Go

Earlier this year I sat across the table from one of my friends at a coffee shop and told her I felt like the Lord was calling me to go. She instantly responded with excitement, “where are you going?”

Days before this conversation I was lying in bed and it felt like there was a string attached to my heart and it was just tugging, pulling me. I have never heard the Lord clearer than I did that night. He was saying, “Go.” I had no idea where though.

For a while, I thought it was California to attend Zoe leadership college. I even talked to a girl from the staff for an hour on the phone about it. Then for a while, I thought it was to a three-month bible study program in Spain. Honestly, I felt like I was on a treasure hunt and searching the X marks the spot.  What I found was that the Lord was in fact calling me to go but it entailed much more than what I thought might just a be a plane ticket and a packed bag.

All throughout scripture, it is so clear on the power of going. For example, when Jesus is about to depart earth and go back to heaven, He promises His Holy Spirit.

John 16:7

“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

Jesus had to go in order for the Holy Spirit to come. The next best thing Jesus had for us hinged on whether He went (go). The going was required for Jesus to bring the “new.”

I saw over and over in my own life that I am sometimes so afraid of the going, but I also realized that the going could be what allows Jesus to bring the next best thing He has for me. The going could be what allows Jesus to bring the “new.”

Going looked like a lot of different things for me.

-It looked like going back to a starting line of grief that I thought I had already handled.

-It looked like going to back to being a child because that is what Jesus wants from us.

-It looked like going back to some really hard memories and digging deep.

-It looked like going to a community group for the first where I made some of the greatest friends.

-It looked like going forward and leaving behind friendships that I thought would last forever.

The list could go on and on…..

But the results were always the same: the going paved a way for Jesus to do something new.

What I love is that I was so wrong about what I thought God was telling me when I heard Him whisper, “go”  that night. He wanted me to go, but it looked a lot different than what I had planned for. I think there is truth in that for all of us.

There is always something being spoken over our lives. Whether it is by God or whether it is by the world. I sat at a table last night with a group of girls that I use to lead in a bible study and I asked them to describe their year in one word. Some of the answers were: heartbreak, lost, and different. I saw so clearly that God can take what is being a banner over your life and turn it into so much more. God can take what you think is the headline of your story and turn it into so much more.

Feel like you are defined by heartbreak?  There is more.

Feel like you are being defined by being lost? There is more.

Feel like everything is just different? There is more.

God can take your word and make it look a whole lot different than what you thought. Friends, there is always something more. I don’t know how He is going to do it for you, but I know that He does it.

My word for 2016 was go, but I’m convinced that going into 2017 everyone’s word is go.

However, it will look different for each of us.

Some of us need to go back to Him.

Some of us need to go step into the light and get out of the darkness.

Some of us need to go find people that you can call “my people.”

Some of us need to go away from investigating ourselves in the mirror.

Some of us need to go make amends.

Some of us need to go and forgive someone.

Some of us need to go get help.

Some of us need to go home.

Some of us need to go on with our life.

Some of us need to go to the next season.

Some of us need to go on the date.

Some of us need to go for the interview.

Some of us need to go visit someone.

Some of us need to go back and work through the old pain.

Life is hard. I do not know what your year entailed. Maybe this was the greatest year of your life. Maybe it was the hardest. I know that I have had moments that have left me crippled with insecurity and hurt. There are so many battles that we are all fighting each and every day. Maybe this year there was one too many battles and you just don’t feel like you have any fight left in you.

Some of us need to go start fighting again.

Marcus Luttrell, a Navy Seal, who the movie Lone Survivor is based on, once said, “No matter how much it hurts, how dark it gets, or how hard you fall… you are never out of the fight.”

We have to keep fighting.

We have to trust for the more.

We have to go.

Marcus Luttrell was known as a lone survivor in one of his missions. This mission we are on. This mission called life. We are not lone survivors.

You are not a lone survivor.

Not this year, and not any year. You are not alone in this fight. You are not alone in this mission.

The Holy Spirit came because Jesus participated in “going.” It is the Holy Spirit who is here with us.

Oh, how I pray that you keep fighting this next year. I pray that you know that there is always more than what you think. I pray that you go.

The best really is ahead.

xoxo,

someone who is fighting, trusting and going