September 2, 2018
These past few weeks have taught me much about faith…real life wisdom I didn’t read about in some book or extrapolate from someone’s life story they shared with me. Instead, I myself witnessed melancholy images unfold in front of me in the form of “one more selfie, Mr. Chapel,” bear hugs from tiny hands and somber well-wishes from our South American loved ones…raw memories that painfully made their way through my tear-filled eyes on the way to my heart as their final resting place. Surprisingly, I found God’s silence to be His defining feature in the midst of it…there was so much spiritual and experiential noise invading my soul, I couldn’t cup my ears tight enough to block it out.
Where did He go?
Took me a few weeks, but guess what I’m learning yet again? God didn’t stop talking. He didn’t stop putting His arm around me, as we lumbered back to where things began 13 months ago. He didn’t lose control or choose to abandon me when things went sideways.
Instead…I stopped listening. In the midst of all that happened, I closed my ears and my soul so tightly in what I thought to be self-preservation, I not only stopped hearing and feeling the junk around me, I stopped hearing and feeling Him. I didn’t just stop following Him in the fog…I just stopped period, paralyzed by what I couldn’t control. 🙂
That’s where the lessons of faith come in. Nowhere in God’s Word does it say we will always understand what God allows to happen to us or why. His concern is not that we are properly informed of His plan or the chain of events that lead us in it. He simply says, “Follow Me” and that means following Him on a well-kempt, 6-lane interstate highway with snow-capped mountains in the foreground and a fresh cup of hot chocolate in the cup holder. But, it also means following Him on a pothole-ridden, muddy dirt road in the pouring rain with windshield wipers that smudge more than clean. I’m reminded God’s Presence doesn’t ebb and flow based on the condition or logic of the road we’re traveling. He is constant even when the road we travel is not.
My conclusion? I can only surmise God led us back to our SC family to give us a chance to get out of the car after our 13-month South American voyage so we can stretch our legs a little and maybe grab a snack before we buckle up and set out to follow Him to the next adventure He will lay before us. Between you and me, I think He’s excited about where He will lead us next and therefore I am too 🙂
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