we know ourselves.

Before we can even begin to heal we have to first know that God is near and sees us.

I know there have been times when I’m upset and I don’t necessarily need someone to come in at the moment and fix everything. I know in my mind that everything will eventually workout. I’ve lived long enough to see that things really do have a way of working out for the best eventually. But sometimes in the moment you just want to know someone cares; you just want someone near who sees and understands what you’re going there. Not someone trying to fix it.

God knows that. He knows that there “is a time for healing” but there is also “a time for morning.” There has to be a season when we just sit before the Lord and allow His nearness, His presence to be enough. It’s in those moments, when we rest in His presence, in the truth that He is near and sees us, that our prospective begins to shift. It’ doesn’t mean all the pain goes away, it doesn’t mean our circumstances changed, but we begin to see our current situation with new eyes.

Eyes of Love

Eyes of Compassion

Eyes of Purpose

Eyes of Grace

Eyes of Mercy

Hagar still had to go back to her situation. Nothing has changed. Sarah still had a chip on her shoulder, but now Hagar could deal with her current situation knowing that God sees her. Her situation was not lost on Him.

Next, our job is to surrender.

What do I mean by surrender? Well, surrender the way you think God works, lay down your ideal of how life should be/turn out, lay down your plans of how things are “suppose” to work.

Let be honest, we all have these pre-set ideas of how life is supposed to unfold. For some people life goes “according to plan.” Great for them! But for most people, where they say it or not, life has thrown them some curve balls. Life didn’t go “according to plan.”

That’s what happened to me.

But I’ll be honest, I am SO GLAD that God didn’t give me what I thought I wanted at the time. We can get so tunneled vision on what it is “we want” that we fail to really trust God with what HE wants for our lives. If we are real honest, we think that our plans are better than God’s.

It’s in fully surrendering to Lord and His plans and His ways that our hearts are set free.

That is what happened for me!

When I finally and truly just LET GO and LET GOD things began to change. Not where people could see, but in my heart. A peace, a contentment, a joy, a rest that I never really known began to rule in my heart.

My prayer become something like this: Lord may I desire what You desire for me, because I know if your desires are my desires then I will pursue your best (in all things).

I wanted God to out HIS dreams back in my heart, His plans, His desires, His best! That’s when things began to change.

I was in a season where I had everything I had ever thought I wanted in my hand—and I was miserable. That when I realized I wasn’t pursuing God’s dreams for my life (although they looked godly) I was pursuing my own dreams and plans. But because they appeared to be godly dreams and goals no one ever questioned (myself included) if they were God’s.

If I could shout anything from the mountain top it would be: Fully surrender to God and trust his heart towards you. He truly does have good plans!

Often when we think “plans” we think: job, career, ministry, and spouse (the BIG THINGS). Those are important. But His ultimate will for our lives in our Christ-likeness. God is looking at and working on our hearts, FIRST!

Jobs come and go.

Career paths change—you’re calling an remain the same but where you work change

Ministry Changes—ministry can look a lot of different ways and God may call you to minister one way during one season and another way in another season

Our character however, that is something that will follow us wherever we go!

So as I looked back over that season of my life, and look at my current season, those two things still remain, and still bring me peace and comfort. The truth that OUR GOD SEES and the fact that when we fully surrender to His will and His ways, He will do more than we ever asked or imagined. But often times before we see the mountains move He works in our hearts first—that often times is the biggest miracle.Often times it's what happening underneath that is causing the mountain to move.  

We can trust Him with our hearts and with our lives. His love has never failed. Our dreams, desires, hopes, and plans are safe in His hands! 

"because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day." - 2 Tim 1:12